PERFECT BLEND OF BEAUTY, MODERNITY, AND CULTURE; THE HUNZA VALLEY!

While going through the gallery of my phone, each picture taking me to a different level of nostalgia, I couldn’t resist the mixed feeling of happiness, sadness, patriotism, and longing for a place. A place where patriarchy is a mere word existing in the dictionary only. A place where development in the past 20 years has changed the whole lifestyle of the people. A place not only known for its beauty but also rich in culture and identity. A place that challenges the whole paradigm of rural areas. A place where peace is not just a word but a lifestyle. A place where education is a pure priority, even if it means living far from home for the rest of your life. A place where cultural identity and modernization are so beautifully weaved in a frame that makes all kinds of evils like hatred, injustice, loathe, begging, riots, and illiteracy disappear.

All these mixed feelings made me think about whether I deserve to be a part of this culture. Being a part of such a society of which people dream, a place exemplified for the whole world in today’s modern society as an amalgamation of culture and identity. A place with its lofty mountains and breathtaking meadows, snow-capped peaks and lush green valleys, a million years old forts, and the treacherous yet windy Karakorum and Himalayan tracks, an education system with only one university yet a 100 percent literacy rate makes it an exemplary work of modern society.

But what makes Hunza an exceptional place is the perfect blend of culture and identity, where modernization is so rapid yet the values forming the basis of our identity are not lost but are preserved not just by artists, poets, and historians of the place but the masses and most importantly, the youth.

The modern education system might have changed how we live, but the values we still hold on to no matter where we go. We might not be working on farms anymore, but our level-headed nature is incorporated into our genes. We might not be using treacherous mountainous tracks for walking, but life’s journey in the cities is no less than the treacherous tracks of the mountains. However, we keep on moving with the hope that we may find our way out of the dark just like our forefathers did in a very short time. Being virtuous with the wise and the wicked is what we’ve been taught, and being down-to-earth yet rational is what we still have in our bones.

The country’s leaders do not address our rights, yet we always welcome them as our guests. When the nonsensical riots murder our students, we still prioritize peaceful strikes over anything else. Where we are treated as outsiders, we treat them with the same welcoming attitude as our forefathers.

In philosophy, music, art, politics, social science, and natural science, we have excelled in every field with our simple and basic education system. Yet, we hold on to our roots for eternity. By roots, I don’t mean the food we eat or the dress we wear, but rather it is the set of principles that govern our daily lives and form the basic paradigm of our living.

The way we treat our elders with the utmost respect, the way the eldest child in the family shares the responsibility of the rest, the way we educate and treat our girls with opportunities yet more than that given to boys, to the least patriarchal society that we have, to the principles we live up to, to the progress we’re made through these years, and to the sacrifices and compromises we still are ready for to live according to the principles of our religion and culture, I feel really privileged for it all.

Today, we have achieved milestones compared to the life our forefathers lived. Yet, we have many miles to walk to provide the next generations with their rights and achieve freedom from dictators’ tyranny. But let’s hope we will hold on to our values forever like we always have and preserve this magical amalgamation of our culture, religion, and modernization and serve as exemplary role models for the world.

P.S: I believe that no society can be an ideal society, and so is ours. Many aspects of it are yet to be pruned, but this blog is just an appreciation post for our society, so criticisms are not included.