Sunday, July 15, 2007
Excerpts from the article:
“Living it up in lovely Lahore! Santosh Ojha soaks in the sights and sounds of Lahore, Pakistan, and can't wait for his next visit to the place with its scrumptuous street food and friendly people.
The 55-minute PIA flight to Lahore from Delhi is short and uneventful. Perhaps aided by the recital of a selection from the Quran just before take-off. What I was not prepared for was the organised and neat airport and immigration.
For a resident of Bangalore (and a frequent flyer) Lahore airport came as a pleasant surprise! To start with, the airport is named after a poet and not, as one would expect in the sub-continent, after a politician. (For those who may not remember, Allama Iqbal is the poet who wrote the famous Saare jahaan sey achha).
The immigration is staffed by smartly-clad women with their heads covered. No fuss, no delay and we are out of the terminal building quickly. The drive into the city is smooth, largely due to the holiday that day in Lahore for their local festival Basant.
And the Bangalorean in me can not help but wonder about the quality of the roads! Six lane roads, well maintained. The trees are bedecked with lights, again for Basant.”