ENVIRONMENT

THREE KINS

By: Nasser Yousaf

It was about seven or eight
years ago; the occasion was the third day of one of the two
Eids. We cooked some food and decided to go to the
mountaintop at Nathiagali.

There were very few people
around, notably at the site of the old Shangrila
Pine Hotel where we sat down in
the unkempt lawn to have our meal. We enjoyed
the fragrance of trees, plants and shrubs of all
hues. Before departing for our home, my wife cut a tiny
little branch from a climber
that had red roses hanging from its branches.

We planted the branch
alongside our wall under the shade of two pine and
deodar-trees.The climber has now grown up
to a considerable size
and has wrapped her arms around the pine
and deodar trees in a way as
if it has found her missing kins after a long time.

The old Shangrila Pine is no more.
A five-star hotel is being built at the site right
at the threshold of the conifer woods.
Old Shangrila Pine stood its ground
for over a century like a watchman guarding the woods
from the onslaught of concrete.

It's an irony that
the concrete won this war of attrition
with the help of those claiming to
be their guardians.

It's no small consolation
for us poor folks to keep looking at the three
endangered kins having taken
shelter on our little lawn.