THE purpose of a tourist spot, generally speaking, is to leave behind the hustle and bustle of city life. This is not so in Pakistan where we manage to turn even a tourist spot into a bustling city. The goal of every tourist spot, it seems, is to acquire the attributes of a city — gridlocks, unplanned construction, road congestion, electricity shortages, never-ending honking, more and louder voices, noises and sounds.

There seems to be a race among tourist spots to host the maximum number of tourists. For this, one needs to build massive hotels regardless of the impact on the local ecosystem. The most active participants in this race are Naran, Kaghan, Azad Kashmir, Hunza and Skardu. However, whatever they do, they have no hope of winning the race ahead of Murree because of its location advantage. But they will not give up on this dream of becoming yet another ABCD; A Booming Chaotic Destination.

On my recent trip to Hunza, it was heart-breaking to see Karimabaad and Upper Gojal evolving in terms of infrastructure and the presence of non-local businessmen and architects in action. But there was something else that deeply affected me; I did not hear any random Rubab being played. That is seriously tragic.

Every time I had been in Hunza, I would hear the enchanting melodies of the Rubab or some other local instrument being played in the area regardless of the time of the day. This was an integral part of the soundscape; this music was the very sound of the place, the sound of a community.

We have become so accustomed to louder sounds, that we have lost our sensitivity to enjoy the finer things in life. The real tragedy is that the words spoken frequently and loudly in these areas will eventually become a part of the local language.

And when the language is affected, culture and communities are affected. It is already happening, by the way. Out of 200 endangered languages, 27 belong to Pakistan, and most of them are native to the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) area.

In just a few years, we can expect a significant transformation in the local soundscape. The sounds of traffic, construction, vendors, commercial activities, alarms, and rowdy individuals will start to resemble the familiar noises we associate with our home cities. In a twisted turn of the phrase, we will never be away from home even when we will be thousands of miles away from home. What a tragedy that will be.

S. Sundas
Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2023