fहndi - Mahatma Gandhi Antarrashtriya Hindi Vishwavidyalaya

their surprise and sometimes gave thema stab of pain : 'Good heavens, how theyhave widened Jaimal Singh Lane! Did allthe houses on this side burn down? HakimAsif Ali used to have his shop here,remember? Now a cobbler has entrenchedhimself in his place.'And, occasionally, one could also hearobservations such as,' Wali, this mosqueis still standing here in tact. How comethey haven't made it into a gurdwara?'Wherever the Pakistani groups passed,people eyed them with curiosity. Even nowsome people viewed these Muslims withsuspicion and stepped out of their path.But there were others who came forwardand hugged them warmly. They would askthe visitors, 'What's Lahore like these days?Is the Anarkali as crowded as before? Isit true that they have completely re-builtShah Alami Gate Bazaar? Krishan Nagarhasn't changed much, has it? WasRishwatpura really constructed from moneyraised by bribes? They say burqa is nolonger in vogue in Pakistan. Is it so?' Thequestions had such a ring of personalinvolvement that it would seem Lahore wasnot just a city but a personal relative, afriend to thousands of people who wereeager to find out how it was doing. Thatday these visitors from Lahore were theguests of the whole city and the locals wereunaccountably happy to meet them andtalk to them.Bazaar Bansan was a kind of neglectedmarket in Amritsar, mostly inhabited byfgndi •poor Muslims, before the partition. Mostof the shops here sold bamboo poles andwooden materials. All those shops hadburned down in one huge conflagration.That was the most devastating fire inAmritsar city and sometimes it was fearedthat it would spread and burn down thewhole city. Flames had already lapped upsome neighbouring areas. Somehow the firewas brought under control, but while itraged it burnt to ashes several Hindu andMuslim houses.In the course of seven and a half yearsmany of these buildings had been restored,but one could still see the piles of rubblelying in between the new buildings. Theheaps of rubble presented a strange sightin the midst of those new buildings.That day too, as usual, there was notmuch activity in Bazaar Bansan. Most ofthe people who had been living there hadperished in the fire and those who hadmanaged to get away could not musterenough courage to return.Only a thin, wasted-looking Muslimreturned that day to that scene ofdevastation. At the sight of the new andthe burnt-out buildings, he seemed to feelthat he had strayed into a maze. His feetrose to enter the lane to his left but hehesitated. He could not believe that thiswas the lane he wanted to enter. Near themouth of the lane some children wereplaying kiri kiri. Further down two womenwere brawling and flinging abuses at eachother at the top of their voices.April-June 2013 :: 85