Hunzaverse: a new universe

travel

Growing up we have this one constant dream of a beautiful serene place. Even as kids we paint and draw pictures, with majestic mountains and with the sun rising from in between them, with a beautiful lake running at the bottom. Now, imagine that painting in 8 dimensions, that painting coming to life. You can actually live it. That is what Hunzaverse is; a perfect, tranquil and utterly breath-taking reality.

Pakistan has tremendous beautiful places - from the seas in Karachi to the mountains in Gilgit. This week You! sat down with Faraan Khan, the creator of Hunzaverse, who came up with the idea of a homestay when he first visited Hunza Valley in 2017. He reminisces, “When I went to Hunza for the first time, I thought to myself, I want to live here. But a moment of pure serendipity happened, all my life there was this sound in my head but as soon I stepped foot in Hunza all that noise went away. Surrounded by these mountains I was humbled, away from all the chaos from the city, I was breathing fresh air and I could think. I truly fell in love with Hunza, its people, the culture everything. I wanted to make it accessible for everyone.”

Hunza has almost zero crime rates; literacy rate is above 90 per cent. Ahmad Abad, a village in Hunza is generating their own electricity with glaciers, selling it to other villages. The whole community system is incredible. People look after one another. “The purpose of life isn’t just to work and run around. Buy a house, buy a car. We have to realise that God has invested so much in us; we’re carrying such expensive machinery around and not doing anything with it, the most we are doing and have made it our goal is to buy a house and then what? Once you get there you realise there is more to life than just earning money,” elucidates Faraan.

Hunzaverse is homestay as well as a host for many artist retreats, they provide not only a comfortable place to live in but amenities for artists to enjoy, discover and create art for themselves, for the community. This was influenced by his father, he shares, “I was inspired to create a place like this for artists, creative minds or anyone who is looking for motivation by my father. My father is a poet and a composer, a Sindhi and Farsi writer. He has written and translated over 22 books. My father converted old, almost dying Sindhi poetry into modern form. He also made the first coloured Sindhi film in 1991. As an artist, all of this came to him naturally; he did what he had to. He is an artist through and through, so for him this was really important.”

Homestays, Airbnbs, guesthouses have become somewhat common in Pakistan in the recent years, what makes Hunzaverse different from other places is it being an entire experience, Faraan shares with the scribe, “It’s for people who want to come and explore their creative side without any hustle and bustle of the city life. In cities people usually live in houses that are close to each other, there is no room for nature. This homestay is an experience in itself. Ideally located, right below Karimabad, it allows guests to experience the wonders of nature as well as the ease of technology and the city. As soon as the cottage begins to your left is a glacier, to your right is the world’s 22nd highest peak that can be seen from the window of the upstairs window and in the middle is a green village filled with sunflowers, the sunflowers lead you to the house.”

The interiors of the house are done artistically. It is an amalgam of modern and traditional architecture. It truly does capture the essence of home away from home.

I have people who come to Hunzaverse for 2 days or for 22 days. I want to convert this to an artist residency, a month-long artist residency where the idea is to bring in artists from across the globe, not just from Pakistan. Music based artists or painters or sculptures. I made this space for the people. To have their own space to seek, to learn, to grow, to explore, discover, to relax, to create. It is theirs now; I just get to be a tiny part of it which serves me my life purpose,” he concludes.