Going to recorded spots is my method for encountering the past: Haroon Khalid

Going to recorded spots is my method for encountering the past: Haroon Khalid..

                              

Haroon Khalid is an independent columnist and a travel author who joined his affection for prehistoric studies and history with his work. He visits deserted spots of love in Pakistan and tries to divulge their stories. 

He then began to consolidate his stories into books. His second book, In Search Of Shiva, is an investigation of society religious practices in Pakistan, distributed a year ago. First light made up for lost time with Mr Khalid to discuss his encounters while inquiring about for the books and how that has changed his concept of Pakistan. 

Q: What was your motivation for the book? 

A: I was composing for various daily papers concentrating on chronicled, relinquished spots of love. I am keen on antiquarianism, and that was a route for me to associate with what I appreciate. I needed to experience history and this is the means by which my beat as a travel essayist developed too. I would go over fascinating Muslim hallowed places, places like the altar of phallic offerings and I would compose stories about them. 

Following a couple of years, I had a gathering of such stories which I thought could be consolidated into a book which concentrates on abnormal spots of love one would not typically take up with Muslim practices. 

Q: Have your view of Pakistan changed amid your examination and composing? 

A: Growing up in Pakistan, especially in a urban focus, you have a cliché comprehension of what the "other" Pakistan is by which I mean provincial, uneducated Pakistan. You think about that "other" as the issue uneducated, prejudiced, religious dogmatists. When you go to these focuses, those generalizations breakdown. You understand the issue is in urban regions, in our instruction framework. It helped me comprehend Pakistan and permitted me to split far from review the nation in a solid light and see differing qualities and shading. 

Q: What was the most enduring impression for you? 

A: Something that has interested me is the means by which gurdwaras or sanctuaries in rustic zones have been re-appropriated into the Muslim ethos. We can translate this in numerous ways. You can consider it to be a case of religious narrow mindedness yet for me it is a route for the general population to take up with the area. 

After the formation of Pakistan one couldn't just stroll into a non-Muslim hallowed place, yet there are individuals in towns who have been connected with the sanctuaries for eras. So what happened throughout the years was the embellishment of certain holy places into a Muslim ethos which is the means by which they got to be much more adequate. To me, this was a method for connecting with the area and its history past the restricted extent of nationalistic history. 

Q: What are you arranging next? 

A: My third book is on the voyage of Guru Nanak and as I go to the different spots he went to, I envision his encounters and emulate his example. The book is part fiction, part reality as it tries to take a gander at the advancement of institutional Sikhism and Guru Nanak's development which was basically a development against institutional religion. Master Nanak is one of the characters in the book as I present his ideography. The book is planned to be dispatched in November around the celebration of Guru Nanak.