Off to Hund, Swabi

30th Dec 2016 1st Jan 2017

(The Hund Museum)

Shaikh Muhammad Ali

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Travelling is the kind of activity, which almost all of us love. For someone it is an
opportunity to relax and abstract from everyday busy life. For others, it is interesting
to observe the way people of other cultures and mentality live. Some people consider
it to be the best way to have fun and always try to visit as many cities, towns, villages,
places of interest etc. as possible for their wallets and time constraints.

Of course, there are people who are always unhappy with the way their life is, and
they will say that travelling is far from pleasant and involves a lot of stress due to the
necessity to pack their things, use public transport and so on. But fortunately, those
people are rather few and the majority understands how travelling could be exciting
and interesting.

As for me, I have always enjoyed watching all-round views from some altitudes. I
enjoy watching them in my hometown and as soon as I am in some new city, I start
looking for such spots right away. When I am in such a place, I just hold my breath and
observe the beauty. At such moments I think about how beautiful our life is, what
beauty it offers us and how important it is to value each moment of our lives.

From such places it is so exciting to observe city views and imagine how hundreds and
thousands of people live in there and experience so many different feelings. I
understand that I am not alone, that I have so many chances and that I can reach all
my goals. The views of nature are also exciting, as while watching them, I wonder how
such beauty can be created and how it is important not to spoil it.

In the same light, I have been hearing about Hund and its museum from friends since
2012 who live in the vicinity of Swabi in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) but never got a
chance to visit this sleepy little town.

Lately I had befriended the Director Archeology of the KP province and enquired
about the museum at Hund. He not just invited me to visit the place but offered that I
could bring my family and stay in their guest house too. I am always impressed by the
un-ending hospitality of the Pakhtuns.

This is what Wikipedia says about Hund:

Hund is a small village in Swabi district, situated on the right bank of the Indus River
about 15 km upstream of Attock Fort and at a distance of about 80 km to the east of

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Peshawar in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, of Pakistan. It was the site of
Alexander the Great's crossing of the Indus and an important site of Gandhara ruins.

Hund was the last capital of Gandhara under the Hindu Shahi rulers until the beginning
of 11th century AD. when Mahmud of Ghazna defeated Anandapala, the last Hindu
Shahi ruler in Gandhara. The Hindu Shahi capital was then shifted to Nandana in the
Salt Range. It has also been said that the Mongol invader Changez Khan (Genghis
Khan) also followed Khwarzim Shah up to Hund, before the prince jumped into the
Indus River on his way to India.

Hund is also said to be the site of Khwarazm Shah's Army's last stand against Genghis
Khan. i

Come 30th December 2016; I decide to spend the weekend and the advent of the New
Year i.e. 2017 along with my family there. After attending work on Friday; we drive off
to Hund around 5:15 p.m. via the M-1, Motorway towards Peshawar while reaching
Swabi interchange at 7:30 p.m. As soon as we left the Interchange, a few restaurants
greeted us by the roadside and we decided to take our dinner at the Amir Fish Spot
at Anbaar (a small village) since we were told in advance that we had to purchase our
own un-cooked food which could be later cooked at the kitchen of the guest house.

(A typical dinner at the baithak)

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We asked our waiter as to what was their speciality food and he informed us that it is a
meat dish with curry locally called Katawa. We thus ordered Katawa with Chappal
kebabs, Roti, Raita and Salad and waited for it to arrive.

This was the first time we ate this Katawa which looked more like Nihari a similar dish
from Delhi, India and very popular in Karachi but this Katawa tasted different and we
simply loved it. The Chappal kebabs added to the pleasure of local eating at such small
restaurants and we enjoyed our meal thoroughly and topped it off with the famous
Peshawari Qahwa (Green tea). This Qahwa is a miracle drink since it helps in digesting
even if you have eaten an elephant. Laughter

Although I had been to the museum once while I accompanied the Chief curator of the
biggest French museum in Paris i.e. Prof. Pierre Cambon, a cultural attach of the
French embassy in Islamabad and the Head of the Archelogy department at Quaid-e-
Azam University, Islamabad but since there was no electricity in the area thus I wanted
to reach the museum guest house at the earliest.

We left the restaurant by 8:30 p.m. and reached the guest house in pitch darkness by
9:15 p.m. There was no light there and with great difficulty was able to locate the guard
at the gates. Although I had informed the staff there earlier that I would be reaching in
the evening but since I had gotten late thus they thought that I was maybe not coming.

Nevertheless, we were huddled inside the premises which was huge and were escorted
to the residential area where both the rooms had been booked for my family. The
museum was housed right next to the guest house within the same periphery. Since we
had already eaten thus Sabeen, my better half unpacked our bags and we retired in our
rooms. It was quite cold i.e. around 7 Degrees Celsius but the quilts were good enough
to keep us warm. We were up till 12:00 a.m. and finally slept.

I got up for Fajr prayer and woke up my better half too. It was extremely cold and the
temperature fell down to below freezing the previous night. The reason for the
immense cold; we realized, was due to the River Indus which flowed at a five minutes
walk from us.

It was a beautiful morning, waking up right next to the river Indus added to the beauty
of the surrounding. My wife and I went out for a stroll while the children slept. It was
almost 7 a.m. and the water around us had a layer of ice. We checked our surroundings

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and took a long walk, exploring the periphery of the complex in which the museum and
the guest house were built.

(An icy view of the river Indus)

(An old well within the boundary of the complex)

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We came back from our morning walk and I went off to fetch eggs and bread etc. from
the nearby village with Saleem, our cook. Once we were back, he cooked us a
sumptuous breakfast. Kids were already up by 9:00 a.m. since they had slept late and
we enjoyed our breakfast till 9:30 a.m.

(The family is enjoying their breakfast in the dining hall)

Once we were done having our morning meal, Waqar Khan, our attendant took us to
the museum where we enjoyed our history, culture, ruins & artefacts from the past. It
was a rather newly developed museum and one of the most beautiful to be found in the
KP province. We were allowed to take pictures and thus we shot to our hearts content.

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(A map from the Gandhara civilization)

(The history of Gandhara)

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 (The history of Hund)

(One of the many old manuscripts of the Quran on display)

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 (An old prayer stool)

(An old cupboard on display)

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 (We are relaxing in one of the museum rooms)

(Mohsin posing with a collection of guns and swords)

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 (A lovely family portrait within the museum)

Once we were done with the museum, Waqar took us to the riverfront. The kids were
too happy to reach the river and frolicked their fancies while Sabeen and I took long
walks around the river bed.

(The author posing with the gold diggers)

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We noticed two people around the river and went up to them to find out that they were
searching for gold. The river carried small fragments of gold downstream and these two
would collect the water and then used a handmade strainer and separated the water to
find extremely small residue of gold particles. It was an extremely tedious process but
with this little gold they could fetch a bargain of Rs. 500 or so in the market.

(All that glitters will surely be gold around here)

Adil (my older one) was also intrigued and was able to witch hunt some gold particles
which he proudly displayed to his younger siblings. By 12:00 p.m. we had gone hungry
and thus decided to retreat to our guest house although kids were too reluctant to
leave the river.

By the time we were back, our cook had prepared Fried fish for us and brought Katawa
and Chappal kebab from the nearby restaurant. We ate to our hearts content till we
could have no more and then digested the heavy food with the Qahwa with a tinge of
lemon to go with it.

I had already disclosed my trip to Dr. Usman Ghani, Additional Director at IMS
Peshawar who also happens to be a very dear friend. I had asked him earlier if he could
enquire from his friends about the tomb of my Buzurg i.e. Mian Nauroze Qadri who
hailed from Tordher in Swabi. Surprisingly, he asked his father about it who in turn

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asked the Chairman of the local Jirga in Jehangira to locate the tomb for me. And much
to my surprise, I checked back with Dr. Usman who conveyed that indeed the subject
tomb has been located.

After offering our Zuhr prayers in our rooms, I took my boys to Anbaar where Dr.
Usmans father Mr. Rahat Ghani and his cousin Murad waited on us. We were cordially
greeted by them and were asked to follow them towards Chota (small) Lahore where
the grave was located. Zig zagging on the Jehangira toad, we ultimately reached the
tomb of Mian Nauroze Qadri and waited for his grandson to open the locked gate for
us.

(From L-R: Adil, Mohsin, Chairman of the Jirga, the author & Mr. Rahat Ghani)

Once Mian Saad Qadri (Grandson of Mian Nauroze Qadri) was here, he welcomed us
and opened the gates of the tomb. It was after a long pause of 28 years that I was able
to visit the grave of my Murshid with whom I had spent about two good years of
learning the Tariqa and ultimately took Bayat with him in the Qadri order way back in
1986 in Karachi.

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 (The author at the grave of his Murshid)

It was very emotional for me to have found his grave after 28 years of his death. I could
feel his presence all around and thus I went into a trance for some time. I gathered
myself back to the real world and we all offered fatiha for the departed soul. It was
surprising for his grandson to see me in my ecstatic sense for his grandfather who he
had met only as a very young child. I explained my relation with his grandfather, to him
and the love we developed for each other and him taking me on the steps of the
Tariqah.

Incidentally, Mian Saad Qadris father too had expired at a young age of around 40 and
was buried right next to his father. Saads elder brother now manages the family
Khanqah in Karachi.

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We thanked Mian Saad and came to the Autaq of the Chairman of the local Jirga.
Offered our Asr prayer there and asked for his leave. As usual, brimming with his
Pakhtun hospitality, he asked us to stay with him for the night and eat with him but
since Sabeen and Ayesha were waiting for us; we could thus only have a cup of tea with
him and took our leave around 4:15 p.m.

We then drove back to Hund and said our goodbyes to Mashar (A sign of respect) Rahat
Ghani and his nephew and then reached the guest house and offered our Maghreb
prayers there. In villages, the night falls sooner than cities since there is not much to do
especially when there is load shedding of electricity and this was winter as well.

Our cook had prepared Jowar ki Roti (a variety of sorghum used to make flat breads
mostly in Pakistan and India) and Sarsoun Ka saag (A vegetable prepared from
Mustard) for us which we thoroughly enjoyed and later enjoyed the Qahwa too while
relaxing in the rooms being warmed by our heaters. We retired to bed early since we
were tired from the days schedule.

(Mohsin & the author posing at the gate of the museum)

Got up early on the 1st of January 2017 and after offering my Fajr prayer responded to
some of the official e-mails. Later I awoke Sabeen and then Mohsin and went to fetch
Nashta (read breakfast) along with the cook.
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 (At our back is the utensil in which the Katawa is cooked for hours)

On the way back we stopped for Jowar and Makai Atta and also bought some pure
butter from the locals. We came back to the guest house where the rest of the family
was up too. Enjoyed another good breakfast and visited the curator of the museum i.e.
Fawad Khan and enjoyed a cup of Qahwa with him.

We left the guest house by 11:00 a.m. and headed towards Rahatabad where Dr.
Usmans father had built his luxurious farm house. Dr. Usman wanted me to stay there
instead of the guest house but I had promised to stay with him on our next trip. We
reached his farm house by 1:00 p.m. which was built right next to the river bank and
was marvelously beautiful.

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 (The family posing at the Rahatabad farm house)

It offered many guest rooms, gardens, a bird sanctuary and so much more. We just fell
in love with the place while enjoying its ambience. We walked around, while the
children ran away to nearby spots which were of interest to them.

(Another view of the farm house)

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The place was extremely quiet and serene while you could hear the chirping of different
birds and the flowing of the water in the river Indus nearby. We wish we could have
stayed here too for a day or more but today being Sunday we had to leave and thus this
would give us another chance to return and stay at this beautiful farm house on our
next trip to Swabi

After having a hot cup of tea at the farm house, we left the place around 2:15 p.m. We
stopped again for lunch at the same hotel i.e. Amir Fish point at Anbaar by 2:40 p.m.
while cherishing our last meal in Swabi till we revisit the place.

(Our favorite hotel in Anbaar)

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 (My last picture before we hit the M-1, Motorway)

We took the M-1 motorway around 3:30 p.m. and stopped at Tarnol extension for Asr
prayer and ultimately reached home by 5:00 p.m. All of us thoroughly enjoyed our stay
in Hund, Swabi hoping to return to Rahatabad soon.

Here is the route map to the Hund museum from my house in G-11/1, Islamabad. Hund
museum is at a distance of approximately 93.5 kms from our house and it takes about 1
hour and 19 minutes to get there through the M-1 Motorway. I would encourage my
friends to visit the Hund museum at least once. It is a good family retreat from
Islamabad.

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 Shaikh Muhammad Ali
The Wandering Dervish
E-mail: dushkashaikh@gmail.com
Cell: +00-92-321-5072996
Thursday, 28th Muharram 1439 Hijri,
19th October, 2017, 03:25 p.m. (PST)

i https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hund,_Khyber_Pakhtunkhwa

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