User:Samranelahi

Walking, on pavements, roads, dirt roads, hilly tracts and up hills, is a pastime peculiar to Islamabad. This is the only city in the country where you can emerge from your front gate and embark on a vigourous walk without getting strange looks from people.

Ambling, walking, trudging along or marching full-speed; anything goes in this urban walker's utopia. The linkage of the Margalla Hills with the Isloo lifestyle is specially predominant. Recreation, meditation, animal-viewing (caged and uncaged), encounters with killers and muggers of many varieties, exercise and general viewing are jusf a few examples I am able to quote at the moment.

Under the exercise category, there is walking, running, jogging and heaving oneself up this inclined terrain. Thanks to the CDA and the Margalla Hills Society various walks and trails have been made to facilitate the eager walker. One of the most popular walking route is Trail No 3 also known as Mount Happiness. Situated at the beginning of Margalla Road in F-6/3, the trail is easily accessible to most centrally-located Islamabad residents.

According to local legend, this was one of the places where Buddha meditated during his sojourns in the Potohar plateau. For the rather unfit walker, it takes at least 45 minutes or so to reach the first summit of this hill. However for regular walkers the same walk can take anything from 15 to 30 minutes. The name of this particular hill is attributed to the feeling of well-being achieved upon reaching the top after having strained your body to the ultimate.

On Mount Happiness you do tend to forget yourself and there is a strong feeling of being part of a greater order, not ordinarily felt in one's daily humdrum routine. Negative energy is expelled and an aura of peace and contentment surrounds the successful climber. The feeling is addictive and draws its devotees to return regularly to this happy hill. This may sound rather bizarre to the cynical reader, but as someone who propounds the benefits of exercise in the outdoors over pumping weights in a gym, and one who has been addicted to this hill for more than a year; yes, after a certain degree of fitness is attained you do feel absolutely wonderful. Of course, scientifically this feeling is attributed to the release of adrenaline and other such hormones in the in the body which happens during and after any vigourous form of exercise, but the magic of the "Mount' is really quite different. The high is more than just exercise, it's a feat accomplished, a deadline met, an adventure completed. Basically an "I'm on top of the world" feeling.

The different kinds of people one encounters while climbing the hill is varied and the degree of fitness they've attained is quite evident. The huffing and puffing ones are seen tenaciously testing themselves against the odds; steep' inclines, sharp bends, loose stones and of course the inffiction of being totally out of breath. The regular pros are to be admired from afar, for if you're not up to their standard, you won't see them at close range anyway!

The climb to the top is worth it. The view is perfect and the fresh air hits you with full force. It's definitely a few degree cooler, there are pine needles beneath your feet and with your very own effort you have left behind, for a while, your average day.

At the summit, rooftops are visible amidst heavy foliage but in clearer weather, the Constitution Avenue can be seen in full dramatic effect and of course the Rawal Lake beyond is startlingly blue on a clear day. With all the benefits of healthy strenuous excercise thrown in, the Mount Happiness experience is one not to be missed both for weekenders and natives of this capital city.

--Samranelahi 02:29, 10 July 2006 (UTC)