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I remember my first ever rail journey from Karachi to Rawalpindi in 1958 enroute to Murree for our summer vacations. Our entrouge included my daadi amman (grand-mother), my mother, brothers and sisters and our family servant Farid Khan. We were to travel by Tezrao in a inter-class coach which had wooden seating for eight and overhead berths for two on each side.
Shown above is 8 Down Karachi Mail leaving Lahore Station – This photo is circa 1958 – right about the time when my story unfolds
The coach we were in had fans with appropriate control knobs, adequate roof lighting with switches and a sizeable toilet. The emergency chain handle always attracted me and I had to control myself from pulling it because there was a Rs 50 fine in those times which should be close to Rupees 5000 today!
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The House Of Fear
Ibn-E- Safi
Translated by Bilal Tanweer
Random House, 228 pages, Rs195
Random House India have brought to life and into the English language the fast paced adventures of Pakistan’s Sherlock Holmes and James Bond rolled into one: Ali Imran MSc, PhD (Oxon) aka X2– the super sleuth whose act as a fool is a cover for his sharp intellect which is utilized by the intelligence agency to its fullest (also see this).
Created by Asrar Narvi who wrote under the nom de plume of ‘Ibn-e-Safi’ (his father’s name was Safiullah), the Imran Series and its forerunner “Jasoosi Duniya†(Spy World) won praise from none other than the great Agatha Christie herself.
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