Balloons and a conversation with the taxi wallah

I went to visit my best friend Aysha in Pindi.

Kavita and I stopped in F-10 Markaz to change some money (dollars into rupees), get a cake from Rahat Bakery, and get some balloons.

At Rahat Bakery in F-10 Markaz.
Kavita is trying to choose which cake to get.

The taxi driver and I got into general talk about "the halat in Pakistan" and his views on how the world thinks Pakistani society is getting extremely extremist. He actually agreed with my rhetorical question. I led him to questions about how persecuted minorities were and even how Shiias were being targeted. He agreed but also slipped from him that Shiia were not really Muslim even though they called themselves Muslims. And, he seemed to think that the killings of public figures was an act of passion. 

He did agree that the banning of speakers in mosques for sermons and preaching was good. 

I also asked him what he thought about the new Metro Bus service. I said, some economists (I didn't know how to translate economists into Urdu, honestly, and forget what word I used) think this is a bloated project and badly needed resources could have been used somewhere else or by just by being more efficient. And, that there was probably a lot of corruption in this project. 

He explained that people were using the service. I said I noticed that the buses were not really full, at least what I saw at night. He said, they are full in the day. Then, he explained that it would take more than an hour for folks to travel from Pindi to Islamabad and would cost about 100 rupees. Also, the wagons would stop at a distance from the stop and only, the fast ones could run up to the wagon. He said now, folks could travel back and forth in 40 rupees and with dignity. And bluntly, he said, all governments are corrupt anyway and, so if a service has been created for people, why should he criticise it even though he lost one customer who used to charter his taxi every day.

See some photos below of my ride en route to my friend's house.