Gowalmandi Food and Heritage Street tha was!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Once Gowalmandi Food and Heritage Street was an enriching experience in Lahore. Sizzling spicy foods on display in Gowalmandi reminds of what Vasco de Gama shouted after setting his foot on South Asian soils on the dawn of May 21, 1498, "For Christ and spices!" No data for consumption of spices in Gowalmandi Food Street are available but a proprietor of one of the biggest shops in the street told, "On the average I sell about 120 Kilograms mutton and over 40 kilograms of chicken every day. People prefer to eat mutton karahi and chicken barbecued. A milk shop proprietor said, "My daily milk consumption - in the form of chilled milk, yogurt, Kheer, khoya, lassi -- is over 2000 kilograms." (Consumption should be a little more now. This data is old.)
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 9:00 AM,
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Khanewal Junction
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Located near old Multan, Khanewal is comparatively a recently founded town. Its only claim to fame is that it is an important destination on the map of Pakistan Railways. Busy railway junction, railway workshop, pre stressed concrete sleeper factory and huge shunting yards have developed a sort of railway culture in this agricultural market town. National highway also passes the town but people mostly uses railways for travelling and transportation.This area was a vast grazing land before the excavation of Lower Bari Doab Canal. As per the local lore, the grass from this land used to go as far as Burma during the Second World War.
Travelling from Lahore to Khanewal on the National Highways, one still finds the forestland on the west of the Highway and railway track that are laid side by side. Legend has it that that Dewan Sanwal Mall, the famous Sikh governor of Multan appointed Farid Khan as an administrator in order to collect the grazing tax from the livestock owners and he founded the town. The other story is that Daha tribe inhabited the area over 300 years ago. The hamlet was named “khan-e-wal” after Daha Khans. Canal colony was established here in1912. With rapid the growth in population, the modern town was planed and set up in 16 blocks. Khanewal was declared district headquarters on July 1, 1985.
Labels: Travel
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 8:30 AM,
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When in Lahore
Monday, April 15, 2013
The morning rush hour is from 6am to 12pm
The evening rush hour is from 2pm to 9pm. Saturday’s rush hour starts morning.
You buy anything and everything from Al-Fatah
Your 'maassee' and driver have taught you fluent Punjabi
Your uncivilized next door neighbor just bought a BMW because he deals in property
A really souped up Civic stops next to you and instead of a groovy exhaust sound, the woofers blare out an Abrar number
At least one of your friends is a Butt
The people in your local Gourmet Bakery know you by face
The only solution to boredom is eating out
All directions start with, ‘Go down to Main Boulevard’
You think it’s okay to wait 5 hours in the queue for Bashir’s Fish in Mozang because he only opens 6 months in the year
You go to Shahjamal every Thursday to smoke weed with Pappu Saaeen
Its quite all right to run a red light if the traffic policeman doesn’t have a bike to chase you
If you are hungry at 3 in the morning, you go to Coffee Tea & Co in your pajamas instead of walking to your kitchen
Your cousins from Karachi ask you about Food Street and you say, ‘I went there back in 2003′
Your winning argument about how Lahore is better than Karachi is ‘Lahore Lahore aey’
You always thank the rude shop owner because he actually let you buy something from his shop
You know it’s inevitable that you’ll be challaned on Mall Road.
Your cousins from America ask you about malls and you’re like ‘Yeah we have Pace, but I never go there’
You go to the Daewoo stand more than the airport
(Thanks Maryum)
People from Lahore are invited to add more…
Labels: Lahore
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 9:06 AM,
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Sher Garh
Monday, April 8, 2013
An old sleepy and dusty village Sher Garh lies about 20 minutes drive away from Renala Khurd (Okara). The coins found at Sher Garh prove that the place was inhabited at the time of Kushan dynasty. Though “the name Sher Garh was given by the Governor of Molten, Faith Jang Khan after the name of Afghan King Sher Shah Sure,” wrote Abbas Khan Sarauni in his book Tarikh Sher Shah Suri.On the old bank of River Beas, it is a typical Pakistani village where farmers live like rustics in the face of urban attractions. Even the electricity and telephone are a recent phenomenon. But the village has never been out of limelight. Besides heritage conscious people from all over the world, the village is venerated by a large number of devotees. Reasons, a massive mud fort and mosque which were built in the period of Afghan Sher Shah Suri. And, it is the last resting place of Saint Muhammad Ibrahim Daud-e-Sani Kirmani Bandgi.If one wants to absorb the sense of history, Sher Garh is a place to visit. Director Syed Noor has set his film Chooriyan in the background of this village. One has to possess a sensibility shaped in granite not to be moved by the village of past age that has not changed much in last 400 years. In the periphery few van (salvadora) trees, may be as old as the village stand witness to the bygone era. The village is experienced changed due to awareness about various things and agricultural advancements but at a snail speed.
Labels: Sher Garh
posted by S A J Shirazi @ 9:00 AM,
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