Dear All,

Every time I visit Lahore, I am in the grip of the sorrowful realisation that this is the city where we would, in some alternative universe, have settled. That was in a parallel reality whose exit we somehow never got to on the motorway of life. Instead, circumstances forced us to turn off on a different, earlier, exit and we lived most of our lives far, far away from Lahore.

However, on a recent visit my sadness was tempered by two things: the horrible smog and the tacky illuminations along the canal and the city centre.

The smog made Lahore a dark, sunless place where residents were being choked by the polluted, heavy atmosphere. Schools were closed and there was talk of a curfew being imposed at some point. The sales of air purifiers and snake plants (purported to have air purifying qualities) had soared as those with money quickly equipped their homes with these. The visibility was terrible and the atmosphere was heavy. Somehow, despite the schools closure, the traffic was dreadful.

In addition to this there were the tacky lights. The lights were a real shock. This public illumination is a combination of garish Christmas decoration and funfair style lighting. Weird coil-shaped lights, reminiscent of barbed wire, line the canal. Additionally, along various areas, including roundabouts, there are more weird shapes; triangles, spirals, squares – and reindeers. Yes, there really are reindeer illuminations decorating Lahore’s beautiful Canal Road!

What is the relevance of reindeers to Lahore? The only reason they feature might be that whoever was contracted to do the job perhaps got a good deal on Christmas illuminations meant to adorn streets in some Western country during the holiday season. One can only speculate.

Apart from the reindeer and the garish hue of the decorations, these lights are extremely bright –blindingly so in traffic. The whole design makes the canal and its related areas look as if they are actually part of some huge, old-fashioned funfair complete with rides, games and cotton candy. To say that these lights look tacky is, perhaps, an understatement.

It is fairly astonishing that somebody, somewhere, thought these lights were a good idea. The canal would have looked enchanting with some subtle, twinkly fairy lights along its length, instead somebody thought it was apt to have blinding coils of light blighting the whole aspect.

These two blots on the landscape of this historic and bustling city are, in effect, an illustration of how governance priorities are completely misplaced. Instead of a coherent policy to tackle the root causes of the smog, the authorities put in place measures every year only once the smog descends. There are then general mutterings about India being the villain of the piece and there is talk of getting in artificial rain technology to solve the problem but there doesn’t seem to be any integrated, coherent, long-term policy regarding the issue.

The garish illumination of Lahore also shows how misplaced are the priorities of those in charge. Perhaps the public money used for these lights could have been better spent? To even spend money on this unnecessary lighting at a time where food prices and energy bills have quadrupled shows a complete insensitivity to the plight of the people, many of whom can barely afford to eat. Who do these lights benefit? This remains unclear.

I was happy to depart from Lahore this time but actually one cannot really escape because examples of ad hoc-ism, questionable expenditure and poor taste are all around.

Best wishes.  

Umber Khairi