20.Aug.2o14
I am not much of a fan of the Azadi march. But I my vote was for Imran Khan & I wish he completes this utterly nonsense task without further complications and insult.
The brighter side for me in all this is that if Nawaz goes (#GoNawazGo – please) we might just get our Sheesha back!!!
I wasn’t a fan of Sheesha until I came to Lahore, joined university and the only hangout place we had after classes were anyone of the many Sheesha cafes on MMAlam road.
Oh, the giggles, laughter’s, jokes, serious moments, exchange of thoughts, discussions we had.
We would go to any café, but by the end of the semester, we had a favourite one. We would sit there for hours, sometimes 3, at times 6 hours. Just talking away, discussing the day’s events, gossiping, even discussing the notes, lectures. In the meantime also having a couple of sheeshas. It would be a group of batch mates, a minimum of 5 at most times. So a Sheesha between all of us didn’t matter much. Also having the occasional food and drinks wouldn’t hurt our pocket. It was that economical.
Because of the everyday rush of students, the café owners had the menu set to affordable prices. And because they knew us so well, an occasional discount was always a pleasant surprise. It was a win-win for all. A usual of 300 – 500 PKR maximum spent on a luxurious day with friends & knowledge.
Not only that we got to socialise too, not FB socialising, like the real deal. Making friends along with people in the same café, getting to know new things, what’s in what’s hot, what not, everything!! The friend circles grew, both for males & females. We thrived such great connections. Such benefits. Such a social life.
And then one sad day there was a big BAN! On the cafes. There would still be some hide and seek games but in the end, it was a complete shutdown. Just around MMAlam road approx 40-50 cafes closed (or so I heard). Imagine the number of cafes all around Pakistan. The disruption is caused is quite self-evident. 100s lost their job. We lost our social life. The menu rates were hiked hence expensive for students, what could be worse?
It was the end of Sheesha – the end of our social life.
Yes, true to their facts, it was & is harmful. It is dangerous, cancerous & unnecessary. As much as a cigarette, as much as alcohol. But I know we all have seen many young people smoking around. Why aren’t we banning cigarettes then??
Whatever may the real reasons be behind it all there are ways around it too; proper rules need to be implemented, like ID checking before serving Sheesha as in all the countries in the entire world.
I as a female I enjoyed & loved the outings, which were in a good neat environment, no hassles or troubles, no bad people, no one to be worried about.
I can’t go to a snooker café or gaming cafes in Lahore. Because I just can’t.
The Sheesha café was the only place we girls could go out and enjoy. Just us and be us.
Now before going to any nice place, I really need to double check my allowance and see if I can afford it. Yes, we haven’t stopped going out and we would never. Just that it isn’t that economical now. Factors of inflation playing their roles, truly, but the closing of many a cafe too.
I hope that if Nawaz goes, I get my cafés back. My real social life back. I really miss it tonnes!!
