Beautiful Pakistan
- Thread starter ghazi52
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ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
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This 1962 aerial photograph of Peshawar, featured in a Pakistan International Airlines calendar offers an evocative view of the city at a formative moment in its modern history. The perspective looks southward, capturing the western and rear aspects of Islamia College as they anchored the city’s emerging educational landscape.
From L-R a series of landmark buildings define the scene. The white minarets and domes of the Islamia College Mosque stand out prominently. Beyond it lies the early campus of the University of Peshawar, still surrounded by open land, foliage and low density development.
Running through the middle of the image is Jamrud Road already a vital artery of the city. Along it, on the right, is the distinctive dome shaped building of the Agricultural Training Institute (formerly Normal Training College constructed in 1922) Behind it a faint railway line can also be traced hinting at the farsighted transport networks that supported the city’s growth.
The open space visible in the upper middle portion of the photograph marks the site where Khyber Teaching Hospital would later be established in 1976, while the distant expanse shows the early layout of University Town as it began to take shape.
Photographs like this are invaluable historical records. They document the spatial evolution of Peshawar, preserve the memory of institutions in their early settings and allow us to understand how infrastructure and urban planning gradually transformed the city into its present form. QK
ghazi52
THINK TANK: CONSULTANT
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- #374
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To be on top of the second-highest plateau in the world, popularly known as the Deosai Plains, in the July summer was to feel almost unwanted. This was a place where humans are scarce, where silence hums and the fragrance of flowers, of every colour, fills the winds.
A map of the Deosai National Park prepared by locals.
A friend in Karachi, a wanderlust man of good taste, had spoken to me of Skardu — where the Deosai Plains are located — one evening. He told me of the intimidating Karakoram mountains, of small tea shops and of forts dating back centuries.
I desperately wanted to go. I was mourning the lush green mountains of Naran I had visited a few years back. But little did I know that the wonder of travel lies less in the reminiscence of lost time and more in the discovery of the new.
A week after the meeting with my friend, I met Amjad Maqpoon at a three-star hotel in Islamabad. It was a relief to see the lanky man with his wide-teeth smile and Balti accent, materialise out of a speculative WhatsApp group titled “Skardu-Deosai”. He was introduced to me by a local tour company, the ones that pop up on Instagram feeds every summer. We agreed on a price and decided to leave for Gilgit-Baltistan at 4am the next day.
The journey to the land of the mountains commenced with a flat tyre and an air-conditioning system that was best left untouched. But soon, we were zooming past the Hazara Motorway, out of the comfort of the capital’s sleek roads, towards a discreet rugged terrain, the mystery of which kept me up throughout the bumpy drive. I caught flashes of pine trees in deep shades of green framed against the deep blue sky and clear water of the Kunhar river.
The lush green pine trees of Naran as the Kunhar river cascades its way down from the Lulusar Lake.
www.dawn.com
To be on top of the second-highest plateau in the world, popularly known as the Deosai Plains, in the July summer was to feel almost unwanted. This was a place where humans are scarce, where silence hums and the fragrance of flowers, of every colour, fills the winds.
A map of the Deosai National Park prepared by locals.
A journey along the Indus
One has to sit through a four-hour ride and traverse through a gnarled trail carved out of ancient rocks to reach the “roof of the world”, far beyond colonial boundaries and modern tensions, situated in the heart of the Western Himalayas at an elevation of 4,114 meters or 13,497 feet.A friend in Karachi, a wanderlust man of good taste, had spoken to me of Skardu — where the Deosai Plains are located — one evening. He told me of the intimidating Karakoram mountains, of small tea shops and of forts dating back centuries.
I desperately wanted to go. I was mourning the lush green mountains of Naran I had visited a few years back. But little did I know that the wonder of travel lies less in the reminiscence of lost time and more in the discovery of the new.
A week after the meeting with my friend, I met Amjad Maqpoon at a three-star hotel in Islamabad. It was a relief to see the lanky man with his wide-teeth smile and Balti accent, materialise out of a speculative WhatsApp group titled “Skardu-Deosai”. He was introduced to me by a local tour company, the ones that pop up on Instagram feeds every summer. We agreed on a price and decided to leave for Gilgit-Baltistan at 4am the next day.
The journey to the land of the mountains commenced with a flat tyre and an air-conditioning system that was best left untouched. But soon, we were zooming past the Hazara Motorway, out of the comfort of the capital’s sleek roads, towards a discreet rugged terrain, the mystery of which kept me up throughout the bumpy drive. I caught flashes of pine trees in deep shades of green framed against the deep blue sky and clear water of the Kunhar river.
The lush green pine trees of Naran as the Kunhar river cascades its way down from the Lulusar Lake.
Lost and found in Skardu — where mountains meet the soul
They say rivers have memories. After that dunk into the Mathoka Waterfall, I knew they were right.www.dawn.com
