September 28, 2006

In Kalasha villages, doors and windows are wide open and women smile as they wave from balconies. Tourists are free to peer into the homes, but they are charged if they want to take a picture of the inhabitants. The wooden houses are extremely sturdy and well built, almost stacked upon one another and their unique style of construction makes them earthquake proof. In fact, when an earthquake does hit, the Kalashas run into their houses to protect themselves from the falling boulders, writes Rina Saeed Khan

The recent billboards of a smiling Kalash girl advertising a mobile phone company in Lahore and Karachi were an indication of the commercialisation that has crept into the once remote mountainous communities of the Kalasha people. The indigenous Kalasha people, who now number around 3,000, live in the three valleys of Bumburet, Rumbur and Birir in southern Chitral. They are the last survivors of the people of Kafiristan, which once extended across the Hindu Kush range.

Most of their neighbours were converted to Islam long ago, but they continue to retain their unique religion and culture in these picturesque valleys of Chitral. Unfortunately, the influence of the outside world has not always been positive and although the Kalasha now have schools and basic healthcare, they have lost much of their innocence.

A narrow jeep track leads to the valley of Bumburet, the largest of these valleys. We stayed at the new PTDC motel, which is surprisingly rather well designed with a large garden in which there are individual rooms made of wood and glass and surrounded by a gushing water channel. Clean and efficiently run, it was surprising that the PTDC was not packed with tourists given that it was the month of July – summer is usually peak tourist season.

However, given the current “war against terror” and Pakistan’s negative image abroad since 9/11, the region has seen a significant drop in foreign tourists. To make matters worse, a Spanish national living in the valley for the past few years was recently murdered in his house in Bumburet. The people of Bumburet are convinced that he was murdered by certain ‘agencies’ and not by anyone in the valley.

They point out that he would cross over the mountains to Afghanistan frequently and most of his documents and videotapes (he was making a documentary on the Yeti or abominable snowman which he claimed lived in the area) have since disappeared. We saw his grave in the haunting Kalasha graveyard across the river in Bumburet where open coffins are strewn with human bones. The Kalasha have only recently started burying their dead due to grave robberies.

The large province of Nuristan in Afghanistan is just across the mountains that encircle Bumburet. A member of a local NGO jokingly asked us whether we had come “looking for Osama Bin Laden” because many believe that he is hiding in the inaccessible mountainous terrain of Nuristan, just across the border. One of the PTDC waiters reported hearing helicopters flying over the valley all the time, “But I don’t think that they would ever set down in the area because the Nuristanis are very hostile to outsiders,” he said.

There is, in fact, a Muslim Nuristani village located in Bumburet as well, right at the end of the large valley. According to local folklore, the Nuristanis were invited to come and settle in the valley by the Mehtar of Chitral (the region was once a principality ruled by the Mehtar or ruler in Chitral town). He had asked them to settle there because the Nuristanis would regularly steal Kalasha cattle and women; to deal with the issue the Mehtar invited them to his region so that he could control them. Once settled under his jurisdiction, the Mehtar warned Nuristanis that if any of the Kalasha women or cattle went missing then they would be held directly responsible and be punished.

The atmosphere in the Nuristani village in Bumburet was very different to that of the Kalasha villages. The people were sullen and looked at us suspiciously. The women were nowhere to be seen and the entire village looked rather deserted. One had the feeling that one was being watched from behind closed doors and shut windows. Some of the men, who were rather tall and well built, carried guns. Inside the zenana of one of the larger houses, the women were welcoming enough though.

What a contrast to the Kalasha villages further up in the valley, where doors and windows were wide open, and women smiled as they waved from balconies and entire families sunned on the flat rooftops above. The Kalasha homes are extremely sturdy and well built and although the wooden houses are almost stacked upon one another, their unique style of construction with stone, wood and mud makes them earthquake proof. In fact, when an earthquake does hit, they run into their homes to protect themselves from the falling boulders!

We soon discovered that tourists (mostly Pakistani men carrying cameras) were free to peer into their homes, although they were charged if they wanted to take a picture of the inhabitants. “Rs5 are charged for a picture,” they were told emphatically. If they did not pay up, the windows were shut on them or the women would disappear into the rooms.

It was a bit disturbing to see the women treated like models on display, as they went about doing their household chores such as making lunch, drying the fruit, feeding their babies or weaving the colourful belts that they use to decorate their outfits.

The Kalasha women wear their traditional dress of embroidered black frock tied at the waist by a belt or sash. Until recently, the women’s dress was woven at home and the yarn used to be dyed by hand. Now they buy their materials from the bazaar in Chitral and embroider them by machine.

The men no longer wear traditional outfits, opting to wear the ubiquitous shalwar kameez. The women also wear innumerable beaded necklaces and the distinctive embroidered headdress. We were not allowed to leave the village by an elderly Kalash woman, until we bought the elaborate headdress for more than Rs2, 000!

Before leaving, we entered one of the bigger homes in the village, famous for having hosted President Pervez Musharraf who visited Bumburet in recent years. “It is difficult here during the winters, when the valley is completely cut off from the outside world so no one can leave or visit. Also, there are no jobs here for young people but we do have schools now. Still, we wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. We are happy here,” said Zumeira and Sheira, two young Kalash girls.

The Kalasha are generally open, friendly and happy go lucky people who welcome tourists and outsiders to their valleys. However, some women have now become wary of the outsiders and their false promises, one of the girls confides, “The Muslim boys trick us a lot. They are not trustworthy. There have been many cases where girls from our community have eloped with outsiders, only to return a few weeks later in tears.”

Later on in the evening, we came back to the house, which had a large open space outside it where traditional dancing takes place. Since the autumn festival that takes place in August is around the corner, the women were dancing every other night. The tourists were out in full force and we noted that they were mostly Pakistani men and not families or foreigners.

Outside the village, across the road is the Bashali or ‘menstruation house’ where women are sent when they are considered ‘impure’. This also includes the period of childbirth. Purity is an important part of all religious rites and ceremonies in their culture. The basic concept is that the gods will not receive prayers and offerings if a state of purity is not maintained. The village also has an old temple devoted to Jeshtak, the goddess who is the guardian of all family matters. However, contrary to belief, the Kalasha do believe in a supreme God and creator of the universe whom they call Khodai or Dizau in their language.

The Greek government has built the brand new Bashali in the village and it is a clean, well-built structure with spacious rooms and bathrooms built in the traditional stone and wood style. The Greek government has also built a large building nearby which houses an impressive museum, community centre and educational facilities. The museum is of international standards and hosts a large collection of Kalasha antiques like old jewellery, cooking utensils, sculptures of horses, rugs and costumes.

In one corner, is a traditional Kalasha home which was removed from a nearby village and installed in the museum. Visitors can step in and view exactly how the Kalasha used to live in the old days. There is also a small library upstairs, which has books detailing the theory that the Kalasha are the descendants of the soldiers of Alexander the Great (hence the largesse of the Greek government!).

The addition of the new museum, built in traditional Kalasha style, is invaluable to the valley. Bumburet Valley itself is full of cheap hotels, we had noted as we drove up and down the main road which is little more than a bumpy jeep track. Most of these are filled with domestic tourists which comprise gangs of men from down country who probably have little interest in visiting museums.

We were surprised to see a car zoom past crammed with bearded men who looked like maulvis. We were told that they are regular visitors to the valley! Do they come in the hopes of converting the local populace? “No, they come as tourists to look around and have fun,” was the reply. One shudders to think what will happen when the Lowari Tunnel is finally completed making it much easier for the people of the NWFP to drive across Chitral. Will the Kalasha survive the increasing commercialisation of their culture? Perhaps with better education they will learn to find the right balance between modernisation and their traditional way of life.

A Japanese woman with a Kalasha heart