The beautiful hills that were

The beautiful hills that were

Last weekend, we decided to leave the city and get away from it all. Packed our bags, threw them into the car and set out. It had rained earlier, and the air was clean. As we climbed the winding roads and the smoke of the buses and trucks got thicker, and the honking and crazy driving was getting worse, we thought of what awaited us at the end and it kept us going.

I started thinking about my childhood, and then ten fifteen years ago, after a certain point, the air changed; it suddenly became cool and fresh and smelled of pine trees. Yes, the buses and trucks were still spewing diesel fumes, the road was much worse and drivers were still crazy but something has changed. The polythene bags that litter the landscape are far more than they used to be. There is mad construction everywhere, people are making buildings that stand out like eyesores. The apartment buildings, which although new, look dilapidated, and the filth, oh the filth. People throwing things out of moving cars and buses, bottles, empty bags of chips, juice cartons, cigarettes.

When we finally reached our destination, it was in a corner tucked away from the mad hassle. The view was magnificent, the sun was about to set and the air felt different. I sat out on the balcony and breathed in the hills. As the sun set, I could almost imagine myself back in time. Thats when the fun started.

The lights came on, everywhere. The hills were dotted with them, crazy chaotic lights, everywhere. The place we were staying had these huge yellow lights which I wanted to break.

Thats when I decided to go to sleep, which was nice, being able to sleep without air-conditioning. Woke up at dawn, the sun came out the wrong side, so didn’t see it, but it was still nice. Went out and enjoyed the fresh air.

That when we decided to explore, which turned out to be a big mistake, just a couple of kilometers down the road, it seemed like the slums of any large third world city. This wasn't the Murree I remembered from my childhood. The roads were littered with wrappers and empty bottles, the walls were painted with signs proclaiming the best rooms in town and lots of real estate news. I had to get out of there, and I did.

On my way back, I was wondering if I was the only person who wanted to preserve this, while others were busy cutting down trees and leveling hills to make more slums. Don’t they see that the very thing they are selling will be destroyed by this? The damned population is increasing at a rate which will destroy everything. Why can't we see this? The beautiful hills will not be, in a few decades, and we will have high-rise slums next to Saiful Mulook, I don't think I could bear that.

Let’s find a way to stop the destruction of nature, otherwise there will be nothing left. We come from Mother Nature, and without her, we will not survive.