Mithi Whispers in the Sand

Author: Salman Rashid

Pages: 216

This is the story of a district that was little known as recently as the 1980s. In the absence of tarmac road, travel was difficult and only the most intrepid outsiders ventured here. In a word, the entire district of Tharparkar was a well-kept secret. When the area opened up with new roads in the mid-1990s, it was an attraction for its rich architectural heritage. Despite all the legacy its history was unknown.

From the first century BCE, when the port of Pari Nagar became functional through the Middle Ages, the region has featured in history. While picture perfect Nagarparkar was a busy staging post on the long highway between the marts of upper Sindh and Gujarat, places like Islamkot and Mithi were headquarters of Rajput adventurous chiefs.

Mithi: Whispers in the Sand tells the stories of a land secret until today. It is as much a guide book to adventure as it is an introduction to the wonderful people who bring colour to its grey sands.

About the Author:

Salman Rashid is Pakistani preeminent travel writer and a Fellow of Royal Geographical Society. In his books, the traveller, the story-teller and the historian swap hats at astonishing speed, blending geography, history, ethnography, and indigenous oral and historical traditions. Rashid has been travelling and writing for almost four decades and has contributed to numerous prestigious publications, including hundreds of feature articles to leading English language newspapers of Pakistan. Rashid’s books, among the classics of travel, include Deosai: Land of the Giant, The Apricot Road to Yarkand and Prisoner on a Bus. He has also written A Time of Madness, a memoir of the partition of India. Mithi Whispers in the Sand is his twelfth book.