VIP's in Lahore

For people who are not used to VIP culture, Lahore/Pakistan is on a whole new level. Sycophancy is an art here. Over the weekend, 2 VVIP's were in town, and o boy. One of the VVIPs lives near my house when he is in town. And when he is in town, we know cos there are at least 100 cops outside his house. Human shields?

The route which said VVIP takes to whatever VVI appointment he has to go to is lined up ALL THE WAY every 100 m with a cop on both sides of the road. And the cops are accompanied by another security guard. And said route then has all the roads leading to it closed off, causing massive jams, widespread cursing by the public, and general waste of resources. O yes, there are wailing sirens and at least 15 vehicles all filled with sychophants and hapless, but serious looking cops hooning around in this VVI convoy accompanying the VVIP.

Anyway there were 2 of these VVIPS in lahore during the weekend and one of my Pak friends declared that Lahore would be at the mercy of dacoits as there were no more cops available do the actual cop work. Another wag commented that Lahore was already at the mercy of these dacoits anyway, and he wasn't refering to the armed criminal type.

Anyway real story also, one VIP was on a plane out of Lahore when his hanger ons found out to their extreme horror that their boss was seated behind a senior govt servant. Mayhem ensued and they thronged the airline guy BEGGING him to change the seat otherwise they would all be sacked, or worse. Tears were shed, mothers' graves were called upon but situation was resolved to the reief of said toadies.

winter in Lahore 2010

Winter's here with a vengeance this year. It's cold. Fog's all over. In case you don't how bad the fog is, airlines change their schedule to land early afternoon otherwise they can't see. Driving at night when the fog hits is a nightmare. You can't see more than 100 m sometimes. And it really freaks me out when idiots on bikes ride around here with the lights off. Dude, I can't see you, I will hit you, you will die. I mean what the fuck !

Anyway this year it's ridiculous. Load shedding is 4 hours a day. I mean load shedding in winter? What the hell. And gas shedding.Yes there is such a thing. Lahore has gas shedding. 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. it was announced. I am lucky I live in DHA, where the gas supply is pretty good. Being S.E Asian, I shower twice a day regardless of how cold it is, so it's a damn good thing there's gas to heat up the geysers (hot water tanks)(yes they call them geysers here, pronounced geezer).Most S.E Asians shower lots due to our 30 plus degrees at home. I mean you will reek if you don't shower in that heat and humidity, so it's ingrained. That's why even when we go to places where it's bloody minus 20 we still shower.

And to top it all, there is a diesel shortage. Sigh....