Last year when i got a brilliant opportunity to visit the northern areas of my country Pakistan, I was thrilled. The northern part of Pakistan is known for its sceneic beauty, Mesmerizing Mountain ranges (K2, 2nd highest peak is there) lakes filled with crystal clear water, freezing rivers flowing from the glaciers. You probably would have heard about the scenic beauty of Northern pakistan by dozens of vloggers and explorers on social media who travelled from all around the world to visit Pakistan. Irony was that despite being born in Pakistan and lived here for 22 years, I never got the chance to visit there. Those mesmerizing mountains and shining blue lakes were only seen on small screen.
Now, as this most awaited moment arrived, I wanted to take the full most out of it and, I wanted to know about the places that we were going to encounter on our way to North, So I started searching for places on google maps that lies near or on our route to our destination in up North.
Living in my city, Karachi since birth, I knew enough about the city that i have always been more of a contributer in google maps community rather than a seeker,The number of views and the flattering notification saying “you’r popular” seemed nice but I would have never realized that it could be so much helpful for newcomers. When i started looking for places I felt welcoming got a sense of a diverse community existing in our phones. The way people have mentioned names of small little known herritage places, small restaurants offering great local food that have no internet presense, small resting places with warm and welcoming people. Such places would have been next to possible to find as these are small house hold business and peole there had very less interaction with technology yet they were very intruiged about it.
This was the time when i realized what it actually means to me, being a local Guide means to be just a part of a community but we litterally welcome others into our cities, our favourite places to come and experience the joy, to have fun.
After that Visit, My behaviour towards this community changed very much, I started posting more frequently about new places in my city, reviewing my previously visited places, rated the cinemas, restaurants, amusement parks aiming to welcome those explorers who are here to have fun and explore new things.