We arrived very dramatically in Lahore at 9.10pm after I'd had a really hideous attack of 'the runs'. I was taken to some 'half toilets' in a mosque and felt really, ill, exhausted and dizzy. My health was most definitely not good and I did not really know where I was due to general disorientation etc.
That first night was to be spent at the Maulana's house, the Maulana being Maulana Anwar Ul Haque Qadri (I believe). We were shown into a courtyard with three charpoi. However, my room was about 50 metres up the street and I was told it was the same room Pir Mahroof used when he came to visit. Mobashir was to sleep in the room on the setee 'just in case there was any trouble', says my journal. There was also a connecting door from the room into someone else's house.
I noted that we had caught a glimpse of the Minar-e-Pakistan and the Badshahi Mosque on our way into Lahore. I noted, rather humourously, that if I should still be alive, I would look forward to visiting both places the next day! My thoughts turned to survival for the four days to follow since I was feeling appallingly ill with the runs and dehydration. The next day I also needed to book a flight from Lahore back to Karachi too.
I recorded that it felt 'like being in a zoo' that night because people had seen Pir Sahib's room lit up and they wanted to come and see why. They were intrigued to see me since they don't normally see white people, Mobashir must have told me? By 10.00pm everyone had left and I was on the verge of collapse after having to answer everybody's questions.
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