Me in Abbottabad

Abbottabad is a peaceful place to live.
The natives speak Hindco in a soft accent, sounds like a nonstop verbal expression.
A large number of Pashto speaking also live here.
I had an experience to make roti without a rolling pin,
I couldn't stretch it enough to cover the whole pan,
they make large and thick rotis here.


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my first roti without a rolling pin

traditional kitchen

Traveling in Rain

It was a wonderful experience to travel in heavy rain,
just like everything was dancing on song of rain drops,
passing by farms and climbing roads,
it started raining from Islamabad until I got off at my point in Abbottabad,
my mobile was unable to capture the true colours of nature that my eyes witnessed,
Glory be to Allah,
Praise be to Allah,
The Creator of all the beauties,
Allah is the Greatest of all!




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Hari Pur, Hazarah 

Hari Pur, Hazarah

Hari Pur Hazarah - traveling in rain

The gate to enter Hazarah Division

a farm in Hazrah

mountain, rain, farm and me on the road to Abbottabad

on the way to Abbottabad

traveling on the mountain in heavy rain - Abbottabad

rain, road and ride

road to Abbottabad

The Silk Road - Shara-e-Resham, Abbottabad

PAKISTAN MILITARY ACADEMY KAKUL

In Abbottabad

Extremely excited to know that,
that my dream places,
Kaghan Valley and Lake Saiful Mulook are nearest from Abbottabad.

So far, 7th day in here,
having good time with friends from different places - 
Swat, Azad Kashmir, Karachi, Islamabad -
telling each other the stories of our cities,
one day visit to Islamabad tomorrow,
then.....
who knows....

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My First Lunch in Abbottabad - channay ki daal, karahi and dahi

The paratha I made the next morning 

anda and paratha I made the next morning

I Welcome Myself to Abbottabad!

Exactly a week today,
left Swat at 11 a.m.,
traveled for four and half hour through Mardan, Hasan Abdal, entered Hazarah Division, via Hari Pur, on the climbing roads on mountains,
wonderful and peaceful,
I welcome myself to Abbottabad!

On the way to Abbottabad

beautiful cloudy weather in Hari Pur

Welcome to Abbottabaad!

A Farm in Seegram

Seegram consists of villages on the mountains near Saidu Sharif.  Its an hour long drive from Mingora across River Swat.  The villagers travel to the cities down the hills to buy meat and other necessities of life.  Some farmers are rich as they own large farming lands and can afford tubewells/handpumps for irrigation.  They have cars or motorcycles to travel around.  Those who cannot afford any vehicles travel on horses or donkeys.
Sultan owns a small farming land in Seegram,
which he thinks is sufficient to provide food to his family of 8 members.
He grows corn, wheat, jawar and olive in his farm and loki, tomatoes, peppers and okra in the back of his house.  For water supply, he has to depend on rain.  The stream running under his house is good enough to provide them with water for drinking and other household use.
He has a started working as a contractor so he can save some money to make his house more comfortable and dig a well to get water for farming.
At lunch, we were served with two giant parathas (three times the regular size), loki, meat curry and fried eggs.  This exclusive food was tasty.

exclusive lunch, Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

Sultan, the head of the family in his farm, Seegram

baby olives in Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

tomatoes in the backyard of a house, Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

green pepper planted in a house in Seegram, Swat Valley

green pepper plant, Swat Valley, Pakistan

 Loki (squash) plant in a house in Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

Malta in a house in Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

a stream running under a house supplies drinking water to the family in Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

a small-scale personal farm in Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

rocky path to the farm, Seegram, Swat Valley, Pakistan

Sheereen Baha, A Sad Swati Woman

This old lady with all the sadness in her eyes waved at us for a ride, standing on the side of the climbing roads of Seegram, unable to sit on the back so she sat next to Anwar.  This is how she travels around, walking with crutches until finds a lift from someone.  In a low voice, she was complaining about those having luxury cars but don't bother to stop and see if somebody needs help.  
I asked her permission for a photo, she inquired about me and that what would I do with the photo?
And then in seconds she agreed.

This

Kooza Baanday

Kooza Baanday is a mountainous area through Saidu Sharif, on the way to Seegram.
People in the villages of Seegram travel down to Kooza Baanday shopping for meat and other necessities.
While passing by, we saw a little school boy carrying school bag on his back,
waving his hand to stop,
he wanted a ride to his home on the way.
Anwar, the driver, let the boy sit next to him and dropped him off after five minutes as the boy pointed to a corner on the road.
I asked the little boy in Pashto, "ista naom saday?" (what's your name?).
He replied, "Hazrat Ali."
Then I asked his permission to take his photo (in Urdu and Anwar translated in Pashto).  He jumped off the rickshaw and stood straight like an obedient student.
Then we saw many young boys requesting for a ride to their home.
This is how the little children here go to school and return home, either they have to walk for at least an hour or they run after trucks, vans or rickshaws requesting for a ride.  The name of Nawaz Sharif and Ameer Maqam can be seen wall-chalked everywhere in Swat Valley.

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a boy named Hazrat Ali in Kooza Baanday

school girls in Kooza Baanday

school girls in the area of Kooza Baanday, Swat Valley, Pakistan

Hungry for Chappli

After having a long walk to the right of the hotel after Maghrib, I found a shop selling chappli kebab.  We do have chapplis in Karachi but I had a feeling that the chapplis here would taste different from the one in Karachi.
Yes, they do.
They mix onion and tomatoes in a huge quantity and very little pepper may be, which makes it taste sweetish instead of spicy.  I doubt if they use garlic in their food as the chappli or other Bar B. Q type foods gives off meaty smell.  In Karachi, we must let the meat sizzle in garlic paste so it removes the smell of meat from the food.
The old shopkeeper greeted me with a smile, asked me to sit on a chair and served me with a sample of chappli while I waited for my order.  That was very generous of him.

I had to take the photo of these okras/ladyfingers, three times larger in size than the one we have in Karachi.  I will cook them when I find a place to live here.  

Iqbal in Pashto

Momin lari hur dum

Cheena Market, Mingorah

This market is a combination of Tariq Road and Hydri Market in Karachi, quite expensive,
except for the shops are built on slopes,
bought two shawls, one for I and the other one for me.

Hurting, paining, crushing, cracking --- these are my legs.
I'm tired of walking on slopes.
Literally have drunk four milk packs since morning,
will drink Milo now,
don't know the quantity.

First I thought it is China Market as I heard the name,
but one of the shopkeeper explained it is 'Cheena Market',
'cheena' is the Pashto word for 'glasses',
as this place initially started with optical shops.

Good thing is that,
all shopkeepers anywhere in Mingorah guarantee of no mugging, no snatching, no fear.
Great People!
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My Fourth Day in Swat Valley

Having one of the most beautiful Saturdays of my life,
feeling fresh after a deep sleep last night,
ate a boiled egg and paratha in breakfast,
have drunk three NesVita so far.

It had been raining since dawn,
a beautiful sight to begin the day,
I took two pictures from the lobby,
still cloudy,
listening to Ustad Amanat Ali Khan,
"dil main meethay meethay dard kay phool khilay
 phir yaadon ki hawa chali, phir sham hoi",
kiya baat hay!
and just received the calls from Karachi, Iqbal Bhai and my friend Shubnum,
wanted to know if everything is ok.

The Swat Valley is much bigger than I thought,
it has areas spread far and high in mountains.
I'm still undecided if I should stay in Mingorah or move to Silgram or Kalam,
or may be just keep traveling until I see the entire region,
I have a dream to be at Lake Saif-ul-Mulook, someday.

Mingorah is quite expensive for being the main city to other areas,
same is the case with the capital city of Saidu Sharif right across the river.

So many options and tough decisions to make.
May Allah (SWT) help me to make the right decision.
I'm already feeling relaxed after listening to Baji's dream of me being in Swat written in white on a green fabric.
So, I leave it to God Almighty, The Most Kind, The Most Beneficent.

raining in the morning in Mingorah

River Swat

The area along with the river is called 'bypass'.  A large population lives on both sides of the river.   




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