TRIP OF THANDIANI TOP

TRIP OF THANDIANI TOP        

PROF WAQAR HUSSAIN

         
On return from Naran, we halted for a night stay at my maternal cousine Mansoor Ahmad kazi, a famous specialist contractor of earthquake buildings, at Jinnahabad ;a posh locality of Abbottabad. I along with my wife, three sons and a daughter reached Mansoor’s house at about 8pm. After rest and meal, Mansoor inquired of our future programme. We told him that we are going back to home. He asked: “Have you seen Simla Pihari?” We all said in chorus “yes”. Then he said: “Have you seen Thandiani?” We said: “no”. My better half said in humour: “I have not seen Thandiani but have felt Thandiani(coldness) whenever I used to open freezer and a violent sneeze comes out with noisy burst of shower. Mansoor said: “Thandiani is place worth seeing”. It has not only cold clear calming milieu but also has one of the thickest forest present in the area with unique fauna and flora in the foothill of Himalalaya. Amsar, my eldest son, asked: “How far it is and on what road?” Mansoor uncle replied: “It is 31km from Abbotabad”. First we will move towards Murree road and on the way it will show the famous Illyasi Mosque under which water is flowing. After 6 km on Murree road, a link road will lead to Thandiani. From there, Thandiani is about 25 km. Zawar asked Mansoor uncle to tell some more interesting features of Thandiani so that we could make our mind.

                  

Mansoor told that there is extensive thick forest with mushroom growth of herb and shrub that make it a save heaven for the wild life. When you will more on narrow road, going abruptly upward and downward, hurling in U- turn with steep height, thick dark vegetation on both sides, and noise of waterfalls and sometime complete silence and even you can hear the rustling of leaves. Fear and feign; dread and delight; anxiety and amusement-- all mingled in a way that no one can clearly say; he is enjoying or worrying.

       

When, you will move on curly, bumpy, narrow, eroded road, suddenly a leopard can come across the road to great you. On hearing this, Nisar said: “We will not visit Thandiani, we will see Illyasi Mosque or Harnai”. Mansoor kept on saying “Leopard rarely comes, don’t worry. There are monkeys jumping from one twig to another, pheasants of many kinds, 

and above all flying squirrels, Pine Martem and cobra plant”. Anyhow we made up mind to visit Thandiani. I told that my blue Cultus is not good enough to swirl steep heights. Mansoor said, my Baleno is getting older and doesn’t withstand hectic journeys. So it was decided to go on Suzuki carrier or jeep. We gathered required items in two bags and set out for Thandiani. Soon we hired a 

Suzuki carry daba on nominal prize and my son Zawarsat on the front seat and other members set on back seats having face to face contact. I asked the driver his name, cast and years of experience. He was Shafeeq cast Mughal, aged 50 and had 30 years driving experience.

Keep in mind: Older driver, younger vehicle, persistent prayers and paused journey are the golden pillar of safe and sound journey. Soon we reached Illysi Mosque, the driver stopped the pickup. But all decided to see the mosque on return as it was getting dark. So we started journey again. When we took turn from Murree road, a 4ft narrow road welcomed us. As, we moved ahead, upward; plantation increased on both sides. Zawar asked driver Shafeeq Mirza, “Who built this road? He told: “Thandiani was basically granted to a famous Battye Family in British India. They were dynamic Christian missionaries and most were employed in civil and military service. Later Battye family presented it to church authorities. A sanatorium, small huts, hotels, camping ground, small bazaar, small church of St Xavier  were built. So, the entire work ranging from construction of the road to structure of buildings is the work of the British. After travelling about 12km from Murree turn, a place Kall Pani came. Where a small river was flowing and scenery was heart catching. After 15 minutes stay, we again started journey. At this point of journey; Uncle Mansoor, Amsar and Nisar complained dizziness. So I gave them anti-vertigo drug stamatil. Mansoor said, “He want to sit on the front seat as it will reduce my giddiness.

          

Now the wind became cooler rather colder, forest became thicker, silence became more pronounced, the panorama was amazing, atmosphere was charismatic, and fear was alarming. As we went a little up my wife saw cobra plant, it was amazing. It has all the shape and colours of cobra except his venom. We snapped some pictures. Previously we saw cobra plant on Payee (Shogran) but they were only green. Here, they were in green as well as in multi colours.

            I asked Shafeeq about races residing in the area. He said: “There are many races; Qureshi, Gujjar, Karlal, Qureshi, Sarrara, etc. He himself was Mughal.

          

Now we were reaching near the top, clouds were flowing beneath us. It was getting colder. But there was very little population. I inquired Shafeeq Mughal about nearby population. He told that there are number of villages Mara Rehmat Khan, Inderseri, Cattri, Chamaili, Siyalkot, Pattan and Kukmang, etc. Many I couldn’t hear or remember. But he gave a long list.

           When the top was a few km away, a road was moving eastward. The Driver told that this road leads to Kashmir. And another road was moving northwest, it was heading towards Balakot. At this point my eldest son Nisar shouted: Look! There is flying squirrel.”We all tried to see but in closed Suzuki Carry, it was not possible to catch such a quick scene. However, the driver said: “there are many more on the top and leopard also.” On hearing this, all became as silent as post.

            

Soon we reached the top of Thandiani. There were many small hotels, a wrecked church, a small grazing land and a series of PTV Towers of Rebroadcasting station Thandiani. It was very cold and Amsar has to admit; it is rightly called Thandiani! We sat on the ground close to the church and then looked around in all directions. We were present at the height of about 10,000ft above the sea level. Clouds were roaming but below us. The upper portion of sky was clear. When we looked in the East, we saw snow covered mountain range of Pir Panjal of Kashmir. In the North and northeast, mountains of Kohistan and Kaghan were visible. In the northwest, we saw snowy ranges of Swat and Chitral. On the southern side TV Antennas blocked our vision. I told my children that this is the astonishing and unique feature of Thandiani top that when you reach at the top, you are in fact on the top and nothing is above you and thus you can clear view of distant mountains. Although Nathia Gali, Naran, Kalam, Shogran are about 8000ft height. When you reached at the top, there are mountains chains still higher around you, so visitor’s sight is being blocked and he doesn’t feel to be at the top. Even Saif-ul-Muluk(10,500ft), Lo lo sar lake(11,300ft); Lalazar (10,600ft)-- all are enclaved by mountains thus blocking clear vision. So the second distinguished feature of Thandiani top is uninterrupted far-off view. Then we moved southward to see towers. As we moved little further, there was a furnished rest house we moved ahead and saw a shady tree on the right.

 There were a few candles burning at high platform with a caption “meditation place of Hazarat Bari Imam RA”. It was pleasing movement to find the sitting place of a renowned Muslim Sufi. Then we started moving backward, the sun was dusking. A golden plate was sinking in white clouds and then was reappearing. This hides and seek continued for some time and finally sun 

disc started dipping downward in the dark green pine trees. This was the first time that the sun was not dusking in land, green field or blue water. Here, it was stepping in valley of thick forest. It was simply picturesque and amazing!

        

On the seeing the departure of sun, we also decided to depart. In the meanwhile, we saw a couple of Martin, having fun on the grass perhaps they will play before going to nest. We moved back to Abbottabad and stopped at Illyasy Mosque and saw the mosque and ate famous pakora which has countrywide fame.