Next February, after nearly two decades of hush in the skies, the colorful and boisterous Basant festival will return to Lahore. That single stroke of policy from Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif sparks more excitement than any fireworks display. It’s a bold decision that tells citizens a bond of trust is being cautiously restored, that the city’s hands are once again judged steady enough to hold its memories. Bureaucracies often favor blanket bans. This move opts for the harder work of regulation. Applied with patience and resolve, it aims to shield life while letting culture breathe.

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I grew up in Islamabad, where winter weekends often meant quiet streets and early nights. Lahore felt altogether different, and Basant made that contrast unmistakable. Though Islamabad was home, I spent a formative year at Government College in the mid-nineties, long enough for the city to leave its imprint. For those of us who found our voice within its red-brick arches, Basant was never just a date on the calendar. It was a pulse that began weeks early. Winter light mellowed, yellow spilled across streets and courtyards, and the city seemed to pirouette toward something weightless.

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That yellow mattered. Mustard fields bloom across Punjab at winter’s end, spreading a bold yellow that........

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