Review: Noor Mahal (Palace) Bahwalpur

Bahawalpur was a princely state belonging to Rajputana, Rajhastan before the creation of Pakistan. The Abbasis founded Bahawalpur in 1748 after they moved to Sindh from Baghdad. Nawab Mohammad Bahawal Khan II founded the princely state of Bahwalpur in 1802. Sadiq Muhammad Khan Abbasi V decided to merge with Pakistan on 7 October, 1947 and it became a part of Punjab. Bawahalpur was one of the richest states; the Nawab of Bahwalpur contributed a lot towards Pakistan in its initial stages. He paid the salaries of government officials and armed forces for the first year of Pakistan’s creation.  He also provided with the amount of money that the state bank required starting Pakistan’s own currency.

Bahawalpur is known for its rich heritage and magnificent palaces. Noor Mahal is one of them. Noor Mahal was built in 1872 by Nawab Sadiq Muhammad Khan VI. The locals say that the Nawab built this palace for his wife who belonged to the royal family and was Queen Elizabeth’s cousin and she only stayed in the palace for one night, because when she woke up in the morning and went to the rooftop she saw an adjoining graveyard near the palace and refused to stay at the palace due to bad omen.

The Italian style palace was designed by Mr. Hennan an Englishmen who was the state engineer of Bahawalpur at that time. Most of the material used in the construction was imported from England and Italy even at that time. There is so cement used in the structure. From its design it gives a feel of old British and Italian palaces. The palace is under the Army now since they purchased it after a rivalry of the inheritors and it serves as the Bahawalpur Garrison Mess. It is open to general public, but an army guide has to follow them around. Civilians can be members of the club and enjoy scrumptious meals. 

The Palace has huge lush green lawns on the side and in front, which are now used to play occasional polo and weddings. The front lawn is round shaped that have a bench where you can sit and have the full view of the Palace. In the day time when the sun falls on it, it seems as if you are standing somewhere in the old Britain and at night when the palace is fully lit, it looks splendor. It is architect’s favorite place to observe and normal people can simply enjoy its beauty.

It covers an area of 44,600 square feet whereas 32 rooms, 6 verandas and 5 domes. The entrance has a huge old-styled car porch that leads to the Palace’s main entrance through six to seven old steps. The front door is tall and has mirrors on it, the mirrors have Bahwalpur State’s stamp engraved on them. The pelicans are seen on all the stamps since pelicans were the birds which were most commonly found, it is ironic that they are rare specie now and Bahawalpur is only left with three of them.

The entrance has a huge mirror on its right; to the left it has a shelf that contains old stamps, coins and souvenirs of the state of Bahawalpur. Then there is an old Piano which was imported from Germany, which is still functioning. On the side walls there are different photographs of the Nawabs who have ruled the state of Bahawalpur at different times. Further inside there is a colossal hallway, which was used as the Nawab’s Darbar in old times where he used to interact with the common people of the state and used to solve their issues. The Hall has a ceiling which was painted from colors extracted from flower petals and it has not been re-touched till today. On the right and left of the hall there are huge pillars that make a passage to different doors which are now used for different purposes such as dining in.

There is a snooker room to the left side of the Palace that has a snooker table gifted by Quaid-e-Azam and the room also has his picture hanging on one of the walls playing snooker with a cigar clenched in his lips. There is a wooden stool to sit which was used by the audiences in the old times. There are a few snooker sticks and a set of balls still preserved as well.

The entire palace has paintings of the different Nawabs and also paintings by different artists portraying Bahwalpur and its surroundings such as Cholistan Desert. There are two wooden staircases on the right and the left that take you upstairs. The upper portion of the palace has two rooms that are open to the general public. These rooms have their walls filled with different black and white photographs in black frames. The photographs show the lifestyle of the Nawabs, delegation dinners, Darbar pictures, Pictures of the Nawabs with famour personalities. There is also a Bahawalpur state flag now framed and hanged in the same room.

There are two passages on the left and the right of the upper portion that have beautiful arches. The rooms open in to different terraces from where you can have a view of the Bahawalpur city. The palace also has a running restaurant, in summers they set up in the lawn adjacent to the palace and serve BBQ and other dishes whereas in the winters they move inside the palace and serve in the dining halls.

Noor Mahal is a must to visit; it is drenched in history and culture. The best time season to visit the palace is winters since it is very hot in the summers. School and college going students should must visit the palace and learn about their country’s heritage and culture. Visiting Noor Mahal open doors for many travelers who also end up visiting the Cholistan desert and the rest of the palaces found in Bahawalpur.

How to travel up to Fairy Meadows

“The demons blow their horns and fairies cook their food here”

Nanga Parbat is the 9^th highest mountain in the world and the second largest in Pakistan. To its north lays a meadow at a height more than 3,000 meters which is called Fairy Meadows because of its serene beauty. Willy Merkl, the leader of German-American expedition named it Fairy Meadows in 1932. Green meadows, wooden huts, along with pine trees and a small lake is all you need for a relaxing vacation. A lot of people go to fairy meadows to visit Nanga Parbat’s base camp, mountaineers of course to climb it. An early morning walk through the thick pine tree forest with your camera is worth going to fairy meadows. Bonfire at night when you can see the stars and the moon is one of the most amazing, especially when the moon light covers the snow covered Nanga Parbat and it glows.

Most of you must be thinking how to get to this gorgeous place? You can take a flight to Gilgit from the capital city, Islamabad, take a NATCO bus or use your own personal vehicle on the Karakoram Highway. If you take a flight it’s going to take 45 minutes to reach Gilgit but it always depends on the weather. A lot of times the flights get delayed or cancelled due to the bad weather near the Nanga Parbat, but it is still the most comfortable way to travel. The NATCO bus usually takes 12 hours to reach Gilgit but it takes a long stop late night because of the dangerous turns.

Gilgit is a well established city with a lot of hotels and motels where you can stay the night and start your journey towards the Fairy Meadows the next morning. Gilgit has an attractive market from where you can get all sorts of handicrafts and Pashmina shawls and not to forget all sorts of dry fruits. Since a lot of stones are gathered from the Northern Pakistan such as rubies, emeralds, opal and many others. There is a huge variety of stone jewelry in Gilgit which is cheap as well because of the cheap labor.

From Gilgit you can hire a jeep to drive up to the Riakot Bridge, which is located on the Karakoram Highway. It takes approximately 3 hours to reach Raikot Bridge from Gilgit. There is a small wooden restaurant at the Riakot Bridge from where you can get refreshments and relax for a while, but since you need to get to Fairy Meadows before dusk you can not spend a lot of time there. From Riakot Bridge you can not take your own vehicle because the road is not properly built and there are a lot of steep turns that only the locals can pass through.

At Raikot Bridge there are local jeeps and drivers whom you can hire for 5000 rupess to take you up half way Fairy Meadows. The local jeeps are mostly in red and blue cover. The first glimpse of the jeep might give you a scare because it does not have back doors. The jeeps are decorated from inside and the drivers are mostly Gilgits and they have old Indian songs going on in the jeep that you have to bare throughout the journey. The ride is scary yet extremely adventurous and bumpy too but that is the fun of it. It takes approximately one hour and thirty minutes to reach a point which is half way Fairy Meadows.

Once you reach midway after that you have an option if you want to climb all the way up to Fair Meadows or you want to take a horseback ride. Each horse will cost you 1700 rupees and you will also need a porter with you who will take 800 rupees to get your luggage up there. Do not worry the horses are going to be controlled by their owners; you just need to sit on them, relax and keep clicking your camera. If you track it is going to take approximately 4 hours but it is advised not to climb alone if you are not an experienced climber because of the steep turns and narrow paths. Often you will come across small fresh water fountains; yes you can fill up your water bottles because it is the purest water you can get since it is coming straight from the mountains.

By the last turn you are going to be really tired because of the long journey but as soon as you look up and you have Nanga Parbat right in front of you, you heart pumps. There you see lush green meadows, animals roaming around, and thick pine trees all along the place and you say it is Heaven!

There are small wooden huts in a row and a small room that has a heater in it and when you go inside, from the windows you can see Nanga Parbat right in front of you, you can relax there and have a cup of tea and then go outside to explore the place. You can also opt for camping instead of living in the wooden cottages. Try to take munchies along with you since everything to eat is slightly expensive because of the low demand.

There are many travel companies who plan the entire trip for you. You just need to pay them a certain amount and they are going to arrange everything for you. Your entire trip will be planned day by day and you will not miss out on anything. But one way or the other, this place is worth visiting at least once in a lifetime.

Pakistan: The Way I See It

I witnessed the concept of patriotism from the song Dil Dil Pakistan that came in the early 90’s. Seeing my father dressed up in a camouflage everyday just kept adding to it. Getting a chance to see most of the cities and their life style, culture and traditions aggravated it further. Having a peaceful childhood without any bomb threats made me fall in love with my country. Until one day I heard my father screaming ‘Oh crap’ and that is when I found out that the world trade centre collapsed. That was the time I started getting familiar with who Osama Bin Laden was, who were the Talibans, what are terrorists. Sadly, it was the beginning of an unfortunate decade. The US soldiers took over Afghanistan and I became more familiar with what was going on since it was a neighboring country and I learnt in grade 5 that Pakistan has 5 neighboring countries India, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and China. In our drawing room I used to hear my family talking about the US invasion and the Talibans.

President Musharraf took over and I was instantly in love with him due to his courage and charm, since I took his autograph before he became the President and I often used to show it off to my friends. Musharraf always wanted Pakistan to be recognized at a global level, he joined hands with the US to fight against terrorism because he thought US was an important ally. The religious groups in the country went against him, the extremists were triggered and that was the start of terrorism in Pakistan. The extremists started bombing the country extensively. The frequency of the bomb blasts increased every year. I remember our schools being shut a lot of times because of the bombings.

The northern Pakistan was captured by the terrorists that included Afghani’s, Yemeni’s, Uzbek’s and others. And instead of fighting America’s war, here we had to fight against terrorism in our own country. Suicide bombings became a routine, the morale of the people went down immensely. And by the end of the same decade we were carrying out a war within our own country. We were not terrorists, but became victims of terrorism. The west took advantage of the fact and did not leave a single chance to make us recognize as terrorists. Only because we were Muslims and we had an important geo-strategic place in the region.

Today, I think to myself why the world can not see the real us. Why can they not come out of their shells and assumptions and see the real face of Pakistan. Why don’t they recognize that we have the best tourist attractions but it ruined because of the ongoing war which did not even start because of us. Why can’t they see our fertile lands that produce a variety of crops that are exported and fruits that taste better than many countries?

Our country has modernized immensely over the past few years. We have a free media; we have internet, high rise buildings, international chain restaurants and what not. Why are we recognized as a third world country where we live like monkeys who do not have cell phone and the internet? At the same time we do have many things that need to be improved but then again which country is perfect? The world needs to open their eyes and start considering the good things that we have in our country rather than emphasizing on ‘terrorism’ alone.

Yes our literacy rate is not as high as many countries but still our children top the GCE ‘O’ levels and ‘A’ levels results. They are geniuses; they are the ones who get the most scholarships to go and study in the west. Though they are often ridiculed because of their color and backgrounds but that can not change the fact how smart they are. There are many NGO’s that are trying to increase the literacy rate of the country. There are still many cities that have the highest literacy rate. If you travel to Hunza Valley where Agha Khan has a strong hold, every child is getting educated and they have a hundred percent literacy rate. Hundreds of schools for girls in the northern area have been bombed because of the ongoing war and terrorism. But we have every right not to be discouraged and known as a terrorist country.

There are many times when I get disappointed, but I can never lose hope in this country. When this country needs to be united nobody can beat them. Last year, our country was hit by one of the biggest natural disasters, but the entire country came forward and helped each other. There are many things that make us proud of the country we call our homeland, instead of giving up we should do everything that we can in our own sphere. We should not be discouraged that we are being recognized as terrorists rather we should stand up and prove the world wrong. After all the sacrifices our ancestors made for the independence of this country, we should never give up and we should love this country. If we want the world to fall in love with our country, we have to stand up for it first.

As I was listening to the song ‘Ab khud kuch karna parey’, getting all pumped that yes, ‘abb kuch karna hi hai’, but then I realised this Pakistan we are talking about. A country where people think they are the chosen ones. They have the right to kill anyone, anywhere, and at anytime. Even if we tried to do or say something right. We will be killed. Even a good thought cannot be spoken out loud.

We think only we are the purest form of human beings. Only we will go to heaven, and it is our duty to kill all ‘non-believers’ before the day of judgement. It is our duty to judge and execute everyone. What happened to believing that God is all forgiving, all Merciful? What happened to God being the only judge?

Yes, we on the entire planet are the only nation who has been given the right to kill people. We have been given the right to say what is in Islam and what is not. We have been given the right to be intolerant and kill anyone who speaks against our beliefs. To think of it, even Prophet Muhammed wasn’t given that right. Even he didn’t kill his uncle for not believing in Allah.

We are in love with burning up places, even if it is just a protest; we end up burning people’s business, creating absolute chaos and fear in the audience’s eyes. We love to kill women, and children and anyone who mind their own business. We actually enjoy killing, and love watching people being killed. I hope you all haven’t forgotten the brothers from Sialkot episode. Didn’t we just enjoy watching that? We even take pride in blowing up places.

Yes, this is my country Pakistan. The country that call home.. And would take a bullet for.. So shall we start killing each other now? It breaks my heart to say this, but hum kuch nai kar sakte. We are hopeless. It is not our duty to speak out loud, and the government’s duty to take action and keep us safe. Unfortunately that is not happening. I am ready to welcome the military once again with open hands. Only they can now keep us safe.