Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi and his friends took a journey from Islamabad to the flood-affected South Punjab with relief materials on October 23. From Nature’s fury and terrorism to snack stopovers, his log speaks of varied experiences

1700 hrs [October 23, 2010] I was en-route Lahore with three volunteers to make a delivery of relief items to flood affected South Punjab. Hamid Ali, an MBA student, Shakeel Ahsan, an HR executive and Hammad Atta, a telecom engineer were with me on the trip started from Islamabad. We would meet more volunteers in Lahore where we will have to load three trucks with relief items overnight and start our journey early morning the next day.

2000 hrs [October 23, 2010] Talking about the spot-fixing scandal of Pakistani cricketers on the Motorway we had a snack-break. Everyone had his own perception of what’s happening with Pakistan cricket, and same variation of perceptions existed about socio-political problems that we were facing. One wondered, if we will ever find common grounds to move forward.

2300 hrs [October 23, 2010] Markets and hang-out places remained open till late night in Lahore unlike Islamabad which closes down by 9 pm. Lahori boys get hyper on weekends and horde the roads on their bikes. Driving though the haphazard traffic wasn’t an easy task. We finally reached the whole-sale bazaar near railway station in Mughalpura, where our trucks were ready to be loaded.

0200 hrs [October 24, 2010] Trucks were loaded. More volunteers arrived from Lahore. A US-based filmographer, Yasmin accompanied us to make a documentary. We had earlier asked for two trucks. One more truck had to be arranged, which demanded huge amount. Although I was angry at the truck-driver who was being unreasonable and cashing in on our emergency need, we had no other option but to hire him.

0500 hrs [October 24, 2010] We started on our journey towards Daira Syed Ali Abbas Zaidi and his friends took a journey from Islamabad to the flood-affected South Punjab with relief materials on October 23. From Nature’s fury and terrorism to snack stopovers, his log speaks of varied experiences Deen Panah, a town adversely affected by monstrous flood water. Since we had ample time, we decided to visit Data Sahib, the mausoleum of Hazrat Ali Hajveri, the famous Sufi saint. The tomb had recently faced the brunt of a terrorist attack that killed many people. Many malangs (wanderers) were seen sitting around the tomb. After paying homage at Data Sahib we had yummy breakfast of halva-puri in ‘andaroon’ Lahore (old Lahore which was a walled city).

0800 hrs [October 24, 2010] We then proceeded to South Punjab. With chal way bulleya othay chaliyeh song playing in the background loudly, some of us started singing, some chatting and others playing cards. We were 12 relief workers in total. Maryam and I were talking on how after Ramadan, donations have dwindled and people were not donating open-heartedly.

1500 hrs [October 24, 2010] After 10 hours of journey, we reached Kot Addu. We were still two hours behind Daira Din Panah. We had been here twice before, but, the situation is very different now. Roads were blocked at many places and bridges dismantled. We visited the shrine of Syed Abdul Wahab Bukhari, known as Deen Panah, on whom the town was named. Locals told us floods could not wash away the lone street in their town where the shrine was located.

1600 hrs [October 24, 2010]Finally we reached the place. We first formed lines of the flood affected to distribute relief materials. One of our team was there the previous day to distribute coupons to the affected families.

1700 hrs [October 24, 2010] We started distributing the relief materials. Each victim was carrying coupons signed and countersigned by us along with his National ID card. The distribution process continued till it was dark.

2100 hrs [October 24, 2010] After having dinner at Pizza Hut, we decided to visit tombs of Shah Shams Tubrez and Shah Rukh ne Alam in Multan. The tombs were located adjacent to each other and had tight police security around because it had threats from terrorists.

2300 hrs [October 24, 2010] We return to Lahore with memories of flood victims, dismantled buildings of school, hospitals and homes.

The writer is an aeronautical engineer, a poet and chairperson of Pakistan Youth Alliance