The city of Peshawar was coined the Paris of the Pathans back in the thirties by journalist Lowell Thomas. It derives it's name from a Sanskrit word Pushpapura, meaning city of flowers. The Moghul Emperor, Babar, even mentioned the flowers of Peshawar in his memoirs. Alexander's legions and the southern wing of his great army marched through in 327 B.C., and held up for forty days at a fort at Pushkalavati (lotus city) seventeen miles northeast of Peshawar, near present day Charsadda. The great Babar marched through the historic Khyber Pass to conquer the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent in 1526, starting the Moghul Empire. The pass and valley have resounded to the sounds of marching feet as successive armies came down this crossroads of history, pathway of commerce, migration, and invasion . . Aryans, Scythians, Persians, Greeks, Bactrians, Kushans, Huns, Turks, Mongols, and Moghuls.

Peshawar is now, as always, very much a frontier town. The land of the Pathans, it is a completely male dominated society. North and south of Peshawar spreads the vast tribal area (FATA - Federally Administer Tribal Areas) where lives the largest tribal society in the world, the most well known, though much misrepresented. It has seen the passage of twenty-five centuries. It has been the journey's end, or at least a long halting place, for those traveling up north, or coming down from the Middle East or Central Asia. It is redolent with the smells of luscious fruits, roasted meats, and tobacco smoke, placid and relaxed, yet pulsating with the rhythms of craftsmen's hammers and horses' hooves, darkened with tall houses, narrow cobbled lanes, and intricately carved overhanging balconies.

Since the 80's it has become the Casablanca of Pakistan, with the recent Afghan wars across the border. It teemed with Mujahdeen and Afghan refugees, spies, journalists, and aid wallahs (workers) in the 80's and 90's. It still has it's fair share. Taliban and rabab players too.
There are cities more beautiful than Peshawar, but Peshawar is Peshawar (kena)!*******************************************************************************
*** MOST PICTURES OF MUSICANS HAVE LINKS IN THIER CAPTIONS TO HEAR THEIR MUSIC ***
(best, if your connection can handle it, is to open in a seperate window (or tab) so you can continue veiwing and listening at the same time)
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Some of the pictures in this gallery were taken by my mysterious brother Mirza. It is hard to remember exactly which ones as I was sitting next to him when many were taken.
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I have been asked what I was doing in Peshawar? Here are some of my 'doings' https://pbase.com/noorkhan/novel
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