45 minutes in Lawrence Garden…

Sometimes circumstances force you in having new experiences. My daughter’s school starts at 7.00 a.m. I drop her and then proceed to Lawrence Garden, a sprawling place full of gigantic trees, flowers, water falls, jogging tracks, tennis courts, cricket ground and a library to name a few. This garden is located on the central Mall Road of Lahore and is thrived by many both in the morning and evening. When I park my car, I invariably see some regular visitors. There are some like me who have to drop kids at school and need to spend some spare time before proceeding to workplace. I take seat on a bench located in front of the library. These benches are littered with bird droppings. There is a nice little water fall (dirty usually) in front of the benches which forms a round shape. On my side, I always find two guys relaxing on a bench or chatting. Sometimes, a big old typical Lahore city dweller arrives on his VESPA scooter which he parks on side of the road. He then walks in dinging dangling fashion holding his sticks up to the benches and chats with those two guys. Today, I found out where he hides his sticks on the way back. My task after settling down is to read 10 pages of Qur’an which takes around 25-30 minutes. Thereafter, I proceed to the back of the library through the sideline. Some days, I find a couple chatting on that sideline. Why would someone chat on that sideline away from public eye? Anyway, there is a lot of dirt and building material around the place since the library is undergoing expansion. Old used water pipes stacked at one place are my favorite. Why? Not that I sell pipes, but because I am designing an earth-tube heat exchanger. So each day, I look at those pipes and improve my design. Leaving that couple to chat in privacy, I proceed ahead to the heart of the park where walkers rule the roads. There I see young, old and couples of all age groups. I also watch the tennis players practice with trainers using old balls. After taking a short round, I proceed to Governor’s House (my office) located right across the road in front of Lawrence Garden.