Dear Lahore, how are you? Let’s trip in time, shall we?” writes Amy Singh, a poet and teacher from the Indian state of Chandigarh. She began writing letters to Lahore, the city she loved but hadn’t had the chance to travel to. It’s a city she says she came across “accidentally.”

Speaking to an audience that listened to her with rapt attention, at the recently concluded Faiz Festival, Singh said, “I was all of 14, with my mother at a hospital in Amritsar, when I first stumbled upon the fearless, seditious radio waves of Pakistan that could not be contained by the border.” Later, she tuned into a musical programme that was dedicated to the late ghazal singer Mehdi Hassan. It moved her to the point where she “wanted to write to the city. So I just scribbled a letter and mailed it to the General Post Office, Lahore. I wrote, ‘I am extending my hand of friendship, will you hold it, Lahore? Lahore, will you come and dine with me? Yeh joh saari lakeerein hain, inko mita lein…’”

She claimed to have written around 600 letters, expecting no response. The letters landed where they were supposed to, by the GPO employees, and the Lahore readers agreed with her comments.

“I adore Lahore, and I’ve conveyed my love through my letters,” she added, pledging to render the borders pointless as letters etched in profound emotions are penned.

She recalled how her grandfather who died when she was very young, liked to write in Urdu and watch PTV.

Singh is the founder of Agla Warqa, a podcast committed to keeping the people of Sanjha Punjab [Shared Punjab: as in both Indian and Pakistani] connected. “Hatred is taught, but love is innate; that’s what my Lahore is for,” she said at the end of her session.

Another session at the festival saw Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi, Kamran Lashari and Dr Arfa Sayeda Zahra on the panel. Titled A City Besieged and Its Artistic, Architectural and Literary Toll, the session had Zufli recount days when the streets of the Walled City were so quiet and deserted that he could paint for hours tucked in a corner, without getting distracted.

“When I finished painting, I was often invited to have lunch or a cup of tea by someone in the neighbourhood,” he revealed. “It showed their generosity of heart and hospitality.”

Zulfi said that due to merciless migration and commercialisation of the Walled City, some alleys had lost their native population.

He further said, “Old Lahore used to be a mine of artists. In Choona Mandi, there was Marasiyan Di Katri. The neighbourhood was home to several classical vocalists as well as the legendary musician, Attray’s family.”

He praised the efforts of the Walled City of Lahore Authority (WCLA), but added that the mammoth task of conservation required “more than a dozen Kamran Lasharis.”

Lashari, the WCLA director-general, then grabbed the mic and shared his notes gathered from his interactions with the Lahoris. He said that Lahore could be described from a thousand different perspectives and yet the picture would be incomplete.

Talking about the WCLA’s heritage revitalisation programme, Lashari said that it did “not complete the mission, but rather introduced new obstacles.” However, the conserved locations are accessible to everyone.

Dr Arfa Syeda told the audience that historically, Lahore had had 13 gates, but she had discovered the 14^th: that was Lahore’s openness.

ahore is a part of the Punjab, and peace campaigners are working to establish soft boundaries between the Indian and Pakistani Punjab. One such endeavour was the presentation on the historical values of Punjab by Munish Singh, Bobby Sachdeva, Asma Hamid Awan and Mazhar Abbas at the session named Punjab @75.

According to Dr Mazhar Abbas of the Government College University in Faisalabad, the Punjab is the region’s biggest food basket.

He also discussed the Punjab Kisan Tehreek, a peasant movement that failed to realise its aim of peasant sovereignty. Under the direction of the All-India Kisan Sabha, Punjab Kisan Sabha had launched Punjab Kisan Tehreek in 1937. The partition of the Punjab in 1947 had a significant influence on it since many non-Muslims, notably peasant leaders and activists, fled to India. Peasants in the south of Punjab had to re-launch the movement at the end of 1947 since lack of leadership had rendered it non-functional. Yet, he supported the ancient Punjab, which had rich values, as opposed to the Punjab which had been torn apart by sectarian and ethnic conflict as a result of colonial domination.

Undivided Punjab was a part of the ancient civilisation, but Partition occurred, and a boundary line separated the area, according to the Indian author and poet Arvinder Chamak who moderated the session. He said that the digital age had made it possible to abolish the traditional concept of boundaries. Munish Singh, a visitor from the Indian Punjab, asserted that schools actively taught violence.

Dr Asma Awan, the dean of the political science department at Kinnaird College for Women University, said history should be rewritten to remove any components that can hurt the feelings of those living on the other side of the border. She argued that content about Punjab’s heroes like Dullah Bhatti and Bhagat Singh should be taught at schools. She said the ruling class, which is predisposed to fantasising about conflict, wrote history in large part.

Bobby Sachdeva, an Indian novelist and film producer, stressed the need for fostering discussions about love and peace, and praised Lahore for showing the visitors affection.

The session was an attempt to correct history. History will remember the effort.

The writer is a media veteran interested in politics, consumer rights and entrepreneurship