Comfort Zone

Overstay: Day 13

Location: Lahore

Weather: No idea

I thought being away from the routine life is a way of leaving the comfort zone. (Don’t get me wrong, I never see being on the road as a mean of escaping from reality). I never thought that I would fall into the comfort zone again while leading the day on the road.

I have been staying in Malik’s Regale Internet Inn in Lahore for almost 2 weeks. Malik is a former journalist. The ‘Inn’ used to be his press office and he had somehow stopped the business and converted it into an ‘Inn’ where it had eventually become backpackers’ nest in Lahore.  

My comfort zone in Lahore

I’m quite reluctant to leave. I mean to leave my bed. I wake up only after the sunshine has reached my ass. But if my roommates were still in unconscious mode, you will see me getting up and closing the curtain. 5 minutes more, 10 minutes more, 30 minutes more…hey, why should I wake up? Keep sleeping you idiot! Sleeping is the happiest pastime. So I closed my eyes and found myself turning left and right, sleepless in lazy mode. When I really wake myself up, I, still on the bed, switched on my laptop and gazed into the screen into eternity, failing to figure out what to do. I told myself to write or read or do something productive but I ended up browsing Facebook and chatting nonsense with friends and strangers(This is the reason I love but at the same time hate to bring a laptop)…yes, still on the bed.

So I’m on the bed now, not on the road anymore.

Apart from waiting for the visa extension to be granted(it took an incredibly 7 days for an extension!), I found myself also too lazy to do the sightseeing and tourist stuffs. I have initially made up my mind to travel to Karachi, Uch Sharif and Multan once I get my visa extension but I didn’t even pay a visit to the nearby Gurdwara Janamasthan Nankana Sahib in Nankana, the birthplace of Sikhism’s founder, Guru Nanak. I found myself keep on changing the decision I have made until I feel so sick about myself.

McLeod Road

Regal Chowk

Shah Alam, Old City

The beautiful yet little-visited Wazir Khan Mosque

A literally street vendor, Old City

Secret recipe

Lahore Fort(not going in)

Badshahi Mosque

I had lost impetus to write. I have no patience to read. I have lost interest on all the musical performances and singing on the rooftop arranged by passionate Malik. I have no mood to hang out with other travelers on the rooftop. I didn’t feel excited anymore for being able to use kitchen as I used to be. I felt guilty to have wasted time by just lying on the bed and watching movies, etc. The only thing I felt comfortable with without having to ‘switch on’ my mind is to go downstairs and feed myself.

And I went downstairs to find some food.

So I went to the same stalls to buy the Rs80 Biryanis every afternoon. I went to the same restaurant to buy the Rs80 mix salad every night. I went to the same street stalls to eat the Rs50 Sharwama every night before going to bed. I went to the same street vendor to buy 1 dozen of Rs40 banana. I went to the same grocery store to buy my favorite biscuits. I went to KFC and walked out again and again, empty-handed, etc.

WC told me that I should stop traveling and head back home because I must have been feeling sick about traveling. She might be true but as far as I concern, I strongly believe that this is only a transitional period which is unavoidable for those traveling in a long trip. The same feeling struck me when I was somewhere in the Middle East months ago and I eventually got back my travel tune.

India, I’m not ready but I’m coming…

Note: So after 13 days of overstaying and 18 days of struggling with the idiosyncratic bureaucracy in Pakistan, finally a 1-month extension was granted and stamped on my Observation Page of my passport, today. No fine, no penalty, no deportation, no explanation! ‘Pakistan Zindabad!’(Urdu: Long live Pakistan!) – another Bolehland!