Celebrating Saad's Birthday

28 November 2014

It's Saad's Birthday Today!

Just to remember and remind, 28th November is as always Saad's Day. He was born in 1978 at the Holy Family Hospital in Satellite Town, Rawalpindi. In those days we used to live in H-34, F-8/3, Islamabad and in those days too the electricity load shedding existed. We remember, he was born just after dusk and at that hour until quite late there was no light in the hospital but luckily enough there still was candle light. Coming from dark, that still must have been bright, for he had squinty eyes appearing to have his first look at the world with the eyes partly closed. He was a bit chubby and a little Eskimo of a child.

Saad is a very dear son like other sons of ours. He is very likeable, loveable and charming. He can make instant friends and has life long buddies who all adore him. The secret of him being joyful and cheerful lies in him being permanently inspired and ever ready to try and do things how so ever difficult and un imaginative they might appear to others. Saad is a scientist by profession but is one at heart and mind too. 

Saad believes in comradery and doing things together with others. He is by nature a team leader and is in permanent state of motivation. He is an adventure seeker, a family man - ever ready to assist in house chores.

Saad enjoys celebrating the Independence Day of Pakistan. He is a nationalist at heart and at that a true believer in Pakistan. If you are driving and all of a sudden you see a car in front with a couple of crisscrossed Pakistan flags on its rear windshield, you would know its Saad's car.

We wish you a very Happy Birthday Saad. 

Birthday Bouquet

Week 46	November 10, 2014	November 16, 2014

1.     Preamble:

The month of November (High: 25 C ; Low: 10 C; Humidity: 29%) heralds as usual the arrival of winter. It coincidentally is also the month, which brings forward maximum number of family birthdays, prompting us to celebrate them as we do going through the memory lane, remembering and reminiscing about the celebrants besides also their current status. This week we will be celebrating the birthdays respectively of our daughter in-law Tania Hasan Iqbal (13 November) and One of our grand daughters Rehma Omar Iqbal (15 November). In the last week, we will celebrate the birthday of our son Saad Iqbal (28 November).

With the advent of winter the oranges on our farm have started yellowing before they turn orange .  Last week we talked about Mandarins (Early Fruiter) which are now fully mature for consumption. This week we will talk about other oranges, which are in the process of changing colour.

Before we introduce our Birthday Celebrants, it might not be out of place to talk about some of the winter vegetables that have almost suddenly sprung up at our farm. 

2.     Yellowing of Oranges:

We talked about oranges when they were green and still growing in size. During the previous week we showed pictures of oranging of Mandarins/Tangerines. This week we will include pictures of yellowing of Oranges. It is necessary to provide an update on them as they acquire the size and colour. Here, we will look at the sweet oranges (Mussambi) and small size red blood oranges. The orange trees are so heavily loaded that their branches laden with fruit lie prostrate on the ground.

3.     Winter Vegetables:

Starting last week, we are having an early crop of such winter veggies as Spinach, Fenugreek, Turnip and Radishes (white and red). These should be followed by Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussls Sprout and Broccoli next month in-shaa Allah.

4.     Family Events:

4.1.  Tania's Birthday (13 November):

It is close to 16 years when Tania came into our lives. These 16 years were glittering years of happiness for us all but more so for Hasan, our eldest son to whom she wedded. Both of them were blessed with two lovely daughters Eemaan and Avizheh in due course, filling theirs as well as, our lives with joyous contentment.

Tania and family live in Lahore, where she teaches  at the Lahore School of Economics (LSE). Like Hasan, she too is a MBA from IBA, Karachi. Alongside teaching, she is also working at the same institution for a DPhil degree. Presently, Tania besides being a loving daughter in-law, a caring wife to Hasan and often a pampering mother to Eemaan and Avizheh is a conscientious teacher, a devotedly aspiring professor and a great caretaker of households: hers, her parents and ourselves even if it means inquiring about our well being all the while when we happen to be travelling. She is the darling of a sister in-law to our sons: Omar, Saad and Taha and their wives Sadaf, Sahar and Shaema. I can not possibly go into details but she has been very considerate on many a counts. Starting very early in the morning, she would ready the girls for school, prepare breakfast and then drive them to their schools before leaving for LSE often for a full day of lecturing students and herself attending MPhil classes followed by collecting the girls from school. Her preoccupation with the girls and her own house chores is a never ending saga which continues till late in the night. In spite of all this she is a never complaining model of a modern Pakistani woman, the parallel of which is almost impossible to find even in the developed world. I often wonder: Is Tania a machine or a Jinn? This, of course I say more out of compliment, love and appreciation than comparing her with a lifeless existence or a supernatural entity.

Tania is God gifted. She is charming and very caring indeed. Knowing fully well how busy and preoccupied she always is, we plan our visits to them very carefully but whenever we do, she is constantly worrying and on the tenterhooks about our comfort at the level of nothing less than a five star quality. We are more than aware that she is always the chief executioner of any plans and arrangements that are made relating to their holiday trips abroad or regular Umra sojourns that the family so richly deserves. Only last year she took the family to Europe going to places like Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam and Frankfurt. Thanks to the modern gadgetary of instant transmission of pictures, we remained with them wherever they went. In this way we are permanently with them and can't remain without saying how wonderful this life is with them, for which we are ever so grateful to Allah Subhanahu.

Happy birthday and many happy returns of the day Tania! Thankyou for making our family ever so happy and smiling. We bow our heads in the realm of Allah Allmighty for His blessing in your shape. May you always be happy and may you achieve all your goals and ambitions in flying colours.

4.2.  Rehma's Birtday (15 November):

Rehma is the second daughter of our second son Omar and second daughter in-law Sadaf. She was born in 2008 at Lahore when Omar was posted at Chunian Cantt. She will be six years old on November 15. She is plump and petit baby of a girl. We've not seen her childhood but huggingly adore her all the same and why not for her instant Dada and Dadi. Most of her childhood was spent at Shorekot, where Omar was posted as Squadren Leader at the Rafiqui Airbase. She is smiling and laughing when she is in good mood but when she is not, you may have to tempt her with toffee and chocolate, which would allow her to giggle and laugh again. She now goes to PAF School at Faisal Airbase, Karachi to which Omar has now moved. Rehma is smart and intelligent and is doing well in her studies. Occasionally, she would talk to us on phone and make us very happy. It is ironical that being away, we can't make her as happy specially on her birthday, which she so richly deserves but we sure would make up for that when we get together again insha Allah.

Happy birthday Rehma. We are sure, Ammi has prepared a nice yummy cake for your birthday. Have a nice and enjoyable day with your Abbu, Ammi, Hamza, Hiba and little Yahya.

Oranging of Oranges

Week 45	November 3, 2014	November 9, 2014

1.     Preamble:

In reference to the blog of previous week, we returned from Lahoe on Tuesday. We travelled some 900 Kms on the motorway both ways. The midway point is Bheira, where from going towards Lahore the citrus region of Sargodha starts and continues up until Sheikhupura, which is the rice growing region. We noticed the oranges (Kino) were all green and completely indistinguishable on 'all green' appearing trees. When we returned only 3 days later, they all were yellowing and very well identifiable. The story was identically the same at our farm where the 'Fruiter' citrus trees were presenting an altogether different look, with the yellow/orange fruit showing all over. The fruit on other kind of orange trees too were yellowing but the mandarin 'Early Fruiter' being always the first was visibly in the lead. Oranges come in different hues of red, yellow and orange. Here, we might mention, the orange was not named for the color but rather the color was named after the fruit. The word "orange" was a Western explorers mispronunciation of the old Tamil word for the fruit (aru-anju). Brought back to Europe, the fruit was called "orange" and anything with the same shade/hue was then referred to as having an "orange" color. 

Coincident with oranging of oranges, the wheat sowing season too has commenced around our farm in Khyber Pakhtun Khwa (KPK). The plots have been cleaned, tilled and seeds thrown. The rains of a couple of days earlier have made it appear logical and perfect. Coincident with the harvesting of wheat in late April, it would be the time for pulling of garlic as well, which was sown almost six weeks ago on our own plot.

Starting this week, we will return to the oranges, about which we have already talked only four weeks earlier in the blog of the week: 41 (October 6-12, 2014). The first of these will understandably be none other than the Mandarin Fruiters.

2.     The Early Mandarin Fruiter:

As stated, the Mandarin Fruiters have been mentioned in this blog before. "It is a group name for a class of oranges with thin, loose peel, which have been dubbed "kid-glove" oranges. The name "tangerine" could be applied as an alternate name to the whole group, but, in the trade, is usually confined to the types with red-orange skin". This is how mandarins are described so adequately on the Purdue University Web page. For further reading, the page can be accessed at:

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/mandarin_orange.html

Here, we will suffice by showing only pictures of on the tree mandarins in our own farmhouse. These are far more expressive than any detailed article, from whatever reputable source may it be.

3.     The Initiation of Tandoor (Clay Cylindrical Oven):

Those who read this blog regularly, know how embarrassingly easily I move from one subject to other.  Ashamedly, this is the only way I can make good use of the limited space, available for this blog. We had already introduced (Week: 41, October 20-26, 2014) the "Outdoor Tandoor', the latest addition in our farmhouse. Our trip to Lahore of the last week delayed its inauguration. During the ongoing current week, we have put it to use however. Here are some pictures, which sum it up.

Among the preparations were the Garlic Naan. The Chicken Tikkas seen in one of the pictures were however baked on the adjacent 'Barbecue Stand'.

4.     My/Our Treasure Trove:

During our recent sojourn to Lahore, I/we collected following books. This treasure trove will hopefully keep me fully occupied for many weeks. Two of the books are in English. One on the subcontinent history and the other, a travelogue:

Two other books that I acquired are in Urdu. One of them is a novel, which has earned a French literary award and the other describing events and personalities, written by none other them Mustaq Ahmad Yusufi, a writer of considerable repute.

I plan to read these books in the coming weeks extending possibly into a couple of months. As I finish reading them, I would love to review them in this blog and share with all our well wishers. Here, I will briefly talk only about the first book: 'The Age of Wrath'. It is a an Indian history book, which describes the 300 years of Delhi Sultanate in the period between 1206 - 1526. The era starts with the rule of Sultan Qutub-ud-Din Aibak whose mausoleum is right in the centre of Lahore, which unfortunately I did not know about but would need to go to along with the much desired, Masjid Wazir Khan, hopefully not too distant in future.

Till the next week, it is wishing you Godspeed, as always.

November It Is

Week 44	October 27, 2014	November 2, 2014

We have moved into the month of November but mums (Chrysanthmums) birth flowers of this month are still not there to be seen and appreciated. During the current Moharram break, we (ourselves together with Saads) came over to Lahore to be with Hasans (our eldest son and his family) where it is somewhat warmer than our farmhouse in Taxila/Khanpur and the enchanting flowers of the month are more out of season here than there. We may not therefore talk about them, as I planned to do earlier. We now have been away from our farmhouse for more than half of the week and would stay in Lahore for at least one more day while the week itself has come to an end and the deadline for floating of this blog is over and gone. We may as such try to see a bit of Lahore while we are still here. There is of course no way of doing that better than through the lense of my iPad camera, which is always on my side, wherever we go. 

2.     With Hasans in Lahore:

3.     At Bagh-e-Jinnah:

Lahore is a city of gardens as much as it is the city of grand architectures of the Mogul period. We spent one day with Saad's (Inaya and Ne'ma) and Hasan's (Eemaan and Avizheh) children at Bag-e-Jinnah, which is one of the oldest and amazingly well kept gardens right in the centre  of the city. The garden boasts very old Alstonia Scholaris trees, also known as the Devil Tree. The trees are a glabrous evergreen, native to the Indian subcontinent. They may have been planted long ago and since have acquired gigantic sizes, some 50 to 60 feet high. They have furrowed greyish trunks, oblong stalked leaves upto 6 inches long and four inches wide, dispersed in 4 to 6 whols round the stem. The trees surrounding the similarly large white palace of a building, housing a library gives a serene and exceedingly impressive look to the area adjacent to the Lahore Zoo. 

The day was well spent and the children enjoyed if not more just as much as we the adults did.

4.     At Fortress Stadium:

Before winding up the day, we went over to the nearby Fortress Stadium, which is popular open space consisting of shopping centres, restaurants, cafes and entertainment areas besides a sports stadium. The Stadium is the site of the famous ‘National Horse and Cattle Show’ which is one of the most famous festivals of Lahore, which includes a display of livestock, but also many spectacular feats of horsemanship, tent pegging, dressage, camel dancing, racing, folk dances, pomp, pageantry, mass-band displays and grand fireworks in the evening at the advent of spring each year.

5.     The Bedan Road Amritsary Sweet Shop:

This time around, our sojourn to Lahore lasted three days, which besides spending a day outdoors was also consumed in enjoying the company and hospitality of Hasans and watching (on TV) the Pakistan cricket team scoring a test series win against Australia in Dubai. The sojourn ended but not before buying Patissa (Gram Flour Mithai) from the famous Amritsari Sweet Shop on the Mall/Bedan Road intersection. This particular sweet shop is famous for a very special variety of Patissa, which is very different from any other preparation of the kind.  It comprises layers of Patissa interspersed with brittle Gond (edible gum), which makes the sweet very crisp and tasty. When ever our Nana Abba and later all our elders including my father came to Lahore they used to buy Patissa from this shop. It as such goes into the tradition of our family never to return home without Patissa from this shop.

With sweet and at that very agreeable taste of Patissa in our mouths, it is a hearty good bye to Hasans and Lahore.