Braving all odds, we took on  

the arduous eastern side trek 

Citadel 

Sonemachi 

Panchi Pir 

Hajimalang  

atop mount Malanggad 

dazed with thrill, intoxicated with the sublime 

eerily crawling up my numb senses in folk Urdu,  

the enigmatic, wet host of the mighty, daunting dargah 

snatched away my doubts with scale sharp raindrops  

bottoms-up slapping my face, carving wonder and might 

into the pale pores of my petty skincoat  

at that hairline criss-cross passway junction up on the mount,  

crawling on fours to reach the other side in one… 

if you had dared to kiss me,  

Oh Fear, 

you would have tasted the elixir of  

sheer current-like excitement  

on my lips,  

and fled. 

— 

Hajimalang: dargah of a Sufi saint 

Citadel, Sonemachi, Panchi Pir: different levels of plateaus that lead up to the Hajimalang