Been on the lookout for desi nashta in Lahore, but none of my friends have been able to direct me to a nice place. I wonder if the readers can tell me where I can get real Lahori nashta on a Sunday morning. Please no Capri or Espresso. I want real Lahori breakfast :)

Please don’t hate me
for what I’m about to do
But the good times we’ve had together
are just about now through
Please don’t misunderstand me
I hate to see you cry
But I think that it might look better
if I told you now goodbye

I’m back on the road again
it’s time I leave you now
And maybe I’ll see you next time
that I’m around
Until then I hope your happy baby
and good times come your way
I’m back on the road again
I’m on my way

Well I’ve loved you since the day I met you
and I’ll love you till the day I die
But we both know the life I’m livin
and we both know the reason why
That I’ve got to leave ya
and I’ve got to leave today
But you know that I’ll see you next time
that I come through your town to play

Critical Mass is a cycling event that takes place in over 200 cities around the world. Lahore has just become a Critical Mass city. The purpose of Critical Mass is to raise awareness, to be healthy and to have fun. The event is open to anyone with a road worthy bicycle and a healthy sense of fun.

See you there!!!

The third and last installment of photos from an air safari over Lahore. I hope you enjoy them!

During last two hours, Lahore experienced four blasts near Alflah building on Mall Road and the recent, fifth blast is just heard near Tamaseel Theatre on Ferozpur Road. Investigations are going on and most of blasts are considered a result of “crackers” as they were not so powerful. Media is airing live footage, playing a vital role to inform public.
I find so much rage against these terrorist activities, even if it is for harassment by antisocial elements. It is happening right after first ten days of month of Muharram, when security measures seemed bit relaxed. I request LMB readers to pray for peace and serenity, that is all we can do right away (yeah, feeling helpless).

Recently, I saw a Ferrari in Lahore. Can anyone guess where this photo was taken?

While on the subject of cars, I took this photo of a very patriotic Mercedes near Model Town

Pakistan Zindabad

We just experienced a strong earthquake in Lahore and Islamabad  10 minutes ago (1:30AM approx.) that is being reported to have a 5.9 magnitude. The news was almost instantaneous on twitter though we are still waiting for the ‘old media’ to provide more information. We hope everyone is safe and sound (asleep).

10-12 hour load shedding till January?
The Pakistan Electric Power Company has announced that up to 10 -12 hours loadshedding will continue by the end of January when the supply position of hydal power generations will start improving.
“The situation is likely to improve by the start of the fourth week of January 2009, when present canal closure is expected to end.”
According to a press release issued here on Sunday, Pepco said due to canal closure and massive reduction of water releases by IRSA from Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs, hydro generation with an installed capacity of 6,500 MW has plummeted sharply for the last one week.

“Enough is enough…” Tzipi Livni’s (Israeli foreign minister) words today echoed in my mind in the context of Pakistan. The so called ‘land of the pure’ is on the verge of imploding even before any US drone or Indian missiles are fired. It seems years of neglect in the public, economic, social and political fronts have led to a complete lock down of intellect in society.

At one level, I can appreciate millions in the country don’t have the skills to differentiate right from wrong as they have never really had any creative education and have only been fed lies from the system. But I do expect some more sense from the urban elite and tech savvy young minds who have the means to seek the knowledge to arrive at more balanced views on all issues concerning their country.

To take a medical analogy, one of the primary signs of a patient suffering from terminal mental illness is that they never admit that anything is wrong with them. This only prolongs the suffering. Much like this, I am seeing continued denial on our part to accept that Pakistan indeed has become a ‘migraine’ for the world and will either need to change itself or be changed forcibly by the world whether or not we like it.

Over the last months on this forum, I have witnessed endless debates between the so called Kaami camp and the rest. I think Kaami makes a whole lot of sense and is one of the few amongst us who accepts that we are a sick nation that needs a cure. We will not become apologists to the west if we accept today that yes most of the terrorist incidents around the world have a Pakistan connection as for years we sold our souls to the extremist Saudi, Iranian and American agencies.

Leaving aside the recent Mumbai attacks, most terrorist attacks against the west are committed by people with strong connections to Pakistan especially in my adopted country of United Kingdom. Now if the west were to adopt an equally rigid stance of ‘pound for pound’ then we would’ve been annhilated by now….think of all our big cities resembling the rubble that are Kabul, Herat, Baghdad, Basra etc. We will only invite their force by baring our chests and shouting war chants.

Whether it is the US, India or Israel, we have set our eyes on the wrong enemy. As endlessly claimed by Kaami, the enemy is within our borders. The enemy which continues to rob us of progress, equality, justice and above all, peace. Let’s vow to root out this terror from our streets by denouncing these extremists as non-muslims and non-Pakistani who have no place in our society unless they change. This includes sympathisers of the present Saudi and Iranian regimes that continue to pump billions of petro dollars to indoctrinate young Sunni and Shia youth in our country towards a future of hate and destruction.

Having experienced both Saudi and Iran, I have witnessed first hand the barbarity with which humanity is treated. And if that is the ideal we seek to follow, then sadly our descent into the abyss has only just begun.