Friday, May 04, 2007

May the Fourth be with you...


40 acres & a mule...
Originally uploaded by theusual.
I met an English chap at the Embassy and got along swimmingly with him. He invited me out to his home in Kallar Syedan (pothwar.com) which is about forty kilometers outside of Rawalpindi. He just described exactly what I needed. Serenity of birds chirping, beautiful naturescapes and a once in a blue moon chance to experience village life in Pakistan. I had been starved for the spontaneity and here it was. The hills and valleys in what is known as 'tribal' areas but I later was in formed housed all the thiefs, dacoits and murderers ;)

Imran called me while he was still in Rawalpindi and on his way home. Fortunately I had just finished visiting my Tayyee Ji and so I was game for an adventure; adventure is what we had. Night driving on the thinner than usual roads of Pothwar and then traversing the off roading of boulders and carved out roads to his home almost had me gripping the dashboard, almost.

When I walked into the courtyard it literally was a scene out of a Bollywood movie. I met his brother, Zaheer, who was the reason for the family coming to visit from the UK. He was married less than two weeks ago. We stayed up chatting about this or that and finally we all retired for the evening after they told me of the ghosts that wonder about their land and visit them. Most people would be scared but I was looking forward to a chance meeting with the unexplainable. I slept outside under the slendering full moon, crickets, bugs and whatever other instruments that were part of the symphony of nature.

I woke up to the rooster call and the sun rising over the trees and popping through the low cloud cover. The morning was met with their father who was quite the laid back character, how could it be otherwise being in this area?! That morning's drama was that the pump to the well had broken and a group of men fiddled away with it trying to repair it. Lowering the motor down the shaft of the well and then to see a man scale the side to install it was my morning entertainment. I had an amazing whole grain paratha that I've never tasted before and those farm eggs were splendid - real farm cookin...

It came at the right time and slowed everything down to the point where I could hear again. I put my face to the wind and listened...

I got my answers ;)

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