Pir Sohawa to Charouni Trek with ASG Group, Islamabad

Total Distance: 5.2 kilometers Estimated time (Both ways): 2:20 hours (Coordinates: 33 49' 49" North, 73 08' 20" East)

(Shaikh Muhammad Ali)

3D Google Map of the Trek: Elevation 2,865 - 3,712 Feet

There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life.

There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine. O traveler, if you are in search of That Don't look outside, look inside yourself and seek That.

.Mevln Jalal uddin Muhammad Rumi

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Overview:
I have always been intrigued by the couplets of Mevln Jalal uddin Muhammad Rumi since I was a child and wanted to read his famous Mathnavi but I had heard that it was a difficult book to read and consisted of three huge volumes. Incidentally, when I was leaving New York for Pakistan around late May 1991; I caught a glimpse of the volumes at a famous book store chain at the JFK Airport and immediately fell in love. The three volumes were hard bound, original but the price was steep i.e. around US $ 450. Although I hardly had the currency left in my pocket since I was a mere jobless student, had just graduated and was coming back home to look for a job but the American Express credit card in my back pocket was almost compelling to grab this opportunity. I paused for a while, pondered and a voice from deep within told me to behave. This little love affair of mine could wait and with a heavy heart: I left the JFK never to return but with a thought that I will not miss another chance. Time went by and I got busy in life. Suddenly, after almost 5.5 years on 20th December 1996; I chanced upon the book once more this time in one of the famous bookstores of Karachi, Pakistan. Here it was, in front of me; three volumes, hard bound and at a much lower rate since printing is much cheaper in Pakistan. R. A. Nicholson, 1926 edition, blue in color and the love affair rekindled in my heart. Stopping me this time would have been suicidal and I bought myself a copy for some Rs. 2,000. As fate would have it, it is sitting on my book shelf, all the three volumes but I have still not finished reading the first part. What an irony. Some love lost. Sigh! Lets jump now to 18th December 2011. This is when a colleague i.e. Ahtesham Ali Raja from work introduced us to the Asian Study Group aka ASG. A week or ten days back, Ahtesham informed us at work that this group plans to hike from Pir Sohawa to Charouni (The highest peak on Margalla Hills) and we would be more than welcome to join them. While taking the lead, I invited Awais (HEC), Anees (HEC), Syed Wasim Hashmi (HEC), Hassan Nasir Zaidi (HEC), Muhammed Shoaib (HEC), Dr. Mahmood Raza (NUST), and Shoaib Abdullah (IIU) to join us but unfortunately all were busy except Wasim and Ahtesham and while taking my family along; we did join the group for the hike. As per agreed time, we all gathered at the Japanese Park parking lot at 9:00 a.m. and slowly and gradually around 27 people poured in. It was interesting to see that the eldest was closed to 62 years while the youngest was my daughter Ayesha at 6 years of age.
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(The ASG group and us: A total of 27 like-minded souls) We made an entourage of some 8 cars and one van and left the place exactly at 9:10 a.m. for Pir Sohawa. We reached the starting point at about 9:45 a.m. and after taking about 4-5 group pictures started the trek.

(Sabeen, Mohsin and Ayesha can be seen here) It is imperative to mention that I usually do not like to visit a trek which I have already done before but since I had heard a lot about the ASG group for the last 5 or so years and thus wanted to meet this group and so decided to join them.

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(Adil and I at the center stage of the group) Although the last time that Hassan, Adil & myself did this trek, we started a little further from this point but this group started from the Pir Sohawa to Loh-i-Dandi path and after half hour left that route and took a left turn.

(The trek from Pir Sohawa to Loh-i-Dandi)

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(Sabeen and Ayesha forming a group with other ladies at 10:02 a.m.) Very soon it was noticed that there were some very serious and professional hikers in the group who did not wait for others and rushed past us to scale the top in the least possible time. The next group was a step behind them and worked hard to catch the first group but could not. The third group was a mix and match of oldies, ladies, the Sauv, elitist, intellectuals who had come with their designer trek suits, hiking boots, sticks and all and would stop and try to catch a signal on their haughty mobile phones.

(Ayesha & I taking a break at 10:33 a.m.) I accompanied the fourth group which included Sabeen, Ayesha and a few other ladies who were there for the first time and were almost cursing their luck. This particular group was getting tired off and on and thus I was their morale booster.
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Incidentally, Adil and Mohsin had sneaked out and joined the 2nd group while leaving their mother perturbed but later through cell phone I was able to confirm that Mohsin was hiking with Waseem and Adil was with Ahtesham. I was later surprised to learn that Adil reached the top at the 3rd position while Mohsin was the 7th hiker to reach the top out of the group of eight. Both my boys were well appreciated by the professionals and got tips on hiking from them.

(From L-R: Ahtesham, Mohsin, Wasim, Khawaja Sahib with the three professionals) We passed through scenic views in the Margalla Hills while trying to capture them through the eye of my camera. The ladies in my group decided to stop at the Silver Saddle, a point almost 2/3rd of the distance and did not want to go any further. Since I had already been to the peak almost a month ago, thus I decided to stay with them. After having snacks at this spot, catching a breath and appreciating nature; we decided to descend around elevinish through a different route.

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(Our group of seven on the descend) By 12:00 p.m. we had reached the Chai Khana and some of us assembled here for a hot cup of tea and shared notes.

(Sabeen & Ayesha with three other hikers) Since Adil and Mohsin had gone all the way to the top, they reached here by 12:45 p.m. and joined us for sandwiches which Sabeen had brought along.

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(Basking in the sun at the Chai Khan of Shakeel) After enjoying a hot cup of tea and resting for a while, we walked back to our cars. It took us almost 15 minutes for a spoiled walk to the spot where our cars were parked.

(My family on the way back to Pir Sohawa car park) Here too, I thought that the entire group would gather for a cup of tea and would return to the cars together but I was sadly mistaken since they all left in their small groups and had no concept of group formation. Since this was our first experience of hiking with such a large group, this was a new experience at least for my family.

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Nevertheless, with no love lost; we started our return journey home but when we reached the intersection of Talhar village, I took a turn and we decided to visit Talhar where we had never been before.

(Talhar village from the Pir Sohawa top) We later stopped by at a view point to take a few pictures first at the markers and later walked a while for 300 meters to reach another viewpoint.

(Mr. Me posing at the Talhar view point marker) Had it not been for Capital Development Authority (CDA), we Islooites would have never been able to stop at such view points at the Margalla Hills and sneak around while appreciating the beauty and serenity of such places.
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(The famous four enjoying at the Talhar view point) Although, we wanted to pursue the Talhar road further but the children got hungry since it was almost 1:45 p.m. and thus after taking this particular picture, we descended the Margalla Hills.

(Mr. & Mrs. Shaikh at the Talhar view point in the back drop) Since it would have taken Sabeen forever to cook once we had reached our abode, the children were having pangs of hunger and thus we ended up eating at Savor Foods (A local food chain famous for Pulao) in Blue Area.

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(Waiting for lunch at Savor food, Islamabad) After enjoying the famous Chicken Pulao at Savor, we headed home around 3:15 p.m. and were comfortably home in the next twenty minutes or so. The entire expedition took us around 6 hours with a sumptuous lunch and finally the chickens came home to roost. After saying our late Zuhr prayers we rested while cherishing a yet another good trip in the mysterious Margalla Hills.

The Wandering Dervish

Shaikh Muhammed Ali

E-mail: dushkashaikh@gmail.com Cell: +00-92-321-5072996 st January 2012, 08:55 p.m. (PST) 1

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