Road Trip Across Sindh & South Punjab (December 2014) - [KTG]

[COOLTAHIR]

Good going xoofi bhai

[versitian]

zabardast going sufian.. shukar hai tmhain yaad hai ye thread complete karna..

pics and narrations are excellent as always..so no more praise.

[Xoofi]

There is a road that connects Samma Satta to Bahawalpur and its awesome metaled one. There was no fog while we went to pick @aks_e_ahmed from Bahawalpur. We reached Faisal Movers station and in about 10 minutes his bus also reached. We picked him up.. and soon he needed some cleanup as a kid vomited on him in the bus

Now chit chat started and we decided to have a kashmiri tea before heading back to Samma Satta. So we found a random kashmiri tea/soup shop near Fawara Chowk Bahawalpur and enjoyed hot drinks in cool weather. Adeel also told us summary about his Swat trip.

Soon around midnight, we started journey back to Samma Satta. Now the situation was completely changed. There was fog falling on the road. This scene can not be described in words. @mdani who was driving at the moment was the most stunned person

After a careful drive, we reached back to quarter in Samma Satta and called it a night..

[Xoofi]

Next morning was a lazy one.. but we woke up around 8 AM. Got fresh and moved towards Akhter (my cousin)'s home in village.

Utho bacho subah hogai

Hot water was available

[Xoofi]

After reaching village home, everyone started to wander here and there exploring fields and other village life as the breakfast was not ready yet. This home is just besides main railway line and all major trains between Rawalpindi-Lahore to Karachi-Quetta routes pass from here. My cousin Akhter also works in railway.

As you all know that I really love trains and/or anything related to Pak Railways, so this visit is always interesting for me.. Whenever I visit Samma Satta, my most time is spent at the Railway Crossing and almost all people there are friends with me.

Breakfast time

Mani & Mansoor taking a walk in fields..

Adeel @aks_e_ahmed busy in photography at Railway crossing

[Xoofi]

And soon, there was a station signal down, and Safdar, the guy on Railway crossing duty rushed to close the crossing gates and then he downed the crossing signal also which means train can pass now.

Mansoor ( @versitian ) took the responsibility of flag waving to the train. In night time, this was done through lanterns but now i got the sad news that lanterns are not used anymore because Railway has stopped the oil supply to light these lanterns.. so now they are using torches instead.

There was no fog on this day.. but if there is fog any day.. the train stops at the crossing because the driver is not able to see the signal.. and then he manually asks the crossing guy if there is station signal down or not. The crossing guy then asks the station master on his mobile phone (not Railway funded) about signal and then train moves.. So guys.. see this is the main cause of train delays during fog season.

Safdar, the guy on railway crossing duty..

The signaler for the day

Train is approaching

Train gone.. open the gates

[mdani]

aray shuru hogaya soofi mubarak ho

[Xoofi]

Meanwhile Akhter signaled us that breakfast is ready, we soon reached and has this open air breakfast under the shade of huge keekar tree. While we were eating, couple of trains passed in this short time.

[asifcae]

Meanwhile Akhter signaled us that breakfast is ready, we soon reached and has this open air breakfast under the shade of huge keekar tree. While we were eating, couple of trains passed in this short time.

yummy..

[Xoofi]

After the breakfast, our next destination was Samma Satta Loco Shed which is a couple of kilometers inside the city. Samma Satta used to be the busiest junction/railway station of Pakistan Railways some 25-30 years ago but now it is deserted due to incompetent policies by stupid railway ministers over the years.

My grandfather was once deputed in Samma Satta (He was also working in Pak Railways), so my father has spent many years of his childhood in Samma Satta and did his primary education from Railway School. So I have a big emotional attachment with this city also and I always love to return to this city.. although my father has not returned to Samma Satta since he left it.

[Xoofi]

Now we moved to the steam engine which is staying idle now. Used to carry whole train during his youth.. now staying useless in old age. We were told that this engine will be transfered to some museum and it is now a guest of few months in Samma Satta Loco Shed..

Instruction for drivers

[Xoofi]

We then visited the Relief train section. A relief train is sent to any accident scene or when some technical fault occurs.

[Xoofi]

A few more pictures of the relief train..

Oil tanker for relief train

Engine & Crane

After visiting Loco Shed, we decided to move and our next destination was Khanqah Sharif which is mausoleum of Hazrat Khowaja Mohkam Din Serani and situated a few kilometers from Samma Satta (also accessible from main National Highway). I forgot to mention that Akhter was also accompanying us as he had taken leave from office. But how we 6 people adjust in Wagon-R is a different story

[lovelylovely]

"RALIEF TRAIN" written on train:) does it mean something else then relief

[Xoofi]

"RALIEF TRAIN" written on train:) does it mean something else then relief

Bhai ye jis ne likha hoga uski aap jesi english ho gi.. haha

[kfateh]

Hot water was available

Means electricity was available also

[Xoofi]

Means electricity was available also

Haha yes.. but there is no electricity in his village house

[Xoofi]

In about 15 minutes we reached Khanqah Sharif by passing through green fields.. Mostly sugarcane and wheat (very early stage) were cultivated every where. In the meantime, a funny incident also happened when @mdani was giving dippers to donkey in order to get way and this remained the most funny highlight of the trip afterwards

Khanqah Sharif is the mazar of Hazrat Khowaja Mohkam Din Serani and the legend say that he has two mazars, one in India and the other in Pakistan at Khanqah Sharif. His many followers in current era hails from Karachi (Memon community from Kharadar to be exact) and during urs season you get a feeling that you are walking in Kharadar not Punjab.

The mazaar

The masjid inside the mazaar

[Xoofi]

There is this wudu area and just outside the mazaar, a guy is sitting with a harmonium and recites naats/qawwalis whenever people visit the shrine. I have been to Khanqah Sharif couple times before and this guy is always sitting there with the harmonium.

[Xoofi]

These kids were selling papads and were amused when we took their photo. Adeel ( @aks_e_ahmed ) has took an excellent portrait of this papad kid which you can see in his thread.

The Masjid door