Innovation Mela: ‘People of Lahore are its soul’

LUMS pro-chancellor sees Lahore beyond the cluster of buildings


Our Correspondent March 27, 2016
LUMS Pro-chancellor Syed Babar speaking on the third and final day of the Social Innovation Mela 2016. PHOTO: TWITTER

LAHORE: “This city has the strength to withstand the abuse it has been braving in the name of infrastructure development. Lahore has a soul. It is not just a cluster of buildings,” Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Pro-chancellor Syed Babar Ali said on Sunday.

He was speaking on the third and final day of the Social Innovation Mela 2016. Social Innovation Lab (SIL) of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) had arranged the event under the theme The Lost Lahore, to highlight Lahore’s heritage and culture.

Ali said that people had been living in Lahore for thousands of years and that the city was more resilient than most cities. “The people of Lahore are its soul,” he said.

The concluding day featured panel discussions on Toolkit for Community Interventions and Sources of Identity Formation, focussing on finding ways to sustain sense of individuality and community in the increasing modernity and material progress.

The day began with a panel discussion on Civic Engagement by Mehjabeen Abidi Habib, Sadiya Rehman, Jennifer Catalano and Ross Ve Lure.

The discussion was followed by a Call to Action by SIL in which participants were asked to submit projects for Social Innovation Hackthon, which would take place in the coming weeks.

The final panel discussion on ‘identity formation’ was moderated by Nadhra Shahbaz Khan. Panellists included Kamil Khan Mumtaz, Salman Rasheed, Yousuf Bashir Qureshi and Raza Kazim.

The event came to close with classical music performances by Harsakhiyan, Rakae Jamil, Zohaib Hassan, Raza Shaukat, Salman Amjad Amanat Ali and Ali Amjad Amanat Ali.

Speaking on the first day of the event on Friday, Justice (r) Jawwad Ahmed Khwaja had encouraged the participants to work for self-realisation.

The day also featured a food festival in which Lahori food stalls were set up. The second half of the day saw Irfan Qureshi narrating the story of Lahori Nastaleeq, followed by workshops on Fresco Painting by Ustaad Rafaqat, and on Architects and Architecture of Lahore by Taimur Khan Mumtaz. Tina Sani had a talk on north Indian classical music.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28th,  2016.

COMMENTS (1)

Lahori | 8 years ago | Reply I thought that Luminites are completely unaware of the desi Lahore outside LUMS! In LUMS they act like Whites,with fake accents.
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