To the Frontier

Brilliant. Moorhouse travelled extensively in Pakistan over a three month period, through Sind, Baluchistan,the Punjab to the North-West frontier province. Published in 1984, the travel would be expected to be within a year of this. Moorhouse is always a considered writer and this book surpasses even The Fearful Void as my favourite.

He is a likeable man, and a good companion for the reader in his travels. Moorhouse seems to befriend those who spent time with him at will. There were many amusements in the book - his friend Justice; the markhor (screw-horned goat - worth googling to see a picture) which was a regimental mascot in Chitral. The individuality of the various people of Pakistan he comes into contact with are all written about with dignity and regard, and Moorhouse is prepared to share his own misjudgements (like carrying his own pack on his trek through the passes).

At around 340 pages it is longer than most travel books, but well worth seeking out. While Pakistan was just becoming accessible when Moorhouse travelled there, I spent a couple of weeks there in 2003 and loved it - much of what he describes is very familiar. I am not sure how much of Pakistan is readily accessible to tourists right now.

A couple of memorable quotes to finish.

P99 - so reminiscent of many bus trips in Pakistan and India - although this one was a van.... To provide muscle and lend moral support on such occasions, the driver had his mate, who otherwise rode inside or outside the van more or less as the whim took him, sometimes moving from one stance to the other when we were careering madly around a bend, to occupy or abandon a precarious position hanging onto a ladder clamped too the offside of a vehicle. The six-hour journey from Sibi to Quetta was not a tranquil one.
P187/188 - honest assessment of politics in Pakistan... My friend Mushtaq writhed more than anyone under my questioning. He was a gentle soul who despised the journalism he was obliged to turn out... Passionately one day, when he had come to the conclusion that I could not be trusted, he cried “I'm not really the man to talk to about the state of Pakistan, I'm too pessimistic about it. He explained then that, although the principles of Islam were not inconsistent with democracy, the traditions were.His agony was stated in two short sentences.“We've always been ruled by despots. The best we can hope for is a benevolent one.”
5 stars