Ready for the Ride

IT WAS A COLD NIGHT in January 1975. Our open Jeep was filled with six rifle-toting Pakistanis as we bounced over the lumpy fields in Bhagwat. The slaughter started as soon as we found herds of 15 to 25 wild boars, some big and a lot of little ones. Everyone shot wildly as the driver swerved from side to side squashing as many as he could. The massacre went on for several hours and I soon lost count of the hundreds killed and maimed. My Muslim companions hated pigs with a passion and wouldn't even touch them. At 2:00 a.m. we stopped at a stranger's house, knocked on the door, and when a man finally came to the door, the driver asked if he could give us some hot tea and something to eat. To my surprise, he agreed. Pakistanis, especially in this case, were beyond hospitable. Maybe it was because everyone he could see in the moonlight held a rifle. By then I was almost frozen and glad to step out of the Jeep. How on earth did a midwestern kid like me end up here - in this war-ravaged area of Northeast Pakistan?

Ready for the Ride is the autobiography of Wisconsin native, world traveler, Peace Corps Volunteer, Care relief worker, and family man, John T. Mcleod.