Happy Muslim Mama: Summer 2008 in Lahore: The Local Baghbanpura Bazaar

These pictures are of the market local to my in-laws house. As Lahore’s population has exploded over the last ten years and outlying villages have been swallowed up by the city, this bazaar has gone from being a small local market to one of Lahore’s busiest. The photo’s don’t really give you an indication of the sheer volume of noise – motorbikes, haggling women, street vendors hawking their goods, animals, horse-drawn buggies, donkey carts and truanting schoolboys.

This shop was an absolute crafters/hoarders delight with walls full of row after row of beads, crystals, sequins, diamantes and embroidery gems.

Gold is traditionally given in Pakistan during weddings, but the price is now so high that ordinary people cannot afford this tradition. What jewellers do instead is use a little gold and a lot of beads, glass, semi-precious stones and coloured cord to make up the set. The shop above had beautiful designs.