Nehal Fatima Arbab Travelogue

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Nehal Fatima Arbab

2k18/MC/116

Assigned by Sir Sohail Sangi

Travelogue

A trip to Thatta

 

It was a beautiful morning in November, early 6 in the morning. The day my cousins’ flight was lending, they were coming to Pakistan for the 6^th time from London. They have been to Hyderabad Sindh many times and we’ve always made sure that they always visit beautiful places in Pakistan, so they can remember it as a beautiful city and promote tourism Pakistan in London.

 

Pakistan has been always beautiful, especially the northern area side plus Kashmir. But this year my grandfather was in charge of the plan. And he suggested that we should explore the beautiful places of Sindh as well. Because Sindh is no less than any other province and our cousins Minahil and Azlan also come to know about their inheritance culture. At least they have little know-how about from which culture they belong.

 

My grandfather decided that this time we will visit Thatta and Makli there are some historical places we’ll visit and then we’ll stay someplace for lunch. By evening we will be returning. He made some calls there and asked his dear friend to make sure the restaurants were open due to covid’19 but uncle mujahidin insisted that we must come to visit him and he’ll be our host there.

 

So we decided to leave for Thatta at 8 am early in the morning. We decided to take two cars. We decided to stop somewhere to have breakfast at some place named new mashAllah hotel. The tea and parathas there were great. And the sitting arrangement was outside and inside with the building of complete glasswork, it was beautiful. We decided to sit outdoor and enjoyed our tea with cold breezing of wing early in the morning.

 

After a 2 hour drive, we finally reached Thatta. The capital of three progressive lines and afterward ruled by the Mughal sovereigns of Delhi, Thatta was always adorned from the 14th to the 18th century. The remains of the city and its necropolis give a special see of civilization in Sindh. First, we decided to visit the very famous mosque Shahjahan and decided to pray. The structure of the mosque was an absolutely fine piece of artwork. It was big inside and the mirror work on the roof was breathtaking. Sadly people use this beautiful mosque to make TikTok videos instead of praying. We saw a bunch of international tourists there and it made me so happy that we are being recognized globally.

 

 

On the way back leaving we started to take our footwears but the man was standing there asking money from us for looking out for our footwears. He never did any dealing with us before and now he was asking for 1000 RS, which my grandfather refused to give such a big amount to him so he starts warning us that he will curse us. Well, it was a holy place so we decided to give him the amount and left.

 

 

We saw small stalls outside the mosque and my cousins and younger siblings insisted to buy something from there that will remain memorable from this day. We were on our way to Makli. Makli Hill is a United Nations World Legacy Location that's gone by both travelers and visitors. To enter a few of the gated tombs of the 125,000 Sufi holy people accepted to be buried there. We were informally charged 10 rupees per individual, which can be assist financed to free passage depending on haggling aptitudes, while international tourists were charged 200 rupees per individual.

 

The monuments were very beautiful architecture and the view was beautiful although the sun was straight on to the face. In the winter of November, we felt the heat like it was Junes’ afternoon. My eyes took in landmarks of each kind; there were forcing tombs, canopies, graves, magnificent mosques, and khanqas – wide spaces where holy people would instruct and lecture to their followers. Numerous of the graves – a few in different shapes of breakage – showed up more to be little royal residences than graves.

 

 

On the way upside, we were hiking towards the monuments, my father said “Makli is no less than a civilization inside itself. This ‘city of silence’, still whispers the overlooked stories of the predecessors who found a home here. It holds age-old stories, a burden it is decided to carry till endlessness”. On the way, I thanked my mom, who suggested us to take a good amount of water with us plus caps and glasses to be protected from the direct rays of the sun. the stay at Makli wasn’t feeling like November. It was hot as June.

 

Close to monuments, there was a Makli bazaar (market). It was crowded by small stalls of bangles, rings, clay made vessels, and many more. But the quality was not so good so we passed it. We took aesthetic pictures of ourselves by standing at the beautiful monuments. As the roads and tracks were very rough and stones everywhere one of my younger sisters fell on the track she got a deep scratch on her knee and it was bleeding. We all rushed to get her, as the roads were full of direct so grandfather suggested to take her to the hospital.

 Way back from the hospital it was almost 5.40 in the evening it was about to dark outside so we decided to end the trip here and take to the road to uncle’s place, who invited us for the dinner. As the day was about to end and on our way back to Hyderabad I suggested to stop somewhere for tea and there is this famous café Imran, all my friends talk about that café it's in Gharo 25km away from Thatta but it was very famous for its food and tea. We were all tired and it was cold so I insisted everyone to go there for tea. After that, we took the road back home. It was a well-spent day with my family and cousins. As a Sindhi, I would always prefer the historical interior side for traveling.

 Practical work carried under supervision of Sir Sohail Sangi 

Media & Communication Studies, University of Sindh