At the beginning of the week, Lahore remained in the grip of severe hot weather. However, the scorching heat did not deter planners of cultural events from going ahead with their pursuits.
As many as five exhibitions of paintings, a couple of music concerts, launching of a book, Labour Day celebrations and Press Freedom Day were the main highlights of the week.
On May 2 Governor of Punjab Khalid Maqbool in the presence of a large number of connoisseurs, art teachers and media persons inaugurated the one-week long exhibition of paintings of senior artist Samina Ali at Nairang Art Galleries. The exhibition consist of 30 pieces of her art work. In the words of a former principal of National College of Arts, "Samina creates memories of grand spaces and celebratory processions led by princes from another time."

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On the same day, another exhibition opened at Alhamra Art Gallery of the Lahore Arts Council, which featured 97 pieces of art by 47 contemporary Welsh printmakers.
Jointly sponsored by Swansea Print Workshop in collaboration with the 'All Wales Ethnic Minority Association', the exhibition was brought to Pakistan by Sameera Khan from Wales, which included works by a few Wales-based Asian artists.
Ms Khan is from Hunza and a 1999 graduate from the National College of Arts in printmaking. She also did her master's in Fine Arts from UK and was running the Prince Studio at Wales. She said that artists from Wales would visit Pakistan in 2008-09 to hold community-based workshops with known local artists in different areas of creativity.
On May 3, a solo one-week long exhibition of the works of Muhammad Arshad Ali, an up-and-coming artist from the third generation of Pakistani artists, opened at Royaat Art Gallery in Lahore.
Titled "The Beauty of Punjab's Villages", its inauguration attracted the attention of art lovers, students and teachers. Young Arshad has already won appreciation of critics and senior artists for his outstanding handling of landscape painting around the country.
His works realistically depict a view of the scenic beauty of Pakistan, which points to his urge to save Pakistan's national geographic heritage. Some of his work reminds the viewers of the works of our internationally renowned painter Dr Khalid Iqbal and one of his brilliant students Zulqarnain Haider.
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An exhibition of photographs by four renowned photographers from Karachi - Arif Mahmood, Amean J, Tipu Javeri and Izdeyar Setna opened at the Zahoorul Ikhlaq Gallery of the National College of Arts on May 3. As many 60 portraits of Pakistan's 15 noted personalities, including social worker Maulana Abdus Sattar Edhi; media person and connoisseur of arts and music Hameed Haroon, cricket legend Javed Miandad, dancer and choreographer Naheed Siddiqui, actress Meera and TV character Begum Nawazish Ali were put on display. The prices of the photographs included in the display ranged from Rs 7,000 to 25,000.
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The Nairang Art Galleries made its facilities available for the holding of an exhibition of paintings and design sponsored by Step Institute of Art and Design, which has conducted its 4th annual intern-college competition recently. The basic objective of the Step Institute, according to the co-ordinator of art and design, was to bring craftsmen and designers at a single platform.
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Two internationally acclaimed days - May Day (May 1) and the World Press Freedom Day (May 3) were enthusiastically observed in Lahore by a large number of labour organisations in the city, including workers of print and electronic media.
In their May Day messages the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan promised to revamp labour laws to bring them in conformity with international norms. They called upon working men and women to come forward and contribute to official efforts to attain development goals and make Pakistan a truly progressive, moderate and enlightened country.
While people the world over observed the press freedom day on May 3, the situation in Pakistan did not present a rosy picture and things seemed to move backwards. It is a day on which everyone from citizens to media professionals and government to non-governmental organisations should remember the crucial role a free press can play in the evolution of democratic norms, and political and economic development of a country.
At the beginning of the month the All Pakistan Music Conference held its monthly concert at the Lahore Arts Council in which several young artistes were invited to demonstrate their melodic prowess.
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On May 1 renowned pop singer Abrar-ul-Haq performed at open air theatre in Bagh-e-Jinnah to launch his new album 'Naara Sada Ishq Ae', which was attended by a large number of his fans, including students from local colleges and artistes associated with the world of entertainment.
'Nawa-i-Aatish-e-Gul' was the title of the book, which was launched at a ceremony held at the auditorium of Pakistan Movement Workers Trust on May 1. A collection of articles written by columnist Rana Abdul Baqi. A number of senior Muslim Leaguers and politicians spoke at the occasion reiterating that India has not reconciled itself to the creation of Pakistan on the basis of the two-nation theory.