The Autobiography of a Student

By Alamgirkhan

(I had written this in 2003)

“People of all trades and professions leave home in the morning to earn their livelihood. They have a firm belief to return home in the evening with something or other to make both ends meet. But a student is the one who performs his duty whatever the circumstances or conditions are. He faces lots of hardships during his career. Still he has not the slightest belief of getting the reward at the end”. This is the observation of a retired principal. And it seems very much true to me when I look back at my student life.

My parents got me admitted in a government primary school when I reached four years of age. They must have envisioned me as a successful and useful citizen and a great man in the future. I myself also shared their great expectations. With the dreams of a bright future I started my journey towards a Utopian destination. As a matter of fact from the very beginning I realized the challenges of this enterprise.

The lessons were taught there in Urdu and Pashto. The hard practice of memorizing the tables and the stick in the teacher’s hand made me think again about my future dreams. To me the teacher was the most powerful and fearful creature the earth ever witnessed. Never daring to be absent from the school I was punctual only half-heartedly. The last hours of the weekend used to be the most agonizing due to  the fear of going to school again the next morning, after an eventful, pleasant day of freedom and fun. One of the injustices was that I got punishment from the teacher even before I committed some wrong, but never a prize even years after I got some achievement. Though I had some inspiring teachers and a few good friends, as a whole the school life seemed to me like fourteen years imprisonment of the Count of Monti Cristo in an underground dungeon.

The first change occurred when after four years I got promoted to the middle section. There I had to face a new subject, English. The new and strange letters seemed barking and biting at me. Math, Science and Social Studies were taught in Urdu but in sixth class Pashto became the medium. The teacher punished us for not bringing books where the fact was that they were not available in the market. In seventh and eighth the books were again in Pashto. This shifting of Urdu and Pashto created a lot of problems for us. On the other hand English continued terrorizing us with all its agonies of translations, tenses and spellings etc. To cut a long story short we got into high section. Here again a few monsters lay hidden in the form of Physics, Biology and Chemistry taught in Urdu.

It was a hard test to cope with them because I had never heard even their names before. Besides these terrifying subjects the bullies of the stronger boys, the fear of teachers, harsh weather and black worn out uniform continuously haunting me like ghosts. The coming near of the board exam was like the approach of the dooms day.

Somehow or the other after the SSC exam I got admission in the college. It was completely a new world, here again the sudden change from Urdu to English stunned me, Physics, Math and Chemistry was taught in English. Again I had to face it along with the brutal fooling of the senior boys. At last I discarded Science group in favour of Arts in BA. During the first three years of my college life the most depressing thing for me was the English teacher, who was a new version of clever imposter. Any how we got some compensation in the sincere and devoted personality of our Urdu teacher. I wanted to do my MA in Pashto but because of English as compulsory subject I couldn’t pass BA.

With a broken heart I left my education incomplete. After a year of wandering in the wilderness I got a teaching job in a private primary school. It was like out the frying pan into the fire. Released from the bondage of government teachers, when my turn of teaching came, it was to the students of private schools, who considered the teacher as their slave. After three years of being sandwiching between the school owner and the students, I got neither money nor respect.

Once again trying to change my life for the better I joined a pharmaceutical company as a medical representative. I had to promote my sale through gifting and sampling, and in the process looting not only the poor patients but their worried relatives too. I lost whatever self-respect and conscience I had.

My aspirations, inspirations and expectations all gone with the wind , my dreams of putting a helping hand in the march towards progress of my beloved country shattered , I decided to go abroad.

Now I am giving by blood to the dust and sands of the deserts of Arabia to develop them into gardens, while mourning the ruthless decay of my own garden.

Elum on Fire

By: Alamgir Khan

Elum is one of the highest mountain peaks of Swat. It is situated at the administrative boundary of Swat and Bunir. Due to its height, beauty and fame many interesting stories have often been told by the people of the area about it since long.

Once a man asked his friend, “Pirbaba is greater or Elum?” The man thought, “If I say Elum is greater,   Pirbaba is also not an ordinary entity, and if I say Pirbaba is greater Elum also has its greatness. At last he replied, “May God puzzle you as much as you have puzzled me”.

Another story is like this, “A man went to Buner and told the People there that he could lift Elum on his shoulders if he was fed on butter, chickens, cream, meat etc for three months. The People agreed.  At the appointed time the man was taken to the bottom of the hill to lift it. The man said confidently, “Put it on my shoulders”.

Elum is not only famous for the height of the peak; it is also one of the most beautiful valleys of Swat. People from far and wide come here to enjoy the tranquility of nature. It is located on a walking distance of four to five hours from Marghazar, another scenic vale of the region, serving as base camp for Elum top which is locally known as ‘Jogyano Sar’. It is said that Ramchandar Ji, a Hindu, meditated here. Every year in October a large number of Hindu pilgrims visit the place of his worship.

The whole trek has amazing and picturesque variety of natural beauty. At night sitting beside the stone and clay mosque half way up the trek towards the Peak in complete darkness and you see the full moon emerging slowly and majestically from behind ‘Halak Sar’, another peak opposite Elum, is a spectacle which can’t be described in words.

Besides nature another feature of Elum is its local inhabitants. You experience a rare glimpse of human simplicity, sincerity, and unique hospitality. They not only provide a place for the night but also butter, cream, ‘Mastha’ and ‘shomley’. They treat you like a guest. Their treatment refreshes your faith in humanity.

The part of the trek near the hut of Banjaar, a local entertainer, gives a breath taking view of Elum valley from a height of thousands of feet. It looks like a bowl made up of hills and green fields with scattered huts of the residents. It is just like a fairy dream land.

Climbing up the hill in the midst of forest trees with whistling sound of the leaves produced by the breeze is so refreshing and life giving. It is an experience of its own kind.

Reaching the top a vast green meadow spread like a carpet with the ringing bells hanging on to the necks of Buffaloes and cows grazing the grass welcomes you. The first look at all this stuns and then comforts and soothes you after a tiring and exhausting climb of more than five hours. It fills you with a new spirit of exploring the world of nature. It is a place where the most sinful of men can find himself closer to the Creator of all beauty. One wants to become a permanent part of all this. It compels you to come here again and again. And that is why we went there in August 2003 for the fifth time. But it proved to be our last visit.

There were no signs of the forest. It was virtually shaved off. Elum was left naked. How it shocked and tortured us is something which can’t be told. ‘A fire broke out here and lasted for two weeks’, was all that we could hear from a local man.

Attitude of the people towards Buddhist Archeological Remainsin Swat Valley

 By: Alamgirkhan

My knowledge and understanding of Buddha and Buddhism has its bases in the discussions my father had with my younger brothers and me when I was six or seven years of age. We would go withour father for evening walk daily. On the way we would see two carved Buddha’son a rock beside the road. They were about two feet in size. That is the firstever impression of Buddha in my memory. On another occasion my father took usto visit the Buddhist remains at Gulkada. My father would tell us what thesestructures were and who was Buddha.
I still remember how much I likedthose two small carved Buddha’s on the rock and the patterns made of stones onthe Stupas at Gulkada. I showed them to my friends with great excitement. Iwanted to know more about them. I liked the walls made of stones with beautifuland unique designs. I wanted to express in words what I felt about theseunusual structures. I wanted to analyze and criticize them like experts do onTV. But I had no solid notion of what they really were about; it was rathertheir form that fascinated me most.
Unfortunately I couldn’t givemuch thought to them because I had to give most of my time to my school studiesand I had no subjects related to cultural or historical heritage there. Withthe passage of time newer and newer subjects were occupying my mind. Still Iread a few books on Buddha and sometimes getting a chance to visit some otherBuddhist remains in Swat Valley.
As a result of these intermittentstudies and tours I came to realize certain ideas about the condition ofBuddhist remains in the valley and the attitude of the People and statedepartments towards them.

Najigram

Most of the Buddhist sites inSwat Valley are not fully excavated yet. Though work on them was started duringthe State era about 1950. After their discovery in that time they are leftunguarded. There are no boundary walls or fences round them. At most onewatchman is appointed for their safety. But one watchman is not sufficient careto save them.
They are not safe from personsinvolved in the antiques- business. They search these sites for coins, pots andother remains. What is unearthed is further sold to other business men atnational and international level. So a lot of evidences that may have beenhelpful in understanding and unlocking the mystery of these remains andcompiling the authentic history of those ancient people are going into illegalhands and scattered places around the world.
Moreover no serious excavationefforts have been seen during the last forty years or so after merger of Swatstate with Pakistan. I have seen several partially unearthed sites in thevalley but I have neither read about them anywhere nor heard their names indocumentaries on ancient remains. So they are in even more danger of beingdefaced as people may think they are not recorded in the lists of theauthorities concerned.
Along with the structuralpreservation of these remains what is of more importance and urgency to me isshaping the attitude of the common people towards them.
At present the common man ofthese areas does not have a friendly and tolerant understanding of what allthese remains and monuments are about. They have got the wrong notion fromsomewhere that these strange or odd structures represent idolatry. They namethem as Butkhana and da kafiro korona meaning infidels-houses.And so they think it as their religious duty to demolish them.
Thus beside illegal diggers thisattitude of the people is posing greater threat to the safety of these remains.It is often heard that Mr. so and so has found idols, statues, while constructinghis house and has then destroyed them. There are innumerable instances of suchacts throughout Gandhara region.
The need is that the common manshould be made realize that these are not mere idols but sacred religious monumentsof the people of that faith. And that they must give protection and honor tothem as they desire for their own religious monuments elsewhere in the world.This shift in people’s attitude if brought about will hopefully be more beneficialthan the safety measures taken by the archeology department.
Things were going in the rightdirection though when Swat was still a state. “The taking out of the state anyantiquities of ancient Buddhist sculptures is strictly forbidden”, writes Mr.George Getley in his book, SWATSwitzerland of the East published about 1960. And a museum had been establishedby the ruler of the state for these remains.
The question is that how to bringthis change. The answer is through Teachers and Parents. These two are theforces having great influence on the minds of the common man. In my own case Ihave a tolerant view of the Buddhist remains just because of what my fathertold me about them. And if supported byMedia the results may be more rapid and lasting.
To preserve these ancient remainsand promote interfaith harmony the governments of the countries having Buddhistfollowers in the majority should play a more active role in negotiating thismatter with the government of Pakistan and other non government actors. Thiswill be a great contribution to world peace and international understanding.