‘Lahoris are funny’

By Ali Usman

LAHORE: My resemblance to Pathans often creates funny situations as people talk to me in Pashtu, said Australian artist Damon Kowarsky while talking to Daily Times on Thursday.

Kowarsky recalled how one night a Pathan approached him when he was walking along a road in Gulberg. “It was dark and I was heading back to my place when a Pathan approached me and talked to me in Pashtu. I told him I did not know Pashtu, at which he wondered what kind of a Pathan I was. I told him that I was an Australian, upon which he silently kept walking with me for a while and then we went our separate ways,” he said.

Kowarsky said he did not laugh in front of that man, but laughed out loud while sharing the incident with his friends. He said Lahoris were very hospitable and funny people. He said the architecture of the Walled City was quite interesting and he got lost there, as all the lanes looked the same.

“The Courtyard of the Wazir Khan Mosque is my favourite spot. You step in and all the noise is left behind. That mosque is an artistic place with beautiful designs on the walls, flying pigeons and a magnificent view of the outside,” he said.

He said4 the shrines in the city were also very peaceful. “When you go inside a shrine barefoot, you have a feeling that you are at some ‘real’ sacred place, which is great,” he said.

He said Lahore was really Pakistan’s artistic hub. “Life never stops here. You can go to various places in the evening; musical nights or painting exhibitions,” he added.

He said he loved qawalis and enjoyed listening to classical music. “I enjoyed the Rafi Peer’s World Performing Arts Festival, especially the traditional and folk performances,” he added.

The visitor commented that Pakistani artists were specialised in the art of miniature paintings. “I have seen a lot of good exhibitions during my stay here,” he said. He said he found political comments in the work of many artists, probably because politics was very important in Pakistan.

He lamented that the traffic in Lahore was chaotic and the city did not offer many places to walk.

He said his worst time over here was when the emergency rule was imposed and Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. “I had never felt so scared in my life,” he added. He said despite everything, he would like to visit Pakistan again. “Lahore resembles Melbourne, my native city, and I will remember it always,” he said.

Damon Kowarsky came to Lahore in August last year to teach art at the Beaconhouse National University and studied miniature painting as well. His term has almost ended, and he will be going back home in February.