Yesterday was a new personal best. Starting at 7:30 am on Friday morning and finishing at about 9 am in the evening I drove about 150 kilometers in a single day.
Here is the route.
From NIPA in Gulshan-e-Iqbal to the beach to drop the kids at school, from the beach to Sultanabad to hit IBP for a quick 15 minutes meeting, then back to the InvestBank office at Korangi Road, then back to Avari Towers to meet a banking customer, then back to InvestBank, terminating at the office on Shaheed Millat. And this is just the 3 hours leading to Juma prayers. Post Juma, quick run to Dawn TV at west wharf, touch base at Korangi Road, pick up kids from 26th street head office at Nano’s home and head back home to Gulshan.
Three years ago a day like this would have killed me. But after what Mustafa Kamal and in his image DHA and KPT have done to the city, made this 150 kilometer day a walk in the park. It also helped that we have had a relatively pleasant April and the killing heat of May hasn’t arrived as yet. I crashed and went off to sleep as I carried the kids upstairs. There wasn’t even the traditional aching heel I suffer, when I have been on the road too long.
So I hate it when people tell me that we have actually regressed in the last 10 years. The medical bills that this city is saving on account of strokes that no longer happen on account of 2-3 hour traffic jams is a number that no one sees.