LAHORE, Jan 25: With temperature dipping below zero degree Celsius during the current week, Lahorites have offered mixed reaction to the ongoing chill.

Ramzan, a security guard in Gulberg, said: “It’s far worse than anything I’ve experienced in recent years. During the day when the sun is shining, it’s cold, and those (guards) on night duty have to face 12 hours outside the building without so much as a heater.”

Sajid Ali, an outdoor snacks vendor at Mini Market, said despite wrapping himself up heavily, he felt chilled to the bone, especially because he had to wake up early in the morning and walk two kilometres to his workplace every day. “It’s hard with the electricity and gas outages,” he added.

Naseem Abbas, a traffic warden at Mini Market roundabout, said he and his colleagues were enjoying the weather as they had been provided with good warm clothing, including jackets and gloves.

Muhammed Ali, who runs a Chinese soup stall from the back of his van, said: “Though we operate all around the year, this weather is good for business. During winter, people really appreciate soup, and we have no shortage of customers.”

Amina, a banker who was sipping coffee at a trendy café on Noor Jehan Road, said: “We’re really enjoying the cold weather, except sometimes at night when there’s gas loadshedding. It allows me to get out more, and I’m fond of wearing winter clothing.”

Her colleague Umar, however, said that he did not have enough sweaters for this kind of weather and that the winter was beginning to drag on for too long.

The weather has also brought into sharp contrast the rich-poor divide.

At Data Darbar, where huddled masses of homeless men, many of them addicts, close ranks and light fires for warmth, Asif, a homeless and unemployed man, complained: “I don’t have enough clothes and the blanket I have is torn. Many people who have no shelter go to sleep at night and don’t wake up.”