A Blog-in-the-garden

Peter

3 years ago

As I sit in the orchard at Mastuj Fort, in the shade of an ancient seven-trunked tree, it seems appropriate to that I write a blog-in-the garden.

Being back in Pakistan is personal time. Away from the daily lessons and exercise lists, the noise of Kuala Lumpur and the bustle of the Kuala Lumpur Polo Club. Don’t get me wrong – I love it too, but a holiday was needed.

It is a recharge. A blessing, to detach, detox, and degenerate!

We flew Thai Airways via Bangkok to Islamabad. The Royal Tour of Chitral and the Shandur Polo Festival convened at The 108 Hotel there. What a group we have – diverse, intelligent, and international, paired by mutual attraction to polo in its primal form.

My old friend, Yeo Kuo Lee, and Glenn Cheng from Singapore; Datuk Kannan, Datin Joanne Lopez, Natasha and I from Kuala Lumpur; Neville and Gillian Stewart from Western Australia, and Dr Winona Burgess from USA. All with a profound interest in horses and polo.

Shandur brings people together of a kindred spirit. The lifelong friendships I have with someone like Yeo Kuo Lee make it special, but sometimes you also meet people you feel you have known all your life.

A diverse group such as ours are attracted, not just by the chance to see freestyle polo, but also to see northern Pakistan, and a world so different from the modern, metropolitan lives we live.

The scenery is amazing. Climbing mountains in SUV’s is something we can’t get away from, but the chance to go walking at 5,000 ft through mountain passes, hugging the sides of sheer walls, brings a sense of freedom. We release the chains that bind our souls.

Today, as I sit in the orchard at Mastuj Fort, contemplating what has brought me back here, I realise that while it is a holiday, it is also a search for regeneration. There is a spirituality of sitting under a magnificent 7-trunked tree, to feel the energy of the surrounds, and to be recharged by it.

As a polo official who has organized and directed national and regional games and multiple world championships, I deal with rules, regulations, tournament formats, and every form of officialdom you can imagine. My encounter with freestyle mountain polo in 2019 was an introduction, not to chaos, but how chaos organizes itself.

My last tour was to Argentina, to watch the Argentine Open. The fastest polo in the world, like Shandur, also thrives on the freedom to express. Coming to watch freestyle polo is a chance to study the similarities, not the differences.

How do you do a once-in-a-lifetime trip twice? I came to the realization that it is the people as much as the tour itself, that makes it special. This is as much once-in-a-lifetime as it was in 2019.

Having the chance to do it again makes it twice as good.