Lahorites flock to recreational places

LAHORE
A large number of citizens thronged the public parks and other recreational places including Lahore Zoo, cinemas, Lahore Fort on Sunday to celebrate the third day of Eid with traditional festivity.
The third day of Eid was usually treated as a party day and majority of Lahorites visit public parks, Lahore Zoo, cinemas and other recreational places with their families to enjoy the holiday. During the day, a rush of people was seen at Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Model Town Park, Nawaz Sharif Park, Racecourse Park, Bagh-e-Jinnah, Safari Park, Lahore Zoo, Lahore Fort, Shalimar Gardens and Jallo Park while in night the parking lots of the city cinemas were found full.
The most rush was observed at Lahore Zoo where people were unable to find a place to even park a motorcycle. Both entrances of Lahore Zoo (one at The Mall and second at Lawrance Road) were packed with traffic and kept the traffic wardens on their toes. Zoo officials said that over 200,000 people visited Lahore zoo during Eid holidays. They said the number of visitors at Lahore Zoo on first day of Eid was much lower than the remaining two days.
Cages of monkeys, lions and tigers, bear house and snake house were the points of attractions for children. However, the elephant house was as usual the most visited place in the Zoo. Children were seen gone crazy to see a glimpse of the elephant, hippopotamus and rhino, which were present in each other’s neighborhood. Playgrounds and cafeteria of Lahore Zoo were also jam-packed and many people complained about the substandard food.
Like Lahore Zoo, Safari Park on Raiwind Road is also one of the busiest recreational places in the provincial capital. Long queues of vehicles were seen outside the Lion and Tiger Safari areas and people had to wait for hours in their cars to get in. Birds arena also attracted a large number of visitors, especially families with children and small kids.
“My daughter Iram loves to run after the black swans,” said Hamid Ali, a resident of Johar Town. He said he along with his family came to Safari park to enjoy the holiday. He said pleasant weather had increased the joyfulness of the day. He said he tried to go to the Tiger Safari but after waiting for about an hour he decided to come to bird’s arena.
“I am capturing the memorable moments in my camera and my husband is making a video of our visit, said Humera, a resident of Mochi Gate. She said this was their first visit to Safari Park and before this they didn’t know that such a enjoyable place existed in Lahore.
A number of families also visited the Fortress Stadium to enjoy big rides at Joy Land. Kids play-lands having electronic swings, video games and other joy rides were also jam-packed. Ice-cream parlours, fast food restaurants, coffee shops and other eating spots also witnessed the extraordinary rush of people during Eid holidays as many youth had called their friends to these places for get-to-gather and Eid millan parties.
For the last some years, making BBQ at homes on third day of Eid has also become a new tradition of Lahore and many people invite their families and friends for homemade BBQ parties. The most popular BBQ recipes prepared in these parties are Beef Kebabs, Bihari Boti, Grilled Mutton Chops, Beef Tikka, Mutton Tikka and Malai Boti. Following the trend, shops selling BBQ grills, charcoal grills, iron skewers and other BBQ preparing items were remained open even on Eid holidays. The prices of coal also shot up in the city and vendors charged Rs 80 per kg instead of the original price of Rs 40 per kg.