By Dr. Saeed Ahmad Ali
LAHORE, Monty Python (a British comedy troupe) referring to the history of the eccentric teapot said that it was really fascinated that how tea rooms provided an opportunity to create and discuss literature and how the tea rooms changed from country to country.
“Tea is just an excuse. I am drinking this sunset, this evening and–you,” she writes in her article, reflecting her feelings on the co-relationship of a tea-room and creativity of literature.
Around the globe, the custom of tea and Qehwa houses is incredibly hoary. Located in downtown and cultural areas or every market, these tea houses entertain common people of different races, castes, colors, and creeds.
During British rule, a tea house from 1939 to 1940 was established in Lahore, located at the bank of Mall Road. In the start of its establishment, the tea house was named “India Tea House,” where people from various schools of thought were gradually accustomed to coming for discussions.
Nobody could believe that this tea house someday would become an axis of literary personalities, poets, and writers. For ages, Lahore had been incorporating an impressive and majestic significance for being the center of cultural, literary, and academic activities.
Filled with life, music, fun, art, dance, food, and heritage, it really cast a magical spell on a traveler that produces the person always remember the memories and impression of the loving city.
And whosoever visits or comes to Lahore; becomes a part of this conurbation. An impressive belt of legendary personalities came and permanently settled here due to the magical effect of city and its heritage.
Owing to these activities, the name “Pak Tea House” is at the top of the list, which has its own history of being a dominant spot for the grooming of art, literature, and culture.
In 1939, “Bazm-e-Daastaan Goyian” an organization for the preferment of literature was founded but just after six months, the name was modified to “Halqa-e Arbab-e-Zouq” which is still prevailing. By the same year, the literary activities of Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zouq were carried out in Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) hall.
Likewise, many other organisations like Anjuman-e-Ittehaad-e-Punjab, Bzm-e-Adab Punjab, and Anjuman-e-Matalib-e-Mufida Punjab started working in collaboration with one another, reveals a document of YMCA.
Then in 1943, another organization emerged with the name of “Halqaa-e-Arbab-e-Ilm.” The companions of this organisation included Agha Shorish Kashmiri, Malik Aslam Hayyat and Syed Nazir Zaidi, noted Poet and Critic professor Dr. Saadat Saeed told APP.
Later on, in cooperation with Molana Hamid Ali Khan, an Anjuman named as “Urdu-Subha” was established, which was frequently attended by Professor Pitras Bukhari, Khawaja Dr. Muhan Singh Dewana, Dr. Shanti Roop Bhatnagar, and Dil Muhammadm, Dr Saadat Saeed informed.
It was a peak time for Lahore’s education and literature. The dawn of educational institutes emerged within the subcontinent while legendary and literary personalities from Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and many other cities of Punjab, moved towards the learning seat of the region, i.e. Lahore, he remarked. Sometimes teachers and students also visit here, Saeed added.
The major literary figures who migrated to Lahore included: Tajwar Najeeb Abadi, Muhammad Hussain Azad, Mufti Abdullah Tonki, Mahmood Terani, Mir Manzar Hussain Nazim Lakhnawi, Mirza Arshad Gorkani Dehlwi, Muhammad Shafi Qasuri, Muhammad Hassan Jalandhri, Sheikh Abdul Qadir, Professor Pitras Bukhari, Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Daaket Abdullah, A-Hameed and Sufi Tabbasum, Mansoor Afaq, a noted Urdu poet, playwright, columnist and director at Taraqi-e- Adab told APP.
At the time of the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the literary creativity and progress of the Indian Tea House were adversely affected, noted revolutionary Punjabi poet Baba Najmi, told APP. People like Munir Niazi, Mukhtar Siddique, Nasir Kazmi, and Yousuf Zafar were part of the literary sessions, he added.
Likewise, after partition of subcontinent, the word India was removed, and “Pak” was written over there. In this way, the ‘India Tea House’ was transformed into “Pak Tea House,” he said.
With its reopening after the partition, the writers and poets started coming back and this tea spot again became a center of education and literature, he said while replying to a query.
Pak Tea House had embedded a pivotal mark by leaving a historical literary revolution and a memorable impression on fiction, novel, poetry, and myth writing, Najmi remarked. A-Hameed, a renowned Urdu fiction writer from Lahore, and an author of over 200 books has mentioned this tea house in his famous book “Lahore Ke Yadain,”.
This is not just a tea cafe but had been signified as a literature hub and cultural center, he writes. My meetings with Nasir Kazmi, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shuhrat Bukhari, Anjum Romani, Munir Niazi, Qayyum Nazar, and Sajjad Rizvi were materialized here, he writes.
A-Hameed had written a famous novel on Pak Tea House titled “Dhoop or Shagoofay”; which starts and ends on Pak Tea House. This novel displays a glimpse of the noted writers who were often used to work here. In the novel, he narrated the glory of the tea house.
