Lalkurti | Sabethville

English: Rawalpindi Train Station (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Horse and Rider (Photo credit: Istvan)

Gardener Gardening (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Dad was transferred to this wonderful city named Rawalpindi.My Dad worked for the federal government.I was admitted in a convent school.My Dad thought,it was the best school in the city.Our house was a three-storeyed building in Lal Kurti Bazaar.Our school was close to my house I walked to school. One day instead of taking the usual route to my house,I decided to make a short cut.I noticed a huge swan with its babies,in one of the lanes.I don’t know why but I started to feel scared.I was walking slowly.The swan must have felt I was going to get her babies.Suddenly she bent her long neck and started chasing me.At this point not knowing what to do,I started running and crying.Somehow I escaped this frightening situation.I then made up my mind to walk along the road in the bazaar. One day as I was walking down the road towards my house,I had an eerie feeling that the guy behind me on the bike was going to crash into me.Sure enough he did just that,I fell on the road with a few cuts and bruises.After this incidence I did not have any more trouble. My big sister hated the house we lived in,she told my Dad we must move and live in a better neighbourhood.We moved to Peshawar road.It was an area where all the army hot shots lived.The owner had several large bungalows,these were requisitioned by the government for the officers .In this area, Rawalpindi looked very different than it did in Lalkurti bazaar.There were beautiful houses where all the wealthy lived.My Dad was not one of them,he had a good job. My siblings and I had a lot of fun in the park,which was walking distance from our house. Rawalpindi the city was fairly large,it was very clean.We did not have the fear of kidnappers or evil people.I always remember,going at the back of the house up a dirt road,they used to have horse races.We would always go up the hill to watch the race.One day our part-time gardener told me he was also a jockey.Among all the questions I asked he told me that he was going to take part in the race.He gave me the description of the horse,when next day rolled around,I was ecstatic I was going to watch the horse race,this time it would be a lot of fun,because our gardener would be one of the jockey’s participating.When the race started there were anxious moments for us siblings.We took it for granted that our gardener was going to win.Our white horse was ahead of all the others,suddenly I noticed the other horses were starting to overtake the white horse.When the race was over the white horse was almost last.Our gardener had some explaining to do.When he came next morning I was the first one to nab him with all my questions.I was angry with him because he let us down. Why he didn’t win, he told me that there were a lot of people who bet on the horse and his owner told him to slow down,to let the other horses go ahead.I said,”It means you purposely lost,.this is cheating”.He told me ,”don’t feel bad Bibi,this is what the owners do”. I also remember going to a restaurant.It had shiny floors,it felt slippery,I was about to slip and fall,my brother caught me and said”,You are such an ignorant girl I can’t take you any where”.He ordered juice for us,this was my least favourite.I tried to finish it but couldn’t.The next time he took us,my brother ordered milkshake,I sipped it in record time. Things were going great we lived in a city we loved.As they say,”All good things come to an end”.My Dad suddenly became ill and passed away. My Mom did not want to stay In “Pindi any more.Within six months we packed all our things and bid goodbye to our most favourite city.