Bargaining for goat, Dhorr

Bargaining for goat, Dhorr
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Bargaining is the key to purchasing in any Asian market worth its salt. So goat market at Dhorr - or any other place for that matter in Pakistan - is no different. This age old custom of bargaining combines with Islamic injunction to sacrifice your best animal sees this old man bargaining for a good price to sell his only goat at this wonderful market, which is set every Tuesday year round at Dhorr, a town near Nawab Shah, and famed for its goat. These animals are also illegally smuggled to Afghanistan, India and Iran, all neighbors of Pakistan. And they are exported to UAE and Saudi Arab, thus driving the prices high during Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Azha.

Making jalebis, Lahore

Making jalebis, Lahore
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

There is something about eating from the stalls situated just outside the Tombs / Shrines of Saints in Pakistan. There is a certain aroma suffused with mysticism and religion a combination, which has been acceptable to majority of Muslims since its inception. Today, however, this form of Islam is under direct threat from Saud-Wahabi-Salafi funded terrorists - not Jihadis, mind you - in the form of suicide bombings and killings. First it was Rehman Baba in Peshawar, the Bari Imam near Islamabad, then Data Darbar, the most revered Saint in Pak-Hind region. Now, they have blown up the gates of Abdullah Shah Ghazi (RA) in Karachi and Baba Fareed Gunj Shakar (RA) in Pak Pattan, a place I so love.

The place photographed above is just outside the Tomb of Shah Hussain and Madho Lal in Lahore.

Photograph shot during a road trip from Karachi to Jhelum in 2008.