KARACHI:
Forced to retreat from K2 to a remote area of Skardu, mountaineer and philanthropist Greg Mortenson in his his book ‘Three Cups of Tea’ has this to say about the beauty of the region and its people: “Here we drink three cups of tea to do business. The first you are stranger, the second you become a friend and the third you join our family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything — even die.”
Until one wanders into this area, it is impossible to fathom how true those words ring true in describing the warmth and charm of people who live here. The hilly area surrounded by beautiful lakes, encircled by dramatic waterfalls and rolling farmlands that produce fruits and vegetables, is also an area of artistic villages and towns that possess historic architectures.
Despite their less than privileged living conditions, people in these areas are considered to be the happiest people in the world. Moreover, the traditional foods and the mountain peaks that glitter in the night sky, always impress the visitors. The region also attracts the hikers, mountain climbers and thrill seekers who explore the region and want to fill their souls.
Three decades earlier, an Irish nurse named Dervla Murphy felt the same tug to these mountains. Murphy, who crisscrossed the Karakoram in the deep winter on horseback, later wrote in her book ‘Where the Indus Is Young’: “None of the adjectives usually applied to mountain scenery are adequate here. Indeed, the very good scenery is comically appropriate. Splendor or grandeur are useless to give a feeling of this tremendous ravine that twists narrows and dark and bleak and deep mile after mile after mile. Only the jade-green Indus sometimes tumbling into dazzle of while foam relieves the gray brown of crags and sheer precipices and steep slopes