Rainy Lahore evening from 7th floor of Sadiq Trade Center.

Daily Times’ Abid Nawaz captures a franchised bus emitting a dark cloud of exhaust fumes as it moves around Ravi Road.

It is just one of the numerous scenes that we daily come across on the roads. With some exceptions, most of these franchised puffing machines are very good at hazardous emissions of deadly substances in form of dark Diesel smoke.

Do we have anyone responsible to monitor this smoky business!

As admissions open up, I’ve come across several requests from wannabe students of my Institute at University of the Punjab to guide them with NTS (National Testing Service) every time I visit my department. It’s rather a new testing system being implemented by Punjab University in all of its departments & institutes.

Punjab University has made entry tests compulsory for admissions to all undergraduate and graduate programmes from the academic session 2006-2007. And to implement it, the University has enlisted the services of Higher Education Comission (HEC)’s latest programme; National Testing Service (NTS).

NTS will conduct standard tests for all programmes offered by the University. However, a candidate will have to give separate specific tests if he/she’s applying for different programmes.

While Punjab University’s already onboard, we’ll soon see a lot of other Universities and educational institutions enlisting to this testing service, which may, one day, become a ‘standard’ test just like the GMAT or GRE…

“ LAHORE, July 14: The Punjab government on Friday signed an agreement with a leading Abu Dhabi group of companies headed by Abdur Rehman Bukhatar for the establishment of a sports city spread over 3,000 acres of Ravi siphon land in Lahore.

Stadia and other related facilities for all major sports like football, hockey, cricket, tennis and golf would be constructed over one-third of the total land in the next four years. Around 10,000 world-class modern homes or flats would also be built for 200,000 people. The first of its kind in Asia, the project would be completed at a cost of Rs120 billion. And the city would provide Rs12 to Rs13 billion to the government of Pakistan in taxes in the first four years. The sports city would be three times bigger than the one in Dubai and in addition to a large labour force, 2,000 people having related specialties were being engaged to launch the project immediately.
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This was published in Daily Times today. If the law enforcement agencies are not willing to enforce the laws then what is the point of those laws?

Here, two young men on a motorcycle violate the one-way at the Royal Park-Beadon Road intersection as an uninterested police officer looks on.

I took a bit of a break but I am back now with more on Lahore History Tour. Today, I will continue again with Jahangir’s Quadrangle which has been the theme for the last few posts. Still concentrating on the decorative work on pillars located within the porticoes on the east and west sides of the quadrangle.

Top of one of the pillars and the adjoining animal shaped bracket showing an opened mouth of a lion.
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UCL is organizing a peace march in solidarity with Lebanon on the 4 of August, which is the coming Friday. It will start at 3:00, from the McDonald’s on Main Boulevard, and end at the Liberty roundabout. Come!

two days back, i saw on tv channel that a reporter was taking an interview of an urbanite living in old lahore, he was sitting on his 3 storey house roof top and worried as when would the level of water drop so that he can carry out his living. he said it takes hours n days the water level to drop and proper sewage execution. people get stuck in their homes with no means of moving anywhere.

the tv channel also asked the dist. nazim as what were his comments on the un-acceptable government role in acting seriously on this issue and you would be quite taken aback by his reply,”First it took 6-7 days for the water level to drop to zero and now it just happens in 2-3 days by our efficient strategy of WASA”.

now one can imagine how effectual are our government policies in helping people surviving through these heavy rains when around the world, poor ppl go through the tsunami and havey floods.i know by what reason are we still getting along in these conditions, and its just by the will of Allah.

Lets lighten the mood up a bit…..I still vividly remember those horse and donkey rides of my childhood but never had I seen a commuter like this – a rickshaw hitching a ride on a donkey cart.

Credit: Daily Times