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JokaliyaN / جوکالیاں
A travalouge by Mustansar Hussain Tarar in different areas including Tilla Jogiyan, Swat, Punjab's Waterloo - Chillianwala and JokaaliyaN.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2020
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About the author
Mustansar Hussain Tarar
97 books467 followersMustansar Hussain Tarar (Urdu: مستنصر حسين تارڑ) is a Pakistani author, actor, the first Morning Show presenter and a pioneer trekker - in his own words: a vagabond.
Having made a name for himself by taking the mantle in Pakistan's mountaineering community, Mustansar Hussain is widely recognized as one of the most well known personalities in Pakistan. Though the origin of his fame is usually considered to be his established and decorated career as a writer, Tarar can also be recognized as the foremost endorser for tourism projects in Northern Areas of Pakistan, having exorbitantly increased the array of tourist exposure to the areas by becoming both a mountaineer and an adventure author who uses these locations as backdrops for his storylines.
Mustansar Hussain's literary proficiency as an author often overshadows the fact that he has been an active mountaineer for a very extensive period of time. Having embarked upon several painstaking and challenging tasks such as the ascension of K-2 and the surpassing of the treacherous "Chitti Buoi" Glacier among others. More significantly, both of Mustansar Hussain's professions often intertwine and relate, since he uses his experiences on his expeditions as travelogues. Though some of his publications have met lukewarm reactions due to supposed exaggeration, he reflects on this predicament with the notion that "words or even pictures cannot successfully express the beauty and splendour of nature in it's true spirit."
Tarar's first book Nikley Teri Talash Main, a travelogue of Europe, was published in 1971. He has so far over forty titles to his credit which include many genres of literature; travelogues, novels, short stories and collection of his newspaper columns and television dramas. He has been one of the best-seller fiction writer of Pakistan.
Mustansar was born in 'Jokalian' a small town in Punjab, Pakistan in March 1939. He spent his early childhood in the village and moved to culturally rich Lahore, witnessed the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and the events that took place at Lahore. His father Rehmat Khan Tarar opened a small seed store there. Mr Tarar got his schooling from Rang Mehal Mission High School and Muslim Model High School, Lahore. He then got admission in Government College Lahore , a college that owns the credit to polish several intellectuals of Pakistan. In 1950's, he went to London for higher studies. In 1957 he attended the World Youth Festival in Moscow and wrote a book named 'Fakhta' (Dove) on that experience. In 1971 his first travelogue Nikley Teri Talaash Main was published. It led to new trend in Urdu literature. He also became a television actor and from 1988 was for many years a host of PTV's live morning transmission Subuh Bakhair (Good Morning). His unconventional and down to earth style of comparing earned him great popularity. He called himself the 'Cha Cha Jee' of all Pakistani children and soon became known by this title.
Awards:
Presidential award of Pride of Performance.
Prime Minister's award for the Best Novelist for "Rakh".
Life time achievement award of Almi Farogh-e-Urdu Adab, Doha (Qatar).
Gold Medal bestowed by Moscow State University for literary achievements.
Having made a name for himself by taking the mantle in Pakistan's mountaineering community, Mustansar Hussain is widely recognized as one of the most well known personalities in Pakistan. Though the origin of his fame is usually considered to be his established and decorated career as a writer, Tarar can also be recognized as the foremost endorser for tourism projects in Northern Areas of Pakistan, having exorbitantly increased the array of tourist exposure to the areas by becoming both a mountaineer and an adventure author who uses these locations as backdrops for his storylines.
Mustansar Hussain's literary proficiency as an author often overshadows the fact that he has been an active mountaineer for a very extensive period of time. Having embarked upon several painstaking and challenging tasks such as the ascension of K-2 and the surpassing of the treacherous "Chitti Buoi" Glacier among others. More significantly, both of Mustansar Hussain's professions often intertwine and relate, since he uses his experiences on his expeditions as travelogues. Though some of his publications have met lukewarm reactions due to supposed exaggeration, he reflects on this predicament with the notion that "words or even pictures cannot successfully express the beauty and splendour of nature in it's true spirit."
Tarar's first book Nikley Teri Talash Main, a travelogue of Europe, was published in 1971. He has so far over forty titles to his credit which include many genres of literature; travelogues, novels, short stories and collection of his newspaper columns and television dramas. He has been one of the best-seller fiction writer of Pakistan.
Mustansar was born in 'Jokalian' a small town in Punjab, Pakistan in March 1939. He spent his early childhood in the village and moved to culturally rich Lahore, witnessed the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and the events that took place at Lahore. His father Rehmat Khan Tarar opened a small seed store there. Mr Tarar got his schooling from Rang Mehal Mission High School and Muslim Model High School, Lahore. He then got admission in Government College Lahore , a college that owns the credit to polish several intellectuals of Pakistan. In 1950's, he went to London for higher studies. In 1957 he attended the World Youth Festival in Moscow and wrote a book named 'Fakhta' (Dove) on that experience. In 1971 his first travelogue Nikley Teri Talaash Main was published. It led to new trend in Urdu literature. He also became a television actor and from 1988 was for many years a host of PTV's live morning transmission Subuh Bakhair (Good Morning). His unconventional and down to earth style of comparing earned him great popularity. He called himself the 'Cha Cha Jee' of all Pakistani children and soon became known by this title.
Awards:
Presidential award of Pride of Performance.
Prime Minister's award for the Best Novelist for "Rakh".
Life time achievement award of Almi Farogh-e-Urdu Adab, Doha (Qatar).
Gold Medal bestowed by Moscow State University for literary achievements.
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May 15, 2023
A spectacular and sacred tree-covered hill suddenly jutting out in the Punjab plains that has been sought for centuries by ascetics, lovers and footloose travelers; a vast area that covers an entire civilization that now remains visible only in a crumbling stupa here and a broken, half buried statuette there; a battleground long forgotten and covered by lush crop fields where the breeze still carries the echoes of the shouts and cries of the combatants; and the fond memories of a village where a single clay lamp placed on the rooftop pierced the darkness and signaled to a young mother and her two children on a long tonga ride that a warm welcome awaited them - such are the memorable landscapes and dreamscapes of Jokaliyan. Nostalgia, romance, reminiscence, the picturesque, nature, history and memory - these are some of Mustansar Hussain Tarar's fondest terrains as well as the characteristic colors of his rich literary palette. Jokaliyan is a collection of four personal journeys that brings all these themes together. Close to my own heart as all these themes are I thoroughly enjoyed this volume.
I had just come down from Tilla Jogian - my second magical trip in nine years - when I learnt of Tarar sahib's essay about his trip up the hill seven or eight years ago. It was, therefore, a particularly delightful read given that all the images of Tilla were vibrant in my mind. I have long realized that it is not just the faithful rendition or retelling of a journey that makes a travel narrative memorable. It is the particular manner in which a traveler observes his surroundings, connects people with places and events, captures the intangible aura and mood of a place and its impact on one's own feelings and thoughts, and the recollections, reveries and speculations that all this stirs, that divides mere chronicles from inspired writing. I am a huge Tilla devotee in any case and experience the place at multiple conscious and sub-conscious levels. For me, therefore, the deep feeling and sensitivity of Tarar's sahib's description turned the experience of reading it into something sensory as well as contemplative. It is not just an account but a meditation. I wanted to turn back and go right up to the hill top again - through scrub forest and along the winding and arduous riverbed of a road - with its variegated foliage, diverse wildlife, the faint echo of past sounds and chants, and ghostly memories of Kan Phata Jogis, Guru Nanak, Emperor Akbar, Bharthari Hari, the longing Ranjha, Puran Bhagat and so many other extraordinary people who visited, dwelt and meditated there.
The second essay in the book is a reminder of and testament to Mustansar Hussain Tarar's lifelong and 'stupefying' fascination for stupas and all things Gandhara. The journeys described in Jokaliyan are all journeys undertaken at a ripe age. The body protests - which the author keeps reminding us of with great wit - but the mind is a blooming garden of past experiences, memories and impressions. The journey is even more enthralling and enigmatic than the eventual discoveries as Tarar sahib propels his willing and devoted travel companions towards one murky sight of a distant stupa in fading light after another.
The third essay turns the gaze to the famous battle of Chillianwala that chronicles a staunch and bold resistance to the British by the natives. Little remains however both physically as well as in the larger public consciousness of a battle where the British could not prevail as they did at Waterloo; if anything they very likely lost. We are reminded one again of how events that appear momentous in one age are swept away from landscape and memory by the great erasing sweep of time.
In the same landscape is set the fourth and most personal journey. Nostalgic and deeply evocative it traces both a recent as well as childhood trips made by the author to his ancestral village and lingering memories of the same. The long and cumbersome tonga journeys of childhood are particularly well described and moving. Time is a great destroyer and all that we have are memories. The world around us changes but the world within - if we are fortunate - often comes to standstill at moments and places that we deeply cherish. Jokaliyan is a combination of journeys and moments that are gazed at after a lifetime of experiences and introspection. A glow surrounds them which is a glow only imbued to things that are kept safe and secure with great affection.
A week after I came down from Tilla Jogian and read this book I had the great opportunity to meet Tarar sahib and compare notes about our respective pilgrimages to the Tilla. Only those who feel such things deeply can appreciate how much joy I derived from this. Quite thrilled also am I to be anointed as Jogi Osama by Tarar sahib on this occasion.
I had just come down from Tilla Jogian - my second magical trip in nine years - when I learnt of Tarar sahib's essay about his trip up the hill seven or eight years ago. It was, therefore, a particularly delightful read given that all the images of Tilla were vibrant in my mind. I have long realized that it is not just the faithful rendition or retelling of a journey that makes a travel narrative memorable. It is the particular manner in which a traveler observes his surroundings, connects people with places and events, captures the intangible aura and mood of a place and its impact on one's own feelings and thoughts, and the recollections, reveries and speculations that all this stirs, that divides mere chronicles from inspired writing. I am a huge Tilla devotee in any case and experience the place at multiple conscious and sub-conscious levels. For me, therefore, the deep feeling and sensitivity of Tarar's sahib's description turned the experience of reading it into something sensory as well as contemplative. It is not just an account but a meditation. I wanted to turn back and go right up to the hill top again - through scrub forest and along the winding and arduous riverbed of a road - with its variegated foliage, diverse wildlife, the faint echo of past sounds and chants, and ghostly memories of Kan Phata Jogis, Guru Nanak, Emperor Akbar, Bharthari Hari, the longing Ranjha, Puran Bhagat and so many other extraordinary people who visited, dwelt and meditated there.
The second essay in the book is a reminder of and testament to Mustansar Hussain Tarar's lifelong and 'stupefying' fascination for stupas and all things Gandhara. The journeys described in Jokaliyan are all journeys undertaken at a ripe age. The body protests - which the author keeps reminding us of with great wit - but the mind is a blooming garden of past experiences, memories and impressions. The journey is even more enthralling and enigmatic than the eventual discoveries as Tarar sahib propels his willing and devoted travel companions towards one murky sight of a distant stupa in fading light after another.
The third essay turns the gaze to the famous battle of Chillianwala that chronicles a staunch and bold resistance to the British by the natives. Little remains however both physically as well as in the larger public consciousness of a battle where the British could not prevail as they did at Waterloo; if anything they very likely lost. We are reminded one again of how events that appear momentous in one age are swept away from landscape and memory by the great erasing sweep of time.
In the same landscape is set the fourth and most personal journey. Nostalgic and deeply evocative it traces both a recent as well as childhood trips made by the author to his ancestral village and lingering memories of the same. The long and cumbersome tonga journeys of childhood are particularly well described and moving. Time is a great destroyer and all that we have are memories. The world around us changes but the world within - if we are fortunate - often comes to standstill at moments and places that we deeply cherish. Jokaliyan is a combination of journeys and moments that are gazed at after a lifetime of experiences and introspection. A glow surrounds them which is a glow only imbued to things that are kept safe and secure with great affection.
A week after I came down from Tilla Jogian and read this book I had the great opportunity to meet Tarar sahib and compare notes about our respective pilgrimages to the Tilla. Only those who feel such things deeply can appreciate how much joy I derived from this. Quite thrilled also am I to be anointed as Jogi Osama by Tarar sahib on this occasion.
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