Gorakh
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Gorakh
A sight to be hold
I couldn't believe my eyes as I read in the Magazine (November 26) that someone went to the Gorakh hilltop in a jeep driving on a metalled road.
In 1985 when I went to Gorakh for the first time there was no road. One had to trek 40 miles all the way up on a stony uneven track that often lost its way in the rocks. It was extremely tough. I and the four others with me didn’t have a morsel of food for almost 30 hours!
Although we had the dry rations, there were no cooking utensils as we thought they would be an extra weight to carry. We were told that every two miles or so we would come across a shepherd’s hut from which we could borrow some cooking utensils. But we had lost our way and were on a track that was entirely uninhabited.
When the edge of a plateau came into view we knew that we were close to a human habitation, an impression reinforced by three tiny specks which the guides said were human figures. As we drew close to the crest, we saw the faces of the children who were peeping over the edge of the crest at us. As we climbed the crest, the elders of the hamlet appeared. They offered us food. The place we had reached was called ‘Trai Chooti’ (three summits). After a respite when we had regained our strength, we began walking towards Gorakh, still a few miles away.
The rest of the stay was like a fairy tale. Everywhere people welcomed us. They slaughtered goats in our honour. A reason why I was welcomed was that many of them said that I was first human being from a city they had seen after the times of the Britishers (1947). One of them gave an account of G.M. Syed’s abortive bid to climb Gorakh way back in the 1950s . The narrator was a member of his party. Mr Syed was with a huge ‘lushkar’, he said. They were all in their summer clothes and during the night it turned so cold that many thought they would get pneumonia. They were still 15 miles short of Gorakh. The failure of his party contributed to the reputation of Gorakh being invincible. Even though 5,600 feet is not a great height, the climb is difficult due to the jagged and stony character of the rocks.
If I had not been trained from my childhood in climbing mountains and walking for long distance on them, even I would not have been able to climb.
My next trip to Gorakh with a group of engineers was better organized. The third trip was with the TV producer Asif Ansari. The pilot had told us that the maximum he could stay on top was 45 minutes because if the rotor stopped, hell would break loose so he wouldn’t switch off the ignition. We had to come back by that time otherwise he would fly away without us. I made a plan: we climbed up the peak in a U-shaped track. That kind of track would enable us to cover the maximum area and would bring us back to the waiting chopper quickly. We climbed up photographing whatever we could --- the locals, the panoramic views, etc. The documentary was shown several times on PTV.
Now that the road has been built, the last hurdle in the way of developing Gorakh has gone. A word of caution is necessary: kidnapping for ransom is a problem.
Azmat Ansari Karachi
