Tell them a story: Salman Rashid charts his journey with travel filmmaking
07 December 2020
By Shayan Naveed
Salman Rashid is a historian and the only Pakistani to have seen the North Face of K-2. He also has the unique privilege of calling himself the late VS Naipaul’s friend. Today, he sits adjacent to me in a cacophonic coffee shop in Lahore, sipping overpriced coffee. He strains his ear to make sense of what I ask him but gives up, shaking his head as we drag our chairs outside, away from the clutter.
“Restaurants here are set up in a way where you can’t even converse,” he says.
Our coffees start to look like muddied water.
Read more »Labels: Culture, Salman Rashid, Telling a Story, Tourism, Travel
posted by Salman Rashid @ 10:15,
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Train tourism
07 April 2017
Railways is among the more enduring legacies of the British Raj in the subcontinent. There is virtually an inexhaustible body of extremely interesting lore and history of the building of this great system of transportation discussed in a few excellent books and in the esoteric journals in the Punjab Archives. It is another story that the ignorant and asinine bureaucrats do not permit access to that great treasure trove.
Even if one has not read about the intricacies and heroism of the laying of the line from, say, Ruk (near Shikarpur) to Sibi, one can still stand on the platform of Ruk and wonder what the letters KSR and IVSR that adorn the façade in blue on white ceramic tiles mean. The lettering signifies that this little-known station was the junction of the Indus Valley State Railway coming up from Kotri and the new line to Quetta and Chaman called the Kandahar State Railway.
Read more »Labels: Pakistan, Pakistan Railways, Railway, Tourism
posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Not even mediocre
13 November 2015
The other day I received a call from one of these private TV channels. The person said he wanted to speak to me regarding how we have failed to promote this sorry land as an attractive tourist destination and what we could do to turn things around.
And soon I had at my door two fresh-faced and very amiable young men with the accessories of their trade.
Now, being a travel writer is one thing and being able to wax meaninglessly, ad nauseum ineloquent on tourism promotion is another. I say this because anyone who is above forty in this country suddenly begins to look upon him/herself as an authority on everything that he/she knows nothing about.
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posted by Salman Rashid @ 00:00,
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Nanga Parbat: we will not ‘tolerate’ anymore
24 June 2013
‘Such acts of inhumanity will not be tolerated.’ Thus speaks Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan upon the dastardly and gruesome murder of ten mountaineers and their cook at one of the base camps of Nanga Parbat. This is the most damaging act of terrorism so far. It has earned Pakistan the world’s opprobrium – as if we needed any more of it.
The terrorists will simply thumb their noses, stick their tongues out and make rude farting noises at NS. ‘Don’t tolerate then and we will carry on doing what we have to do,’ they’ll tell the man. The terrorists know NS is impotent. He just does not possess the gall to act against the terrorists. He can simply not do anything to bring an end to the mindless terror perpetrated upon the country by these bigoted maniacs.
Read more »Labels: Nanga Parbat, Tourism
posted by Salman Rashid @ 12:57,
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Travellers and tourists belong to two different worlds
17 May 2013
Travellers go in search of knowledge and enlightenment. They will generally be well-read and knowledgeable about the place they travel through. Their garb is seldom fancy. They will mostly either be solo or with only one or two other people who will share their interest. Of course, on difficult expeditions there might be more people. You will hardly ever find a true traveller in a group organised by some tour company. Travellers like to go easy, to soak in everything, while these groupie things are push-push, shove-shove affairs: Day 1. Get into the X city, check into hotel, take tour of old city and watch traditional dance, eat dinner. Day 2. Get into Y city, tour of new city, ride roofless bus and watch street artists at work. Day 3. Reach Z city blah, blah, blah. They make me breathless. Such tours will leave any hard core travel buff breathless and feeling stupid for having wasted so much money on such an inane activity.
Travellers do not just look and click with the camera. They pause, they take everything in and then might take an image or two. They talk to the 'natives' and get invited to their homes. Tourists are noisy. And Pakistanis are all tourists! They wear frilly jeans and crazy hats - their best finery. Every time they tumble out of their coach, they all check their cell phones and even with Zero coverage continue to fiddle with them until they get back in and drive on. They click at everything in sight because when they get home they plonk their hefty albums in front of all visitors to bore them to death. In a group of twenty, there will be at least two families with teenage children who never wanted to come in the first place. And since they are their they mope; nothing interests them. The all carry two and half litre-bottles of cola and gripe about them not being cold. They scream a great deal and simply do not know the meaning of quiet appreciation of natural beauty. Tourist cannot stand the smell of the 'natives'.
The traveller and the tourist belong to two different worlds. As Rudyard Kipling said, 'Never the twain shall meet.
posted by Salman Rashid @ 08:42,
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Buddhist attractions in Pakistan
08 April 2013
Not very far away, near Rewat on National Highway 5 or Grand Trunk Road, is the lesser known but very important Mankyala stupa attributed to Kanishka, the great Kushan king. Then we have Takht Bahi; and we have the monasteries and stupas of Swat. Of special interest in Swat are the several rock carvings of Buddha. Peshawar is yet another important Buddhist centre, especially so because of the priceless content of its Museum.
Read more »Labels: Heritage, Pakistan, Tourism
posted by Salman Rashid @ 09:57,
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Travel Sponsorship in Pakistan
03 April 2013
No one should be interested in sponsoring a journey in Pakistan. This is mainly because of the security situation. A mountaineering expedition is another thing. Right now – and I don’t know if it will actually come through – Toyota Indus Motors are working out details to sponsor the Shimshali women’s mountaineering expedition to Muztagh Ata (7000 + metres) in China. This was as a result of my article on the past exploits of these daring young women in The News on Sunday.
Read more »Labels: About, Pakistan, Tourism, Travel Writing, Travelogue
posted by Salman Rashid @ 12:13,
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Travels are no fun at all
04 February 2013
Someone once said, and I read it years ago, that the joy and fun of travelling was inversely proportional to the speed of travel: the faster you went, the less you were likely to either enjoy the journey or to get anything out of it while a slow journey was always more meaningful. I have yet found no reason to quarrel with this very smart observation.
People might huff at this and say what is this man ranting about. But have you ever read a travelogue about a journey by modern jet (or even old fashioned propeller-driven aircraft) from one place to another. I tell you even the best travel writer in the world will be hard put to write about a flight from anywhere to anywhere. But give me a camel and a camel driver and set me loose where you want and there is a story. Conversely, let me go walkabout and watch my yarn unravel.
Read more »Labels: Tourism, Travel, Travelogue
posted by Salman Rashid @ 11:23,
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