Diary of an Introverted Extrovert

It was a good night, not really cold and not even hot and contrary to the London’s normal weather it was not raining. But I was not good. I was staying in side home and office for a month now and it was eating me up. Yeah I cannot stay in side or with just the work for long, I have a soul of a wanderer which always pushes me to go out randomly without any destination. To look under the city instead of looking at it. Randomly I got up and went to the place which was my first outing destination in London, “The Piccadilly Circus”. I had seen that place twice by now but I always had a feeling like I have to see it more, like I have just visited it not seen it. It was a Friday night and the place was bustling as always. The lights the colours the people. Every one enjoying, everyone is happy, every one? No, not everyone was happy. Just like the streets of Lahore everybody here was with a story. The big bars and restaurants, the people there seemed so happy, dancing, cheering but ...

Like most of the people from middle class background in Pakistan I have never traveled via airplane to anywhere not even locally. So all the information of how the plane looks like, and how the airports look like from the inside were all confined to the movies and videos but not for long. This time I got the chance to travel by plane and it was not going to be an intercity travel, I was going to London. It was October 2 nd which was designated to be my flight date and I was supposed to be travelling via the Qatar Airways. I reached the airport and I was quite anxious about the customs and the security check, but i t was not a big deal. I was through it in less than 20 minutes and I was in the boarding lounge an hour prior to my flight. So I waited and waited. Not just waited, I tried to explore the newly built Islamabad airport too which was unexpectedly really nice. These guys seemed to be much fond of the timings so there was no sighting of my plane which was supposed to dep...

I had to go to Lahore for a day and my train dropped me there in the early morning at 4:30am (Pakistani trains follow the time schedule now). So I had like 4 hours to kill before the office where I had to go even opens. I walked to Lahore food street Anarkali still I got there in 45 minutes and the shopkeepers were just starting out :D. ultimately I got myself some breakfast and  some tea then again I walked to the point where I was intended to go. When I got there it was 7 and still I had like 90 minutes to spare. It was the queen’s road of Lahore. I found myself a bench on the road side, shoved my earphones and just sat there looking at the people. It was the morning of a working day, so it was full of the typical big city hassle. People in hurry, getting breakfast things from the shops, kids going to sc hool, youngsters to the universities, busy bus stops, busy roads just everything and everyone was in a great hurry. Only two living things were sitting calmly on the sid...

Some time you mark your maps for travelling for far distinct places but in the process you ignore some beautiful places at your door step. Same was the case with me and Neelan Bhutoo. I was living in Rawalpindi for about 25 years, have know that such a place exists but never made a plan to visit that place. Recently when I was dead tired of the hustle and busy life of Lahore, I called my friend and said “I have to go somewhere in mountains, or I’ll get mad” :D yeah that was my condition. So we started to consider the places where we could go in the morning and get back till evening and this place Neelan Bhutoo popped up in my mind and I was like “is dafa ya kar ka dakhte hain” . I searched for the directions on a quite hot morning we got on my bike to visit that place. Neelan Bhutoo is basically a place where Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi (Hazrat Bari Imam) used to sit to pray to Allah (S.W.T) more commonly known as the “Chillah Gah Hazrat Bari Imam” . One thing which I have observ...

There are certain places for every one which you may want to visit may be again and again but you do not want to live there. Reasons can vary for every person, you may not like the weather, and you may do not like the general attitude of the city or you may just miss your home over there. For me that city was Lahore. After spending the 25 years of my life in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, being a mountain lover and just visiting Lahore for some college tours, this city has never fascinated me much to start living here, but in this life many times you need to do what you do not like, (bi paise be to kamane hain). So I moved to Lahore as I got a job here which was quite relating to my field and seemed to be quite good for developing the so called Career. So for the greater good I had to move away from my first love “The Margalla Hills” and my good luck or bad luck, I got to stay in the place which was exactly the same as they say about Islamabad, the infamous Model Town. In start I was like...