In The Valley of Gods: A Personal Journey

Zahra, semipreciousme, ana:
Thanx.

dullabhatti: i haven`t been to APNA for a while so i didn`t know. i liked his poems as well. i`m sorry to hear that. my condolences to his family. was he here in the US?

Sameer, Noorie, others: Did you know MTM(Moizullah Tariq Malik), the poet on apna site died of cardiac arrest last week? I know sameer liked his poems. Was a very nice guy. Another reminder for us, death does not spare anyone.

mittarji:
it`s taken me a while to respond to this, but what a lovely travelogue you`ve shared with us--thank you! Having spent some time in Murree myself, i couldn`t help but think of it when you were describing the upper mall and the lower mall. It`s the only hill station i`ve visited in Pakistan, but i`ve wanted to visit Shimla for a long time, and from what you`ve described, i`d still like to. :-)

Nand Uncle,

This was a sweet write-up addressing many facets of your journey, i.e.

hich`kachahut, boakh`lahut,
exploration, observation,
food and the mood.

I did not get a chance to browse through your other piece yet, but ran into this one instead.

It`s a good habit to capture your travelogues vs. letting them sleep in the back of your mind.

Hope to read more of your exploratory journeys.

Probably, the next one should be on the Tulips Season in Canada with some pyari and colorful snaps.

....mittarsaab....sounds divine...maybe one day......

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#67 by m_souza on May 2, 2003 6:45am PT
#65 by rsridhar on May 1, 2003 9:47pm PT


I couldn`t agree with you both more. I`ve been to Shimla on a school excursion. I think I was a bit young and sort of took nature for granted to really appreciate the beauty of simla. Was too busy hanging out with friends, gossiping about girls (and guys) from other sections and shopping at the Mall area. I do remember this shabby DHABHA on the way to Simla, where I had one of the best Dal Makhni. However, I recently went to Kerala (Oct 2002), Kottayam to be more specific. Back waters, palm trees, fishermen...wanted to settle down there:)
Grwoing up in Delhi, I`ve never seen such hues of GREEN..from darkest of dark or lightest of light. Very soothing and cooling to the eyes. Except for water snakes, that really creeped the hell outta me, and few chipkalis (yuck..even writing chipkali makes me jittery)

#68 by stuka on May 2, 2003 12:57pm PT

Hi Stuka,

Allow me to explain something here from my perspective
Nobody takes veggetarianism to an EXTREME because being a brahmin they think they deserve to be special or ``EXCLUSIVE``
I think people grew up eating certain kinds of food, they are used to it and are actually quite happy with it and do not feel like they are missing a great deal in this world by not eating hamleem.

Some people gets turned off by certain smell, others are picky they way it is made (not just veggetarians).
I think there a itsy bity EXAGGERATION going on when you say ``If one is that paranoid about the effect of meat that they want the oil to be changed after frying one thing or the other, than they should stay home and cook for themselves.``

I am sure people with that kind of paranoia (this is again not restricted to simply veggetarian brahmins) probably do cook at home 99% of the time :)

PS:I am not a veggetarian

Satyavadi:

``I have seen you rant against Brahmins and vegetarians and vegetarians that insist that their food in five star hotels be vegetarian. And I might have missed some other groups here. ``

Okay. Nothing against vegetarians per se. I think their diet is healthier than a non veg diet. I was ranting about vegetarianism taken to an extreme especially when someone else is cooking your food in a commercial establishment.

If one is that paranoid about the effect of meat that they want the oil to be changed after frying one thing or the other, than they should stay home and cook for themselves. Or go to a place where meat is not served at all.

I wasn`t ranting against vegetarians but against extraordinary expectations from society.

Re Brahmins, i was ranting against Brahminical thought which lends itself to exclusivity.

#65 by rsridhar on May 1, 2003 9:47pm PT

I agree with u 100% as I have been to Kerela. Kerela is just unbelievably beautiful..no words to describe what I felt..surrounded by so many coconut and palm trees..different from my Punjab, where also we do have Chandigarh, a modern clean city...

National geographic traveler selects kerala as one of the 50 must see destinations of a life time.
With the arabian sea on the west, the western ghats towering 500 - 2700m on the east and Kerala is networked by forty four rivers. Kerala is a very easy place to simply sit back and enjoy. The name means ``land of coconuts. `` and the palms shade nearly the entire state from the tropical sun; many call the beach at kovalam the best in india, tranquil stretches of emerald backwaters, lush green hill stations and exotic wildlife, ayurvedic health resorts, enchanting art forms, magical festivals, historic and cultural monuments, an exotic cuisine… all of which offers a unique experience.

Kerala is one of the ten `Paradises Found` by the National Geographic Traveler, for its diverse geography and overwhelming greenery. It is a land much acclaimed for the contemporary nature of its cultural ethos, and much appreciated for the soothing, rejuvenating paradise that it is.

DON`T WORRY SAMEERJB, I am sure Murree is also beautiful, msut be if YOU go there

Shoaib Hashmi, writing in today`s Friday magazine:

``The thing is that compared to, say, the subcontinent, all of England is really a teeny miniature; where tiny streams pass for rivers and hillocks for mountains. And the highest of these is in Wales, but long ago the English went right ahead and named it Snowdon, and the area near it Snowdonia. Then they made the husband of the late Princess Margaret Lord of Snowdon; just as they have, for centuries, made the heir Prince of Wales.
And just about now there was a neat little fight going on with the Welsh insisting that these places revert to their original, Welsh names. These are Eryri, for Snowdonia, and Yr Wyddfa, for the mountain; the first means place of eagles, and the second I don`t know the meaning of!
The English have this habit, see. When they came here, they found 20 of the highest peaks, and they named the highest one Everest. This was after the surveyor who measured all the heights, and was very conscientous, but so bad tempered that no one bothered to challenge him. The thing is that the locals already had marvellous names for their mountains, like Kanchenjunga and Nanga Parbat, which are infinitely more intriguing than the new ones.
Also, if you are ever in Kathmandu, and it is a very clear morning, your host will come to you all excited to tell you that you can see six of the Himalayas, today. It is a way of talking of the mountains which is, at the same time, full of reverence and of affection which I find most enchanting.
On the other hand, they went and named a huge chunk of Africa Rhodesia, after Cecil Rhodes who they call an empire builder, but was really, well. . .They had a hard time getting the place back from Ian Smith and then giving it its name back. Just as they named two whole towns here after some Montgomery and some Lyall; and we hard a hard time reverting to Sahivaal, and Faisalabad. And there is a station in NY called Spuyten Duyvil, which must be Dutch because they have an affinity for the letter U.
Then on to your true Dubai, where the very airport is an icon and a byword for pleasure, which it was at three in the morning. There was this personable young man looking for a time out of the corners of his eyes, before coming over and saying, ``I say, you`re not some kind of writing type of person, at all, are you?`` I was, with the picture to show at the top, and always extremely gratified to find someone reads the stuff.
It was a doctor called Dheer; in fact, one of a pair because his wife too is a doctor and they shunt between Canada and Dubai. But the elder Mrs. Dheer, the doc`s mother, lives in Delhi, but was born in - wait for it - Lahore! What is more, said the doctor, she still pines for her hometown. Homecoming visits from our neighbours have always turned out moments of such pleasure that we immediately extended an invitation to the town, and the homestead for the lady, sight unseen.
And if the doctors get to read this, and send it to the lady in Delhi, perhaps they will also convey my sentiment, which is that the lady`s nostalgia for her birthplace, and the affection it evokes here, is of much greater consequence and substance than all our petty quarrels and all the silliness going on round us all over!``

re:#47 by sameerJB
Have you ever been to Kerala, also called ``God`s own country``. I visited Coachin many years ago with my Kerala friend and was bowled over by the natural beauty of the place.
Sridhar

#60
satyavadi - make hotel Rs 600/day.

#47 by sameerJB on May 1, 2003 12:16pm PT
``The way nature has laid out geography, I seriously believe that no mountainous area in India comes close to the natural beauty of Pakistani northern areas with Murree being the southernmost place on this string of majestic beauty stretching several hundred miles all the way to chinese border. ``

Haan haan..pakistan ke kya kehney..use to sab kuch virasat(arabic virsaa) me hi mila hai sadion se...khoobsoorat pahar...husn aur shabaab...aur liyaqat aur..zubaan...fair and handsome too.

India se to paksitan ne kuch nahin cheena(snatch)..India ne to usko kuch nahi diya...bas sirf TAXILA...sirf..INDUS CIVILIZATION..sirf EK ZAMEEN JO PEHLE INDIA THEE...aur RAAG...aur URDU(jo hindi ki beti hai)...aur sirf HIMACHALI PAHAR(including Murree)..aur HINDUKUSH....aur ek QUAID-E-AZAM(jisne india ka naam badal kar pakistan kar diya)..Jinnah jisko ab koi poochtaa nahi

Jinnah house fails to attract `suitable` bidders
Sunanda Kumar
London, April 30

The US-based Pakistani owner and his agent in London have been trying for a long time to find a suitable buyer for the three-storied building, near Olympia in Kensington, where the founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah used to live when he was studying law.

Failing to even persuade the Pakistani government to purchase the property, which has a blue plaque on the front saying Jinnah lived there from 1893 to 1896, they put it up for sale at an auction held at Café Royal on Regent Street, London. But, even then no one was willing to bid accept the ``guide price`` of £1.25 million.

The bid went up to £1.1 million only. Attempts by the auctioneer to describe the property as ``unusual`` and of ``historic value`` failed to woo bidders to stretch their budgets.

Khalid Hasan, the London representative of the owner, Asrar Ahmad, was visibly disappointed. ``I am extremely surprised that more people aren`t interested,`` he said, ``There is a gentleman by the name of R Mitra who had initially put in a bid of £1.2 million but he failed to show up.`` Hasan also expressed his surprise that the Pakistani-British elite in London had failed to show an interest in the property.

Although all attempts to sell it to the Pakistani Government have failed, Hasan said he believed he spotted a few representatives of the Pakistani High Commission at the auction. ``The Gandhi house which is a 10 minute walk away from Jinnah House has been bought by Congress, but I wonder why the Pakistani Government is not showing any interest.``

In protest against Islamabad`s disinterest in the property where Jinnah lived for three years, the Pakistani flag was pulled down from atop the building and was replaced by a black flag.

Hasan remains hopeful that the building will be sold soon. Apparently, an English couple is interested in the property but they have not quoted a final price yet. ``The couple don`t like typical houses made of plywood and are interested in the brick and cement structure of Jinnah House,`` Hasan said.

However, to them the house is not really ``Jinnah House`` but just an old-fashioned building. It has a total of 14 rooms on the ground and first floor and a basement.

At one time, the agent was interested in contacting Nusli Wadia in India to find out if he would like to buy the property.


WAISE..MURREE BHI TO PEHLE HINDUSTAN HI RAHA HOGAA...AUR HAAN..HINDUSTAN TO HAMESHA SE HI KHOOBSOORAT HAI..PARTITION SE PEHLE HO YA BAAD ME...

#41 by Urstruly on May 1, 2003 7:39am PT
``yaar why you people have to be so anal retentive all the time; can`t you take a joke.

Que sara sara guys ``

Aji kahan chal diye..

Joke ki baat to theek hai..hum samjhtey hian jokes ko...magar hume kaise pata ke wo joke tha..
apne kaha ke kuch der me hi shimla jo hai..wo paki govt ke under aa jayegaa...ye apke liye joke tha magar hum dar gaye..sach!!

apne bahut pehle kaha tha ke apko india ka ek hisa pakistan banana hai..to apne bana diya
ab aap bahut der se koshish me lagey hain ke india ka ek hisa kashmirhai, wo bhi india se judaa ho jaye. iske liye aapke train kiye log jee-jaan se lagey hain
punjab ko bhi aapne alag karne me punjabis ko uksaya aur unki help ki...unko gumrah kiya..ab bhi sunne me aya hai ke aapke yahan phir se poori koshish hai behkaane ki


to phir aap hi batao naa ke kya pata kab aap shimla ho harap kar uska naam `osama` rakh dein yaa phir..`salma`