Tuesday, July 3, 2012

When Quetta was safe

All of us have some special kind of emotional attachment to things that we cherished during  childhood and teenage. The home where we have the earliest memories,our childhood best friends,that special watch that one of your elders gave  you after getting good results in school,that special spicy chaats which your mother used to forbid you to eat,the places where you used to spend your vacations and many other things which one never gets too old for or too tired or too used to.

I have been to Iran 8 times. 7 out of those 8 times happened in either my childhood or teenage years. In all of those times,I traveled through Quetta back and forth. So with every Iran’s trip,I visited Quetta twice. Apart from those times,I sometimes used to go to Quetta to receive my family members when they went to Iran leaving me behind. Being from a reasonably well off Shia family meant that almost every year,many from my family would go for different pilgrimages e.gUmrah,Iraq,Syria,Iran etc. The places hold deep spiritual attachment to shias,with shrines of the holy infallible,which can only be understood by someone who shares the same feeling. Iran always used to be the first choice visit due to multiple factors. Since it was controlled by Shia government the pilgrims did not face the same kind of problems as in Iraq under Saddam or in the kingdom of Saudi regime. The second factor of course was that it was a cheaper route through Quetta on trains and buses. And hence the reason for my frequent visits.

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