But that cannot be done, at least not in the current setting with the Baloch out for the blood of any Punjabi. My Baloch friends tell me that the man behind the gun that kills me will not be bothered that I am struggling to glorify that great ancestor they all worship. (Paradoxically, some of my pieces on Baloch heroism are preserved on websites banned in Pakistan).
In 1994, I got to travel to a place called Tadri Tal in the outback of Kohlu district. It is a place so beautiful that it brings tears to your eyes: The hills, low, broken, folded and contorted without any vegetation to speak of, are coloured as if from the palette of a master. They come in dark chocolate browns, mauves, pastel pinks and creamy yellows; they seem little like barren rocks, more like huge dollops of icing from a giant’s cake.
Here the rivers, mere cracks in the arid rocky ground, sometimes flowed in tiny streams. Mostly they were simply dry channels waiting for the rare fall of rain to slake them. The sky was blue and the air was frequently broken by the call of the three or four species of hawks and eagles we saw either quartering the ground from high above, or roosting on the crags.
The month was June, that year when I travelled with friends to visit Mir Hazaar Khan Mari (not the politician of the same name). Of middling stature, fair of skin with a snow-white beard and deep, penetrating brown eyes, Mir sahib was a very good-looking man. He wore a dress as white as his whiskers and the traditional Baloch turban to match. From the hilltop village with its couple of dozen huts and tents, he ruled over his little world.
Over one of the several meals we ate under his roof, I asked if it was possible to reach Sibi from his village by camel. It was, he said, and it would take three days en route. I was tempted. Though he had a camel for my disposal, my kindly host did not permit me to undertake the journey. In the tortured, broken contours of the Bambor Ghar hills, where water was hard to come by, the heat of June could be a killer, especially for a city boy, he said.
Then Mir Hazaar Khan told us the legend. On this ancient byway, there is a tangi, a narrow gorge with a shallow stream at the bottom, named after the Chakar-e-Azam, the great Rind. In the narrow, twisting confines of Chakar Tangi there is somewhere a shelf some ways above the floor of the gorge and difficult to reach. Upon it, unseen by anyone since his time, rest the armour and weapons that Mir Chakar Khan used in battle.
The Baloch — and it must be a Baloch — who finds that gear, said Mir Hazaar Khan, and uses it will be magically endowed with the strength and prowess of the legendary Baloch hero. Such a man will then lead the Baloch nation to the glory they have long since forfeited and so yearn for.
If the simple journey had tempted me, I was now completely sold. But Mir sahib would have none of that. He would not permit me to travel in the heat of June. Now, I am no Baloch, nor indeed do I have any desire or even the faculties of a leader, my interest was purely academic.
I was and still am attracted to this story because of its similarity with that episode in the life of Alexander the Macedonian. He acquired the armour of Achilles from the ruins of Troy, and it is believed that it was this that saved his life after he received an arrow wound in Multan. If that armour was enchanted, could the one belonging to Mir Chakar Khan, the great Rind chieftain, have similar powers?
Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2011.
COMMENTS (12)
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amoghavarsha.ii
Bingo!
@Ali Baloch...go and read your own Indian newspapers. Simply posting a comment under artificial name doesnt decieve much
@Ali Baloch: Ahan, another nationalist buffoon who is too stupid to understand the premises of this whole piece.
There is old song in Punjabi " Do oonta wale Baloch le gaye kad ke kalja mera" . It is turning out to be true now in real sense.
Excuse me sir ! why you throwing all garbage on Baloch? This is your Punjabi military who is abducting and killing Baloch youths in custody and what made you stop to not mention the reality? If you like to write about Baloch history then you should also know that Balochistan was a free and sovereign country but illegally occupied by Pakistan back on 27th march 1948.
@Haji
You just said it.My only complain is why doesn't he is given a daily column.A week is too long.
Enchanting stuff, Loved the way you narrated the legend. Keep up the good work and continue to elucidate your readers with the glorious past of Bharatvarsha.
Dear Salman Rashid, I admire you alot. I request you with my folded hands to form one of the best institute for historians and geologist. Our subcontinent people know europe's history but not our own. There are many underground cities in this part of the world. Many geological chages happened here, many will happen in future. Our future generations must know about these things before it's too late. Indian goverment provides limited help to historical monument but nothing for research. Our subcontinent researchers should get help from UN so please form an institution. Your precious articles will not give any result to society. kindly accept my request for the welfare of society. Thanks for the article.
Thanks Mr. Salman ! I anxiously wait for your article the whole week. Always a treat to read. God bless you !