By Nissar H. Gilani
Pir Naseer-Ud-Din saw us off at the Lahore Bus station, and immediately after wards our air conditioned passenger wagon started to move for its destination to Rawalpindi. It took us nearly six and half hours to reach Rawalpindi with break for every 15 minutes every two hours. The drive was safe and pleasant. While the kids felt sleepy, I and my wife enjoyed Indian film songs, besides legendary Mehdi Hassan’s gazals played in the wagon, “Ayaee kuch Ubara— besides I kept on gazing through the wind shield of the wagon seat, and noticed that we were passing through important historical places, like GUJARAWALA: The city is famous for its wrestlers, and is 5th most populous metropolitan area. Gujranwala is now Pakistan’s third largest industrial center. The city has produced the number one Pakistani wrestler, YONUS who lost his title “RUSTOM – E- PAKISTAN “ to his Pakistani counterpart MANZUR, alias BHOLU Pahalwan in 1949.Bholu was the eldest son of RUSTOM E HIND ,Imam Bakash Pahalwan, who prior to the independence ,beat the notable MANGAL SINGH. Bholu originates from a family of renowned wrestlers of Kashmir origin from the Punjab in north western India.
RAHAWALI
Rahawali is a small town after Gujranwala famous for its Kulffi (ice cream),a few miles further on is GHAKHAR ,once known for its durable cotton carpets .
LALLA MOSA
Lalla Mosa is another big town of district Gujrat (Pakistan). The town is named after a person Musa, whereas the word Lalla means elder brother. Samosas of LM are known for its spicy and excellent taste. “Mian – G key Daal” also make the town famous. A delicious dish that is popular throughout the area and a treat for foodies. I was told that Lalla Mussa has strong emotional bond with their religion, the minorities have enjoyed complete freedom to practice their religion and treated as equal citizens. ALAM LOHAR, from the area an acclaimed folk singer of Pakistan known for singing WARIS SHAHS “heer” is a successful and acclaimed singer of Pakistan .Since we had covered a distance of nearly 150,the AC deluxe wagon stopped near a way side restaurant for a fifteen minute tea break. Few co-passengers opted for hurriedly Pakistani biryani with lot of aroma. We preferred “Dood patichai” with toasted bread and butter. Passengers of different routes were watching, “Neelam Ghar” on Big mounted TV screen. Legendary Neelam Ghar host TARIQ AZIZ ,an actor and a poet was equally popular in indian Punjab and Kashmir as well.
KHAIRIAN
After tea break, we stared towards our destination. Khairian was next town enroute, just 15 kilometer’s from lalla Mussa .It is known for its largest cantonment in Pakistan,and world’s second largest army cantonment. I was informed it is also known as little Norway of the country because more than 70 percent of Pakistanis in Norway belong to Khairian.
JHELUM
Just 25kms from Khairian town, the Jhelum city is one of the largest cities of Pakistan.It is situated on the banks of river Jhelum, that was once ruled by PORUS, an Indian prince at the time of ALEXANDER the great. The origin of river Jhelum (Veth in Kashmiri)rises from a deep spring at Verinag of Shah Abad area of Kashmir valley. After passing through capital Srinagar, it flows into WALLAR LAKE and then passing through BARAMULLA and Uri,it enters into Pakistan. Its catchment area upto the line of control is about 15,856kms. We still have to cover about 96km from Jhelum to Rawalpindi, said a passenger on board. It was total dark but huge road tube lights were making the journey quite romantic under drizzle that had started on way.
RAWAT
Just short of Rawalpindi, a small town that was captured by the invading British army from the retreating Ranjeet Singhs sikh army. The small town is also famous for Rothas fort (Qilla),a few kilometers away from the main GT road. The fortress was built by Raja Toddar Mal on the orders of Sher Shah Suri, partly to suppress the local Gakar tribes of the Pothar region. Rothas fort is a world heritage site declared by UNESCO in 1997 for being an exceptional example of the Muslim military architecture of central south Asia.
At 1.30 in the mid night Pakistan standard time our wagon stopped in a huge park near a movie theatre and the conductor announced we have reached Rawalpindi city.
Light showers with chill wintery though soft in nature welcomed us in the city. The Rawalpindi street lights were shrouded in rains and appeared blurry.
My grand maternal aunt Dr.D.A.Naqashbandi ,who was covered in woollens, and her lone teenage smart son Mujeeb Qadri Were waiting impatiently to receive us in their car nearby.
Nissar Gilani can be reached at nisargilani57748@gmail.com
