LAHORE – A severe cold wave forced most Lahoris to celebrate the New Year and weekend indoors but a few enthusiasts came out on roads to get the best of the winter season. Youngsters performed driving stunts, families arranged indoor dinners while many citizens went to restaurants for having fish and soap.
Fog can prove disastrous for motorists but also brings smiles to faces of children who enjoy the misty season with their own ways. Lahore Grammar School Grade-III student Mohib Qureshi said that he forced his father to plan an outing to enjoy the cold weather and fog. He said, “I love to have ice cream in winters as it adds value to your feelings”. Qureshi said that his class fellows also did the same.
University student Arif said that it’s a shame that holidays had ended, but university life still gave a chance to enjoy the cold. “I had a dream to sit with friends in a cafe and have a cup of coffee in extreme chilly conditions and now the dream has turned into a reality,” he said. People argued that winter did not discriminate between rich and poor people unlike summer.
Housewife Mrs Waseem, living in a posh housing society, said, “Air-Conditioners are everywhere but winter has its own ways of penetration” adding that due to gas shortage, everyone was bearing the chilly weather but the situation was not like summers. A newly-married couple said that they were waiting for an ideal season and place for a better honeymoon but now they were in a fix.
They said that hill stations were already witnessing heavy snowfall and now their family was urging them to postpone the trip for another month. They said that it would be difficult to afford hotel fares, if flight conditions did not improve. Students complained of gas shortage saying that they loved have hot coffee, tea and soup in this season but gas shortage had deprived them of all fun.
Rush was witnessed in restaurants especially those selling soap and fish. A citizen from Gujranwala, who came to eat fish at a popular restaurant at Mozang, Lahore said that although Gujranwala had its own rich culture of desi food, but Lahore had won their hearts, as far as quality of fish was concerned. Racing club member Khayam Khan said that these days were his favourite for racing and performing stunts.
He said that his club named 747 had almost a dozen drivers and they liked performing their acts in foggy conditions. He said that the area adjacent to the Punjab University New Campus gave a tremendous look nowadays and was a favourite spot for performing stunts and racing. Khayam rejected the impression that stunts could be disastrous and argued that he and his friends were performing stunts since many years but no untoward incident had happened.
