Indus Priest King
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~ Are Housing Schemes Destroying Our Urban History? ~
Our urban neighbourhoods have always been named to reflect our culture or history - places like Gulberg, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Nazimabad, Anarkali, Lyari, Faizabad, Hayatabad etc. All these places have culture, history and soul about them. Nowadays however, places like "Paragon City", "Eden Avenue", "Ideal Garden Housing Scheme", "DHA City", "Bahria Town", "Arian City", "Top City" seem to be the norm. Does this not seem problematic? "Bahria Town" is not actually a town, it's a private company named "Bahria Town Private Limited". Why are company names replacing the names of villages and localities which have stood for over 500 years? At this rate Lyari might be one day renamed to Coca Cola Town and Thokar Niaz Beg might be renamed to Pepsi City.
For many of you, this might not be a big deal, but for me and anyone who loves history, this is a tragedy in the making and it needs to stop. Our urban history is being destroyed like this. Please read the following and your feedback would be appreciated.
Housing society names are generally very ignorantly conceived. The majority of them are actually names of companies and not actually "towns" or "cities". And nowhere else in Pakistan is this more evident than in Lahore.
Back in the 1950s and 60s, visionary and educated people were administering the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). All urban localities of Lahore were named after the historic village or named to reflect the local culture. In fact, it was forbidden to destroy any village. Any new housing development would have to build around the village and keep the village name intact.
Over 250 years ago, Lahore city only consisted of the "Androon Shehr" or Walled City. Outside the wall, Lahore was surrounded by farmland and small villages. Over the next 250 years to present time, Lahore expanded beyond its walls, and many of these surrounding villages were absorbed.
When LDA was formed, an emphasis was made to keep these names alive. It is for this reason why Lahore has so much character to it...for example, places like:
- Anarkali
- Badami Bagh
- Gawalmandi
- Daroghawala
- Shahdara
- Heera Mandi
- Mughulpura
- Ichra
- Mazang
- Baghbanpura
- Thokar Niaz Baig
- Kot Lakhpat
- Babu Sabu
- etc....
When Lahore expanded east of Canal Road and towards Thokar in the 1970s, new housing subdivisions were constructed and given names by the LDA to reflect the local culture, such as:
- Gulberg
- Samanabad
- Gulshan-e-Ravi
- Gulshan-e-Iqbal
- Ghaziabad
- Nabipura
- Batapur
- Sabzazar
- etc...
The most interesting is Batapur. When the Bata Shoe Factory opened in east Lahore, the company also constructed a new housing estate adjacent to the factory. Instead of giving it a soulless name like "Bata Employees Cooperative Housing Society" or "Bata City" or "Bata Town", they named it Batapur...a name that is still used today. This was not only a smart marketing move, but it also respected the local culture and language.
Then the 1980s arrived...and it was during this period that Lahore began changing its naming philosophy. Instead of respecting the local culture, Anglo names were given to new housing developments, such as:
- Faisal Town
- Garden Town
- Muslim Town
- Model Town
- Johar Town
- Firdous Colony
- Islamia Park
- New Garden Town
These names have no soul to them whatsoever. Despite the fact Urdu and Punjabi words already exist, the Anglo terms were adopted. For example, the word for TOWN in Urdu and Punjabi would be any of the following:
- Abad (آباد)
- Abadi (آبادی)
- Pur (پور)
- Pura (پورہ)
- Mahalla (محله)
In Urdu, there is no word for colony as this was adopted from English. However, Urdu (as is the case for all other Pakistani languages) has traditionally always borrowed from Persian, and it should have applied in this case. The term for "colony" or "town" in Persian is Shahrak (شهرک). For example, Tehran's "Qarb Town" is referred to as "Shahrak-e Gharb". Similar names could have easily applied to places like:
- Faisal Town as Shahrak-e-Faisal (شهرک فیصل)
- Garden Town as Shahrak-e-Bagh (شهرک باغ)
- Johar Town as Shahrak-e-Johar (شهرک جوہر)
- Firdous Colony as Shahrak-e-Firdous (شهرک فردوس)
Then words like "Park" and "New" were introduced, despite the fact these terms already had an Urdu and Punjabi equivalent.
- Park is Bagh (باغ)
- New is Naya (نیا) or Nei (نئی)
Why "town", "colony", "park" and "new" were introduced by LDA is unknown. But this is the LDA we're talking about...they're not the smartest bunch of people. Then in the 1990s, housing society names started getting more bizarre.
"Defence Housing Authority" became a popular destination for the rich and elite of Lahore. But does this actually sound welcoming and residential? Does it have any history to it? Is it associated with our culture? The answer is obviously no. To somebody who is not familiar with this place, it would sound more like an administrative body (LDA, CDA etc.) or an industrial area. What's even more disturbing were the number of villages that were destroyed building Defence, Lahore. The only village which survived is Islampura, which to this day exists within Lahore Cantonment.
I have many friends who live in Defence and many of them refer to Defence as "DHA", which I find silly. Islamabadis don't say they live in "Capital Development Authority" or "CDA"? Karachites don't say they live in "Karachi Metropolitan Corporation" or "KMC" either.
Defence also introduced the term "Phase". Not only was this a waste of breath saying, it also clogged up our road signs. Defence could have learned from Shadman, built 80 years earlier, as it too was divided into phases. However, Shadman simply uses numerals as "Shadman 1", "Shadman 2" while Defence uses "DHA Phase 1", "DHA Phase 2", etc. Odd, but it gets worse.
As you move more south from Defence, you come across even more weird names, each with its own "phases" such as:
- LDA City
- LDA Avenue
- Wapda Town
- Lake City
- Abdalian Cooperative Housing Society
- NFC Employees Cooperative Housing Society
- Bahria Town
- Architects Engineers Housing Society
- Audit & Accounts Housing Society
- Millat Tractors Employees Housing Society
LDA now puts more emphasis on naming these places after housing schemes, rather than the historic neighbourhood or village they were built in. For example:
- LDA City was built over Kahna Nau
- Wapda Town over Ali Raza Abad
- Garden Town over Devasabad and Mariyan
- Bahria Town over Maraka
- Faisal Town over Mochi Pura
- LDA Avenue over Chung
- Model Town and Township over Pind Rajputan and Kot Lakhpat
Sadly this is becoming a trend across the country and if you're concerned about history, then you should be outraged and should lodge a protest with your respective development authority.
I support new housing developments 100% as we need better housing. But I cannot support naming entire new localities after ridiculous sounding housing developments as they do not reflect our culture.
Names like Gawalmandi, Mazung, Jallo, Gulberg, Shah Jamal all mean something to Lahoris. They have a soul to them and rich long history. "Defence Housing Authority Phase 8" means nothing as does "Bahria Town". They are hallow, soulless, suburban black holes.
LDA should revert back to its old naming ideology, as the present one is just destroying our urban history.
Our urban neighbourhoods have always been named to reflect our culture or history - places like Gulberg, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Nazimabad, Anarkali, Lyari, Faizabad, Hayatabad etc. All these places have culture, history and soul about them. Nowadays however, places like "Paragon City", "Eden Avenue", "Ideal Garden Housing Scheme", "DHA City", "Bahria Town", "Arian City", "Top City" seem to be the norm. Does this not seem problematic? "Bahria Town" is not actually a town, it's a private company named "Bahria Town Private Limited". Why are company names replacing the names of villages and localities which have stood for over 500 years? At this rate Lyari might be one day renamed to Coca Cola Town and Thokar Niaz Beg might be renamed to Pepsi City.
For many of you, this might not be a big deal, but for me and anyone who loves history, this is a tragedy in the making and it needs to stop. Our urban history is being destroyed like this. Please read the following and your feedback would be appreciated.
Housing society names are generally very ignorantly conceived. The majority of them are actually names of companies and not actually "towns" or "cities". And nowhere else in Pakistan is this more evident than in Lahore.
Back in the 1950s and 60s, visionary and educated people were administering the Lahore Development Authority (LDA). All urban localities of Lahore were named after the historic village or named to reflect the local culture. In fact, it was forbidden to destroy any village. Any new housing development would have to build around the village and keep the village name intact.
Over 250 years ago, Lahore city only consisted of the "Androon Shehr" or Walled City. Outside the wall, Lahore was surrounded by farmland and small villages. Over the next 250 years to present time, Lahore expanded beyond its walls, and many of these surrounding villages were absorbed.
When LDA was formed, an emphasis was made to keep these names alive. It is for this reason why Lahore has so much character to it...for example, places like:
- Anarkali
- Badami Bagh
- Gawalmandi
- Daroghawala
- Shahdara
- Heera Mandi
- Mughulpura
- Ichra
- Mazang
- Baghbanpura
- Thokar Niaz Baig
- Kot Lakhpat
- Babu Sabu
- etc....
When Lahore expanded east of Canal Road and towards Thokar in the 1970s, new housing subdivisions were constructed and given names by the LDA to reflect the local culture, such as:
- Gulberg
- Samanabad
- Gulshan-e-Ravi
- Gulshan-e-Iqbal
- Ghaziabad
- Nabipura
- Batapur
- Sabzazar
- etc...
The most interesting is Batapur. When the Bata Shoe Factory opened in east Lahore, the company also constructed a new housing estate adjacent to the factory. Instead of giving it a soulless name like "Bata Employees Cooperative Housing Society" or "Bata City" or "Bata Town", they named it Batapur...a name that is still used today. This was not only a smart marketing move, but it also respected the local culture and language.
Then the 1980s arrived...and it was during this period that Lahore began changing its naming philosophy. Instead of respecting the local culture, Anglo names were given to new housing developments, such as:
- Faisal Town
- Garden Town
- Muslim Town
- Model Town
- Johar Town
- Firdous Colony
- Islamia Park
- New Garden Town
These names have no soul to them whatsoever. Despite the fact Urdu and Punjabi words already exist, the Anglo terms were adopted. For example, the word for TOWN in Urdu and Punjabi would be any of the following:
- Abad (آباد)
- Abadi (آبادی)
- Pur (پور)
- Pura (پورہ)
- Mahalla (محله)
In Urdu, there is no word for colony as this was adopted from English. However, Urdu (as is the case for all other Pakistani languages) has traditionally always borrowed from Persian, and it should have applied in this case. The term for "colony" or "town" in Persian is Shahrak (شهرک). For example, Tehran's "Qarb Town" is referred to as "Shahrak-e Gharb". Similar names could have easily applied to places like:
- Faisal Town as Shahrak-e-Faisal (شهرک فیصل)
- Garden Town as Shahrak-e-Bagh (شهرک باغ)
- Johar Town as Shahrak-e-Johar (شهرک جوہر)
- Firdous Colony as Shahrak-e-Firdous (شهرک فردوس)
Then words like "Park" and "New" were introduced, despite the fact these terms already had an Urdu and Punjabi equivalent.
- Park is Bagh (باغ)
- New is Naya (نیا) or Nei (نئی)
Why "town", "colony", "park" and "new" were introduced by LDA is unknown. But this is the LDA we're talking about...they're not the smartest bunch of people. Then in the 1990s, housing society names started getting more bizarre.
"Defence Housing Authority" became a popular destination for the rich and elite of Lahore. But does this actually sound welcoming and residential? Does it have any history to it? Is it associated with our culture? The answer is obviously no. To somebody who is not familiar with this place, it would sound more like an administrative body (LDA, CDA etc.) or an industrial area. What's even more disturbing were the number of villages that were destroyed building Defence, Lahore. The only village which survived is Islampura, which to this day exists within Lahore Cantonment.
I have many friends who live in Defence and many of them refer to Defence as "DHA", which I find silly. Islamabadis don't say they live in "Capital Development Authority" or "CDA"? Karachites don't say they live in "Karachi Metropolitan Corporation" or "KMC" either.
Defence also introduced the term "Phase". Not only was this a waste of breath saying, it also clogged up our road signs. Defence could have learned from Shadman, built 80 years earlier, as it too was divided into phases. However, Shadman simply uses numerals as "Shadman 1", "Shadman 2" while Defence uses "DHA Phase 1", "DHA Phase 2", etc. Odd, but it gets worse.
As you move more south from Defence, you come across even more weird names, each with its own "phases" such as:
- LDA City
- LDA Avenue
- Wapda Town
- Lake City
- Abdalian Cooperative Housing Society
- NFC Employees Cooperative Housing Society
- Bahria Town
- Architects Engineers Housing Society
- Audit & Accounts Housing Society
- Millat Tractors Employees Housing Society
LDA now puts more emphasis on naming these places after housing schemes, rather than the historic neighbourhood or village they were built in. For example:
- LDA City was built over Kahna Nau
- Wapda Town over Ali Raza Abad
- Garden Town over Devasabad and Mariyan
- Bahria Town over Maraka
- Faisal Town over Mochi Pura
- LDA Avenue over Chung
- Model Town and Township over Pind Rajputan and Kot Lakhpat
Sadly this is becoming a trend across the country and if you're concerned about history, then you should be outraged and should lodge a protest with your respective development authority.
I support new housing developments 100% as we need better housing. But I cannot support naming entire new localities after ridiculous sounding housing developments as they do not reflect our culture.
Names like Gawalmandi, Mazung, Jallo, Gulberg, Shah Jamal all mean something to Lahoris. They have a soul to them and rich long history. "Defence Housing Authority Phase 8" means nothing as does "Bahria Town". They are hallow, soulless, suburban black holes.
LDA should revert back to its old naming ideology, as the present one is just destroying our urban history.
