It is 2021, and the Pakistani millennials are too cool for Murree.

Over the past decade, Murree has gently, but steadily, slid down from its perch as the ‘queen of hills’ to rest somewhere on the list of last resorts. The mention of the quaint hill station as a possible vacation destination during the hot Pakistani summer is now met with derisive snorts that say, ‘anywhere but.’ The decline of Murree’s popularity amongst tourists has been much like the steepness of the roads that wind around the hill station itself – gradual but discernible. Once the destination of choice for Pakistani families, Murree is today found more easily in fond recollections of family vacations than in tagged posts on Instagram.

The current elite’s disdain for the former summer capital of the British Raj does not mean that Murree has become a ghost town. Though its popularity has been significantly eclipsed by the glamour of high-altitude valleys of Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree continues to be a charming host for those with a limited budget and vacation days.

A chance detour recently took this writer through the outer reaches of Murree. The softly swirling clouds at a chai dhaba unlocked the commonality of the Murree experience for our motley crew of travel partners. Vehicles crammed full of people of all ages rushed towards Murree as we swapped memories of family walks along the famous Mall, our reminiscences ending with sighs about the haphazard construction that has robbed the hill station of some of its charm.

Imagine my surprise then, of coming across a glossy coffee-table book with Murree as its exclusive subject. Published in 2021, Once Upon a Time in Murree is Dr Omar Mukhtar Khan’s ode to this quaint hill station. One of the most persuasive arguments against choosing Murree as a tourist destination is the refrain, “there is nothing to see in Murree except the Mall” – an objection that Khan has turned on its head through page upon page of colourful proof of Murree’s rich colonial heritage.

A cursory look at the book’s thickness is enough to intrigue anyone who has ever visited Murree. After all, isn’t the Mall its only real attraction? How could Khan have possibly found sufficient material to fill all those pages? The answer is inside. Most Pakistanis are aware of the fact that Murree was the preferred destination for the British officers longing for a respite from the relentless heat in the plains. But what most of us never learnt is that many traces of the country’s colonial past can still be viewed in Murree, if one knows where to look.

In an era when the urge to claim the unique and unexplored reigns supreme amongst tourists, Khan has made a brave decision to painstakingly reveal the layers of the most visible of Pakistani tourist destinations.

The book is divided into five direction-wise sections – the Heart of Murree sandwiched between the North and South, with the Suburbs and a Miscellaneous declaring that all areas have received the author’s due attention. Presented in simple English, the book is more academic than sentimental. Yet, despite its number of pages, the book is easy to look through and never drags the reader into a rabbit hole of boredom.

While it is clear that Khan’s fascination with Murree and his quest to showcase its treasures arises from a personal affiliation with the hill station, he has taken a matter-of-fact tone in approaching his subject. By grounding the book in factual records and verified accounts free of sentimentality, Khan removes any doubt about undue and unwarranted glorification of Murree’s history.

Once Upon a Time in Murree showcases the best of Murree in a manner that firmly places the hill station as an important site of Pakistan’s colonial past. Khan’s concentrated effort to uncover the stories of ownership, and often abandonment, of various sites reveals more than just Murree’s past as a favourite retreat of the British gentry and local elites. By beginning this journey across Murree with the Government House and a reference to the military coup of 1977, Khan subtly traces the country’s political history from British to modern times.

Past and present prime ministers of Pakistan have earned a mention through their stays at various rest houses covered in the book. The impact of rising nationalism and religiosity is lent visual credence by photographs of the ruins of the Murree Brewery as well as the discarded British names of many sites for more locally-relatable versions.

Once Upon a Time in Murree might have been a simple catalogue of sites of colonial presence had it not been for the reminders of the hill station’s position as a gentrified resort for the elite till the 1970s. Once reserved for the high officers of the British empire, the prime locations of Murree were gradually bought by the local elites, thus effectively maintaining an aura of exclusivity that has only been quashed by the relentless tide of mass tourism.

It is interesting to read Khan’s disclaimer in the preface that this is not a travel guide. Because that is exactly what Once Upon a Time in Murree is. The effort invested in providing a detailed guide to Murree’s past and present is clear in Khan’s juxtaposition of the pictorial evidence with each building’s historical relevance. The careful inclusion of directions to each of the more than fifty buildings featured in the book allude to Khan’s hope that his work will inspire others to retrace his steps and view these historical relics in person. In a nod to modern technology’s ability to lighten the future traveller’s burden, Khan has ingeniously geo-tagged all sites, ensuring that explorers can easily locate the buildings on a digital map.

The maps in Once Upon a Time in Murree are a pleasant surprise. Hand drawn by Saba Khan, the lightly coloured maps lend a whimsical character to the book that is reflective of the understated appeal of Murree. The simple illustrations deflect the weight of historical facts from burdening the reader, and are a visual reminder of the concentrated scale within which so much history resides. Together with the geo-tagging, these maps allude to the writer’s intent to preserve the legacy of Murree for future generations of explorers.

Travel books are a rarity in the Pakistani literature scene, and good quality ones even more so. Travel and exploration are often considered a waste of time in this country obsessed with engineers and doctors. In an era where the urge to claim the unique and unexplored reigns supreme amongst tourists, Khan has made a brave decision to painstakingly reveal the layers of the most visible of Pakistani tourist destinations. As a well-researched piece of literature with a focus on the aesthetics, Once Upon a Time in Murree might do more than preserving Murree’s past, and serve as an inspiration for more intrepid Pakistani travellers with stories to share about the oft-overlooked locales.

The writer is a policy consultant and social anthropologist based in Lahore. She can be reached at zainab.altaf@gmail.com;Instagram: https://www.instagram.com  /cancook.musttravel