George Tyrwhitt: A true eccentric of the Raj
30 May 2016
'Turwutt came to Nagar Parker at the head of an army in 1858 when Rana Karan Singh ruled over the place. A great battle was fought here in which the English were roundly defeated and had to flee for their lives. The Rajputs went in pursuit, and Turwutt was only able to get away with his life after a Meghwar tanner hid him under a pile of cowhides. Returning subsequently with an even greater army, Turwutt was finally able to overcome the Rajputs of Nagar. And not the one to forget the Meghwar, he allotted him a vast jagir.'
Ali Nawaz Khosa, the elderly teller of tales from Nagar Parker fell silent. The tap-tap-tap of his steel tipped cane on the street became more pronounced. From afar the koel called, the moisture laden monsoon wind gusted down the corridor of the street and the old man sat down in the verandah of the ruined hulk at the west end of the Nagar Parker bazaar. I had never read of any great battle between the British and the Ranas of Nagar, I said.
Read more »Labels: Desert, History, Sindh, Thar
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Thar Desert
05 March 2015
Anyone who wishes to see Thar Desert in Sindh heads for Mithi, Islamkot and Nagarparker. Mithi with its acrid salt water and not so old cement concrete buildings is boring. Islamkot is remarkable for the ashram of Sant Naino Ram and Nagarparker is plain and simple magic. In August the sky is nearly always overcast, a brisk wind scuds across the grey sand dunes and in the trees of Islamkot, more so of Nagarparker, the koels and peacocks sing.
This part of the Thar Desert is therefore a right proper destination for the traveller, especially since a blacktop road now leads all the way to Nagarparker. Since the new PTDC motel is functional (I hope) at Nagarparker, there is a proper place to doss down as well. And there are temples and ruins to see and the magical red granite hills of Karonjhar to climb outside Nagarparker.
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posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Karonjhar Hills
14 June 2014
Just outside the fair and utterly picturesque little town of Nagarparkar in the extreme southeast of Thar Desert and treading on the Indian border, there looms to the east a jumble of pink hills. These are the Karonjhar Hills. Of their name, my elderly friend Nawaz Ali Khoso has this to say: the word is a compound of Karon (Black) and Jhar (Sprinkling). Indeed, look closely and you will notice the pink granite peppered with black spots. On a spot high above the village on one of the ridges of Karonjhar, there is a flat pedestal with a flagpole. Locals call it Turwutt jo Thullo the Pedestal of Turwutt.
.JPG "Salman Rashid Travel writer Pakistan")
It is the good Nawaz Ali who is also the keeper of the esoteric tale of Turwutt. In 1958, so it is related, Turwutt came to Nagarparkar at the head of an army to defeat Rana Karan Singh. A great battle was fought and the British were defeated. Turwutt barely made away with his life by hiding under a pile of cowhides in a tanner's workshop. Returning with a greater force, Turwutt prevailed and having taken over Nagarparkar, awarded a large jagir to the Meghwar who had hidden him under his wares.
Labels: Desert, People, Sindh, Thar
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Rebuilding lives
03 May 2014
In February 2006, freewheeling around Sanghar district in Sindh I ended up in the village of Ranahu. Now Sanghar is nearly equally divided between barrage-irrigated farmland and sand desert. What makes the desert remarkable in this region is the texture of sand. While southward in, say, Mithi or Umarkot districts (of the erstwhile vast Tharparker district), the sand is dark gray and hard packed, it is light in colour and texture. Here the sand dunes are rippled.
Because of the pale colour of the sand, this part of the Thar Desert is called Achhro (White) Thar. The flowering trees were here too mobbed by purple sunbirds and babblers whistled from the thorny thickets, but I did not see any peacocks that usually run across your path in Tharparker to the south.
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posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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The spirit dwells
27 October 2013
Now when I next go to Nagarparker, Nawaz Ali Khoso will no longer be there to talk of the old days. I will have to go to his grave to have my last words with him.I met this wonderful teller of the most esoteric and interesting tales back in August 1998.
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Nagarparker, Nawaz Ali’s home, resounded with the calls of peacocks as thick dark storm clouds raced overhead leaving a cool dampness and a welcome chill in the air — a chill even in August. I went seeking him because my friend Raheal Siddiqui had told me of him.
Labels: Desert, People, Sindh, Thar
posted by Salman Rashid @ 11:27,
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