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06/06: My Weekend Trip to Lahore

Well, it's just been a day since I came back from Lahore. And what a wonderful memorable place it is too!

While I was there only for the weekend, it was enjoyable, nonetheless, as has been the case with every visit of mine to this historic and culturally rich city.

For those who don't know, Lahore is the provincial capital of Punjab in Pakistan. It has been a significant city throughout the history of the old Indian subcontinent and present day Pakistan. There are plenty of places to visit like the Lahore Museum, Qila (Fort), Sheesh Mahal (The castle of Mirrors), Minar-e-Pakistan (where the resolution was brought forth for the demand of a seperate homeland for the Muslims of the then Indian subcontinent), Baadshahee Mosque and many others. Here's a picture of Baadshahee Mosque during sunset:

Baadshahee Mosque


There are a few well maintained churches for the Christian population of the city too which are worth visiting and worthy of the appreciation they deserve. The architecture is superb and reminds of one of the churches in Islamabad. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to visit any of these splendid places on this trip because of the limited time I had before I was to make my return to Islamabad on Monday morning.




During this particular visit, I travelled by bus from Islamabad to Lahore on the M2 motorway. It was a pleasant ride starting at 8:30pm Friday night and ending at 1:00am on Saturday. On arrival, we got a cab to my relatives home and stayed up till 4:00am reminisicing and catching up with my cousins and other relatives. I woke up late on Saturday and met up with more relatives.

Of course, Mr. Jamil Raza, the Electromagnetic Field Theory professor, had dished out assignments which were pending submission that day. I got onto that task in the afternoon and mailed it to some hostelite friends of mine at NIIT who uploaded it to the designated folder on the university network. After that, I went through Deitel & Deitel's C++ textbook to help my cousin solve some problems he was having with file handling while fighting an uphill battle trying not to nod off due to the tiredness from staying up late on the night/morning of my arrival in Lahore. I had a very filling dinner of Pullao-Gosht, a dish consisting of rice with pieces of goat meat. After that, I went to my aunt's house to catch up on the much needed sleep.

I woke up early the next morning, around 5:00am, and offered morning prayers before getting in front of my aunts computer and starting to read some fan fiction I managed to bring with me on my flash drive. I was busy reading Harry Potter and the Manipulator of Destiny, which was recommended in one of the threads on FanFicAuthors.net Forums, the whole day. I completed reading it by around 5:00pm, taking intermittent breaks for running various errands and for resting myself. About the fic, it was average and seemed a bit childish at some places... Then again, Harry Potter stories are for children so I can hardly complain.

One of the most surprising things I noticed on this trip to Lahore was a distinct lack of kites in the Lahori sky. Kite flying is a popular past time of the Lahori people and it was a shock to see no kites in the sky. Kite Flying used to be an innocent sport some years ago, but recently, many lives have been lost due to this sport at the hands of the few ignorant people who use steel wire or chemically sharp strings to fly kites which have literally severed the heads of many innocent people, who use motorbikes for transportation, making them bleed to their death. The vicitms range from young infants to adults. I commend the law enforcing agencies of the city for getting rid of this menace. Unfortunately, the day I returned to Islamabad, I read about another incident in the newspaper where a child died in the arms of his father trying but failing to say "Pap..Pap" (Papa.. Papa) while he bled to death as a result of his neck being cut from kite string. Sad and dispicable is what I would call it. I am all for harsher punishments for those caught and found guilty of using steel wires and chemically sharp string to fly kites. I hope the parents of that innocent child can find peace and that time will reduce their feelings of loss.

There were strong winds that night and a light drizzle which provided relief from the hot atmosphere quite a bit. That actually helped when the lights went out and I spent some very good time on the roof in the pleasant wind. Overall, the weather on this trip was quite good and contrary to what I have heard from other people who have visited Lahore in the last few weeks, it wasn't that hot. I will, however, just chalk it up to be my luck as I have visited Lahore in previous years when the temprature has been quite high during daytime.

The next day, I woke up early and got ready for my departure from Lahore. Nothing interesting happened during that time. I was saved the packing rush since I had packed last night. It reminds me now of the Weasley's always arriving at Platform 9 3/4 just a few minutes before the train leaves for Hogwarts. :) (And I say I am not obsessed with Harry Potter....;) )

The time in the bus was spent pleasanty watching some movie about two women and a man wearing cowboy outfits while robbing banks.... can't recall the movies name. The other activity apart from that was listening to music or reading the newspaper. I made it back on exact time and went back to my normal schedule for the remaining day.

I hope I get to make another trip during the upcoming semester break. Wish me luck!
Asad  Travel 
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Comments made

hmm..nice stuff..!! :) I like the picture very much.
09/08 01:29:33
@ Fahim:

Taj Mehal (in India), Badshahee Mosque and many other buildings are a heritage from the Mughals.

They were good architects but bad educationalists since that is the reason for their downfall.
20/01 23:34:41

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