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Salt of the earth
Cyrus Dadachanji & Mohit Midha
29th March, 2007, Lahore-Islamabad
Today we have reached the halfway mark of our journey, in terms of time at least. After 15 days on the road with heady welcomes at every corner, early starts and long drives the entire group has fallen into a steady rhythm. More importantly, though we started off as seven or eight diverse groups including officials, we are now one big happy roadie family.
This is also the first day that we have left our hotel at a reasonable hour, namely 8.30 a.m. Snaking our way out of Lahore, we soon hit the motorway for Islamabad, around 460 kilometres away. The broad stretch
of road with a speed limit of 120 kmph gave us an opportunity to finally let our steeds loose, legally. Both man and machine seemed to enjoy this stretch, as mile after mile was clocked up on our odometers.
After three hours on the road, we stopped at the famous Salt Mines of Khewra. We had no clue about these mines, but after today, I don’t think that nay one of us will stop talking about them. The salt mines at Khewra have a rich history, dating back to the time of Alexander the Great, 326 BC. Apparently, Alexander's soldiers, perplexed by their horses licking the rocks in this region, reported it to their superiors. Upon further investigation, they realised that there was a huge salt deposit embedded in the rocks. This formed the genesis of the Khewra Salt mines.
Over the years, the salt mines have grown in size, increased in efficiency of operation and also improved the touristy experience to stop at nothing short of a magical one. Today, this fully operational mine produces almost 1500 tonnes of rock salt everyday. One enters the main mine shaft on a small train that carries you down to the sixth level, roughly 1000 feet below the ground. The mine has 17 levels, the last of which is almost a kilometre beneath surface. The mine authorities have exploited the multihued, translucent nature if the
rock salt to the fullest.
The mine has created a fully functional model of an open air mosque with colourful translucent bricks illuminated by light from within. The area of the mine has similar attraction like an illuminated tunnel or a
multi-hued, backlit floor! Even nature puts on a show here as the walls are graced with blushing pink salt crystals on one side and sparkling white crystals on another. The mine also has water bodies with a very
high salt content, similar to that of the Dead Sea. Imagine sitting on the surface of an underground lake, reading a newspaper.
Apart from producing salt, the Salt Mines at Khewra will soon also have a fully functional Asthma Hospital which will utilise the salty air in the mines to cure people from this disease. This entire region is related to the salt industry in some way or the other. Once we were back on the motorway headed for Islamabad, we encountered a series of inclines and dips as the road wound its way around the base of a range of mountains. These brownish coloured ‘salt’ mountains are a little over 2000 feet high and extend for a few kilometres. We were forced to
drop our speed to under 50 kmph while negotiating this region, so we had even more time to enjoy their scenic beauty.
We arrived in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan by early evening. After a quick break at the hotel, we were off to see one of Pakistan's finest archaeological treasures, Taxila. The ruins of this once flourishing civilisation traced back to 3000 BC lie on the outskirts of Islamabad. The Mauryan emperor, Ashoka the Great put this city on the world map in the 3rd Century BC. It was regarded as an important Buddhist pilgrimage centre as well as one of the finest centres of learning and the arts in those days.
As we approached the ruins of one of the main Stupa, a group of Buddhist monks were chanting, while the crowd behind them waited with reverence. The entire excavation site had been lit up with tiny lamps and spotlights, giving it an ethereal ambience. For the Buddhists in our group, this was nothing short of a pilgrimage, as they paid their respects to the stupa. The evening ended with a grand spectacle replete with horses and dancers, depicting the history of the city of Gandharva or City of Fragrance. Somehow, it seems that our journey and mission to spread peace and harmony is intricately linked with that of Gautama Buddha - for his message follows us wherever we go, including Pakistan, where we least expected it.
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