Recently, I spent two days in Sukkur amidst thousands of school children who had come to attend the Children’s Literature Festival (CLF) there. After its conclusion, its founder Dr Baela Raza Jamil and I decided to utilise a free day to explore Kot Diji, Arore and a bit of Sukkur before returning to Karachi. Since the day temperatures ranged between 42-47 degrees Celsius, we began our exploration at 5.30am; moving towards Kot Diji on a wide and well-maintained highway, with date-palm forests extending on the sides.

There’s something mysterious and magical about old forts, and the Kot Diji Fort had been eluding both of us for years. We were therefore thrilled to finally have a chance to visit it. Upon reaching it, we found the settlement quiet. Our car halted at the entrance of the fort but a big lock on its small door built within the larger main gate stared us in the face. The gate had huge iron nails jutting out as protection from impending elephant attack.

What now? We had a moment of grief, but suddenly an elderly man appeared from one of the narrow alleys. He said he was out for a walk and asked us what we wanted. Upon hearing our wish to visit the fort he disappeared, saying he would try to locate the man with the key to the lock.

We started to explore the area around us and came upon ‘Khazana’ (treasure) right in the lap of the fort! It is a gift shop-cum-information centre and restaurant; an offshoot of the Indus Resource Centre (IRC), which employs local women and showcases their handicrafts. I had visited Khazana in Khairpur many years ago taken there by the bold lady behind IRC, the Karachi-based Sadiqa Salahuddin, while it was still being constructed. She had shared her vision about it then, and at the CLF, in my conversations with Sindhi writers and poets, I learnt how the place has become a hub for them in Khairpur city.

We peered from outside into this Kot Diji Khazana Tourism Promotion Centre but since it was too early, nobody was there. We then noticed three granaries located at the base of the fortification wall and met two men who work for architect Yasmeen Lari, involved in the conservation of the granaries which have circular chambers and cupola roofs. The ustad (teacher) and shagird (student) were proud of their craft; saying they knew how to work in old, traditional methods for preservation and conservation of historic buildings.

As women we felt elated that two gutsy persons of our gender have been working in this sub-Saharan-like climate of interior Sindh. "Abhi tau garmi aur badhay gee, khajoor pake gee!" ("It will become even hotter, so that the dates would ripen!"), someone had said.

Meanwhile, our benefactor had reappeared with the ‘key-man’, who let us inside the fort. Before leaving us, he said that "although Kot Diji Fort is said to be built (between 1785 to 1795) by Mir Sohrab Khan Talpur (he was the founder of the Kingdom of Upper Sindh), I remember reading in my school textbook that it was built by Raja Dahir".

This bold, simple and beauteous fort, which was apparently never attacked, is located on a hill about 110 feet high and constructed with kiln-baked bricks. It rises some 30 feet high on the hill, and as we climbed on, stopping now and then to catch our breath, enjoying the lovely cool breeze blowing there, we saw some exquisite views from above the fort’s walls and bastions and from its long and narrow slits. We could see decrepit graveyards on one side and grand havelis of the Khairpur Mirs on the other. Date palms stretched for miles in the distance. Below the citadel, the settlement has a mix of the old and quaint adobe walls and abandoned houses as well as new structures. The archaeological discoveries at Kot Diji provide evidence that there was a civilisation there a few hundred years before Mohenjodaro.

After stopping for our morning tea and paratha on the highway close to Khairpur city, we headed for Arore, which is about five miles south-east of Rohri.

More than a thousand years ago Arore (also known as Alore) was the capital of Sindh, and the boundaries of this Hindu kingdom extended far and wide. When Mohammad Bin Qasim came to conquer Sindh in AD 711, Arore was the residence of King Dahir.

Upon approaching Arore, we came upon the neglected remains of a mosque said to have been constructed by Mohammad Bin Qasim on a raised mound, surrounded by the ruins of the old city. The wrongly-placed large descriptive plaque made it inaccessible or unreadable from a distance. Such a pity, as this is supposed to be the first mosque ever built in the subcontinent.

As we moved on to our next destination, the Kalka Hills, we witnessed a frenzied stone-crushing activity going on in a vast area. Later, when I read up about it, I found a two-year old news item that quoted a labour union president, "…the problem lies with the mines and mineral development department, which has failed to award contracts with proper legal work. Officials are charging bribes to allocate land to contractors near residential areas, mausoleums, historical places and rivers…"

We climbed up a hill to visit the Kalka Devi cave temple. We had been told an intriguing story about this place; that the Hindu Goddess Kali (an incarnation of Durga) had jumped down the hill and reemerged in Calcutta to execute an unjust king ruling there. We had to crouch at most places in this black-stone cave temple where a few devotees were worshipping.

After descending from there, we drove towards Chattan Shah ji Takri -- a mysterious rock formation with several myths surrounding it, including one alluding to Hazrat Ali (RA), that he cut it into four pieces, using it as a shield to win a battle against Kalka Devi. From the road, we could see a white mosque at the top of the rock but we did not have the energy to climb it.

While returning to Sukkur, I was thinking about all these stories of men and women of the past; the myths and romance around their valour and glory. I was also thinking how there was a complete lack of knowledge and disconnect in the students and teachers we had encountered at the CLF about our heritage. We need to develop such curriculums and books that foster understanding and pride in the history and heritage of this region.