On 10 July at 9am we left Gilgit for Phander as our next destination. On the way, we had a brief stopover at Singul, a beautiful hamlet located at a distance of 70 km from Gilgit. This beautiful village with extreme scenic beauty is situated right on the river bank.
We had lunch at my nephew’s house who is settled there, and then moved on towards Phander. We reached GB Scouts Hut Khalti at 4pm. This beautiful hut is located on a hillock wherefrom one can have a panoramic view of Khalti lake and the entire Khalti village, a scenic village located at two-hours drive from Phadner which offers lot of attraction to the tourists. We had light refreshments in the mess and then left for Phander at 5pm.
On the way, we did sightseeing, visited a few tourist spots and reached GB Scouts Hut Phander at 7pm. GB Scouts Hut Phander is located on a hilltop wherefrom one can catch a panoramic glimpse of Phander valley with its mesmerizing deep-blue lake. The lake is surrounded by lofty mountains on all sides and overlooked by GB Scouts Hut, PTDC Motel and forest rest house. This deep-blue lagoon-like lake having crystal clear water abounding in trout fish and with a large number of eucalyptus trees and algae near its banks and with boating and fishing facility offers much attraction to the tourists. The lake is fed by an icy cold stream originating from Baha Gol. The spell-binding sunrise and sunset scene at the lake casts a spell on the viewer.
Next morning, before leaving for Shandur with an intent to visit my native village Balim where I was born, raised and spent the prime time of my early childhood, we met our relatives at Phander and tribesman at Ghulaghmuli, a beautiful village located adjacent to Phander where we were accorded a warm reception by the notables, including the famous poet and writer Javed Hayat Kakakhel and Chairman Phurdum Khan. We spent around three hours with them and had lunch made of local cuisines consisting of a variety of traditional dishes. These purely organic dishes with natural taste and tantalizing aroma are slowly and gradually becoming extinct as the time goes by.
It merits a mention here that my progenitor Baba Shah Wali Kakakhel, the grandson of Syed Shah Kasteer Gul more commonly known as Kaka Sahib Ziarat, Nowshera, whose descendants are called Kakakhel, migrated from Nowshera to Swat and then from Swat to Gulaghmuli, Ghizer district, sometime towards the end of sixteenth century and settled there. A small group of my ancestors, the progeny of Baba Shah Wali Kakakhe, migrated from Ghulaghmuli, district Ghizer to Balim and settled there some time towards the end of 17th century.
After having explored most parts of GB, the land of diversity, I am impelled to say that people of Ghizer in particular and the entire Gilgit-Baltistan in general make a distinctive creature on this planet who are blessed with positive attributes like simplicity, camaraderie, hospitality, dependability and trustworthiness to the utmost degree, and make a creature honest to the bone in an environment when the world abounds in criminals and swindlers looking to take advantage of the naive and unsuspecting people taking them for an easy prey.
At 3:30pm we left for Shandur, and after doing sightseeing and feasting our eyes on the stunning picturesque landscape of Barsit, Langar and Khukush, we reached Malaan Shal where the people of Balim and Brok have their summer dwellings which they call ‘Shal’ in the local parlance and where during my early childhood I would spend my summer vacations with my parents in the month of July every year as their most pampered child receiving an excessive attention and affectionate treatment, a kind of upbringing and treatment which the parents of olden days thought the best thing that a child could get from their parents. Finding myself here once again after more than five decades was quite nostalgic.
After spending a few minutes at Malaan Shal, we left for my native village Balim. On the way we passed through the untamed wilderness of a vast tract of barren land called Shukargaa. This vast expanse of desolate land serving as a pasture for animals which are left free to graze during summer is located adjacent to Mas Jinali (moon polo ground) and is 1.5 km away from Chitral Scouts’ Hut more commonly called Shandur Hut built on a ridge beside the famous Shandur polo ground.
Moreover, this small village has a singular honour of producing army officers, civil officers, doctors (PhD/MBBS), engineers, educationists, advocates, and chartered accountants (CAs).
This tiny village comprising a small number of households that can be counted on finger tips, alone has around 100 postgraduates working in different departments which no other village of this size or even bigger in size/population in the entire Chitral except Chitral town has the distinction of being the cradle of so many well-educated people. (Cont…)