Friday, November 11, 2016

Armchair into PoK

Been armchair-traveling into the India that once was, now occupied by the new mulq of Pakistan. Read an article on the revival of the Wakhi music tradition in Gojal/Deosai, which revived the interest of mine in visiting it and spending time with its people someday. There is so much to do - geological features alone will induce a hard-on, and coming across good-natured feisty folks is a bonus.




About two-thirds of the song's lyrics and their own accent were decipherable.

The song turned out to be a recent one, by a young indie Chitral-based artist, Irfan Ali Taj. Here's that


Continuing on that trail, I reached to as far as Chitral, where curiosity is now hooked on the Kalash People - speaking the same tongue of native land (a mix of punjabi urdu and hindi) that (again, striking to me) is immediately comprehensible (no subtitles or translators that induce xenophobia). Theirs is a beautiful agnostic community (which doesn't endorse the major religions despite being coerced to convert for centuries), which is thinning if not preserved, and which also doesn't look for over-endorsement. I'd surely over-endorse them for their colorful culture and art that needs wider appreciation. The 'khawateen' have excelled in sustaining their culture by taking supremely creative roles, as is evident in their clothing, and their striving to live in good standards.



The belt of language that ties this region is too visible for me to speak of partisan politics based upon recently-created-shuffled nationalities.


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