Dr. Umar Khan
Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank.
30-10-25
My romance with Naran, July 1971 to October 2025
"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than
miles."
My romance with Naran started in 1971 when my father along
with a Chacha and Phopho travelled to Naran in 3 cars. I was 12 studying in
class 8 at Cadet College Hassanabdal standing 4.11 inches tall and weighing 76
lbs. For the first time I saw roaring mountainous streams, glaciers, snow clad
mountains and fell in love. It was love at first sight, kind of love that lasts
forever. This adoration kept increasing since then despite a few hiccups in
between.
After my last visit Naran with family in late October
exploring a possibility of buying some property there, I discovered that the old
romantic relation still existed after 53 years, more than half a century. Instead
of reducing over the years it might have matured like a smooth, fine wine.
In 1971 Naran was hardly known in Pakistan but my late
father’s passion for mountains made him knowledgeable about it. In those days
reaching it was a very challenging task with hardly a road beyond Balakot. We
parked our cars at Balakot and got into a small Bedford vehicle, kind of a cross
between a big van and a jeep, with seating close to modern coasters. These were
pretty popular in mountains those days and locals called them “Gattoos”. Pretty
uncomfortable, these Gattoos were noisy and smelly belching more smoke inside
than outside.
After an all-day very challenging journey we reached a small
village called Kaghan. 4x4 jeeps were needed for further travel to Naran so
next day these were arranged, the old WW2 petrol powered American jeeps
notorious for causing pilonidal sinuses to the drivers. After a few hours of scary
drive while we appreciated the driving skills of the drivers the narrow gorges
flattened and we entered a wide valley with a fast flowing river and just a few
built structures. It was Naran of 1971, peaceful, green and unbuilt.
These were the days of Yahya Khan’s martial law and with my
father being an army officer we were well connected and looked after. In Naran
there were a few shops made of mud and a couple of semi modern buildings. One
of the cemented buildings was the only hotel in Naran then with a big lawn and
a small stream coming down on its side. This was the Park Hotel owned by a Mrs.
Mian of Garden Town Lahore and we stayed there. Later I made it my vacation
home for years until the children grew up preferring the greenery and space of
the PTDC motel by the river.
All of us were infatuated by Naran, its wide valley, running
water, uninterrupted peace, glaciers and the sight of snowcapped mountains,
something new for us. There was hardly a bazar and finding daily provisions
even breakfast supplies was pretty difficult and had to arrange eggs with some
effort.
Next day we went to Lake Saiful Malook in jeep while the
youngsters trekked. It was gorgeous, out of this world. The romantic story of a
prince and princess added charm although I was never much of a fan of any royalty.
In those days I used to collect postal stamps and Pakistan had just issued a
stamp celebrating Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) including
Pakistan, Iran and Turkey with the picture of Lake Saiful Malook. The most
famous block buster then was a Shabnam starrer movie “Dosti” with a famous song
“yeh waadian, yeh parbaton ki shahzadian” filmed at the lake with the backdrop
of Malika Parbat adding to the charm and grandeur.
My Dadi (grandmother) who wasn’t even sixty then but appeared
too old to the kids, was also with us and managed to make a round with of the
lake with everyone. There were some infants with us also who stayed back at the
small rest house that was recently built in Ayub’s regime and fortunately it
still survives.
We spent a few days at Naran loving going for walks and
sitting by the river with our feet in water and chatting all day. There were
hardly any tourists.
This love affair with Naran increased when I visited Naran
again with the Hiking Club of Hassanabdal walking from Kashmir through Noori
Pass in 1975. In these 4 years I had added over a foot to my height and 50 lbs.
of weight. We were super fit 20 boys and ran to the lake from Naran
flabbergasted seeing people tired and panting on the way, that’s the charm and
magic of the youth. Just couldn’t understand why people simply walking without
carrying any load can get tired? In the same trip we climbed the Makra again
perplexed why it’s climb was considered challenging; that’s the flamboyance of
youth.
Jo jaa ke na aaye woh jawani dekhi
Jo aa ke na jaaye woh burhappa dekha
Then came a pause of a few years although I did visit Naran
a few times. Once I walked from Balakot in winters and spent a night at Saiful
Malook in the old structure with a mostly frozen lake in a moonlit night. A few
Europeans accompanied me smoking the famous but illegal Pakistani delicacies
all night.
This love affair restarted when the kids entered the
preschool stage. The roads were still very challenging but my old Peugeot 504,
and later Nissan 280 could manage it, although barely.
Naran was building up gradually and slowly taking a shape of
a small town with many facilities available. We preferred to stay in the same
Park hotel with a big lawn and a stream on the side. An older lady known
popularly as auntie, who was also the owner, managed it while staying in a
designated room spending most of her time sitting in the verandah. The lady was
Mrs. Mian of Garden Town, Lahore who visited Naran in the 50s after her
marriage. She expressed her wish to have a hotel here and Mian sahib obliged. So
the Park Hotel was a kind of wedding gift for a young bride. Further story of
what happened to this hotel is pretty disturbing like many other uncomfortable
developments we Pakistanis have gotten used to accepting them as fait accompli.
Now after the demise of Mrs. Mian, the hotel was divided among her children and
demolished. One owner sold it to some developer where a huge structure is being
built with innumerable rooms; the last antiquated remnant of Naran is also
gone.
In the nineties and early 2000s we used to spend a few weeks
basically resting at Park hotel while kids would go climbing the hills and play
with the small stream. It was still a small, safe and friendly place and we
loved it.
As times went by Naran kept expanding but it was haphazard
making it uncomfortably crowded and our family’s preferred staying at the
government owned PTDC motel. Cleanliness situation in Naran worsened as did the
discipline of visiting tourists giving a feel of Murree that we tried to avoid.
It gradually turned into a prohibitively expensive concrete jungle no ordinary
middle class family could afford or maybe question the utility of the expense.
It had gotten so crowdy and expensive that we thought it wasn’t for us, at
least during the tourist season.
After I restarted biking in 2008 and school commitments of
the children made our family vacation trips irregular. My romance for Naran had
faded but its location on the short route to Northern Areas of Pakistan made me
cross it regularly and I observed its haphazard development every year. The
traffic on roads worsened and we would plan our journey making sure we cross
Naran at odd times, mostly early morning.
Times kept passing and now children had grown up and had
started going abroad as all Pakistani middle classes experience. For these
classes Pakistan has become a country not good enough to live and work in. Its
utility and raison detre has become a
place to raise and educate the children so that they are able to serve the West
or the Middle East earning a comfortable life. One of our government
functionaries once stated that these Pakistani expats working in West or the Middle
East usually visit Pakistan only to bury their elders and then liquidate assets
before taking them to their newly adopted homelands. This is a common tragedy
of Pakistan. By now our family was approaching this stage and I bought a
midsized van only for family travel as the 4 grown up youngsters won’t fit in a
car with parents, not even in my full sized S Class.
Once travelling back from Naran on the van we experienced
the rowdy traffic which was bordering on a night mare. It took us 12 hours,
probably more, to cover the 25kms from Naran to Kaghan.
The spacious and comfortable van with plenty of supplies made
this ordeal bearable and after mid night when extremely tired fortunately we
got accommodated on the sofas placed in the lounge of a hotel at a side alley. It
was 2 days later that the traffic jam eased and we were able to travel back.
"Traveling—it leaves you speechless, then turns you
into a storyteller."
In early October I got excited when a prospect of fulfilling
my dream of spending a complete summer in Naran away from Lahore arose. A hotel
was for sale there owned by an acquaintance and buying it could make my life
easy and enjoyable. And we drove to Naran.
The road conditions to Naran have improved a lot, especially
with the completion of Lahore-Mansehra motorway. Now any semi decent car can
make it easily. Hotels have sprung up everywhere starting before Balakot right
until the Babusar, end of the valley.
The first view of Naran is totally changed, now it’s a huge
jungle of concrete full of buildings, pretty high from our standards with hardly
and trees; only surviving at the slopes of hills. The weather was chilly but
not uncomfortably cold, too warm for October.
We stayed at our current favorite hotel Mountain Chalet, run
by a friend who also happens to be a wonderful host and businessman. It is
probably one of the best located hotels in Naran on the back of a gas station
with a decent sized well-kept lawn. The tourist season had ended so although
much of market was open it was peaceful with a small crowd making it lively
without noisiness.
Then we travelled on the prettiest 68kms between Naran and
Babusar with shrunken small sized glaciers reaching the autumn Babusar on a sunny
and warm day. It was the warmest Babusar I had ever visited.
Although the business prospect didn’t appear feasible but
was glad to have visited Naran in the season when it reminded of its better
days. I observed many developments that would like to share; these might particularly
interest biking enthusiasts.
Passion for travel has become very popular in our society
probably due to awareness spread by the social media and increase in disposable
income. However family travel by car is waning while group travel on vans and
coasters appear to have become most popular. It is certainly easier and cost
effective although might be lacking in privacy.
Motorcycle travel on the mountains, something considered odd
or crazy in my youth, has become very popular mostly among the youngsters
starting up in their lives and careers. Saw many more motorcycles as compared
to cars.
Most motorcycle travellers were well equipped fully
conscious of safety requirements, following the traffic laws diligently and
fulfilling the requirements of responsible driving.
Motorcycle travel has become very popular among the newlyweds
on their honey moon. Equally well protected brides, wearing helmets and riding
jackets, would usually take the responsibility of photography and storytelling.
Interviewing a few couples repeated the same story that they were travelling of
the motorcycle of their college days and had planned the trip during their
student life courtship.
Saw many female bikers mostly travelling in groups. They
appeared fully confident and sure of themselves. A healthy development in our
society.
Appears that Honda’s new 150cc offerings have nearly
displaced the Suzukis as the machine of choice for adventurers in Pakistan. That
is what happens if you stop improving or innovating. Suzuki hasnt improved its
popular GS150 model for the last quarter century while Honda has introduced
many new models.
Most of the visitors to Naran just cross it on their way to
the North trying to avoid stopping over.
The most depressing observation was about the pathetic
situation of cleanliness. Wondered why the adherents of the only faith in the
world that calls cleanliness an important aspect of their religion can be so
inconsiderate throwing waste and filth without any concern.
Naran is a God’s gift to the people of Pakistan and it needs
caring. There is a difference between development and chaos that must be
guarded against. Naran may be heading towards absolute chaos needing immediate
attention.
It is still pretty but if its development is not streamlined
we might lose this gem of a gift of nature forever. That would be a great loss.
"Travel
makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world."
Gustave Flaubert
