Anarkali was my grandmother’s childhood home. “toon ki jaane bholiye majhe naarkali diyaan shaanan” reads the beginning verses of Anwar Masood’s Punjabi poem, inscribed on the walls overlooking the entrance to Bano Bazaar.

 “What do you know of the glories of Anarkali, young calf?”

I walked to the Neela Gumbad area today, named after the shrine to Sheikh Abdul Razzaq of Mecca, which has been swallowed up by the surrounding encroachment. This area is known for its numerous bicycle shops (and notably where I also bought my first one). I bought mithai and cookies from Syed Mohkam-ud-Din & Sons bakery, one of the oldest bakeries there, for Bhaghat Lal Khokar, the priest at the Valmiki Mandir, one of Lahore’s last two remaining Hindu temples. As I remembered, he claimed that this was the only temple in the entirety of Punjab that was not under the direct control of the Auqaf Department or the ETPB. Khokar said that his family controlled the temple for generations, including before Partition. 

I knock on the door and an unknown man greets me. I ask for Bhagat sahab and he frowns. “Which Bhagat?” When I confirm the name, he looks at me even more strangely and goes inside. An officer from the ETPB emerges and looks at me sternly. 

“Khokar’s work here is finished.”

What I find out is that the ETPB and the state have won a case against Valmiki Mandir–and all the prized land in its possession. Bhaghat Lal Khokar was accused of selling alcohol on the premises and, surprisingly, of being a Christian, as he allowed a nascent Christian convert community to also worship at the temple. The Valmikis are a Dalit community, which escapes the state’s categories of Hindu-Muslim. Now, the state has expropriated the temple on exactly those grounds, but it also has the function of capital. The temple has control over a vast amount of land, rent-generating land, especially shops in the commercial district of Anarkali. 

Now, the ETPB officer thought I was there to solicit alcohol. When he sees the safety of my student status, he welcomes me in and takes the mithai. He assures me that they have removed the church from the premises and given the temple “back to the Hindu community.” An approved priest from the Hindu community, who is also an employee of the Auqaf department, emerges from the sanctum. He invites me in and we perform the rites. 

I have not yet located Bhagat Lal Khokar.