Adil Najam
Massachusetts – where I currently live – takes its Fall (Autumn) season very seriously. The main attraction is ‘Fall Foliage’; the changing of leaf colors as autumn sets in. The official Massachusetts website proudly proclaims that, “Fall is a glorious time to visit Massachusetts. The trees wear magical coats of crimson, gold, and scarlet leaves; hillsides glisten under a pale pink glaze; dry leaves crunch underfoot; and every farm stand boasts piles of fat orange pumpkins.”
Indeed, the spectacular colors that the leaves and forests assume as the cold suddenly creeps in are breathtaking. This is the peak of the tourist season here and people from all over the country and the world converge here to ‘look at the leaves.’ Fall Foliage happens in many places around the world, but in this area (called ‘New England’) it is especially special.
In the beginning, I used to think this rather quaint, even funny. But now I have come to appreciate the glory of the season. Over the last many weeks as I have sat on my desk writing this blog, all too often I have looked up to enjoy the wonderful hues of yellows and oranges and reds and browns that the leaves in my yard have assumed. By now the leaves are all on the ground, the snows are around the corner, but it is still quite beautiful.Over the years, I have taken many photographs of Fall Foliage in Massachusetts. The photograph featured here is not one of them. Indeed, what makes this photograph special is that it is not of Massachusetts at all; even though the foliage connoisseurs of New England would have been quite proud of it. It is, in fact, from Hunza. The snow packed Himalayas in the background make the picture all the more spectacular.
I found this picture on the web (here) the other day and wondered why people seem to enjoy and appreciate Fall colors so much more here than they do in Pakistan. Indeed, as so many of Shirazi’s posts highlight, we tend to enjoy and appreciate the natural wealth of our country so much less than we should. Of course, the daily struggles for survival have much to do with our lack of ability to do so. But even those who can seem to be far more interested in catching a weekend in glitzy Dubai than catching their breath in beholding the natural beauty that is all around us.
This is such a great post. So surprising. I started reading and wondering why we were talking about Massachustees. The mountains did look a little familiar but I really did not make teh Hunza connection till teh end. It was such a wonderful surprise at end.
We do have great and unexplored places. But there is also the snob factor. If you want to be important in Paksitan you have to talk about things outside Pakistan. Even if it is this Dubai cruise you have a writeup about.
MQ, thanks for providing correct latitudes. wazan hai aap ki baat mein :)
Owais,
I think the fall colors are more a function of temperature than of latitude. And temperature, as we know, is a function of not only latitude but also of elevation.
Islamabad is situated at latitude 33 and the Northern-most point in Pakistan (Chitral and beyond) would be at 35.5. In the US, the comparable cities would be in Texas, New Mexico and Southern California. New York and New England cities (between 40-43) are much more to the North of the Northern-most places in Pakistan.
Adil,
It’s a great picture of Hunza. The foliage looks so much like the fall colors in New England but, somehow, the snow-covered mountains looked ‘desi’ to me in spite of your “misleading” introduction to the story. I don’t know if it’s true but mountains, too, seem to have ethnicity, and you can pretty much tell by their looks where they are from.
Regarding your observation, why Pakistanis do not go out as much to enjoy fall colors or natural beauty as people do here in the US or elsewhere, I think it has to do primarily with four things:
1. Education. Good education makes you curious about nature, history, and people and makes you to want to see them.
2. Money. Of course, you need to have disposable income to spend on travel and tourism.
3. To reach the places you want to see you there has to be proper Infrastructure, which includes, good roads, convenient rail or air connections, clean and affordable hotels or motels.
4. Overarching all these is a general environment of security.
People who want to go out and see places in Pakistan are generally deterred by poor infrastructure and concerns about security.
fall foliage and changing of leaves color is very distinct above a certain threshold latitude. I Don’t know exactly what latitude is it. May be 42nd parallal or higher. Since Northern areas of Pak are roughly at same latitude as NY or Massachussets, therefore the fall foliage is very prominent in areas like Chitral, Hunza etc.