Bilal Lost, Bilal Found

After getting a double bed room reserved in PWD restaurant we came down to village bazar for tea. We should have snapped the bazar, but we didn't... Anyway there was this building under construction in the bazar...

There was a small camp set up by government, with three officers. Returning from bazar we had a nice chat with them. Bilal (Umar's younger bro) went back to rest house as we sat there with officers. We asked if there was a place where we can go and come back before sunset? They told us about a cricket ground nearby, on the mountain known by the name of
"Coopra".

Officers showed us the small foot way, leading to Coopra. There was one complication, the foot way was right next to a broad road and at first they just pointed to the foot way but we started walking on the broader road next to foot way. Officers had to come and tell us that we need to follow the small foot way in order to reach Coopra on hill top, not the broad road.

A snap after reaching the top.

They told us to stay careful because the jungle had a lot of blood sucking flees (چیچڑ). So we started walking towards the top, very cautious about the flees. We were staying away from the trees and stones. The jungle was calm and serene. The track was easy, and we reached the cricket ground on Coopra top in hardly 15 minutes.

The place was so beautiful, so wide and so soothing. Lush greenry everywhere. We didn't snap much up there because we were busy shouting "Echo" and our names, and what not...

In fact, I called my brother and a few other close friends from there... Was so much happy...

Umar points to "Ganga Peak", the core attraction...

This is the smaller play ground, the guys told us later on that there's another one a little far away but they did not tell us about it intentionally. They feared we might get lost in the darkness when returning, so they told us about the nearer and safer place.

That's me... :)

The cricket ground.

When we started downhill sun was already gone behind some mountain, and it was dark by the time we returned back to rest house. But the room was locket, and Bilal not there... We thought he'll be in mosque for prayers... Umar tried to call him but there was something wrong with the network and he couldn't reach him... We then went to Gov. officers camp and asked them about Bilal... They said that HE WENT AFTER US. Well, we felt worried because we did not see him anywhere when coming down hill. And there was only one way downhill.

Worried Umar and I started up hill once more, problem was that the lights we had weren't good enough. Officers had a torch but the batteries were almost dead, I had a Nokia 1200 torch phone, and officers had a lighter with an LED in it which they gave us. We had watched so many movies, so our minds were creating different stories like what if he found a Lion in jungle, or maybe he slipped from the narrow foot way and fell in the valley. Why his mobile was not responding? Both were shouting "Bilal" "Bilal" on back of our throats, Umar much louder than me. He was terribly worried, you know bringing your elder brother with you is hell lot of a responsibility. All the shouting was useless, I came back from the mid way to the officers camp to ask if there was any clue? Well they did not get any sign of Bilal anywhere either. Umar was continuously trying to call Bilal but his mobile was not responding.

Umar came back after a while, tired and worried. Then someone said that maybe he made the same mistake that we did i.e. following the larger road instead of smaller foot way. Well folks, Umar and an officer started going up hill again. I and an officer started treading the broad road. I was shouting "Bilal" "Bilal", after almost five minutes we saw a light waving at some distance. And that was that, we found Bilal.

We asked him where he'd been and he confirmed what we feared, he indeed followed the broad road :). He said that he was expecting the road to return where it started, because the road was build around a mountain and was supposed to be circular. Funny, ha ha... that's what we said...

I called Umar, and told him to return. I liked the polite way he behaved to his younger brother at that time, after going through such a cycle of tension.

We went back to rest house room, to comfort our itching bodies. After all it was an extremely busy day. You see, after leaving Lahore we didn't rest. In train I slept for hardly half an hour and in wagon I simply can' t sleep because the seats are very uncomfortible. Then the bath in ford of bagh, going up hill afterwards, the ride on roof of bus, then going up to Coopra, then hype around Bilal gone missing.

Umar woke me up after a while, because officers had invited us on dinner they'd cooked Capcicum (شملہ مرچ) mixed with Potatos. Food was nice, they'd cooked it by themselves. Afterwards we came home, and thus ended a sequence of frantic activity. All I know is that I hit the sack, afterwards God knows how time passed. I only woke up in the morning with itching legs and back.

Next will tell about going to Ganga peak.

Cheers... :)

Bilal