After an hour or so, I descended to the camping site. Had a nice chat with an old man; they usually share interesting facts about the past.
Asked him how they used to go to urban areas when KKH was not built. He said on foot, and it took two days to reach gilgit, then another couple of days to Chilas for onwards descending to Kaghan valley via Babusar pass.
I - "mian jee it must be very tough"
Mian jee - "no"
I - "haen?"
Mian jee - "tougher part was the permission from the local rajas. they used to give wooden coins (visas of those days) in limited numbers. They discouraged people to go to the urban areas saying that if people will start going to cities for living, then who will serve them. There were checkposts of rajas where watchmen used to check the visas (wooden coins). KKH has solved this problem".
While I was listening to him, I remembered that many years ago a baba jee of "Khudabad" village near Sust has the same reply. I think that was the last village of Pakistan before Chinese border. That baba jee in his prime age used to ride yak and reach Gilgit in seven days....having clearance at the checkposts of rajas all along.
KKH brought freedom to the "babas" of northern Pakistan but ...... generations of "babas" of southern Punjab and interior Sindh have sunk in their graves waiting for KKH in their area.....
