Backpacking Tourists Get High on Lahore’s Hospitality

The Japanese tourists need something flammable. ”Kerosene?” A French journalist drops by for a warm handshake and news about the road to Iran. Two girls, one Colombian, one South African, sit outside the cramped, do-it-yourself kitchen. On special nights, groups of ”qawwali,” or devotional, musicians take over the rooftop to clap and sing praises to Allah. The amplifiers and harmonium are checked and the microphone is passed to a local woman, who shyly leads the singing and is applauded at the end. Guests gather around them or hide in a room off the rooftop and watch ”The Apprentice” on satellite TV. Over the chanting that starts to rise outside, Donald Trump squints and says, ”You’re fired.”