The River of Life
Monday, October 29, 2007
Travelling on Grand Trunk Road all my life, it captured my imagination as a cultural curiosity when I read Rudyard Kipling's Kim. At the beginning of the last century Kipling called it "a wonderful spectacle.... without crowding.... green-arched, shade-flecked ... a river of life." But Pakistan's National Highway Number 5 (N-5), alias the Grand Trunk Road, or simply the GT Road, presents a different impression now. Commuting up and down the GT Road are caravans of trucks, buses, cars, animals and animal transport also auto-rickshaws, all having equal right of the way. On the GT Road every bus, truck, and a car must pass the vehicle ahead. "The GT Road," a veteran traveller John Otto wrote says, "really belongs to the trucker." And he is right in a way.
So much has changed since Kipling's description of the GT Road, which he saw "brimming with all manner of travellers -- rich merchants with elephants and camels laden with merchandise, guarded by retainers. The aristocracy on colourful horses and elephants with gilded howdahs for the ladies, their silk drapes fluttering in the wind, the raggle taggle of the gypsies roaming from one village to the next in search of food and work." The old identities have steadily defused by the common objectives for prosperity and development. Since partition, the new social and economic objectives have been the major engines of change. The only thing that still remains on this strategic, economic and cultural artery of Pakistan is that it is "the river of life."
Kabul-Calcutta GT Road runs through many of Pakistan's most historic places starting from Khyber Pass: Peshawar, Lotus Valley of Ghandhara civilization, Attock Fort (built by King Akbar in 1581), Hassan Abdal, Taxila, Potohar Plateau, Fort of Rohtas (built by Sher Shah Suri), Gujrat, Gujranwala, Lahore, and Wagha. It and passes over great rivers. The most interesting portion of the road is near Margala Pass that was used by Babar in his evasion. Near by is the oldest portion of the road. This section remained preserved because it did not come in subsequent alignments of the road. Some of the holes along this portion are being used as living quarters. During these alignments and widening the old banyan, shisham and acacia trees have also vanished and eucalyptus trees are coming up all along. A few banyan trees can be seen around Mandra but no body seems having time to sits under their shads.
The road looms in minds of local commuters as well as foreign travellers on a scale comparable to the K 2 or the Northern Areas or the Shalimar Garden, not least because it has been around for several thousand years. Its angles have been yanked and diverted by history. It has witnessed the march of Aryans and victorious advance of Persian and Greek armies. It also saw the Scythians, White Huns, Seljuks, Tartars, Mongols, Sassanians, Turks, Mughals and Durranis making successive inroads into the territories beyond Peshawar Valley and Indus. It is this road through which the subcontinent was invaded time and again by conquerors like Timur, Babar, Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali. Geography rather than history has fated the GT Road to play a role in the history in every age. Since the Aryan invasion of the subcontinent, the natural route that starts at the Khyber Pass and sweeps east, has served as a corridor for the movement of travellers, goods, armies, cultures and ideas. For hundreds of years, great camel caravans travelled through this road. These ancient merchants and traders brought luxurious silks and fine porcelain objects from China to the Middle East.
It was Sher Shah Suri who built the GT Road, originally called Gernaili Sarak till the British changes its name. The Afghan King built the serais (inns) and watering points, Kos Minars (mile minarets equivalents of present day milestones), mail horse-changing posts, planted trees and provided it with the basic amenities. Though, the construction of the GT Road is assigned to Sher Shah Suri but some historians and researcher say that it was already there and Sher Shah Suri only improved it in consonance with his own long-term strategic plans. A random question comes in my mind whenever I take spanking new Lahore-Islamabad Motorway: whose name will be associated with the Motorway in times to come?
Whatever mode of transport one is using, travelling on the GT Road does not exhaust, neither it alienate the spirits. It is one place where Pakistan proves so easy to appreciate. It is living all along every time of the day or night. For one, the road is a great bazaar from Peshawar to Lahore: food and other things are available right on the roadside. The public transport stops at different points, away from habitats, and the passengers can fresh up either in modern hotels or open eating joints serving every thing to satisfy the taste of cross section of the commuters. Even those using their own transport stop by to have a deal on dining in the way.
There is a plenty of choice on the road for shoppers too. The vendors all along the road selling ceramics and furniture of Gujrat, kitchenware from Wazirabad and Gujranwala, marble and stoneware from Taxila, plants and flowers every where, basketry from Soan valley or fresh fruit of the areas from where the road happens to be passing and even carpets hanging high. This suites the commuters well. They park their cars, haggle and make purchases on much cheaper prices than they would in the city markets. Even some factories have opened their showroom on the roadside.
Most of the road is two ways and bypasses have been made to avoid passing through cities but it still passes from some cities. The passion is also required when the road has to pass over the railways crossing around train timing but mostly the road runs parallel to the Railway Line. We in our society have a social trend to live near roadsides. Which is why one can see ribbon colonies coming up all along the road and the bypasses. Same is the reason for large number of smoke emitting factories on both sides of the road. Remember the pungent whiff near Kala Shah Kaku. And, near a village Momdi Pur Madina between Kharian and Lala Musa, a vender who sells tea in a cubby-hole stall has kept a large number of ducks in a pond on the Highway Authority Land. He has also constructed a small inconspicuous mud hut near the pond. The ducks lay egg in that hut and he sells them to bakery owners.
Wall chalking - political, religious and or commercial slogans -- is another very telling thing that one notices all along the road. Every object that is standing is painted, and painted very crudely, very harshly. Dr. Muhammad Anwar, a social scientist and researcher says, "Majority of the advertisement on the road between Gujranwala to Lahore is about Najumis, Aamils and those who claim to treat the 'hidden' diseases."
The road taken once is never enough. Next time it will look different. That is the speed with which some of the things including physical environs are changing.
So much has changed since Kipling's description of the GT Road, which he saw "brimming with all manner of travellers -- rich merchants with elephants and camels laden with merchandise, guarded by retainers. The aristocracy on colourful horses and elephants with gilded howdahs for the ladies, their silk drapes fluttering in the wind, the raggle taggle of the gypsies roaming from one village to the next in search of food and work." The old identities have steadily defused by the common objectives for prosperity and development. Since partition, the new social and economic objectives have been the major engines of change. The only thing that still remains on this strategic, economic and cultural artery of Pakistan is that it is "the river of life."
Kabul-Calcutta GT Road runs through many of Pakistan's most historic places starting from Khyber Pass: Peshawar, Lotus Valley of Ghandhara civilization, Attock Fort (built by King Akbar in 1581), Hassan Abdal, Taxila, Potohar Plateau, Fort of Rohtas (built by Sher Shah Suri), Gujrat, Gujranwala, Lahore, and Wagha. It and passes over great rivers. The most interesting portion of the road is near Margala Pass that was used by Babar in his evasion. Near by is the oldest portion of the road. This section remained preserved because it did not come in subsequent alignments of the road. Some of the holes along this portion are being used as living quarters. During these alignments and widening the old banyan, shisham and acacia trees have also vanished and eucalyptus trees are coming up all along. A few banyan trees can be seen around Mandra but no body seems having time to sits under their shads.
The road looms in minds of local commuters as well as foreign travellers on a scale comparable to the K 2 or the Northern Areas or the Shalimar Garden, not least because it has been around for several thousand years. Its angles have been yanked and diverted by history. It has witnessed the march of Aryans and victorious advance of Persian and Greek armies. It also saw the Scythians, White Huns, Seljuks, Tartars, Mongols, Sassanians, Turks, Mughals and Durranis making successive inroads into the territories beyond Peshawar Valley and Indus. It is this road through which the subcontinent was invaded time and again by conquerors like Timur, Babar, Nadir Shah and Ahmad Shah Abdali. Geography rather than history has fated the GT Road to play a role in the history in every age. Since the Aryan invasion of the subcontinent, the natural route that starts at the Khyber Pass and sweeps east, has served as a corridor for the movement of travellers, goods, armies, cultures and ideas. For hundreds of years, great camel caravans travelled through this road. These ancient merchants and traders brought luxurious silks and fine porcelain objects from China to the Middle East.
It was Sher Shah Suri who built the GT Road, originally called Gernaili Sarak till the British changes its name. The Afghan King built the serais (inns) and watering points, Kos Minars (mile minarets equivalents of present day milestones), mail horse-changing posts, planted trees and provided it with the basic amenities. Though, the construction of the GT Road is assigned to Sher Shah Suri but some historians and researcher say that it was already there and Sher Shah Suri only improved it in consonance with his own long-term strategic plans. A random question comes in my mind whenever I take spanking new Lahore-Islamabad Motorway: whose name will be associated with the Motorway in times to come?
Whatever mode of transport one is using, travelling on the GT Road does not exhaust, neither it alienate the spirits. It is one place where Pakistan proves so easy to appreciate. It is living all along every time of the day or night. For one, the road is a great bazaar from Peshawar to Lahore: food and other things are available right on the roadside. The public transport stops at different points, away from habitats, and the passengers can fresh up either in modern hotels or open eating joints serving every thing to satisfy the taste of cross section of the commuters. Even those using their own transport stop by to have a deal on dining in the way.
There is a plenty of choice on the road for shoppers too. The vendors all along the road selling ceramics and furniture of Gujrat, kitchenware from Wazirabad and Gujranwala, marble and stoneware from Taxila, plants and flowers every where, basketry from Soan valley or fresh fruit of the areas from where the road happens to be passing and even carpets hanging high. This suites the commuters well. They park their cars, haggle and make purchases on much cheaper prices than they would in the city markets. Even some factories have opened their showroom on the roadside.
Most of the road is two ways and bypasses have been made to avoid passing through cities but it still passes from some cities. The passion is also required when the road has to pass over the railways crossing around train timing but mostly the road runs parallel to the Railway Line. We in our society have a social trend to live near roadsides. Which is why one can see ribbon colonies coming up all along the road and the bypasses. Same is the reason for large number of smoke emitting factories on both sides of the road. Remember the pungent whiff near Kala Shah Kaku. And, near a village Momdi Pur Madina between Kharian and Lala Musa, a vender who sells tea in a cubby-hole stall has kept a large number of ducks in a pond on the Highway Authority Land. He has also constructed a small inconspicuous mud hut near the pond. The ducks lay egg in that hut and he sells them to bakery owners.Wall chalking - political, religious and or commercial slogans -- is another very telling thing that one notices all along the road. Every object that is standing is painted, and painted very crudely, very harshly. Dr. Muhammad Anwar, a social scientist and researcher says, "Majority of the advertisement on the road between Gujranwala to Lahore is about Najumis, Aamils and those who claim to treat the 'hidden' diseases."
The road taken once is never enough. Next time it will look different. That is the speed with which some of the things including physical environs are changing.
Labels: G T Road, Gernaili Sarak, Sher Shah Suri
posted @ 11:00 PM,
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Joy of Reading
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Books have been bringing changes and making difference in the lives of people. The power of worlds has caused people to loose their existence or to better them. People reads philosophy to understand how varying points of view about existence are presented and psychology to know how philosophers come up with those points of view, Greek mythology to learn about their strong love of nature and Roman history to explore what they gave to the world. They read Bible to build character.
Explored annals of history, philosophies, biographies, autobiographies, and literature spread over centuries and mediated upon what good has come from the. Also see where are the problems coming from.
Reading resources offered by Reconciliation Automation seem to get better over time, whether they be fiction or fact. They have a mystique about them even in the world of today, where some insist that past values are dying. In literature and life alike there's something to be learned from what is there at Reconciliation Press.
With reading we can throw away all these yokes and truly set free. Science can take control of nature. Understanding of philosophy can free the humans from burdens of what went before. Knowledge of social sciences can steer them safely through the society. But getting away from self is the most daunting of the tasks. For that one needs altruism. And that can only be attained through the spirit at Reconciliation Automation.
Sponsored Review
posted @ 8:27 PM,
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Off the Beaten Track
While most of my friends were having a great weekend, I was taking a trip to explore the lush green plains of Punjab, riding my trusted old motorbike on Band Patri (track along the bank) of Lower Bari Doab Canal (LBDC). Many new and interesting things came in the way, which normally remain hidden from commuters on the National Highway or travellers in the area. The countryside embraces you with lovely colours, atmosphere, people and bits and pieces of history. And, there is no hassle anywhere in the way.
As spring approaches, the traveller, especially in the irrigated tracts, ride through endless expanses of waving crops of different shades of colour, out of which the villages seem to rise like islets in an ocean of green.
I took the side route and got onto the LBDC from Sahiwal -- the city famous for greenery and best breed of mammals. The first thing along the LBDC that attracted my attention was Mandi Maweshian (animal market) near Okara -- one of the largest in the country. It is a complete bazaar where a large number of fine quality animals changes hand every month. You can find makeshift hotels (with arrangements for night stay), veterinary doctors, milk and fodder shops and even provision stores. "It is a complete market that keeps moving from one place to another as per its permanent schedule," told me an astute manager, who establishes a hotel wherever the market goes. "We have buparis (businessmen) from Karachi to Peshawar, local farmers as well as people working in the market as our customers," he added. Another shopkeeper informed, "Farmers sell their live stock here and buy provisions for their homes." The market has its own unique culture.
Near Renala, you see one of the first Hydroelectric Power Stations constructed in the Subcontinent. Sir Ganga Ram, an Engineer and famous Philanthropist had built this Power Station in 1925 in order to irrigate about 70,000 acres of agricultural land that is higher than the normal level in the area and could not be irrigated through the LBDC. Ganga Ram forked the canal, built the Power Station and installed five motors to generate electricity. The then Governor Punjab, Sir William Malcolm Hailey laid down its foundation stone of the station on March 22, 1925. Engineer in charge of the station explained the working of the station and its excellent performance despite the old vintage. The Power Station is not linked with National Electric Grid and only provides electricity for the five pumping stations for lifting the water from the LBDC. The Power Station remained with Power and Works Department till 1958 when it was taken over by WAPDA. Why not more similar hydroelectric stations in the country? The question keeps coming back to my mind.
First sight of the Power Station reminded me of Venice City. The powerhouse building seems to be floating on water. Photographs are not allowed. Security! The canal is covered with trees up and down stream. There is a small white mosque inside the canal in front of the station building. Green areas adjoining the station are very restful.
Just about three Kilometres from Renala, you see a huge colonial ere mansion standing tall in the fields. This used to be headquarters of the Renala Estate -- the land leased by Major D. H. Venrenen in 1913 on the condition of horse breeding (ghori pall). The company had been producing very fine breed of horses in the past. Villa -- a symbol of the past era -- is still owned by the family of landlady T. F. L. Taylor.
That is the place from where my real 'hardship by choice' started. I was travelling on a rural route, seeing the path but not knowing what was coming next. Not knowing what one is going to see ahead is sometime inspiring. But, about 11 Kilometres from Power Station, rear tyre of my bike went flat. There was no place in sight from where I could get it fixed. Advised by Chragh Din, a local, I waited for the ‘help’ to come and we talked.
Chragh Din, relaxed and amiable old man who was fishing asked about my destination, purpose of journey and why I was travelling on a bike. He did not seem convinced with my answers once I told him that I am travelling just to see the area. He was surprised instead. I enjoyed talking to him though. He was so candid and frank about every thing he said.
It pays to get out into the countryside and talk to ordinary people. They are eager to help -- on their own expense -- when you ask any body. I found volunteer ‘guides’ who were forth coming with wealth of information from history to myths prevalent in the area. But ‘chaudhry map’ is as vague in Punjab about the distances as is anywhere else in Pakistan. I learnt not to rely on chaudhry map during my days in the army but still cannot resist asking. Where is village Thatta Ghulam? Ask any body when you are riding a motorbike with haversack and water bottle on your sides. The replies will always be same: nearby.
The ionic counter point is the lack of attention in maintaining the bits and pieces of unique heritage - the resource base of tourism industry. The neglect may be attributed to lack of awareness, education, coordination between authorities, economic constrains and or simply the natural hazards. The magnificent vistas of a land of plans, fields and orchards have to be opened to the rest of the world. There is a need for information in the form of travel guide writing, pure travel journalism, travel book writing and geographical description in form of maps. No ordinary coldness of phrasing can express the surprise and delight, with which one makes acquaintance with the rural sites. Their perspective gives you a wonderful sense of being there. In fact, that is my recommendation: be there.
Near Balloki Headworks on River Ravi, one passes through a wide water reservoir that looks like a lake. In winters, this lack is full of native waterfowls. Flocks of Wild Ducks, Cranes, Strokes and black winged Stilts are the commonest sights in the area. The fish kababs at Balloki Headworks are a speciality and culinary delight. I had a dinner break at Balloki, treated myself with fish kababs -- fresh from the river -- and proceeded to National Highway for onwards journey to Lahore via more familiar route.
posted @ 9:38 AM,
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What is Doodh Patti?
Tea is taken in Pakistan more than any other drink. You get a cup of tea made by boiling tealeaf (patti) in water and mixed with lots of milk (doodh) and sugar anywhere. Those who prefer more milk boil tea leafs in milk instead of water.
Doodhpatti is taken so frequently that even foreigners traveling to Pakistan know this and its taste (and ask for it). Hence the name of this blog that is showcase for some of my travel articles.
This is my cup of tea.
Pakistan
Pakistan is one of the best travel destinations in the world – desert expanses in Thar and Cholistan, Lush green plains in Punjab, mighty mountains in Northern Pakistan and Chitral, and many just to yourself places, what else. Start of the world history can still be traced down to Pakistan – Indus Civilization. Pakistan has a lot to offer to every one; not only to travelers, hard core adventurers, mountaineers, rural tourists, and vacationers but also to anthropologists, archeologists, and researchers?
