Actually somebody recently told me that the Famous Bundo Khan of Lahore, which is a great place to have great BBQ, is in fact the copy of THE ORIGINAL “Al-haaj Bundo Khaan” of Karachi. Well, it was something new (read shocking), i mean, i never knew that. Do you guys have any idea whats the real story behind????

When you are covering yourself from intense heat and end up making a style statement :P

Pakistan has been slipping deep into economic recession with record level inflationary pressures. During countless discussions with people, the reaction is always one of amazement as to how people can still cope with such high commodity and petrol prices.

I am keen to learn from the readers how your lives have been affected by the current price hike. I can appreciate most of us are the fortunate ones who make up the middle and upper classes of society with less impact than the disadvantaged. However, I have a personal story which goes to show the current situation is felt across all spectrums of society…

We all know the wheat shortage crisis last winter. At its peak, I experienced first hand the difficulty with which my household cook had to procure a bag of atta. If I recall correctly, it took him best part of the day to scour the city and eventually got hold of a bag. The surprising aspect of it all was that this took place in the most up market neighbourhoods of the city and my family didn’t have any financial constraints. I just wonder how people with less influence and money must have coped during the time.

It would be great to hear your experiences of dealing with the rising prices and how you have dealt with it - For instance, reduced non-essential car travel; eating less meat; eating out less; stopped buying new gadgets/clothes etc.

It would be nice if everyone could share their thoughts as I strongly believe some of your solutions will spread best practice and help others in adopting them and saving some of their own money.

Thanks!

I received a forwarded text message this morning explaining the moments that can be termed as the best and the most pleasurable in life. The list had a number of moments from the likes of finding money in an old purse when you badly need it to wiping tears from your eyes after a hearty laughter etc.

The most appealing and rather philosophical was the one explaining the serenity of hearing the rain drops fall on leaves while you are lying in bed.

I woke up to such a moment today and I tell you there’s no moment like it :)

Happy Monsoon!

… Standing united with rest of Pakistan

On a somewhat less spectacular note, there has been support, guidance and participation of respected professors of Lahore, Mr. Liaquat Majeed Sheikh (universally known as LMS) and Dr. Qaiser Durrani.

Ever tried googling Lahore and found nothing but the standard wikipedia entry and perhaps some news item related to British Asian terrorists? Sad but true.

To be honest, I gave up hope long ago when I initially attempted to look up Lahore on youtube during my initial enthusiasm for the video sharing site. Little did I know that it would bring up an array of bizarre clips of school girls in a street fight; tacky sing along versions of Lahore Lahore aye; and a somewhat fazed swede-Pakistani girl videoblogging about her recent visit to the city. And not to mention a string of so called lewd dances featured in Lahore Defence Party videos … dare I say it is pure class A trash.

Anyway, the point being that our beloved city is no where portrayed on the internet in a positive and candid light. On my last visit to Lahore, I was set to create a series of video blogs where my aim was to visit old and new Lahore and post/share my creations with friends and family in London. Unfortunately, the events of Dec. 2007 simply ruined all my plans of walking freely around the city. Anyway, I am sure someone will take it up as a task to perhaps create a regular weekly/monthly video link on LMB with tours of old and new Lahore. For instance, we could have a tour of Wazir Khan Mosque one week and a videoblog focussed on a walk through the bustling Liberty Market. For people who don’t exactly possess a Sean Connery voice, then I suggest adding text via subtitles along the video. I am sure there is clever video editing software out there to achieve the desired effect.

Hope this has inspired a few people to put on their creative hats and go and direct/act in a video about Lahore. I enourage you to do so, so that overseas Lahoris like myself don’t have to go through the agony of watching the dancing girls of Defence and that annoying Swede-Paki.

G’luck!

I must admit I always step out from the International Arrivals at the magnificent Lahore Airport with a certain amount of trepidation. The primary reason being that my weight (lack of) always prompts the first piece of dialogue between me and my family/friends. It usually follows a compassionate tone by my family as to the utter lack of care that I must have been subjected to back in London.

The interesting fact is that the subject of my weight-lessness has now become the norm. Apparently, the claim is that I keep on losing weight on each successive trip. Well surely this can’t be true…because if it were, then I wouldn’t be alive writing about all of this. This prompted me to really ponder over the whole weight issue in context of Lahore and it led to some interesting learning.

I am sure you’ll agree that appearance is generally in the eye of the beholder. So while I may be perfectly fit and strong for one person, I might be extremely thin and weak for another. The reality in Lahore tends to be the latter. In my view, this is down to the fact that Lahoris have become so used to seeing bulging waist lines that anyone with non-portruding gut is regarded either ill or abnormal.

On closer analysis, I did notice an abundance of people in the city with high weight levels with respect to their heights. Whilst I didn’t weight all of them (would have made for an interesting conversation though), my naked eye could judge the fact they were well beyond the normal threshold. Some could argue that I am on a fat-bashing campaign here but I am not. I am simply fearing for these people as their weight due mostly due to an over-indulgent lifestyle will lead to serious long term diseases like heart attacks, diabetes and high blood pressure.

So what needs to be done?

For one, we really need to educate people that over eating is unhealthy. Did you know there is scientific evidence to prove that the South Asian population of India and Pakistan are more susceptible to pulmonary diseases than other races. So we should all try to avoid fatty foods and make an effort to include boiled vegetables and fresh fruits in our diets. No health regime is complete without physical exercise. Set a target to walk, jog or if you’re lucky to have access to a sports centre, join a sports team. You will find yourself feeling more energetic at work and less stressed in general.

On a personal note, I have recently taken up cycling after a 15 year gap. Now that I am back on the rode, I can’t imagine why I hadn’t taken up cycling before. Not only am I saving up on petrol but I am also getting fitter with more stamina. Cycling in our part of the world is treated as the domain of either children or servants. It needn’t be…go and change this view.

For an idea that was conceived almost 25 years ago, it has certainly taken almost a generation to plan and manage the build of the much touted Lahore Ring Road. From the grand promises of Sheray-Punjab (NS) to the endless modifications under successive regimes, the project has see-sawed between fever-pitched activity and eerily silent machinery on locations.

Regardless of the bullet-pointed benefits of the scheme which we have become accustomed to, the outcome of the protracted construction phase has resulted in Lahore being engulfed in an ever-present dusty atmosphere. Any visitors’ appreciation of the gleaming International Airport is wiped out as soon as one leaves the airport perimeter as clouds of dust from the piles of dug up earth blanket the traffic.

The mind also boggles as to why there has been so little work over the last decade or so the project has been in progress. Just to put things into perspective, a city like London which has an existing infrastructure dating back to Roman times has outlined a complete overhaul and redevelopment of the East end to build a whole 2012 Olympic Village and transport network to support it. I can appreciate that things take a little more time in our part of the world but taking 10 years to complete merely 15km of the originally proposed 75km is just plain unacceptable.

I call on the Project Team, Lahore Municipality and Civic agencies to either roll up their sleeves and work their socks off to complete the project by mid 2009 (still delayed by years) or face public name and shame campaign (not to mention legal accountability) for all persons involved in the city’s biggest sham project to date.

In my view, the whole project ought to be scrapped for a much more extensive and eco-friendly mono-rail service. Yes, I mean the Lahore Rapid Transit System which should be extended to the route of the poorly-managed LRR. This form of public transport will not only help reduce vehicle congestion along all routes but it will also reduce the pollution levels which are threatening people’s health.

As always, your view are always welcome.

I am fascinated by the Chameleon. Its ability to change its appearance to fit its surroundings provides this little creature from the lizard family a truly remarkable ability.

I vividly remember the one and only time I spotted one in Lahore. It was a hot summer day and I was walking the grounds of my school. In my stride, I caught a sideways glance at what I thought was an oddly shaped branch. On closer inspection, I realised it was a giant brown chameleon peering at me through those roving eyes. At first I was scared it would simply pounce on me for blowing its cover…!! But I quickly grasped that it was probably more scared of me. So I walked off not realising that the moment would be the last time I would set eyes on one of these magnificent creations of nature.

I am curious to know how many of you in Lahore continue to spot Chameleons in gardens, parks etc. and when was the last time it happened.