Drama over the Karakurams

mazaa aa gaya...bravo

Nazar, a very good write. It was almost as if the story was telling itself.That is the hallmark of effective writing,when the writer disappears from between the written word and the reader.Also, one more thing that impressed me was the use of dialogues-this is not often seen in articles and stories published in chowk. Dialogues give a touch of authenticity to the narrative.
Now,I will be a dick and mention one thing to look out for-semicolons have not been used properly in some places(such errors of commision are worse than errors of ommission ).

I rather enjoyed your description of the chinese. So matter of fact with not a tinge of judgement. Bravo!

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I really enjoyed reading this article. I have heard that things have considerably changed in Xinjiang (Sinkiang) since the days of Mao. The lower Sinkiang near Pakistani border is still very rural and Kashgar still a dusty old town but up north in Uighur region, Urumchi (or Urmqui) has undergone tremendous improvement and modernization. Urmuqui has modern sky rises in the down-town, good restaurants, night-out places, modern airport with few international flights landing and all what is expected from a modern city.

Few years back, my flight from Islamabad to Zurich was delayed and took off in the early morning hours. It headed right over the Chitral region and then Pamir mountains. The view from PIA airbus with early morning bright sun shining over Pamirs was breath taking. They look so majestic and so close to the airplane due to their height.

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Nazar, You are an effective writer. The fact that you don`t review keeps the originality intact. I am reminded of Richard Bach and his novels on flight. I read one on christmas eve when I could not make it home. Terrefic! I am sure you must have also read Johnnaten Livingston Seagull.

The artical also brings back memories of getting stuck in the death zone of K2 above the Abruzzi Ridge. Efcourse thats a story for another day.

Well Done!!
Cheerios

Stuka, Urstruly, Rozaiba, Nikki , Rakaposhi, Ahmed Iftikhar, Izzah, Kabuliwallah

Thanx folks. It is justy getting out of the system as observed & felt.

Freethinker # 8

Murphy`s Law - If something can go wron, it will go wrong.

Temporal # 9

Should be packing up bags for Pakistan!


Sac # 10

Yes. The Silk rout got many lives during construction. The Chinese have been really good to us although we did not heed some of their good advice.

Tehmed32 # 11

The Chinese are humble people with a great old civilization.

Romair # 12

Yes. Military gets you see most of the odd places inside Pakistan. I saw more places outside Pakistan when out of Air Force. I do have good memories of early days - but later there was some degeneration.

Malik 99 # 14

The constant engine drone soon becomes a part of the silence. Only other sounds attract your attention.

nazar bhai:

You have some wonderful tales to tell and you tell them wonderfully! Why didn`t you share some with us when we were together? :-)

``the Russians were called the Revisionists because they had deviated from the pristine principles of Communism``

...look who is revisionist now?

Atif1 # 17

Commercial flying is just about the easiest way of making good money while being on a perpetual holiday - provided you are the out-going type. Air Force flying is more machoistic and suites the guys who love sports and are more into aggression.

Rahul_Capri # 19

I agree with your observation of excessive semicolons. The text could have been improved with some more editing.

Arjun_m # 20

During the peak of the cultural revolution, it was essential for every Chinese to carry the Mao`s Red Book with its snippets of wisdom. The Chinese have sacrificed a lot in terms of personal liberties and freedoms to reach the position that they are in now.

SameerJB # 21

Sinkiang was then quite a backward province. Even now the Western China needs to catch up with its Eastern part. Uramqui was the nearest airfield from where these aircraft were brought and parked to be ferried across. I have been to Urmaqui some 8 years back on PIA. Now it must have progressed.

The local Uighers could understand the Turkish of Ankara area or about where normally our officers went on exchange postings.

Ijaz_Gul # 23

You have actually traversed and felt these mountains. I have only seen them. They are awesome. Once the Swiss Council General in Karach told me that we consider mountains to be useless objects whereas the Swiss have made a full use of them economically. There was an exhibition in Karachi on Swiss mountains.

twintopaz # 22

thanx.

Dost-Mitter # 27

(Why didn`t you share some with us when we were together? :-)

HA.HA.HA. We had so much else to talk about. Then Sargodha & Jhelum was on our mind.

Soysauce # 18

The Chinese are good people even without a God. They have no distraction of a religion.

Thank you Sir, I really enjoyed the article and have passsed it on to friends and family here who are / were flyers.

````Just an hour and a half flight from Pakistan, beyond the high mountains, there existed a completely different world. ````

Much the same as we in India feel about Pakistan and vice-versa I guess, except that the natural geographical differences aren`t there.

Many of us in India forget that the flying distance from Delhi to Allahabad is about the same as to Lhasa.

Did you ever find out what caused the leak? Was it a gallon/litre miscalculation?

Ref rahul_capri #19

[Now,I will be a dick and mention one thing to look out for-semicolons have not been used properly in some places(such errors of commision are worse than errors of ommission ). ]

Have you been reading ``Eats, Shoots & Leaves`` by any chance?

Anyway, here comes the story.

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.

``Why?`` asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.

``I am a panda,`` he says, at the door. ``Look it up.``

The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.

``Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China, Eats, shoots and leaves.``

Bravo, Bravo! Keeping your previous articles in mind, have you any plans of publishing this sort of collection of memoirs? they`re like a breath of fresh air in the turgid, obnoxiously politicized halls of Chowk.. I`m sure that everyone here, at least, would give good word of mouth!