So negative..

[Muhammad]

As a traveler/ writer Salman Rashid has distinguished himself in ranging far and wide almost all over Pakistan. He has rediscovered and given some hitherto little known places a nice touch of somewhat tarnished history and geography in his narratives. But some how a deeply ingrained contempt for natives mars his otherwise rich accounts. One wonders if he really likes what he is doing or are just the whining crying descriptions of observing the negative side of people and places he comes across. He looks to be more of a western traveler than a native writer. His abhorrence for indigenous cultures and people mirrors the accounts of some western travelers, who wrote with the jaundiced ink and eye from the detached lofty perches of assumed superiority. Salman Rashid pounds along the native paths with much pain and dark wit, more like a forced march to fame, which he did get at last. Through his Western biscope he fails to see the soul of land and its peoples in their true native colours, thus really failing in the end.
I believe a native traveler/ writer is bound by loyalty to choose brighter paints to represent his countrymen than the somber and dismal colours for his country canvas. Or perhaps Salman Rashid also fell prey to the Sirens of the West, like so many others of our kind. The vain glory of setting sun has often robbed the sight of eastern eyes.

Having traveled to almost all of these places and people I found them to be humane, caring and hospitable, evenly matched to any group of people any where in the world. In fact the more you are off the beaten track the more you come across the pure heart of East….untarnished by the materialistic touch of West. My memories of them are not painted in gray colour but are lovely pictures I shall cherish the rest of my life.