October 2005
I could hardly wave before the car, which had been vibrating strongly, jerked forward. Next thing I knew, I was bobbing up and down and violently thrown against the door. Uncle Rehmat’s complains about our road suddenly made a lot more sense. I’d never even realized how small it was until looking down from the car window, I could see the tires rolling centimeters from the edge of the cliff.
I could hardly wave before the car, which had been vibrating strongly, jerked forward. Next thing I knew, I was bobbing up and down and violently thrown against the door. Uncle Rehmat’s complains about our road suddenly made a lot more sense. I’d never even realized how small it was until looking down from the car window, I could see the tires rolling centimeters from the edge of the cliff.
But Uncle Gulzar seemed to know the road
like the back of his hand. He sped up, turned and slowed down constantly to
get around bumps and tight corners. Every time I was sure we were about to fall off, he would swerve the wheel and we'd be safe. Still, I held on to my seat tightly.
The two adults talked, but the
only thing I could think about was not throwing up. We passed through Matiltan,
with Uncle Gulzar waving at the locals. While driving through a dark forest of
tall trees, I asked him to stop the car so I could run out and be sick
behind a bush.
He was waiting impatiently, tapping
his watch when I returned.
“Stick your head out the window.” He said,
and we continued down the road.
It was good advice. The car was so small
that I felt like I couldn’t breath. But with my head outside the window, I
could feel the wind blowing and see the scenery. Exiting the forest, we came to
the top of a hill. From there I could see the two rivers Ushu and Gabral collide to
make the Swat. And at their banks was the town of Kalam.
A few roads connected lavishly decorated buildings, with roofs painted green or bright red, with the main road which ran through a market and exited the town to the south. As we approached, I realized that the entire valley behind the town was populated with houses and
farms. The people in those farms must have treated Kalam the same way we
treated Matiltan. That’s where they went to school and went shopping or said
their prayers.
The town was a lot larger than Matiltan though, and cars, people and carts pulled by donkeys joined us on the road through the market with its smell of grilling meats and curries.
The town was a lot larger than Matiltan though, and cars, people and carts pulled by donkeys joined us on the road through the market with its smell of grilling meats and curries.
Eventually we left Kalam and again found ourselves travelling through mountains. Though the river
had grown wider, and the road more crowded, the land south of
Kalam looked like that to the North. I noticed that we were generally
going down hill more often than up, and Uncle Gulzar said that the mountains would be long behind us by the time we got to Mingora.
