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parallels A
soothing account
parallels Driving on the spacious
road leading to Abu Dhabi Palace, lined on both sides with date palm trees,
you think for a moment you are not in Pakistan. The architecture, ambience,
cleanliness are such that you are reminded of your visit to the UAE. The reference here is
especially to those parts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which are still
safe from the encroachment of high-rises and the development is done in
keeping with local traditions. Barring such tall commercial and residential
structures in Dubai and in a selected part of Abu Dhabi, the settlements are
mostly spread out and not at all congested. For example, a visitor to
Al Ain gets a glimpse of well-preserved centuries-old Bedouin lifestyle and
agriculture-dependent living. Besides, there are a large number of
settlements surrounded by agriculture fields, majestic palm trees and
wildlife sanctuaries. So, if you close your eyes to the private and public
transport vehicles bearing local number plates, plying on this less-travelled
road in Rahim Yar Khan, you get a feeling of being in Abu Dhabi. The ruling family of UAE
has made huge investments in this part of the country. They come to Rahim Yar
Khan regularly and hunt in the deserts earmarked for this purpose. Also, a
huge labour force from Rahim Yar Khan is employed in the UAE which is second
home to them. Even the milestones are scripted in Arabic. In simple words, UAE is to
Rahim Yar Khan what UK and Europe are to Jhelum and Gujrat The economic and cultural
influence of these two countries is intense — the youth dreams of
ultimately heading to the UAE and those who return from there talk endlessly
about the life they are spending or have spent there. However, unlike the lot
which heads to European countries, the one working in UAE is labour
intrinsic; it does not make enough money required to set up businesses back
home nor buy properties every one or two years. Besides, the UAE does not
grant them permanent residency so they have to return home ultimately. Unable
to take their families along, they are spared from the adverse effects of
culture shocks, which come in a milder form here than in the West. An interaction with people
reveals they are indebted to UAE’s royal family for the development work
they have done in the area, the jobs they have provided and the wealth they
have spent for the welfare of the people. Amazingly, this otherwise
backward area experienced a spurt of development of international standard
back in the 1970s when the UAE won its independence and started collaborating
with Pakistan. At that time, Pakistan cooperated with the Emirates in setting
up their systems in place such as police, armed forces, police, health and
education, construction industry and ports operations. “Maybe in an attempt to
reciprocate all this, the UAE rulers diverted their money to Pakistan,
especially in Rahim Yar Khan, and set up facilities and institutions of
international standing,” says Imran Maqsood, a local employed with a
government institution. Naming a few, he says, there are Sheikh Zayed Medical
College and Hospital, the RahimYar Khan Airport, Sheikh Zayed Public College
and School, a wildlife farm, water wells in the desert, colonies for the poor
and what not. “If we say the UAE
reduced the burden of development work for the government, it will not be
wrong,” says Masood, recalling the role of a local businessman, Chaudhry
Muneer. He is honorary counsel general of UAE in Pakistan and close to the
UAE rulers. Whenever there is a new project in the UAE a huge of workforce
from Rahim Yar Khan is employed. The Sheikhs are so integral to the area that
the government functionaries of Pakistan travel all the way to meet them when
they come here for hunting towards the end of the year. The Rahim Yar Khan airport
built by former UAE ruler late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan is the fourth biggest
in the country. The Sheikh gifted it to the government of Pakistan. Today, it
is being run by Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), and Pakistan International
Airlines (PIA) operates a weekly return flight between Rahim Yar Khan and Abu
Dhabi. Unfortunately, there is a
negative side to it as well. The exposure to UAE’s riches led some
unscrupulous elements to smuggle young children to work as camel jockeys. In
recent years, though, the practice has been checked to a great extent and
jockeys have been repatriated to Pakistan after a total ban on the use of
underage children in these races. Muhammad Ali, principal
Vocational Training Institute (VTI), tells TNS that people see the UAE as a
land of opportunities from where they get picked for jobs in other parts of
Gulf States. For example, he says, Qatar will be holding the soccer world cup
in 2020. “It may not be big news for the rest of the country but in Rahim
Yar Khan it means something totally different.” Every person is enrolling
himself in welding, fabrication and masonry classes at private and government
vocational institutes, and more and more vocational institutes are cropping
up by the day. They foresee a lot of construction work in Qatar, and hence
job opportunities there —“That’s the level of the people’s
involvement in whatever happens in the Gulf region,” says Ali.
A
soothing account The Karakorum Range is one
of the youngest mountain ranges on Earth; a creation still in the making. It
is God’s work in progress, construction, deconstruction and reconstruction
all happening at the same time. Eric Shipton in ‘Blank on
the Map’ provides a glimpse of this kun fayakun world. It is one of the
best travel books to be read, savoured and yes imbibed. Shipton’s narrative is
much understated, almost breezy. Those who have traversed Baltoro and its
tributaries and its causeways of ice and rock, know well the travails of
glacier walking. It is strenuous, treacherous and never easy.
Shipton, however, talks of so many months in the wasteland of
Karakorum as if he has spent those in French Riviera. The excruciation is
brushed off as an inconsequential matter. The satisfactions and forlorn
pleasure of being atop of high passes and watersheds, the breadth of views,
the discovery of new routes and filling the blank on the map are the only
matters of consequence. Shipton carries you away describing the magical
places like Suget Jungle, Muztagh Pass, Aghil Pass, Shaksgam Valley and Zug
Shaksgam River; places so remote that even imagination couldn’t reach them. The idea of filling the
blank on the map took root in the mind of Shipton as he was coming back from
a botched attempt on Everest. He writes, “As I studied the maps, one thing
about them captured my imagination. The ridges and valleys which led up from
Baltistan became increasingly high and steep as they merged in the maze of
peaks and glaciers of the Karakorum, and then suddenly ended in an empty
blank space. Across this blank space was written one challenging word,
“Unexplored’.” On the morning of April 26,
1937, Eric Shipton, H.W. Tillman, Michael Spender, John Auden, Angthakray
(the Gurkha) and his men arrived at Rawalpindi Railway Station to explore the
‘Unexplored’. The anecdote as related by
Shipton of the train journey from Karachi to Rawalpindi is funny in a subtle
way. By some connection with the government, Shipton secured his carriage in
an air conditioned class, while Tillman and Spender had to travel in second
class. Rested, bathed and prim donned in his best suit he was strolling on a
wayside station when he encountered two, soot blackened ruffians, regarding
him with incredulous loathing; Tillman and Spender. He kept a “lofty
distance” from them for the rest of the journey. This type of quiet humour
is weaved with ease throughout the book and resounds in accounts of difficult
traverses almost effortlessly. Coming back to the onward
journey from Rawalpindi, they all got onto a lorry to Srinagar. These were
the times before Karakorum Highway and the roads to North were from over
Burzil Pass and other routes. Karakorum Highway is indeed an engineering
marvel which cut a route where none existed before. The team however followed
the Baramula, Srinagar, Kargil, Ladakh and Skardu road. The Raja of Skardu was
helpful in arranging porters and supplies. Shipton has an obvious bias for
his Sherpas and against Baltis (me and my friend Salman Rashid’s experience
however is completely different). The details in Shipton’s account of these
apparently usual preparations and organisation of an expedition are
meticulous. It feels as if you are there, in the team, that day, preparing to
start on the road to Ashkole, the fabled last village on earth. The careful
calculation of flour needed for instance is not boring at all — it just
gives you a strange reverse deja vous. Shipton gives a soothing
account of Paiju. For those who have travelled the Baltoro would know that
Paiju remains the last stage before the glacier starts. The tradition of
resting at Paiju and sacrificing a goat to the gods is ancient. Shipton
writes of water and willows and flickering fires and, ambiance of rest and
tranquillity… the lull before it begins. Tillman and Angthakray fall ill
but the expedition carries on as every expedition should. The team of Shipton and
Spender followed Trango Glacier to cross the Northern watershed. Shipton
writes about the difficulty of this ascent. He had problems with the porters,
knee deep snow, carrying loads, the ubiquitously bad weather and completely
unknown route. Crossing high mountain
passes is like crossing a threshold of one’s soul. The experience changes
you for better or for worse. Shipton in a much understated way makes us
experience this sublimity; this brush with immortality. Tillman and Angthakray join
the party on the other side. They descend on the other side and the
subsequent exploration, with hunting of Bhurrials forms the routine of many
days. The description of Suget
Jungle is interesting. It gives the feeling of an oasis in that harsh icy
world, yes, an oasis in ice and rock. The description creates the urge to go
there, lie down on the sand by the gurgling stream and doze off. “We
settled down on a comfortable bed of sand and watched the approach of night
transform the wild desert mountains in to phantoms of soft unreality. How
satisfying it was to be travelling with such simplicity. I lay watching the
constellations swing across the sky. Did I sleep that night-or was I caught
up for a moment into the ceaseless rhythm of space.” The discovery of Shaksgam
and Zug Shaksgam River is an account of great significance. Shipton is a
cartographer of words. The words convert into maps and maps back to words.
His description of the North Face of K2 (Chogoree) is a befitting example. The story of filling up the
‘blank on the map’ is astounding, captivating and rewarding to read. It
answers the question that some of us have and will always have, ‘what lies
beyond?’ It also attempts to answer that why some of us go on these
apparently meaningless journeys. In the words of Shipton: “Distance has no
need to lend enchantment, although it seems to lessen the difficulties and
soften the hardships; for the supreme value of the expedition cantered in an
experience of real freedom rounded off with the peace and content of an
arduous job, of work completed and enjoyed.”
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