A visit to Afghanistan border

i)Moving families (ii)Thanks to Christians (iii) Cave type houses(iv) Strange tunnel (v)Huge frying pan

It was 27th. of January 2007.Weather in the only seaport Karachi of Pakistan was quite pleasant, The birds flying in air ,fishes living in sea & insects living on ground all were enjoying the sweet weather of Karachi when I decided to go to to Quetta (130 kilometer from Afghanistan) & Chaman (just at Afghanistan border) by leaving this pleasant atmosphere.
Moving families (Nomads)

When train was passing through the Plains I saw some tents lying here & there There were cattle near the tents .Children including infants with ladies could also be seen there. Then I recalled my grade 4 teacher Miss Sarah , who had told that people in certain area of this territory are nomads .They have moving residences & not a permanent residence. They collect the bushes from here & there & use those bushes for firework during cooking of foods. These people along with their cattle stay where ever they find water & grass. These people are away from the facilities of present age of world and are happy with their life style and does not bother the harsh weather (Reference Daily JANG Karachi Sunday magazine dated 17 Jan 2007 page 9) I was thinking all these & was enjoying by seeing here & there when I found one of the nomads teen had come near the train. He was having the donkey & camel with him. The camel had white fluid type lather in his mouth & was crying. I think it was greeting us because the nomad boy was also waving his hands.
 
Thanks to Christians
After few hours of journey in plains, the mountains range started. These mountains were barren & were looking like huge giants. The train was passing through these sky talking mountains. The weather had become some what cold. I saw out side of the window upward . There was goat which was afraid of train so that was running on the steep slope of mountains with full speed. A small boy was trying to stop that but that was not listening to boy.. There are nearly 18 tunnels through which I had to pass in order to reach Afghanistan border. I appreciated the efforts of those people who had laid train track in such complicated & dangerous valleys. .The train track was not easy to lay there. Until 1857 there were no train in Pakistan & India Even the people of these countries were not aware of train. Then the Christians from England came here & took the rule of government & introduced trains system . Some times question comes in mind had not been Christians of England here, would have we been able to develop all these modern technology machineries here.. If reply be given with honesty then automatically words slips from the tongue “ No Never No” So we should be thankful to British Christians for these facilities.

Birth place of Taliban
The upward slope was so much that single engine was not capable to take the train to height .I think engine complained to the driver “O My dear driver --I am weak—please do me a favor & help me” So two engines were used ---One at the beginning of bogies & one at the end of bogies. Seeing all these shows of train & mountains finally I reached Quetta. Quetta is the birth place of Taliban(as said by some countries) There I found a lot of Afghan refugees. Their ladies were claded in a special type clothing/dress which conceal their whole bodies including face .There was a net or thread gauze over the eyes through which the ladies can see. But it does not mean that all the ladies were in that dress. Only Afghan people ladies or ladies from villages were wearing that dress otherwise other ladies were in the similar dress as I had seen in Karachi .Even there were working ladies too who were busy in offices , in banks wearing normal Pakistani dress The weather here was entirely different from Karachi. Here it was severe cold. The cold breeze was blowing . In Quetta it is called Afghani air. But in Afghanistan it is known as Russian air while in Russia it is named as Siberia air. In Karachi weather was so good that one shirt was sufficient. But here I had to wear not only sweater but also coat. But still I was feeling coldness. So I had to wrap my arms around my chest. Here different languages are spoken. Which are all entirely different from each other. So understanding each other a common language called Urdu is there. My cousin was there to receive me. He gave me congratulation by saying” O lucky ----u r lucky indeed” . His sentences gave me surprising as well as puzzling . Then he disclosed me that I was lucky enough because the train had reached in time other wise it had become usual that train used to arrive late .. .Next day we departed for Chaman The train for Chaman was ready there we got the ticket of that train . Chaman is just at the border of Afghanistan. The longest tunnel of Pakistan is on this way. Its length is 21 Kilometer. When I was traveling in the train I saw some people living in the cave type houses in the mountains (Reference Daily JANG Karachi Sunday magazine dated 17 Jan 2007 page 9) . My cousin told me that the living in the caves is common in Afghanistan as compare to Pakistan.He told me an interesting event. He told some days back there was a small hill in which caves were dug & two families were living. Then one family wanted to widen the room. While he was doing so he could not judge correctly .So during digging , the common wall of cave became weakened & a hole developed ------The quarrel between two families started. .The quarrel some times become fatal. I recalled the quarrel which had taken place in Afghanistan when one donkey entered in a mosque of Kabul Afghanistan & pissed there. Then quarrel between two group of people started & they used rocket launchers against each other. Then one group brought anti tank mortar & used against opponent group. Which caused collapsing of a building. Probably during said fatal war the accused donkey remained peaceful under a tree laughing over the activities of human being.(Reference Daily “UMMAT” Karachi 29 30 March 1998)Many people had died.

Playing of sun
Then all of a sudden I felt as if sun had started playing with us. Some times its rays were coming from right side window & with in minutes these rays were entering from left window. This game of sun was wondering me. ”What is the matter”---- by thinking so I looked through the window.----“O my God!” I was taken a back with the strange scene lying behind the train-----a scene that will come for ever in front of my eyes whenever I will think about this travel. The train was climbing upward toward a tunnel ------The height was so much that it was not possible for train to go to height straightly so in order to overcome this problem engineers had laid track like several “S” lying above each other.

S
S
S
That was the reason that while train was moving in these “S”es the sun was coming alternatively left & right window The train was at it peak & the plains lying behind it was like a big frying pan in which the track was lying resembling to ringlets being fried in that frying pan. Indeed it was a worth seeing scene.

The tunnel near Afghanistan is strange. Out side the tunnel temperature was high but when train entered in the tunnel I felt as if I had entered air conditioned room. The reason was that there were springs/fountains in the tunnel & water was showering which was making the temperature pleasant .At last we reached Chaman. The relatives of many people residing in Chaman live in Afghanistan so these people can go to each other country easily. I was surprised that many people live in Pakistan but their jobs are in Afghanistan & vice versa .I met a person who told me that he was having his residence in Pakistan but he was having job in Afghanistan. He told that education & schooling in Afghanistan is not better than Pakistan so that was the reason he had kept his family & children in Pakistan. Nearly 30 thousand people traveled daily between Afghanistan & Pakistan on foot, by bicycles , donkey cart & by other transport means.( Reference Daily Jang Sunday edition 24 -31 December 2006)

The reference of newspaper is being given to authenticate what ever I am saying )