Railway Station (Okara)

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Over 60 years ago, there was an Overhead Pedestrian Bridge to the right (East) of the Train Station to enter Okara City, by foot. Bicycles riders used to carry the bikes on their shoulders and climb the steps of the bridge to enter the city. After crossing the overhead bridge, on the right side was a News Stand/novels-books rental place called Shaheen Library and Azam Book Depot. I think, the owner's name was Siddiq and his wife's name was Shaheen. He must be in his early 70s now. He rented out, books and sold magazines, newspapers. One bad thing was that he rented out books to teenagers, which should be called X Rated or Adult Rated. He was a pleasant person, but I never liked his business techniques of renting out immoral books containing pornographic stories to adults or children.

About quarter mile away to the right (East) of the Train Station was a manually controlled Railway Crossing for motorized vehicles, Horse Carriages, or wheeled carts. There was a Gateman at the crossing who also handled Train Signal, manually. Okara City was to the North, Agricultural Lands were To the West and South, and small Industrial Area was to the East of the Train Station.

After entering the station building, to the left was ticket seller's counter. There were about 7-feet long benches for the travelers to sit and rest. The porters were called coolies (Quli), who wore red shirts and red turbans. Straight ahead was the Ticket Collector. After passing him, we entered the Railway Platform. On the left side were Station Master's office and a Waiting Room for First Class Passengers. There was an attendant for the waiting room who made your brief stay comfortable, by serving you cold water, getting your shoes polished, bringing you Tea, coffee, Cold Drinks, food, fruits, boiled eggs, and nut etc. Of course you tipped him generously by giving him 2-4 Anna. One Rupee had 16 Aana. Until early 1960s, one dozen boiled eggs would cost one Rupee. Price of a cup of tea was one Aana. Excellent quality Mangoes were 4 Anna per Seer (Sayr, a little over 2-pounds, a little less than one Kilo). Pure and fresh milk was 6 Aana per seer; I heard now it is 35 rupees per kilo (over one hundred times more). Train or bus ticket cost to Lahore was 10 Aana until early 1960s. In late 1960s, I paid 14 Rupees per month Tuition Fee at Karachi University, when I obtained my Master's Degree in Economics. Karachi University collected Tuition Fee for only 9 months of the Academic Year, because schools were closed during Summer Vacation for about three months. Good Old Days!

I love Okara and have many memories associated it. Our family owned agricultural lands and fruit orchards (Bagh) in the vicinity of Okara, in Gogera, in Karman Wala, and in Marula (North of Renala Khurd). Gogera used to be District Headquarters prior to Montgomery-Sahiwal during British Rule. I grew up in Lahore, but Okara was like a second home for us.

In late 1970s, we moved to USA, and love it here, while my brother and sisters are still settled in Lahore. You can search for uzkmi, through Wikimapia Search Bar on top right and read more about my snippets or tidbits.

Usman Muhammad Khan
New Jersey 08054-3315 USA
Wikimapia User: uzkmi
Updated: August 30, 2012

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