TED Prize / City 2.0: Lost In Lahore from Khurram Siddiqi on Vimeo.

This Is Lahore! from FCCM on Vimeo.

THIS IS:Lahore!
Sander Kleinenberg, DJ Barrister, V I V I D, Mister T Jay, Getafix, Faisal Baig

www.fccm.pk
www.studiosapuri.com

Mashup/ track used available at http://soundcloud.com/sapuri/unleash-the-f-king-dada-with

How’s Life in Pakistan?

It’s pretty happening.

But it’s still less happening than the crusades, the inquisition,
the ethnic cleansing of native Americans, the US civil war and
even the time negros used to hang from trees in the Midwest.

Just because the internet didn’t get news across then as fast
as it does now, doesn’t mean you can forget how people
fought amongst themselves years and years before you
to make diamonds out of coal – to make the west what it is today.

Is Pakistan on autodestruct? Maybe.
No pain, no gain.

It took Europe and America centuries to become who they are today.

I don’t seek violence.

I seek a soul. And that takes time. So chill the fuck out,
while we don’t. Because creation starts with a bang.
And I’m lucky enough to be living in a bang that’s lasted longer
than any known before.

Muslim rage my ass. Everyone’s got dirty laundry.

But burning embassies – is now insulting the legacy of the Man the film originally intended to insult. So who wins?

Not the ‘western powers’ who provide freedom of speech.

Not the ‘Muslims’ who ‘stand up for their Prophet’.

The only winner is the bastard who makes such a film, and manages to go into hiding, because he doesn’t believe in his message strongly enough to own up to it. Super genius, one asshole manages to outwit both the Muslim zealots, and the most law-abiding Western folks and leaders over the span of two weeks.

I can’t wrap my head around this. Sure, there’s a deep psychoanalysis that will explain why the violence has gone more viral than the video- but I have hang my head yet salute this filmmaker in defeat: a really worthy adversary,

but to the human race.

Earlier this month, Lahore’s Ferozson’s bookstore caught fire, and was gutted thoroughly. I was on Mall Road this week with a camera, and I desperately wanted to see what it was like. I grew up abroad, and we’d spend the summers in Lahore as a child. And for me, ‘Zero Point’; the most central locus of Lahore, as for many other Lahoris who enjoyed reading and writing as kids- was this building. It’s like I lost a solid part of my historical bearing in this city.

Ferozson’s is an old publishing house and bookstore- whose name and fame may have slightly dulled over the last few years- as happens to many family businesses, but I’m pretty sure the special place it occupied in every literature-loving persons heart never closed.

You see, it’s not just a bookstore. It’s not just a publishing house. It’s this place, in an amazingly historic and vintage building located on Mall Road- right around where the commercial buildings start. So Ferozeson’s being monumental, was not just due to the immense contributions they’ve made to print and publishing in Pakistan- but also from an architectural perspective- the physical landmark they existed as.

The guards at the building initially told me to get lost- because when things like these happen- reporters and public press are usually kept away from private businesses. I obliged at first, but then realized that when you’re an institution- even if you are a private firm, family business, or whatever- when you’ve made that much of an impact on the lives of people around you – you’re not just a business- you’re an institution. I waited for the guards to walk away- snuck back and took these pictures. I just had to.

Because someday soon this whole mess of melted metal and burnt books will be cleaned up, and sent to some trash dump at the edge of the city. I don’t know what form the reincarnation will come in, but charm- isn’t something you build over a day. I just wanted to pay tribute to the what I know must be the truest icon- the oldest memory of Lahore as a city for all those who value education- before it too bites the dust.

Mangled, burnt and distorted- perhaps even painful to look at- this is Ferozson’s- after the fire.

Dear Rohail Hyatt, Coke Studio, Frequency Media and Kaavish,

I’m not out to cheat you out of anything. I just loved the song. It was a troubling time, and the song spoke to me. I took it into my computer, edited it- and that too, just a little bit. Please don’t serve me this time.

Thanks,
K

Khurram

Directorate of Renewable Energy in#Lahore: The state of its signboard seems awfully close to its state of affairs. twitter.com/therealsapuri/…

— Khurram Siddiqi (@therealsapuri) March 12, 2012

Just a disclaimer- this doesn’t mean I’m any less optimistic about the future. i.e. Being a Pakistani will come to mean even finer things in time. Keep your faith, people. And those who make good money by writing article after article about our issues-

Fuck the fuck off. Really.