(There are Five Photos in this Post)
While there is a political monsoon brewing in Islamabad, the real literal monsoon also burst open its clouds today. I saw these interesting photos from Islamabad in today’s news media and thought of sharing here. Monsoon rains are a special treat in Pakistan because they usually bring respite from spells of hot weather. They also bring joy to our spirits as well as a chance for youngsters to enjoy natural water parks.
For example in the photo to the left, Islamabad boys are seen lying down in rain drains and enjoying their monsoon days as if in a water park. They also seem oblivious to dangers of fast passing cars or how dirty the water is. The boy farthest in the photo seems to have created a mini dam by blocking water with his body.
At ATP we’ve been rightly accused of feeling nostalgic too many times, but photos like this do bring memories from childhood back. Remember this sher:
yaad-e-maazi azaab hai ya-rab
cheen le mujh se haafiz mera
For example, in the photo to the right the boy has been doing exactly what I used to do in my childhood. Screeching and braking cycle in few inches of rain water is a pure joy. One must try it to know its power.
Dams are Getting Full:
Monsoon season which lasts May 15 to Sept 15 in Pakistan, also brings much needed water to our dams. With water becoming a very precious commodity in Pakistan, every drop of storage or conservation that we do should be appreciated.
I remember around May 2006 Rawal Dam had gone so dry that people were riding bikes on its dry bed. See the photo to the left. It is only 2 years old and shows the totally dry Rawal lake. Fortunately this year water has filled all Islamabad area dams to capacity including Rawal dam, Simli dam and Khanpur dam. At Rawal dam and Simli dam, excess water had to be discharged by opening spillway gates to full. I think this is a good problem to have as long as water downstream doesn’t cause flooding.
Photo to the right is 3 days old and shows Rawal Dam’s spillway getting full discharge of over brimming Rawal Lake. News reports suggest Tarbela and Mangla are also getting their lakes full. Hub Dam in Karachi is couple of feet below its brimming point and the other day I read a statement from a city official that Hub now has enough water to supply the city until Oct 2009.
In our culture rains are considered ‘rehmat’ (blessings). We hope and pray this blessing is always bestowed on our beloved country.
Monsoon Poetry
As written above monsoon rains are also attributed to raised spirits in Pakistan and subcontinent. Many a poets have created there poetry based on rains and monsoons. Some samples are below. Pardon my hand writing. I have been out of practise but atleast it should be readable.
(1) Following is actually a sad ‘sher’ said in a yearning for monsoon rains.
(2) Following verses are by Nazeer Akbarabadi where he is comparing scenery of rains with the beloved.
(3) Following verses are also by Nazeer Akbarabadi and he is celebrating eating mangoes in monsoon rains.
(4) Romance galores in monsoon
(5) Even a sad event of crying is compared with long lasting rains
(6) In the following verse poet is celebrating color of ‘hina’ which has become ever brighter after getting wet.
Monsoon Weather Report
Another proof of our raised spirits in monsoon comes from this colorful weather report which was filed by a joyful reporter from Gujranwala. This by the way is a repeat news clip which was also featured in our earlier post here.
Zafar saheb, thanks for your comment on Nazeer’s name. My source of that ‘sher’ is Mushtaq Ahmed Yousufi’s book. I am not sure which one is correct yet. I’ve seen nazeer written with both ‘zaal’ and ‘zoy’. I’ve always read Benazir’s name written with a ‘zoy’. Anyways i don’t mind correcting myself. let me check at few places.
A post very much bringing the weather that I would want to have here in Dubai but get it rarely. I have to call almost everyday to Pakistan to get a bit of taste of it through the words depicted by my mom and dad.
One correction that I would like to make in your urdu writing, Nazeer Akbarabadi’s first name Nazeer is not written the way you have written, it should be written with Zal instead of Zo’a, you should use the 13th albhabet of Urdu and not the 23rd. I hope I have been able to explain otherwise you can see the urdu alphabets at the following address and can calculate the albhabets to get the correct ones.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Urdu_alpha bets.png
The name Nazeer for a male person would be written with Nun(32nd letter), Za’l(13th letter), Choti Ye(36th letter) and Re(14th letter).
I know Nazeer Akbar Abadi’s name on wikipedia is written in the similar way as written by you but that is not correct the correct spelling to write Nazeer for a male person is as I described above.
I hope you wouldn’t mind this correction.
Simple pleasures… Enjoyed looking at the happy faces of the kids.., and poetry too. Thanks for the post
Moonsoons are really enjoyable in Islamabad with the atmosphere rendered fresher by the divine drops and greenery much more prominent courtesy a bath every now and then. I too enjoyed last evenings rain in Islamabad sitting in a cafe at 1-8 savouring samosas and sipping chai. I witnessed similar scenes that are portrayed in the first picture in your post.
A lovely post! Nostalgic and Indigenous!
Monsoon is definitely best enjoyed in childhood and on the streets. Picture of kids riding bicycles in the rain made me nostalgic too. Islamabad of late 70s had far less traffic and it was fun cycling on the roads, although mountain bikes were not available then.
As evident in the pictures, safety is an issue but few pay heed to it, and the life goes on.