😎 Likedeeler in Lahore 😎

Zam-Zammah in Lahore

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He sat in defiance of municipal orders, astride the gun Zam-Zammah, on her old platform, opposite the old Ajaib ghar, the Wonder House, as the natives called the Lahore Museum. Who holds Zam-Zammah, that 'fire-breathing dragon', holds the Punjab, for the great green-bronze piece is always first of the conqueror's loot.

Rudyard Kipling, Kim

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So with this opening quote from one of the most wonderful books you can read while travelling in Pakistan, Rudyard Kipling´s Kim, I start my last episode of my Pakistan travels.
In his book, Kipling, chronicler of the British Raj, inventor of White Man´s Burden, describes "The Great Game" the conflict between the Russian and the British Empire in Afghanistan and neighboring territories. How fitting that just a few years before I came to Pakistan the Russians and the successors of the British empire, the Americans had been reenacting "The Great Game" again over Afghanistan, American money and weapons for the Mujahiddin coming through Pakistan, greasing countless palms in the process. Especially in Peshawar The Company was everywhere in those days.

When I visited in 1992, Lahore had a bit of a reputation among travellers for a very special and very nasty scam, so I took the Lonely Planet warning serious.

Don´t stay in those cheap hotels in Lahore, the owners might hide drugs in your room in your absence, then call the police and you have to bribe your way out of it to avoid jail.

The only safe cheap place they recommended was either the YMCA or the Salvation Army, I forgot which one of the two was in Lahore, but since I had made a very good experience staying in the Y in Karachi, I definitely followed their advice.

So this was my last full day in Pakistan, I basically came to Lahore to cross the border to India the next day, so to kill some time after check in, I went to the Wonder House.
There I looked at a wonderful collection of Mughal paintings and suffered greatly.

Akhbar With Lion and Calf by Govardhan, ca. 1630

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June in Lahore is probably not the best time for a visit. It was unbelievably hot, especially after spending most of my time in the cooler mountain regions.
So they had those paintings on the walls and whenever I was standing in front of one of those paintings, looking at one of those paintings, I was fine, because my admiration was greatly facilitated by a big, madly rotating fan right above me, basking me in its merciful breeze, but the moment I went out of its protective radius to venture to the next picture I would take a shower in my own sweat. Never before had I experienced anything like it, it was brutal. But ah, the relief once I was under the protection of the next fan again!

So when I left the Wonder House I was in a bit of a daze already, and then the Lahore climate hit me straight in the face. It was obviously very hot, but the air was also hard to breath, being full of dust, probably from a storm outside of the city. The sun was about to set, a very special light was streaming through the streets and the air was strangely electric, the harbinger of thunder and lightning approaching. So I was not exactly in my most fit and awake state anyway when, turning around a corner on my way to my accommodation, I was greeted by the most bizarre, unreal scene of all my entire travels in Pakistan.

Who would have thought that after the Wonder House, Lahore held more wonders in store for me? The sight I saw, in this very special air and light and atmosphere, I will never forget. The houses of the street I turned into had retreated a bit from the sidewalk to make way for a kind of piazza or open courtyard in the middle of which a giant was sitting very relaxed on some very comfy chair, almost like a throne. His head was the size of a football, his upper arms were the thickness of my thighs and his neck was like that of a bull. He was sitting there in his immaculate, very white shalwar kameez, the traditional Pakistani dress, smiling at me.
To the left, a bit in front of him, there was a Great Dane, pulling at his chain, barking frantically and non-stop and to the right I saw the object of the dog´s excitement, a lion!

A fucking lion!
Right in the middle of Lahore! I thought I was dreaming! What a scene!

While the dog was at the outmost reach of his chain, pulling at its constraint, the lion did not pay any attention at all to the little barker (once you see a Great Dane beside a full grown male lion, you know what I mean), but majestically kept pacing back and forward in the territory his chain allowed him to cover. The giant waved his hand in the typical Pakistani “come closer!“ gesture (from top to bottom) and I carefully approached, making sure to stay out of reach of any of the animals.

“Why do you have a lion here?“ I asked totally puzzled.
“It´s my hobby.“
the gentle giant answered in an unexpectedly soft voice which immediately made him appear less menacing.
He looked like he could crush me like a fly, but he was very soft-spoken and polite so I gathered all my courage and sat in the empty chair beside him. We chatted a bit for a few minutes, all the time accompanied by the Great Dane´s incessant barking and the lion´s incessant pacing, the beauty and the power of which was breathtaking
Never did I expect Lahore to make my last day in Pakistan so remarkable.

In case you´re wondering where the guy got the lion from, there is such a thing as the Asiatic Lion.
Once all over the place from Turkey to India, but now most notably residing in Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat, India to which I of course also went later in search of the elusive lion, but alas, no luck.

It was about to get dark soon and I felt a bit uncomfortable to navigate this strange lion-infested neighborhood in the dark, so I said goodbye to the gentle giant and left.

I came only a few meters far.
Then I heard a whining sound of pain and anguish.
I whirled around just in time to see the Great Dane flying through the air like a feather, now the lion being at the very end of his chain, looking very pleased with himself.
Whatever the reason, maybe one or both chains had slipped over time, increasing the reach, but somehow the Great Dane had suddenly found himself in reach of the lion´s mighty paw and with one vicious blow, the lion had sent him flying through the air, screaming like a little puppy.

Wow!
Wild and wonderful Pakistan, you never cease to amaze me!

Male Asiatic Lion in Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat, India

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I dedicate this last post of my Pakistan journey of three months to @sharoonyasir, one of my co-authors on the @ecotrain.
Since she currently resides in Lahore, Pakistan with her husband and her son, I would like to tell her, that she doesn´t even need to leave town to find adventure, to live wildly and dangerously.
Just go find that lion, Sharoon! 😎