The hangover of the unusually long Eid holidays is still there -- five days to catch up on the people we had not seen for a long time but very much wanted to meet, giving people an opportunity to socialise at our place -- inviting them over to our home, the joyous reception of long lost friends and relatives who visit us on occasions such as Eid and, of course, the invitation to dinners where we meet with relatives and common friends. Some people choose to sleep through the holidays or get away to far off places.

Those who made the effort of stepping out of home had to make their way through the massive traffic that went at snail’s pace. Well, if you happened to get stuck in traffic you know how much patience it required.

Every Eid Usman Butt comes from Wazirabad to Lahore with family to celebrate it with siblings and in-laws. On the eve of this Eid travelling was more testing than he had known in the past. He remained stuck in traffic jam for nearly four hours after entering Lahore.

"The instant we crossed Imamia Colony Phatak, we were stuck. It took us more than three and a half hours to get out of the mess. Somebody said a lane from Thana Ferozwala connects to the road running close to the road to Sheikhupura. With great difficulty we managed to find our way to the thana lane which led us out of the mess," he says.

"There was no policeman in sight. The presence of a sergeant deters people from exceeding their boundaries. In his absence people were pushing their vehicle beyond their limits -- barging their way into others’ domain. The traffic was so chaotic that we couldn’t tell by looking at it which way the vehicles were going and this was scary. We were actually able to find a way out of the mess when some protocol vehicles appeared," Butt went on to say.

We don’t respect traffic signals. We only behave if there is a policeman in the corner. "They shouldn’t have given leave to all the traffic police on Eid," he says but TNS learnt from the Chief Traffic Officers’ (CTO) office that all the off days of traffic police had been cancelled for ten days for Eidul Fitr till the return of the holidayers from other cities only to facilitate the citizens.

"Eid is always a period of mass transit but that is a brief period. Hundreds of thousands of people commute from Shahdara to Lahore and back daily for work and the traffic is smooth every day," says an official on the CTO’s staff.

While traffic mess is a regular feature from Ravi bridge to Imamia Colony Phatak from 5-8 pm when Ravi bridge in particular remains choked, there was bumper to bumper traffic on Saggian bridge on Eid eve.

There is a general observation that on very busy roads in the city, police is busy chalaning motorcyclists and motorists instead of regulating traffic which is their primary job. There is also a perception that the traffic police gets commission on chalan, the reason why they appear busy in it.

An official at the CTO office says the traffic police do not get any commission at all. "Chalans are registered to deter people from flouting traffic rules which are in their own interest to follow in the first place. Police do not get any commission," says an official at the CTO office.

Not following traffic rules shows you have no respect for law. They are the simplest rules and for our own safety, says a senior citizen.

While the rush at city’s entrance and exit points on Eid eve was glaring, areas in the city with recreational facilities also remained choked on the first two days of Eid. Allama Iqbal Town and Chairing Cross were at least two such areas -- with Gulshan Iqbal Park and Zoo in these areas respectively.

According to the Gulshan Iqbal Park administration, 60-70,000 people visited the park on the first day while the number doubled on the second day of Eid. It is one of the largest parks in the city, spread over 67 acres. The most popular among the masses here are 18 different types of swings. A lake with 20 paddle boats lent for rides, train, dodging cars and many other attractions are besides swings.

The rush at the park was striking as it had rained heavily on Eid day. TNS learnt that the park staff, which is 103 in number, scooped out rainwater from the many grounds there so that people could step in. Still, the grass was wet and people couldn’t sit on it. This did not deter them from being there.

The park now falls in the centre of Lahore which was called a suburb two decades back. With no tickets and well-maintained, it attracted people more than ever this Eid.

Bekhewal Mor, the entrance to Allama Iqbal Town (AIT) and its main boulevard had bumper-to-bumper traffic from other areas of the city on the first two days of Eid.

It is true that Eid is a two-day event but the traffic needs to be managed better next time.