Roadside View and BNU Targoli Campus

On my way to a series of meetings.  You'd think dressing like this would be hot, but is actually much more comfortable and pretty much keeps you cooler than other types of clothing.  Not to mention the fact that the patterns and colors here on clothing are really beautiful.

9:52 Stuck in a major traffic jam. On the way to pick up Salima, there was a bus strike due to the removal of a local fresh produce market.  My driver Yussef said it basically came down to a job issue, as in not enough. So we had to turn around and go back the other way.  Evidently, this was a  big issue all over the city and on the main roads, but we just saw a glimpse of it. Surprisingly, everyone was dealing with it without a lot of fuss.  Yussef being, the smart guy he is took all of these little, narrow side streets.

Being driven around in the day to day traffic I have been struck by the contrasts here.   You see everything on the main roads here in Lahore…tons of cars, goats pulling carts, donkeys and wagons, beautifully decorated buses and motorized rickshaws with elaborate designs with bicycle and motorcycle riders carrying huge items  (Bags of rice, grass for fodder, construction equipment, milk cans, gas cans, or multiple riders.)  You name it.  If there is a creative way to carry it, these people will find a way to do it and weave in and out of traffic with great skill and patience.  I have seen only one accident while I was here which considering the amount of traffic is amazing.  There are old buildings next to super contemporary, billboard advertisements for every imaginable luxury sitting above traditional markets, beggars on many street corners and people everywhere.

I saw motorcycles like this driving in and out of neighborhoods.  I think this is the milkman!

 

Goat Market on one of the side streets to Salima's house

Street Market

Bicycle creativity. That is a push lawn mower on the back!

Motorcycle rider with produce or grass of some sort.

Riding somewhere!

The Donkey Cart

In contrast, we drove a bit outside of Lahore to the beautiful new Beaconhouse National University Targoli Campus.

Art Building Atrium.  Loved the hanging plants everywhere.

Really nice facility, but everything hasn't moved to this campus yet.

Next year, I may have my classes here.

We went back to city campus after this, had a few meetings and then to Salima's for a birthday gathering for her husband, Shoab.  They have a wide circle of friends and talented family and are greatly loved.  We watched some old TV clips from the 70s when they were doing a TV show on Pakistan's one TV channel. Today, there are (I am told) more than 100!  Always fun at her house-interesting  company and good food. 

Today was low key working on the blog in between power outages, answering emails and getting caught up on things. Tomorrow, grading papers and perhaps to the Shalimar Gardens (depending on the weather).  More to come!