The twin cities of Islamabad/ Rawalpindi sit about 300 km northwest of Lahore on the edge of both the NWFP [North West Frontier Province, a rag tag collection of government control and autonomous tribal areas] and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan’s portion of that disputed territory. So it is no surprise that the peoples of 'Pindi are diverse in colour and temperament, with everything from dark skinned Sindhi business men through pale Pathan, green-eyed Kashmiri traders and the elegant, weathered features of the Hunza cook in my hotel. The Hunza cook, who is 60 but looks in his mid 40's, has been working in tourism for 33 years, taking foreigners trekking in the northern areas of the country. Now is the best time to visit, he says, because you have three colours in the countryside - white at the top of the mountain, yellow down the slopes, and green in the valley below. Later, at the end of the year, it will be white everywhere, and bitterly cold. He waits for the Muezzin's call and lights a cigarette. He jokes that it is his last remaining vice, and one worth maintaining despite the well established medical concerns. The hotel al-Azam has a fifth floor roof garden and terrace from where it is easy to sit and watch the street life below and the maze of city buildings above and around. To the left of the picture I draw is a square where men in turbans lounge. Behind is the mosque with its slender minaret and characteristic onion-shaped domes. An eagle perches on the edge of an unfinished apartment block and swallows chase zigzag lines across the evening sky. I eat dates and sit and draw until it is too dark to see properly, and yellow lights blink on in the windows below.
