Lahore remained one of the most enchanting cities of the subcontinent during the British Raj not just for its rich history, but also for its gardens and parks, scents and cuisine and, above all its educational institutions. Lahore’s pull has been so powerful that whoever lived – albeit temporarily – in this great city eventually found it impossible to extricate themselves from the irresistible magnetic field created around them  by the city and its atmosphere.

A popular phrase on the lips of its residents remains: “Jinney Lahore nai vekhya o jamia ee nai (One who has not seen Lahore cannot be said to be even born)”.

Pran Nevile had been one such compulsive Lahoria till 1947 when the Partition meant his childhood and youthful years were suddenly severed forever from his present with the stroke of a pen. Nevile of Nisbet Road gives a fascinating account of Lahore of the 1930s in Lahore: A Sentimental Journey. Read more