spring in islamabad

14th march, 2013, Dawn says last Islamabad saw these rains was 14 years ago... and I remember each rain of those seasons, as if it were yesterday.

I remember the day when at eleven in the morning all lights in the classroom of grade 4-B were lit, because it was pitch dark, just like a night and then to the delight of nine year old girls , there was thunderstrom. The science teacher allowed us to leave our seats and stand in the window, and appriciate nature's mood swings. Then there was the last day of exams, sixth grade i guess, when there was a hail strom. Teachers then had asked us to bring our own glasses to drink water from the school filter-water cooler and each of us had a plastic glass of some shape and size. These we took out of our bags; we stood in the corridor and held them out, soon they would fill with hails and then they were inverted to revel a tower of ice on our hands.  Then there was a March-after-exam-walk in the school lawn (we always had final exams in March!), I was wearing double socks and was walking with my sister , and I held a pink hand bag. That was the first time I realised that I had this medical condition of itching fingers in winter, not very pleasent.

But we knew, always did, that it will rain in March, espacially on 23rd March. Even if it was a sunny day, it did have some sprinkle in the hour, which was very welcome. I remember vividly the last march past I saw, I have forgotten the year but i remember it was the one attended by some number of head of states. I remember the Bangladeshi PM's sari and her waving to everyone before leaving in her car; I remember the face of the turk who lead the turk troope in the March; and of an earlier year I remember my new green shoes that were all full of mud by the time I had reaced the pavillian to see the parade. But it has not happened for years; the parade area is cut off from rest of the blue area road, at a newly named D chowk because it is no more a round about. Parades do not happen anymore due to security reasons. No more do the troops march on the constituition avenue, turn on jinnah avenue and walk past the "salami ka chabutra" ; no more are children selected from schools to sing anthems before the ceremony and no more does PTV broadcast the traffic plan for the day. Our children know nothing of how green my valley was! I wonder how long shall we remember that as speakers were set on jinnah avenue for the parade rehersals nearly in early march, in the morning, when there was no rehersal. you could hear talawat from them.  Recitation of quran as we made our way to work...Nobody honked at anybody during the hour, there used to be a peaceful silence around.

None of it happens anymore...peace does not happen here anymore.

But that was not what I had set off to write. I wanted to say that since it has rained after 14 years, maybe it shall wash away our sins and maybe our children shall see the parade once more and I will be able to drive from constitution avenue to jinnah avenue and there shall be spring in Islamabad...

The rain has stopped. It has been along day, but I am truly glad that I have been of some service to a little segment of the nation today.

One of our late officer's child wrote to me today. Wanted a bit of help for her tution fees. I do wish at the same time that I could help and knock a bit of sense in the child. Studying abroad at graduate level is a luxury not a necessity. A child thought she will come back and earn her way up. This is unfortunatly also not true. The poor family is evidently not prepared for the real world. And I do feel sorry for all of them who have no idea how real people of the nation live or survive . though it is not some thing i would wish upon anyone, but that is how life is, and that is how the world is!

My dear boss is upto his politics again and I wonder what is in his sleeve this time (his transfer or mine? ) ! Time shall reveal ! :)