Shigar Blues

摘要

"I have got them Shigar Blues" rhythmically, repeatedly rolls through my head as dusk envelops my room. Last night the clouds rolled in and dusted the upper mountains with some light snow. The prominent head of Shah Nasir Peak was looking like the head of an English judge, white wig and all, early this morning. Is this day four in Shigar? . Life is timeless here: no newspaper, no news, no electricity; just the natural movements of the sun and moon and stars and the vastness of these mountains. Today, November 11, 2007 would have been my father's 81 st birthday, if he had not succumbed to an extended illness last year. It was a melancholy start as the first dawn dregs of gray barely lightened the sky. It was 6:07 am, virtually the same waking time of each of the last few days while staying at the government rest house in Dassu, on the Braldu River in Baltistan, Northern Areas, Pakistan. With the road to Chutron in the Basha Valley blocked because of road construction, we were forced to change from that favorite hotel location with the great hot springs to this, where water was a bit more problematic.