Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR’s international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.
I took this photo earlier this month at sunset in my favorite park in the capital of Pakistan. After covering the inconclusive US-Iran peace talks for several days, I went there to touch the grass.
At least colloquially this place is called Haunted Hill Park, although I’ve never heard a definitive explanation as to why. I like it because it’s usually not very crowded and has nice grass for laying out picnic blankets. On this particular evening, a pair swung badminton shuttlecocks back and forth, and the women took photos in front of colorful flower beds. The park is located along a winding, tree-lined path, and if you turn right outside the park and drive until the road ends, you are within walking distance of the Serena Hotel, where the peace talks were held.
Some might say this bureaucratic center is boring. I also thought the same thing when I went to Pakistan for the first time. Then I spent a few years in Lahore, a bustling megacity where peace is hard to find. The soothing green Margalla Hills around Islamabad gave me peace I didn’t know I needed.
As journalists gathered to cover the talks, the world caught a glimpse of the city – most of the broadcasts were from inside a packed media centre. I want people to be able to see it from this vantage point.
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