The road much travelled — VI

Gujranwala has also produced many celebrities: sportsmen, politicians and writers, but it is not a historic town.

Beyond Gujrat, the GT Road meandered through Wazirabad, which had originally been settled by an Italian general employed in Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army. The town had once been famous for its knives. By 1985, however, it had not only lost its monopoly in the trade but along with it, its vibrancy. After stopping there just long enough to absorb its past glory, Raza Ali Abidi resumed his journey. He passed the village of Gakkhar, settled by Emperor Humayun upon his return from Iran, for the Gakkhars of Rawalpindi, as a reward for their loyalty in his battles against Sher Shah Suri. While still marvelling at Humayun’s largesse, Mr Abidi was surprised by fields of sunflowers just a short distance from Gakkhar. Standing eight to ten feet tall and swaying gently in the breeze, they heralded Mr Abidi’s next stop: Gujranwala.

Gujranwala in 1985 was a bright, alive and bustling town. The bazaar was crowded with people, some drinking cold milk (which seemed to be a particularly favourite drink), others buying fruits and vegetables and others still bargaining eagerly for steel trunks and pots and pans. Mr Abidi was eager to buy a thaan of fabric, which he had been told was ideal for making dupattas. Soon, the shop of an acquaintance was found and the bargain struck. However, when Mr Abidi returned with his prize to Karachi, he discovered that the fabled thaan from Gujranwala had in fact been manufactured in Karachi. This little mishap aside, the true fame of Gujranwala lies in the ability of its people to copy any machine from anywhere in the world simply by observing it. Mr Abidi was lucky to meet with some of these mechanical wizards and to discover that the stories of their prowess were not in any way exaggerated.

Gujranwala has also produced many celebrities: bodybuilders (the then ‘Mr Pakistan’), sportsmen (hockey player Mir Latif), judges (including our erstwhile president justice (retd) Rafiq Tarar) and writers (Noon Meem Rashid and Waris Shah, the creator of the legend of Heer Ranjha). It is not, however, a historic town! It does not appear in any Mughal records even though Akbar settled Aimanabad and Hafizabad very near it and Dara Shikoh settled Sheikhupura (which was originally known as ‘Shikoh-pura’). According to some, Gujranwala was established in the 18^th century by a tribe of Gujjars who had been expelled from Amritsar by their arch-enemies, the Jats. Although the Gujjars had originally planned to go to the banks of the Chenab, they set up camp at the site of present-day Gujranwala and liked the place so much that they decided to stay here.

The Gujjars, however, did not live in peace for too long and Gujranwala was soon captured by the Sikhs. Not surprisingly, therefore, the town boasts a number of Sikh buildings, including the birthplace of the Maharaja, although even by 1985, a number of these had been converted into madrassas. Gujranwala was once again noticed when its residents participated actively in the Non-Cooperation Movement of the early 1920s by pulling out railway tracks. The British retaliated by rebuilding the railway station many miles outside the city. However, such was the power of the residents that the British were soon forced to relocate the station closer to town. The same station is now very much inside the city and is a testament to how much it has grown over the years.

From Gujranwala, Mr Abidi went by bus (to Ali Pur Chattha) and from there on a tonga to Syed Nagar, a somewhat large village located about 20 miles off GT Road. He had expected village life but was not prepared for the anachronism that awaited him: Syed Nagar was inhabited by Syeds that had migrated from Muzaffar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, India, in the twilight of the Mughal era. And so it was that Mr Abidi found himself delighted by chaste Urdu in the heartland of Punjab. It was with some reluctance that Mr Abidi took leave of the gentle Syeds to finally leave for Lahore. He had often heard it said that a person who has not seen Lahore is not yet born. And it was with the wide-eyed curiosity of a newborn that he arrived in this city. But more on that next time.

(To be continued)

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2011.