Road trip: Return journey final day - Saturday 10.12.2011 - Multan to Islamabad

We were woken up by a peremptory knock at our door at 8:00 am sharp. Apparently the guest house management had misunderstood Usman last night and had thought he had asked to prepare our breakfast by 8:00 am sharp. Whereas he had told them that we might do it by 8 provided that we are up by then. Nonetheless they woke us which was a good thing anyways as it was again going to be a fully loaded day and an early start was needed. We had planned a number of activities in Multan.


After breakfast and checking out we headed for some sightseeing before the shops opened up. Our first stop were the shrines of Hazrat Bahuddin Zakaria (R.A) and his grandson Hazrat Rukn-e-Alam (R.A).

Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya was a Sufi of Suhrawardiyya order (tariqa). His Moseleum or shrine is situated in the heart of Multan city. His full name was Al-Sheikh Al-Kabir Sheikh-ul-Islam Baha-ud-Din Abu Muhammad Zakaria Al-Qureshi Al-Asadi Al Hashmi.
Sheikh Baha-ud-Din Zakariya known as Bahawal Haq was born at Kot Kehror, a town of Layyah District near Multan, Punjab, Pakistan, around 1170.

The mausoleum of Shah Rukn-e-Alam is also situated on the fort mound very close to the shrine of Hazrat Bahauddin Zakariya. The Shaikh was the son of Pir Sadar-Al-Din Arif born at Multan on the 9th of Friday Ramazan 649/26 November 1251. He was the grandson and successor of Shaikh Baha-Al-Din Zakariya.

Shaikh Rukn-i-Alam (Rukn-al-Din) died on the 7th of Friday (735/3 Jamadial-Awwal, January 1335). He was buried in the mausoleum of his grandfather, according to his own will. After sometime, however, his coffin was transferred to the present mausoleum. It was constructed, according to a popular belief, by Ghiyas-al-Din Tughluq (1340-1350) during the days of his governorship of Depalpur, but was given by Feruz Shah Tughluq to the descendents of Shah Rukn-I-Alam for the latter’s burial. The mausoleum of Rukn-I-Alam has been admired by not only the travelers and chroniclers but also by the art-historians and archaeologist who wrote the architectural history of the subcontinent.

After visiting the shrines we went on a brief tour of the city and then in search of the famous Multani kolapuri ( sandals). These are available for both men and women.







The search turned out to be a bit disappointing as there was not that much variety available as we had anticipated. Maybe it was not the season ; these are typically summer sandals worn in hot and humid weather of Pakistan. 


Nonetheless all of us still managed to buy a lot of these chappals (sandals) for family and friends.....  :)


After the chappal business was done Samina insisted on getting some of the famous halwa ( sweet) of Multan. It seems that Multan is famous for quite a few things....  :)  So we headed towards the famous Rivari shop and bought all kinds of halwa i.e. walnut, almond, classic multani, etc.


After we had exhausted our "to do" list we headed for lunch at a restaurant recommended by Samina's friend Osman who had joined us today for our various shopping sprees. Osman is based in Multan and works for a telecom company there.


It was around 4 pm when we left Multan and headed North for Islamabad finally. All in all it was an extremely fulfilling and rewarding road trip: we had managed to get a lots of sights, shrines, shopping, sea and sand on this memorable trip.


And to cap it off we witnessed the most beautiful full lunar eclipse on our way back. It was the perfect icing on the cake!! The eclipse started when we are in between Multan and Lahore and lasted for about couple of hours. Later we found out that it was the last full lunar eclipse of 2011. The visibility was excellent as there was no cloud in the sky. And throughout it's transition we had the ring side seat as we witnessed it from the beginning till the end. To put it simply it was just awesome.


We did try to capture it's glory but apparently the lens on our camera was not powerful enough. Nonetheless I am still attaching some of our humble efforts.

It was 1 am when we finally entered Islamabad on 11th December after an exhilarating journey of 9 days.  

Road Trip: Return Journey Part 1- Friday 9.12.2011- Karachi to Multan

Time had passed by so quickly and suddenly the day to start the return journey was here. They say time flies when you are having fun and it was certainly true in our case: the days flew by like superman...  :)


For our return journey we had decided to go straight to Multan and stay there overnight. We took the N5 route. ETD was 5 am but we were only able to leave the guest house at around 5:45. It took us 45 minutes to adjust the luggage in the car: all the travel bags were tied on the roof rack and all the shopping was stuffed in the back.


After having our staple breakfast on a road side chai shop we headed north. Just before the Karachi- Hyderabad toll plaza we were stopped by the Sindh police. They started the overall act by asking for the car papers first, which were shown to them. And then when Usman told them that the car belonged to his uncle, that provided them the window of opportunity they were looking for. They became adamant that we needed a letter of authority from his uncle to drive the car on the highway. Both Usman and Balouch refused their point of view vehemently and finally it was decided to take the matter to their supervisor who was sitting in his police car nearby. The negotiations started from Rs.6000/- and ended at Rs.1000/-  ( roughly around $ 11). They were just looking for an excuse to make some money and start the day on a good note...  : P


Balouch decided to write off this expense under "sadqa for the day" head...  :D 


Nonetheless through out our journey this was the one and only time that we were harassed by the police. No where else did we encounter any trouble at all. 


After this somewhat bemusing encounter we again headed north and our plan was to stop at Bhit Shah first to visit the shrine of Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. For our return journey we had earmarked a number of shrines that we were planning to visit along the way. That was also one of the reasons we had decided to stay overnight in Multan as it is known as "city of saints" or "madinat-ul-auliya" and is home to the mausoleums of many sufi saints.


To visit the shrine we had to take a right turn from N5 and enter the city of Bhit shah. From the main highway the shrine was about 20 kilometres inside the city.

Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (1689–1752) (Sindhi: شاھ عبدالطيف ڀٽائيِ), was a Sufi scholar and saint, and is considered as the greatest poet of the Sindhi language. His most famous written work is the Shah Jo Risalo ( epic poem in Sindhi language).  His work frequently has been compared to that of Rūmī. Shah Latif can be said to be the soul of Sindh. 

Much of Shah Bhitai’s poetry expresses the individual seeking for God in terms of well-known ballads and the negation of the ego. In Islamic tradition the seeker and the sought are both males. Shah following the Indian tradition made his individual a female. Shah’s heroine’s come mainly from the lower strata than the heroes, and yet they outshine the men. The divine is the beloved , with the feminine form associated with earth fertility, nurture, wisdom, and intuition and the masculine with rationality and logic.

The history books claim that sometime before his death, Shah threw the manuscripts of his works into the Karar lake near his village of Bhit. His reason for doing so was that his people may not understand the main theme of messages. However his disciples had some older copies of his work. and it was mainly through the efforts of a lady by the name of Mai Miamat, a disciple, who had memorised a lot of his verses. Thus by her singing the verses, his disciples were able to record his messages.

It is said that Shah longed to perform a pilgrimage to Karbala in Iraq [ the site where Hasan & Hussain were martyred ]. As he went to Kutch to board a ship for the journey, a pious man met him and said : " O saint you have always said that Bhit will be your burial place ". At this remark, Shah went back to Bhit .

.A few days before his death, he retired to his underground room and spent all his time in prayers and fasting, eating very little. After 21 days in there, he came out and having bathed himself with a large quantity of water, covered himself with a white sheet and asked his disciples to sing and start the mystic music. This went on for three days continuously till the musicians, concerned about the motionless poet, found that his soul had already left for its heavenly abode to be in the proximity of the Beloved for who he had longed for all his life. He died on 22 December 1751. The only worldly possessions he left behind were a patched cloak, a quilt and a begging bowl. 

Musicians at the shrine singing verses from Shah Jo Risalo

The visit in itself was quite a pleasant experience. There were not many people around and thus one could go about the place easily and without any hassle. There were musicians within the compound of the shrine playing a local instrument ( I am afraid I do not the name of that instrument) and singing verses from his epic poem shah jo risalo. 


From there onwards we again headed towards Multan. As per the plan our next stop was to be the Panjnad area in Punjab before hitting Multan. Panjnad is a river at the extreme end of Bahawalpur district in Punjab. Panjnad River is formed by successive confluence of the five rivers of Punjab, namely Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. Jhelum and Ravi join Chenab, Beas joins Sutlej, and then Sutlej and Chenab join to form Panjnad 10 miles north of Uch Sharif in Bahawalpur district.


The mood in the car was jovial although all of us were feeling that we were going back too soon. The day before we had briefly discussed to stay an extra day but had decided against it as Balouch was keen to get back home at the earliest. Usman also had office on Monday: Samina, Bilal and I had another week of holidays left.


It was early afternoon when to our very pleasant surprise we came upon the shrine of Hazrat Sachal Sarmast. It was not on our list and we were also not aware that it will be right on our way. By chance Balouch happened to glance outside and saw a substantial shrine like building in the near distance, closer to the main highway. By the time we stopped to ask a passer by about it we had crossed it's turning. Nonetheless we still decided to take a u-turn and go back to visit the shrine because we saw it as a direct invitation from the saint himself: and it is impolite to turn down such invitations..  :) 

Sachal Sarmast (1739-1829) was a renowned Sindhi Sufi poet during the Kalhora era. Abdul Wahab was his real name and "Sachal" was the name he used in his own poetry. Sachu means truth in Sindhi and Sachalu means truthful. Sarmast means mystic in Sindhi and Urdu. Suchal Sarmast literally means 'truthful mystic'. 

Sachal Sarmast was an ardent follower of Wahdat-ul-Wujood ( unity of existence), an Islamic Philosophy synonymous with Hamah Oost ( all from One).

Sachal Sarmast (Mian Abdul Wahab), the great mystic of Sindh, is the leading Sufi poet of distinction who composed verses on philosophy and Sufism. He is known as second Mansoor ul Hajj ( another great mystic and sufi of Iraq) because of his poetry and philosophy. Sache Dino, Sachoo (the truthful) and Sachal Sarmast were radical Sufi pursuits with which he challenged the rigid mindset of the clergy of his times.

Also called 'shair-e- haft zaban ' (poet in seven languages) as he composed poetical pieces in Arabic, Sindhi, Seraiki, Punjabi, Urdu, Persian and others, that is replete with Divine Love.


Again there was a very interesting chapter on this saint in the book that I was carrying; Allah kay wali ( friends/saints of Allah) by Khan Asif: One of the ruler of his times had an only son who fell fatally ill. When the boy was close to death the ruler went to this saint and asked him to pray for the boy's life. Hazrat Sachal refused saying that what has been decreed by the Divine Being cannot be changed as he could see in loh-e-mehfooz ( Sacred Tablet) that the Almighty had decreed death for the boy. But the ruler was very adamant and did not leave his side, begging him to pray for his son. It was against the saint's nature to return someone empty handed and therefore after much persistence by the ruler the saint agreed to his wishes.


After the ruler left the saint prayed to God and said that he was well aware of His decree and that it cannot be changed. Since the principle was that "jaan kay badlaiy jaan" ( a death for a death) therefore the saint prayed to God to take his son instead of the ruler's. Slowly the ruler's son started getting better and the day he was declared fit and healthy was the day that the saint's son was buried in his grave.


Today the journey had become somewhat spiritual for us and we were looking forward to visiting all the shrines in Multan tomorrow.


It was also evident looking at both the shrines that their architecture and design were very similar but then that was expected as they both lived during Kalhora era in Sindh. Hazrat Sachal was thirteen when Hazrat Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai passed away.  

After stopping for lunch at a road side chai shop we headed towards Multan. It was our full aim to visit Panjnad today. However the journey had become longer for us due to these extra stops that we had made. And by the time the sun had set we were at the borders of Sindh crossing over to Punjab. 

It had become dark and for Panjnad we had to steer off our N5 route and take a detour of 2 hours one way. Common sense prevailed and we decided to forego Panjnad and head directly towards Multan. It was not worth the effort to drive extra time just to reach the place in the middle of the night: we would not have been able to see anything in the dark!

It was after midnight when we reached Multan. A friend of Usman's, Saif, had booked a nice guest house, continental guest house, for us. He was waiting for us at the entrance of the city to guide us to the place. We followed his motorcycle.

The guest house was very clean with spacious rooms. The bathrooms were also well maintained and up to par. After a very long journey we all hit the sack.

Missed opportunity of the day: Panjnad! 

Road trip: Day 6 & 7 Wednesday & Thursday 7.12.2011/8.12.2011: Sights, sounds and shops of Karachi

Most of the photographs in this post have been taken by Bilal Hameed. A few were taken by Usman from his mobile. The picture of M.A. Jinnah in sherwani has been taken from urdupoint.com

Although the desire to go and thoroughly visit the Makran coastal highway again was very strong but we erred towards caution and decided to get the car checked first thing in the morning on Wednesday; it was making some funny noise the day before. We were suppose to head back towards Islamabad on Friday and did not want  to take any undue chances.

So Usman and Balouch took the car to the mechanic for a thorough check-up after breakfast. Bilal decided to visit his bank’s head office in Karachi and meet the executives there. Samina and I spent a lazy morning in bed, chilling and gossiping.

We had expected the car work not to take more than a couple of hours but due to various delays one way or the other Usman and Balouch came back mid afternoon. Good news was that there was nothing wrong with the car; all it needed was some oiling on brake pads.... or something of the sort as I am not too savy about such matters.

Since we had lost half of the daylight so we decided to start our shopping from today onwards and also do some sightseeing in Karachi. Originally we had dedicated Thursday for shopping and relative visits.  


It was the first time Balouch was visiting Karachi and he was very keen to see the city. So we gave him the front passenger seat to take in all the views unhindered...  :)

We hit Zamzama street first for shopping as that was closest to our guest house. And also because we were waiting for Manzoor and he was in office at that time.

Samina and I hit some boutiques from where I bought some stuff thus formal opening our trip’s mad shopping spree.... Little did I know that I have opened a Pandora’s box....  ;)

From there onwards till the evening of the next day was just one big shopping blur......

Manzoor took us to Zainab market, Sadar, Gulf Plaza, some shop called “Corporate” near boat basin and Tariq Road. Apparently he knew all these places which had really nice stuff but at very affordable prices. We went to factory outlets of Levis where a T-shirt was around Rs. 400/-. The same T-shirt was around Rs.1200/- or so in Islamabad.

Needless to say that both Usman and Samina went a little mad with their shopping after looking at the prices... :) I was particularly surprised with Usman as it was the first time that I have seen a man shop so patiently and with so meticulous detail. He tried on everything and then bought that looked the best on him. Both he and Samina also bought a lot of gifts for family and friends. But undoubtedly Usman was the shopaholic king of our trip and bought stuff worth Rs. 50000/-.. Yes!! That’s 50 K!!   :)

With the amount of shopping that they did and some of our additional stuff,  on our return journey to Islamabad we had to tie our luggage on the top rack of the car to make room for the extra stuff that we had picked up...  

I really wanted to post a “before shopping” and “ after shopping” picture of the car but unfortunately we do not have any picture of the car with the luggage tied overhead.

In between shopping we also did some sightseeing. We passed by the shrine of Hazrat Abdallah Shah Ghazi (R.A) and paid our respects from outside.

Abdullah Shah Ghazi is considered to be patron saint of Karachi. He is widely revered in Pakistan. Legend has it that due to the saint's closeness to God, the city has been protected from sea related disasters such as cyclones. His shrine is right along the seaside in Clifton area. Consequently a  famous myth about the shrine is that Karachi never had a tropical disaster in a thousand year because of the shrine's blessing.

This myth gets one thinking hard as it has been seen lately and previously as well that whatever tropical storms that were slated to hit Karachi would somehow change course and veer off towards another direction, always missing Karachi's shoreline... hmmmmm....

Some more sights of Karachi...



A traditional yogurt drink, Lassi



We also briefly visited Manzoor’s house where he showed us his “sea offerings” collections. Beautiful and unique sea shells and fossils that he and his sister had picked up on the beaches of Maldives and Sri Lanka.



It was also at his place that we tasted Sharifah fruit for the first time; Sharifah is not easily available in Islamabad. He had sharifah trees in his garden.

 On Thursday late afternoon after we were done with all the shopping we decided to visit the Mausoleum of the founder of the nation Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Even though all of us except for Balouch had been to Karachi previously many times but had never visited the place. This time as we were playing tourists so we decided to go the whole nine yards....  :)

Muhammad Ali Jinnah ( December 25, 1876 – September 11, 1948) was a Muslim lawyer, politician, statesman and the founder of Pakistan. He is popularly and officially known in Pakistan as Quaid-e-Azam ( "Great Leader") and Baba-e-Qaum  ("Father of the Nation").

Visiting the mausoleum was a learning experience for all of us. I was always under the impression that only  Quaid-e-Azam was buried there. But it seems that some other notable figures from his time including his sister, Fatimah Jinnah were also there.

Next to the mausoleum was a museum full of his personal artifacts. It was again a pleasure to see his belongings. The ones I literally drooled over were his 2 cars: a Packard and a rolls Royce.. I love vintage cars!!

His living quarters. In the background is the picture of his second wife Rattanbai.

His golf collection

During his stay in England, the culture there had greatly influenced his personal preferences, particularly when it came to dress. Jinnah donned Western style clothing and he pursued the fashion with fervor. It is said he owned over 200 hand-tailored suits which he wore with heavily starched shirts with detachable collars. It is also alleged that he never wore the same silk tie twice. Although in his later years he was most commonly seen wearing Sherwani and Karakul hat which subsequently came to be known as "Jinnah cap".

On Wednesday evening Manzoor also took us to this restaurant called Farouge where we had the best Lebanese food; the chicken was really amazing.

On our last night in Karachi, after a very hectic day of shopping and sightseeing ,we came back to the guest house with take away food. To round off the trip we played a game of luddoo in our usual style, with Manzoor winning the game fair and square.

Tomorrow we were to start our journey back home....