“I don’t know how long my son will live, but whatever years he has, I want him to have a good life!” Shamim Akhtar couldn’t control her tears. Whereas her five and a half year son sat beside her expressionless while flipping pages of his Urdu book. I recalled our previous encounter. Last year, I met Shamim and her son Ali Asghar in Layyah. Ali has Hemophilia-A disease that causes increased bleeding and requires continuous lifetime treatment. As a single mother, she couldn’t afford the cost of two Factor VIII injections a month and had to go and seek help from others. I shared their story on In ..read more

Dear Argentina! You were my first love on the trip through the Americas, but like any true love, you hurt me so much. Right from the beginning, your fierce Patagonian winds tested my commitment to the long paths. But I know that you wanted to strengthen me. Those roads of ups and downs, those endless fields of Pampas grasslands waving in the wind, those gushing rivers, lofty peaks and pristine glaciers, they were all there to teach me life lessons. It was on your land where I took my first pedal to the north and where I first tasted the spirit of adventure. For years, while I pedalled through ..read more

After a long day of cycling on the Alaska Highway in the wilderness of Yukon, Canada, all I had on my mind was a place to camp and some drinking water. So when I spotted an abandoned gas station with the yellow sign “Nor Gas,” I pulled over right away. Then, I stood by the road and waved at a passing camper van. It stopped, but I felt as if I didn’t know how to talk. I showed the campers my empty bottle and mustered all the energy I had to pronounce, “water, water?” After getting water, I went behind the deserted structures to find myself in a forest where I set up the tent on the ground cove ..read more

Thousands of waterfalls tumble at the Agua Azul in the Chiapas rainforest in southern Mexico. The cascading water glistens in the soft light, and a gentle breeze sprays tiny drops of water on my face. Despite all the action and noise of the waterfalls, it all seems still and silent. I could have been anywhere else in the world or become someone else, yet I find myself here at the Agua Azul. Of all the possibilities I had in my life, I ended up taking this route. Like my elder brother, I might have been repairing tyres in Layyah right now. Or, I could have continued to be a lecturer in Multan ..read more

What drives you? Day after day, long hours on never-ending roads, on those freezing mornings and blistering hot afternoons, in the pouring rain and sand storms, through jungles and deserts, and mountains and endless plains. What makes you get up? With the broken body and a heart shattered a few times, with no future in sight or no glorious past to cherish, no one to hold on to, and no goal in this life or the next. How do you carry yourself on a long journey? Maybe, it is because of the inner calling or curiosity. Perhaps, it is for the hope that somewhere down the road lies the ultimate oint ..read more

Sometimes I get questions like, “don’t you feel lonely on such a long bicycle journey?” Or, “why don’t you cycle with a companion or a group?” Or, “can I join you on your next bicycle tour?” To answer the first question, I don’t feel lonely on the road. I am always absorbed by something—the landscape, thinking about the world, and the reflections upon life. I am alone, not lonely. In aloneness, I can have a word with myself. I can contemplate and let my positive and negative sides have a conversation with each other. I am merely a listener to this dialogue. The more quiet and peaceful I am, th ..read more

Have you ever wondered how the end of the world looks and feels like? Just imagine cycling for over three years from the southernmost city in the world while fantasising about the north. Imagine the struggle of pedalling over a million times, covering a distance of over 32,000 km, climbing hundreds of thousands of meters, crossing numerous countries, deserts, jungles, mountain ranges and rivers, and ending up at a featureless pebbled shore and being greeted by no one. Imagine all the sacrifices that went in life before the start of such a long journey and the hardships of the road—countless da ..read more

“You don’t have anyone in your family?” the indigenous woman asked me. There was a long pause between us. She stared at me for a while and then moved on. In Guatemala, I was strolling in Antigua city when a Maya woman selling handicrafts approached me. “Would you like to buy this?” she showed me a necklace. “No, thank you. I cannot wear this!” I replied. “Maybe this one?” she showed me another one. “No, I am cycling. I don’t wear anything.” “Take the small one. It’s cheap!” “But, it’s too small.” “That’s for your kids.” “But, I don’t have kids!” “Ok, this one, for your wife!” “No wife!” “Girlf ..read more

It was the first Pakistani Expedition to Mt. Annapurna comprising two climbers, Sirbaz Khan and Abdul Joshi, Saad Munawar as the expedition manager and myself as a photographer/filmmaker. The expedition was nothing short of a roller coaster ride. There were moments of fear and apprehensions and deep joy and gratitude during the 25 days we spent at the base camp. We made ourselves home in our tents at the base camp overlooked by the Annapurna goddess. We shared laughter and stories. We watched movies, danced together, and enjoyed the company of each other. When climbers went for rotations on t ..read more

Finally, it’s time! Yesterday, Sirbaz and Joshi made to Camp IV. Tonight, they will push for the summit. As they inch towards the top, I reflect on my journey to Annapurna. I was minding my own business when one day, I received a message from Saad for a meet up. In our meeting, he spoke about the lack of support for mountain guides and porters. A few days later, in an event, I got to know the stories of our legendary climbers, including M. Ali Sadpara, working as High Altitude Porters (HAPs). Their accounts prompted me to cycle to Shimshal where I did stories on mountaineers and families of de ..read more