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Mardan

Yesterday, the driver arrived at around 10. We’d planned to go to Taxila, see some sights, return, but one of our hosts proposed a different plan which I immediately leapt at. This was to go to Mardan, about 2 hours from Islamabad, there to visit the remains of a Gandharan Buddhist monastery at Takht-e-Bahi, and […]

Luxury travel

We took the Q-Connect bus to Islamabad. This is a new development since my last visit, a fleet (numbering 2) of ultra-luxury buses going between Lahore and Islamabad twice a day and costing twice our old friend the Daewoo. Everyone assured us that it was the height of luxury, very comfortable, or so they had […]

Flat evening

A rather flat evening last night. It was a much anticipated celebration, which was supposed to be at Baking Virsa, a famous Gawalmandi food place which is almost impossible to get into but where we had scored a table. But then the cook came down with dengue, so that was that. Instead we went the […]

Night work

Last night I was supposed to go out for dinner with friends, which I scheduled a little late so I could get as close to the end of my working hours as possible. But, half an hour before the designated time, I got a message saying that they wanted to publish a particular document that […]

Worst city

On Monday, Lahore was the most polluted place in the world. Yesterday the newspaper called it the second most polluted, then today it was corrected to the most polluted, with an AQI approaching 400. Certainly, the city had an apocalyptic feel. The air was yellow-brown and hazy, and pricked the eyes and skin. Everything smelt […]

Return to the big screen

The GF and I went to see Dune in the cinema last night, in one of the swish local cinemas with reclining seats etc. We took along a little cup of chocolate mousse and it was all very pleasant. The film itself wasn’t too bad. It was too long, and the characters spent rather a […]

A well-rounded education

I told her, don’t have a child. Adopt. There are too many people on this planet. I told her, I travel a lot. China, Uzbekistan, Europe. I travel a lot. She should just tell me what she wants. Ethnicity, gender. I’ll get one. I’ll get all the paperwork. All the legal paperwork. I told her, […]