IN the heart of Rawalpindi, originally a military garrison, in the old commercial area of Saddar, once stood the Departmental Club to cater to the benefit of lower-ranking military personnel — the pre-Partition British military being, as it was, unforgiving in its tiered system. The Departmental Club was one of the several evocative architectural relics of history in this area until the march of time took its inevitable toll. Some three decades ago, the plot of land upon which it stood changed hands, commercial constraints took over, and the building was pulled down to make way for a rabbit-warren of small shops that would serve current needs. Today, as in several historically commercial city areas in the country, the grandiose ‘old’ has made way for the new. The block houses small computer and electronics repair shops, an odd eatery or two, and is fronted on main Rawalpindi Bank Road by familiar branded concerns. Behind the current facade, though, still stands one proud establishment that steadfastly keeps alive the reality of modernity being anchored in the past. This is the Al-Maqsoom Typewriters’ Sale and Service Centre, that I came upon through pure chance (Google search) when I rescued from the garbage heap an old typewriter that needed servicing (and saving).