Lahore from the Sky (Part 3)

Yet more photos you don't get to see everyday

This is the third and final installment of the photographs I took from a charter flight a few days ago.


The photo above is, I apologize, left over from the last blog entry. There, I tried to group together some photos that best brought Lahore's urban residential template into focus. The photos above is another example. Taken from above LUMS, you can see Phase V behind it and more DHA as far as the eye can see. Phase V has already been plotted out and people have not only begun construction, some have actually moved in. Within the next couple of years, the entire area behind LUMS in the photo above will be full of houses using cars, air-conditioners, drinking water and consuming other utilities in a non-sustainable and environmentally unfriendly manner.

That said, this photo is a good place to start this third edition of the Lahore from the Sky blog entry. We will be returning to DHA towards the end of today's entry.

Here's a good photo taken of GOR-I from over the Race Course Park. From here, you can clearly see the monstrous new Chief Minister's Secretariat building. I've written about this monstrosity before, and you can find a copy of my article here. The photo above also indicates where the park I write about is.


Here's another photo. You know, just below and to the left of the new CM Secretariat is the old Chief Minster's Official Residence. Below that is the GOR-I abadi. I had no idea it was so close to the boundary wall of the CM Secretariat. I'm sure there's a joke or a euphemism in this photo somewhere, I just can't seem think of it.


From the photo above you can make out the Governor's Mansion and the Lawrence and Montgomery Halls. Below the PC is the same GOR-I basti that you can make out in the pictures above. I've written about how I find this basti a bit of an urban planning conundrum. Think about it.


If you get a headache (or worse) while you're staying at the PC, do you know where the nearest pharmacy is? Okay, so what if the Concierge doesn't have Paracetamol, or what if you need something the hotel doctor doesn't stock? The nearest pharmacy is well over a 15 minute walk away.

What intrigues me about this is why the basti behind the PC hasn't responded to the market need. Why isn't this area (and it's comparatively cheaper land prices) a collection of small cafe's galleries and other things tourists and visitors need (like pharmacies). There must be something terribly wrong with our property development paradigm if this isn't happening. On the other hand, someone told me there weren't any cafe's behind the PC because Mr. Hashwani wouldn't want anyone making Rs. 115/- for every order of Coca Cola. Fair point.


The photo above and two below are when we flow over the Upper Mall area. I got some good photographs of the Mall Road between Zafar Ali Road and the Canal.



Below is a shot taken from the same position as above, but facing the other way. You're now looking from the Mall roughly northwards towards the Cantonment. On the top right of you photo, you can see the village and Tomb of Mian Mir. I'm fascinated about how old villages like Mian Mir, Ichra and Mozang were absorbed by the the growth of the city.


Mian Mir has played it's part in the history of this part of the city. Below is a portion of a 1927 survey map of the area. Raza posted some interesting information about the present site of the Gymkhana Club and its relationship with the Mian Mir area. Read more about it here.


We also managed to fly over the Tomb of Hazrat Mian Mir. You can see his shrine (below) and the pavilion attached to the complex (above).


Here's a picture of the pavilion from another angle, just to give you an idea of the size of the place.


Below are some photos of Charrar village in DHA. I consider these some of the most interesting photos I got. First, get your bearings. I've taken a snap from Google Earth that show you Charrar smack in the middle of High End DHA.


This is what the village looks like from the sky. From what I understand, the village came to surrounded gradually, with the development of new phases. By the time Phase IV came around, the village was totally surrounded. Like I said, I'm interested in how villages integrate themselves with the growing city. Charrar hasn't been very lucky. Read here (promises) and here (reality) why.


I happened to be on a commercial flight a few days later and, by chance, I managed to get another shot of Charrar after take off from Lahore airport.


Why does Charrar hold such fascination for me? Well, the gradual "criminlization" of the Charrar people (many in DHA, including the DHA administration, see the villagers as a nuisance) sets up a poor precedent for how urban growth accommodates pre-existing villages. That's not all, Lahore is set to expand even further in the coming years. Below is a snap from a satellite image of Lahore (the entire image can be seen here). You can make out DHA Phases 5 and 6 on the top and other housing societies to the left. But what will happen to the people of the villages that are now threatened by Lahore's development and expansion? Our urban planners and the DHA need to think long and hard about what the right thing to do is.


Anyone who wants to see the above image in all its glory can click here.

I've heard that DHA hasn't acquired the land for these villages because of the labor available there. I hope this isn't the case (and I will try and confirm it through my own sources and let you know), because it would be unfair to acquire a village's agricultural lands (as was done, for instance, in Charrar), use the village's labor and then create a high end residential accomodation scheme next to thousands of destitute former farmers.

The photo below is looking over and into the foundation of the upcoming Sheikh Zayed Center, the tallest building in South Asia. We were heading in to land and were on our approach run to the Walton airstrip. Note the cranes on the top left corner are completely submerged in the foundation. More interesting is how close the flight path to the runway is to the upcoming structure.


The pilots told us that there is some pressure to close the air club down. This pressure comes from the Air Force, which wants to use the land around the flying club for it's residential housing schemes. And on the other hand, the Sheikh Zayed Center is a joint venture between the Abu Dhabi Emaar construction company and the Government of Pakistan. Below is a clip I took from Google earth . It shows just how close to the flight path the construction is.



I wrote a piece on Walton airport much after this flight. You can find it here.