Mood: So busy!
Quotable Quotes: Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, dont put it off. --Ellen DeGeneres
POD:
Entrance to Lahore Fort
Lahore Fort
Backside of Lahore Fort
Detail on backside of Lahore Fort
Entering Badshahi Mosque
More Badshahi Mosque
At Badshahi Mosque
Badshahi Mosque with a ghudwara in the distance
Day 16: Pakistan - Lahore
(Back to the updates! I seriously can't believe it's taking me this long to make it through a 3.5 week vacation!)
Can I just say... staying with Shehrzad's phuphi and family was just awesome. They were so hospitable and somehow knew exactly what we wanted even before we wanted it. And those almondy cookiey cakey things I ate every morning... mmm mmm!! Which reminds me, dang, I forgot to buy some before we left.
We woke up really late, around 10am, had a nice shower, ate breakfast and lots of almondy cookiey cakey things, and took off with Jamsheed for a day of sightseeing. Auntie Adla and Sadaf chose to stay home... I guess siteseeing in Lahore is as painful as going to NASA in Houston is for me.
So the three of us left for Lahore Fort. The history of Lahore Fort is very interesting. It was built "long before" (since noone knows exactly when) 1025AD and between then and 1566AD was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times by various sultans and sheikhs. In 1566, it was rebuilt by the Mughal Emperor Akbar and over the years, his sons Jehangir and Shahjahan (yes, the same Shahjahan of the Taj Mahal) added on their own touches. Emperor Akbar held his court at Lahore Fort, so as we walked around, we saw all the different structures built for addressing different audiences. There was one area where he addressed commoners, one area where he addressed royal audiences, and one for addressing the general public. The coolest thing is that a year or two ago, I read The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan, a historical fiction book about the beginnings of the Mughal empire. And so much of it takes place at Lahore Fort! So it was pretty amazing to actually be walking into all the different areas described so precisely in the book. And the sleeping quarters for all the different emperors... wow. Ceilings covered in mirrors, inlaid work, mosaics. It was beautiful. And we even got to see the Sheesh Mahal which is where Shahjahan's empress and harem lived, the marble screens constructed just so that they could see out into the world but noone could see them. I definitely have to read Sundaresan's book again.
Then we were off to Badshahi Mosque, which is right next door to Lahore Fort. It was built in 1673AD by yet another Mughal emperor. It's like a mini Taj Mahal. The architecture was just amazing. See photos above if you don't believe me. :) Right near the entrance to Badshahi Mosque is a small museum housing some really cool artifacts. Included was a snippet of some of the Prophet Mohammed's hair, one of his cloaks, a turban he used to wear, a super duper old Quran, and a dude that yelled at me for not covering my hair. Ok, that last one wasn't an 'artifact' and definitely wasn't 'cool'. :)
We finished the day with a really late lunch at Salt & Pepper (apparently a very popular date place), a stop at Dunkin' Donuts (yet another popular date place... they even have the windows tinted so that the mullahs can't see in), another meat-filled dinner back at home, and a bazillion games of Ludo and Uno with Sadaf.
My friends Katie and Kevin are coming into town tomorrow! Can't wait!! They'll be our first overnight guests at our casa and I'm excited to pamper them in a very aunty sort of way. :) I haven't mentioned this on my blog because Katie and Kevin were in still in the process of informing everyone, but I think they have now and so I'll post it here. Katie was 5.5 months pregnant when she had a stillborn about a month ago. It makes me so incredibly sad to know that my dear friends are going through this... so unfair. So they're taking this weekend to just get away together and do something fun for themselves for a few days. I wish their visit wasn't prompted by something so horrible, but I'm grateful Shehrzad and I can be there for them during such a difficult experience. Jaden Nicole will always be remembered.
Because of the success I had recruiting participants for the Light The Night walks last year, I was recently asked to be the team captain for the PAMF WalkAmerica March of Dimes team at the end of April. It's a huge Sutter-wide initiative and it was quite an honor for me to be approached by the executives of PAMF. Of course I couldn't say no and we already have about 15 people signed up so far! I intend to talk to K&K about this this weekend, but I want to dedicate my walk to Jaden, Katie, and Kevin. It's amazing to think that 1 in 8 babies is born too soon... almost half a million babies a year! Craziness...
Work has seriously been kicking my butt this week. I left the consulting world for many reasons, but one being that I couldn't stand the irregularity of the hours. I like coming into work at 8am knowing that I can leave at 5pm, knowing that nothing is so urgent that it needed to be finished yesterday. So far, this whole week has been that. I guess when I was in consulting, I just got used to it. Now being away from that workstyle for the past almost-3 years, I'm just not in the habit. So feeling that crazy urgency at work again really stresses me out. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with working hard. But when things are urgent for no good reason at all except for bad planning... that just annoys me. And that's exactly what happened this week. I guess this is better than how it used to be with one particular manager at my previous company (you know who I'm talking about KC!) :), so I'll stop complaining. Work seems like it'll be pretty calm today and tomorrow, so for now, the storm is over. Whew!
Daily Dose of Lubna: Tonight is yoga and a talk at Stanturd afterwards. I had to really resist wearing my Berkeley sweatshirt today. :)
Quotable Quotes: Procrastination isn't the problem, it's the solution. So procrastinate now, dont put it off. --Ellen DeGeneres
POD:
Entrance to Lahore Fort
Lahore Fort
Backside of Lahore Fort
Detail on backside of Lahore Fort
Entering Badshahi Mosque
More Badshahi Mosque
At Badshahi Mosque
Badshahi Mosque with a ghudwara in the distance
Day 16: Pakistan - Lahore
(Back to the updates! I seriously can't believe it's taking me this long to make it through a 3.5 week vacation!)
Can I just say... staying with Shehrzad's phuphi and family was just awesome. They were so hospitable and somehow knew exactly what we wanted even before we wanted it. And those almondy cookiey cakey things I ate every morning... mmm mmm!! Which reminds me, dang, I forgot to buy some before we left.
We woke up really late, around 10am, had a nice shower, ate breakfast and lots of almondy cookiey cakey things, and took off with Jamsheed for a day of sightseeing. Auntie Adla and Sadaf chose to stay home... I guess siteseeing in Lahore is as painful as going to NASA in Houston is for me.
So the three of us left for Lahore Fort. The history of Lahore Fort is very interesting. It was built "long before" (since noone knows exactly when) 1025AD and between then and 1566AD was destroyed and rebuilt numerous times by various sultans and sheikhs. In 1566, it was rebuilt by the Mughal Emperor Akbar and over the years, his sons Jehangir and Shahjahan (yes, the same Shahjahan of the Taj Mahal) added on their own touches. Emperor Akbar held his court at Lahore Fort, so as we walked around, we saw all the different structures built for addressing different audiences. There was one area where he addressed commoners, one area where he addressed royal audiences, and one for addressing the general public. The coolest thing is that a year or two ago, I read The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan, a historical fiction book about the beginnings of the Mughal empire. And so much of it takes place at Lahore Fort! So it was pretty amazing to actually be walking into all the different areas described so precisely in the book. And the sleeping quarters for all the different emperors... wow. Ceilings covered in mirrors, inlaid work, mosaics. It was beautiful. And we even got to see the Sheesh Mahal which is where Shahjahan's empress and harem lived, the marble screens constructed just so that they could see out into the world but noone could see them. I definitely have to read Sundaresan's book again.
Then we were off to Badshahi Mosque, which is right next door to Lahore Fort. It was built in 1673AD by yet another Mughal emperor. It's like a mini Taj Mahal. The architecture was just amazing. See photos above if you don't believe me. :) Right near the entrance to Badshahi Mosque is a small museum housing some really cool artifacts. Included was a snippet of some of the Prophet Mohammed's hair, one of his cloaks, a turban he used to wear, a super duper old Quran, and a dude that yelled at me for not covering my hair. Ok, that last one wasn't an 'artifact' and definitely wasn't 'cool'. :)
We finished the day with a really late lunch at Salt & Pepper (apparently a very popular date place), a stop at Dunkin' Donuts (yet another popular date place... they even have the windows tinted so that the mullahs can't see in), another meat-filled dinner back at home, and a bazillion games of Ludo and Uno with Sadaf.
My friends Katie and Kevin are coming into town tomorrow! Can't wait!! They'll be our first overnight guests at our casa and I'm excited to pamper them in a very aunty sort of way. :) I haven't mentioned this on my blog because Katie and Kevin were in still in the process of informing everyone, but I think they have now and so I'll post it here. Katie was 5.5 months pregnant when she had a stillborn about a month ago. It makes me so incredibly sad to know that my dear friends are going through this... so unfair. So they're taking this weekend to just get away together and do something fun for themselves for a few days. I wish their visit wasn't prompted by something so horrible, but I'm grateful Shehrzad and I can be there for them during such a difficult experience. Jaden Nicole will always be remembered.
Because of the success I had recruiting participants for the Light The Night walks last year, I was recently asked to be the team captain for the PAMF WalkAmerica March of Dimes team at the end of April. It's a huge Sutter-wide initiative and it was quite an honor for me to be approached by the executives of PAMF. Of course I couldn't say no and we already have about 15 people signed up so far! I intend to talk to K&K about this this weekend, but I want to dedicate my walk to Jaden, Katie, and Kevin. It's amazing to think that 1 in 8 babies is born too soon... almost half a million babies a year! Craziness...
Work has seriously been kicking my butt this week. I left the consulting world for many reasons, but one being that I couldn't stand the irregularity of the hours. I like coming into work at 8am knowing that I can leave at 5pm, knowing that nothing is so urgent that it needed to be finished yesterday. So far, this whole week has been that. I guess when I was in consulting, I just got used to it. Now being away from that workstyle for the past almost-3 years, I'm just not in the habit. So feeling that crazy urgency at work again really stresses me out. Don't get me wrong. I have no problem with working hard. But when things are urgent for no good reason at all except for bad planning... that just annoys me. And that's exactly what happened this week. I guess this is better than how it used to be with one particular manager at my previous company (you know who I'm talking about KC!) :), so I'll stop complaining. Work seems like it'll be pretty calm today and tomorrow, so for now, the storm is over. Whew!
Daily Dose of Lubna: Tonight is yoga and a talk at Stanturd afterwards. I had to really resist wearing my Berkeley sweatshirt today. :)
1 Comments:
Great pics of Lahore. Too bad you didn't catch any pics of the mullahs beating kite flyers down with a danda for being "anti-Muslim".
Did you see that Sikh shrine that's right by Badshahi and Lahore Fort? When I was a kid I thought it was just another mosque and was walking towards it when my uncle yelled at me and called me a wannabe sardarji.
When do we see house pics?
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