Work Trip?

by Mahnoor Shoukat (Pakistan)

I didn't expect to find Pakistan

I didn't expect to find myself on the work trip I took last year to Hunza, but I did. We took a plane ride from Karachi to Islamabad, stayed in a lodge that is very shady to be named. We took another flight to Gilgit airport in an airbus. That plane is scary and small and if are like me; the kind of who person believes that every flight they take will be another plane crash story on national geographic, you might want to say a little prayer. The view of the Nanga Parbat, though will make you forget about that very dark thought. Not even for once in that time did I think about dying, but I did think about how small am I, how little are all my worries as I witnessed the colossal nature, ice covered structures. You really have to see these to believe it. You know a random thought I had while I took a photograph to show my family was about how plane rides for 'work' makes my middle class self, feel very accomplished and i am not ashamed to say it. We arrived at the Gilgit airport, got done with the whole luggage shebang and went onto our journey with Naveed, the sweetest man I have ever met. Fun fact also the son of this transport business, his head office is at Serena Gilgit. Give him a shout out if you ever visit, very sweet boy with excellent ‘resources’ *wink wink*. We got on the road to reach Altit Residency in Hunza, which is breathtaking and no matter how many adjectives I use. I cannot do justice what it looks like. Sheep grazing in these orchard gardens, magpies on trees and a very crunchy walk on the fallen golden, yellow and brown leaves of autumn. Green and yellow are also colors for mehndi and mayoun, they are also colors of leaves and autumn, the similarity between the two is they mark a change, a re-birth… My apologies for these random introspective thoughts, this is not only a travel diary of Hunza but of myself too. There is one thing you have to know about the writer though, I am a Bollywood fan and I could have easily danced on a sappy romantic song in a chiffon sari while my hero chases me. We had lunch at the Khabasi cafe which overlooks a river. And that is not even the best part of it, the most incredible thing about the café is it is run by women. It is hard to believe that there is a place in the heart of Hunza, in Pakistan. A country which is stuck in a narrative about women which is not as liberating is a place run by women and the warmth in the food everyday could be felt in the heart. Women don’t run businesses they create spaces where economies flourish and people keep coming back. In Hunza I met and saw a lot of things, here is a list of things you should keep a look out for when you visit: 1. The dying Karimabad Bazaar: the craft is dying. The beads have started coming in from China, thread too. And the dye is near to me extinction. 2. Boats on the Attabad lake: whatever human beings make will never be as massive as what the nature produces 3. Colours of nature in autumn: colors that i had never seen, never heard of they were warm and welcoming 4. joy of plucking fruit from trees, or picking up from the ground: In Hunza i met nature that wasn't as angry as it in Karachi. It gave us food and love 5. and finally take a walk inside of yourself.