Working in a Canadian company in Ottawa, Canada, in the early seventies I was so eager to see snowfall. Having grown up in Karachi and never having the privilege to visit Murree or Nathiagali or any other hill station during winter I had never seen snowfall but heard about it several times increasing my curiosity.

My supervisor was a burly Canadian called ‘Bernie’ and I would frequently ask him, “Bernie when is snow going to fall”. He usually answered candidly but sometimes he would blow his top.

He would say you will be followed by a four-letter word ‘stop’, asking about snowfall when you start shoveling it. Why should an ordinary citizen be bothered with shoveling snow when we have a municipal authority with all kinds of gadgets to do the job I often wondered? I found the answer when I moved into an apartment on my own.

It was early winter and we already had a snow storm. Sheets of snow were piled up right to the door of my apartment and the person who had come to deliver the keys said with an........

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