Cooking chawal, old Hyderabad, Pakistan

Cooking chawal, old Hyderabad, Pakistan
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Via Flickr:
Biryani is perhaps the single most popular dish in Sindh and Punjab provinces. Off course, the dish was popularized by people living in Delhi and Lucknow and who then immigrated to Pakistan on the eve of partition of British India in 1947. This man was checking for the right quality of rice, known as basmatti, for using in the cooking of a sumptuous biryani. They say that the best biryani is that of mutton. In fact, there used to certain cooks who refused to cook biryani using chicken!

Please also note one more thing here: Hindu Brahmins of past never ate or even touched meat or eggs. So it is highly unlikely that this man, if he had been here before 1947, would be cooking biryani or any other meat related dish. It is to these Urdu-speaking Mohajirs of India (Urdu speaking is a wide ranging term employed in Pakistan to encompass everyone from Delhi walla to Lucknow walla but not Gujratis) that the popularity of Biryani may be traced. Even today, after 60 years of partition, no other ethnic group can cook a better biryani than Hyderabadis or Delhi wallas. Some say Memons (from Gujarat province of India) also cook good biryani. Sindhis, the traditional inhabitants of this province - hence the name Sindh - are also not good cooks of this culinary delight.

[Now, Biryani is part of Pakistani culture along with Karhai ghosht. I mention this man and his deghs here because his business is now essential part of living in Heerabad area of Hyderabad, Pakistan.]

Hindu heritage of Hyderabad, Pakistan

Hindu heritage of Hyderabad, Pakistan
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Via Flickr:
Pessumal Pritamdas Zamindar

Construction date: 1934.

Hindu heritage of Hyderabad, Pakistan

Hindu heritage of Hyderabad, Pakistan
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Via Flickr:
Real name: Unknown.
Now named: Kashan-e-Amjad, Heerabad, Hyderbad, Sindh province, Pakistan.

Hindu banyas, as the Brahmin caste is known in Urdu and Hindi, knew little while constructing such beautiful entrances that their time in up-coming Pakistan was running short. In 1947, British litrally ran away from British India, dividing the country into Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan, jumbling up the borders to their own likes and dislikes, putting to sword the lives of millions. Many died in Punjab bloodbath and Pakistan's founder, Mr. Jinnah, wondered whether he done it right by creating a homeland for Muslims of India? He, like millions across the border, were dumbstruck by the results. The results were understood long before blood letting was allowed by the British but to no avail. Rapes, looting and murder were the order of the day. The peaceful Muslims in newly created India were either killed or forced to relocate. Same thing happened to Hindus, people who'd lived here since last 4,000 years or so. But they were to move enmasse. Even personal appeal from Mr. Jinnah was unable to stop Hindus of Sindh from vanishing overnight. But something good also happened here: As against thousands of killed daily in Punjab province hardly anyone was killed or maimed here in Sindh province. It remained largely peaceful except for some isolated incidents in Karachi and elsewhere. Even Parsis, followers of Zarathustra, felt insecure and left for greener pastures. Their places were eventually filled by Delhi wallas, Hyderabadis and Lucknawis, people who claimed big properties in India and who now got such beautiful havelis in return (see this and other photographs).

How sad is our history! But only if we knew.

Hindu heritage of Hyderabad, Pakistan

I am suddenly reminded of a wonderful Hindu heritage present in our country. And some of that I have documented in Hyderabad and in Karachi. Sadly, we have lost much of it. What is left is slowly dying due mainly to the negligent behaviour of our government and ignorance of our general public. World over heritage is lovingly preserved and restored. Here in Pakistan we just tend to destroy everything to make way for the new. For being new is a sign of progress and of modernism. We feel connected to New York and London. But, the question is, can we get connected to these great modern cities by just blowing away our heritage sites? If the answer was yes, then Paris, London and Delhi would already had done away with their respective heritage. Instead, they preserved and today those very old buildings compel travellers from across the world to come and to see and to photograph. In this and other things, I am sad to say, we have miserably failed. We have even tried to forget the heritage of Pakistan focusing only on Islamic structures. In 2008, for example, Taliban blew some really beautiful and historically very important Buddhas in Swat valley. And there was no cry among the general Pakistanis. We did not raise our heads except for a few rare people. Why? Because we are generally unaware - and unconcerned - about our rare and important heritage.

It is in this background that I will be sharing some of my photographs of heritage, dying and dead. Keep watching this space.

Fisherman, Mancher lake, Indus River, Sindh

Indus River Saga
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

This is an old fisherman on the bank of a great, now poisoned, Mancher lake (or jheel, as is known in Urdu). It draws its waters from the great River Indus, the lifeline of Pakistan around which all our great civilizations have flourished - and drowned. You may name Indus Valley civilization (Moen jo Daro site, etc), Kalhoras, Talpurs of Sindh, Nawabs of lower Punjab, even Mughuls (on the bank of now-dead Ravi, part of Indus river system) and so on and so forth. It is claimed that the culture on both sides of River Indus are radically different. I have never been able to verify this claim but a good start on the history and present-day scenoria on this river would be to read Alice Albinia's 'Empires of the Indus', a beautifully written, first hand account of her journey from the mouth of Indus to its starting point in Tibet.

[Unfortunately, I have somehow managed to loose this beautiful photograph from my archive].

Islamabad Japanese Park, Pakistan (1990)

Ameer Hamza on ropes, Islamabad Japanese Park (1990)
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

You can get some idea about our times in 1990 by the clothes I am wearing. There's nothing else to inform you about those good times. Time when our country was much more liberal, tolerant and understanding of each other. Now, bigotry, religious hatred and ethnic violence cloud our judgment and life. I look happy and most of Pakistan of those times was also very happy, indeed. It was prosperous and affordable for most Pakistanis. Now, sadly, many things are simply out of reach of around 80% Pakistanis.

This photograph is also important on a personal level. It brings back good memories of a time gone past. Like all personal photographs this too is a treasure.