I love Lahore. We came here in 1992. Earlier, my father used to get posted in different cities of Punjab owing to the nature of his job. He was a judge. It took me no time to get settled here. May be I was too young to even understand what that ‘unsettling’ feeling was like. I loved what was given to me. The city was beautiful and it still is. It was not as fast-paced as Karachi. Neither it was any cold (read slow) like Islamabad. It had, in my view, the best of everything. Of all the things I loved about this place, Lahore canal always stood at a different stature for making this city what it was.

On 14th August, the students of NCA would decorate the whole canal with characters and buildings that defined Pakistan. Taking a tour of the canal was one of the ‘must-dos’ in my childhood and we used to enjoy it every year around independence day.

With time, I also realized its importance during summers. Have you seen that meme of Lahore where this city is shown as a separate planet situated midway between Earth and Sun to highlight how hot it gets during summer? Well, Lahori summers are extreme. During this season, Lahore canal becomes the most popular place to be at by the general masses. It is the free-entry swimming pool for the people, the ultimate relaxing zone for the men and an alma mater for many who wishes to learn swimming out of sheer interest and following the basic rule of survival.

A couple of years ago my husband captured Lahore canal which gave us some very serious images of this whole activity. It is not just a canal – it is a full entertainment package and that too free of cost.

The canal gets jam-packed every summer and the long queue alongside the road sometimes cause traffic jam.

Not just for swimming, canal offers some great platform for men to highlight their interests or anything they were proud of. For example, these men were totally cool about showing off their muscles… 🙂

It is okay to share the space with the cows or whosoever decides to kill the summer heat!

Jumping is always a serious business!

It made a lot of difference how well one can dive and from what height. This canal, as mentioned earlier, provides free swimming lessons to all.

Showing off makes a dive even better!

Lahore canal in its full summer glory!

Amid all this fun, there were men who never trusted anyone with their shoes and took the leap of faith while making sure that they are not bare foot!

This canal always make me believe in the philosophy of God every time I see it. He has made everything for everyone. It is upon us how much use we can make out of it. If not in thousands, this canal has produced excellent swimmers over the years. It not only adds to the beauty of the city but helps in cooling down the temperature of overall population 🙂

God bless this city and its people!