Javaid Hussain Lone

In the month of March 2017, I was transferred to High School Kundian (in Keran region) for discharging my duties under the guidelines of the 3rd zone transfer policy. I tried my best to avoid the posting on one pretext or the other, but when encouraged by friends to go, I withdrew my application for revoking the transfer and, with determination, set out for Keran.
On reaching the high school I was accorded a warm welcome not only by staff members but also by locals, which puzzled me. Many villagers came to me to offer accommodation in their homes without any rent.
I later came to know that their kind gestures and hospitality were based on firm faith in Allah’s reward for serving strangers. Hospitality is a reflection of generosity and it was on ample display as we were served with heavy breakfasts including homemade butter, honey of reared bees, and chapatties. In the months from March to May the locals consume natural vegetables like ‘Logdoo’, ‘Kunji’ and ‘Shelie’, which when prepared properly have no comparison in terms of taste. To my discovery, these derelict people don’t lay stress on acquiring worldly possessions like we do, but their goal is only to earn a basic livelihood in order to fulfil needs like clothes, food, and shelter.
Waterfalls from steep heights, lush evergreen forests, beautiful vegetation and flowers, flow of streams with high pitch, and the sweet songs of birds make visitors feel in the lap of nature here. In a real sense, these inhabitants live close to wilderness and being its preservers deserve every kind of facility.
At about a kilometer from Kundian is a beautiful site where one completely loses oneself amid enormous beauty. This was known as village “Khudian” till late 1992. What a piece of land had been discovered to live on flat ground at a hill top! This village consisting of about eighty houses was completely gutted by fire in late 1992, unfortunately.
Keran is eight kilometres from Kundian. It was where I with my colleagues would spend our holidays watching closely the beauty around Kishan Ganga river.
One day as per routine I visited the Kishan-Ganga at Keran. I meditated and watched birds flying above and across the fresh green waters of the Kishan Ganga. I thought about the youthfulness of the river, the freedom of birds, and the restrictions under which mankind lives.

—The author can be reached at: [email protected]

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