“Jis nay Lahore naheen waikheya, uss ney kutch naheen waikheya”.
So, nowadays, I am trying to make my eyes see things and make my mind feel the accomplishment of having seen Lahore (and in turn having seen something).
I started for Lahore from Rawalpindi on 6th of June, 2009 and believe me, its outright boring to drive on Motorway when you are alone. I am seriously thinking about using G.T. Road more often which inspite of all the bad things associated with it has alteast some life around it. Motorway is cool but it is a little bit too cool sometimes.
My first impression of Lahore is that it is a rich place. My friends tell me that this impression is because of the fact that
I am in better areas of Lahore right now. Another thing about Lahore is that traffic moves way faster than Rawalpindi. Roads are wider, amount of traffic is bigger but the speed of traffic is faster as well. The frequency of huge buildings is also way bigger than those in Rawalpindi/Islamabad. And yes, CNG is cheaper, I don’t know why but it is. These are my initial thoughts so don’t take these seriously 
.
I lost my way to office on the very first day. I was going from Barkat Market to Canal Road, I had to take the left turn to Canal Road towards Johar Town but I somehow managed to miss the turn and ended up going straight. When I had travelled quite a distance the traffic started being thicker and slower and I was like “there is a lot of traffic in the early office hours” but very soon I realized that I am on the wrong way. I asked a Rickshaw-wala key “Paa jee, Neher kithey hey” and he said “Tusee bohet aggay aa gaye ho, Neher tey pitchy reh gayee hey“. I managed to reach office only 12 minutes late.
On my way back, I tried a different route and lo n behold, I lost my way again. I had a general sense of direction though due to which I managed to get back on track. Actually, I was trying to find a restaurant in Faisal Town where I had dinner on Sunday night alongwith 3 other friends. I roamed around the roads but couldn’t find the restaurant. Today, I found out that while I was looking around, I had passed infornt of that restaurant. Now, this is a new habit that I have developed in Lahore, I continuously try to keep myself concentrated on not missing a turn/underpass/shop etc and still I miss that. :S Weird, isn’t it? Am I getting old or what?
One song that kept circling in my head was “Ajnabi Sheher key Ajnabi Raaste” by Salman Alvi and for the first time in my life, I understood how it feels to be alone in an Ajnabi sheher.
