Perfect World

... is one without boundaries

where great outdoors is truly the great outdoors and one can actually go where the signposts point.

I love road trips. Because you can see the land roll past. The green, brown, grey hills. The blue sky, sometimes sparkling, sometimes with white, grey, black clouds. Fields, green, gold, yellow. Like a massive patchwork quilt. Cities and rivers and lakes. But also because you see signposts. That tell you what lies ahead. Start traveling south from Islamabad towards Punjab and the boards will measure distance to Attock and Jhelum, then to Lahore, then Multan. From Multan they start measuring road distance to Karachi. Travel east from Lahore, they'll give you distance to Amritsar (which is in India). Travel west towards Peshawar and they'll tell you you will reach Kabul (Capital of Afghanistan). Travel from Karachi and they will tell you how far away Quetta is. I can spend my life following where these roadsigns lead.

A week ago I had the chance to travel through northern Pakistan. Through the state of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. I'll write about that later. While travelling north from the capital Muzaffarabad along a narrow road clinging to the mountain side with neelam river snaking along, one sees roadsigns at a very regular basis. The ones that truly caught my imagination were the ones measuring distance to Srinagar and Baramula. To us Pakistanis, places of lore and also heartbreak. Cities in the heart of Jammu and Kashmir, renowned for their breathtaking beauty, places one yearns to see, but somewhere where we can never go. Srinagar was once the capital of the unified state of Jammu and Kashmir, now a part of the Indian held Territory. It has been that since 1947. So is Baramula.

I'm not discussing politics here. I'm only talking about my perfect world. A place without boundaries. Where you can go where the signboards lead ...






I apologize for the picture quality. Taken from the cracked windshield of a moving bus.

*A little history/geography lesson (from a Pakistani point of view): Azad is Urdu for 'free'. Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) is the part of the state of Jammu & Kashmir under Pakistan. Jammu & Kashmir is disputed territory between India & Pakistan since independence in 1947. Predominantly Muslim, at the time of independence people of the state wanted to join Pakistan (I don't know what they want now other than an honest referendum and a right to choose. If East Timor can get it, why not them?). It was instead merged with India as the state had a Sikh ruler. AJK is the territory that was liberated in the 1949 war between India & Pakistan over Kashmir. Muzaffarabad is its capital. The rest of the state is still under Indian rule. We Pakistanis call it 'Maqbooza Jammu & Kashmir'. Maqbooza is urdu for 'occupied'. Srinagar is still its capital.