Re: Lahore Lahore Hai
** interesting to note how much argument ensues over anything over here**
As for the saying, its a saying ** NOT** a song.
And you ** DONT say it** in english. The phrase itself in Urdu is associated with just Lahore. You wont hear people saying "karachi karachi hay" or 'Rome Rome hay'. Its unique to the city of Lahore only.
As for historical aspects:
Let me ** enlist** for all the uninformed WHY ** Lahore** is specifically different in terms of its ancestry
** 1-** While any city in the world might have history, as so many of you have cited examples above, Lahore is unique in that it belongs to a country founded for Muslims and the city itself is the site of many many many political meetings which ultimately led to the creation of this country I call home.
2- While others may argue that other cities also had these political rallies and whatnot,the answer to that is that those cities arent in present day Pakland. And if they are (If anyone wants to bring up Karachi) then at the time, Karachi was completely commercial being a port city and while it was an important business/political hub, it was NOT a ** CULTURAL ** one.
3- Let's focus on the fact that this term is applicable as is, meaning "Lahore Lahore hay" shouldnt be translated urdu-to-english or whatever. Because the term can only be appreciated by Pakistanis. Not LAHORIS specifically. But Pakistanis. NOT foreigners. Why? Because the history of our country affects just us. Whether we were born abroad, whether we lived abroad, whether this or whether that, we are of this land. We have connections to this land. Our bloodline is here. This is the country our forefathers/great grandfathers/grandfathers have fought for and the country which our fathers and we ourselves are developing. And the country which will define our children's identity.
Within THIS beautiful land, the land which finally allowed the Muslims of the subcontinent a sanctuary within which they could follow unhindered the path ordained by Allah, within THIS land, the city which has witnessed most of what the Muslims residing here have gone through, IS Lahore.
Lahore was the seat of the mogul emperors. Lahore was the gem of the Punjab, the one city everyone knew of even before division in the area which was later to become "Pakistan".
Lahore was decorated by rulers, plundered by conquerers, praised by poets of every age. Lahore was and is and will thereby always be, a city which any Pakistani will feel rooted to within a few short weeks of living here.
** I say this with conviction because I have, since childhood, been moving continent to continent, and no place, felt * more* like home, than Lahore. No place grew on me like Lahore did. And then I got to know of this term..and thought abt it..and mind you this, terms evolve because of general consensus. Many people would have had to have said this over the decades for it to have become a cliche today.
So
Lahore Lahore hay. **
doesnt seem related to the topic either
I’d like to visit Karachi though.