Instead of sawan pakwans (dishes) and raags, the sinkholes created by a heavy rain in historic Mall and other roads of Lahore remained the topic of discussion. Our governments and civil society need to join hands and through better planning and conducting environmental awareness campaigns devise an effective response to challenges of rain season
Popular literature depicts the local customs, beliefs, value system and weather related traditions of a certain region. Rain season is named ‘sawan’ in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi languages. There’s a rich literature in these languages associated with this weather. Right from the children’s or light poetry by Ismail Merathi and Altaf Hussain Hali, the narration of joyous turn of whole atmosphere is presented beautifully. It is a weather that symbolises romanticism. There is an urge to meet your beloved and the ones who are away are missed. The melancholy is presented through poetic expression that relates to the vacuum felt due to the absence of a loved one. The girls married long distance away from their parents’ village would miss their childhood sawan spent with family and friends and would desire to be with them again. “Ama more bhaia ko bhaijo ri ke sawan aaya” (O mother! Send my brother to take me home or bring news of all of you, for rain season has set in).
There are special dishes associated with sawan. It’s almost mandatory to prepare pakoras, samosas, chutnies , pickles and different sweets during rains. As life became commercialised, modernised restaurants and road sides dhabas took over the task of preparing these sawan-oriented dishes. We can still see crowded jalaibi and samosa shops whenever it rains. Khawja Hasan Nizami , a legendary Urdu writer has narrated the accounts of sawan celebrated in elite families of Delhi and surrounding areas. The Mughal royals in Lahore are reported to plan their sawan festivals and their convoys were transported from their residential area in Lahore Fort to Shalamar Gardens when it rained. Sawan was not merely a weather, it was more of a festival. Special dresses were prepared in bright colours and garden parties were arranged. Besides different fried snacks, mango and jamun, fruits traditionally associated with this weather were eaten with friends and family. Swings were a special part of these sawan festivities. The strongest branch of a tall tree was selected to fix the swing and a pleasant weather’s soothing breeze was enjoyed. Romantic Urdu poetry has many references of a swing being a symbol of love between two lovers and swinging your beloved’s swing is a soft expression of love. One of the most popular lyrics by Anand Bakhshi for Bollywood movie , ‘Jurmana’ are considered a masterpiece depicting the aura of rain season, “sawan ke jhooley parey, tum chale aaao, dil ne pukara tumhain yadon ke pardes se”(My beloved ! My heart calls out for you from an unvisited land of memories. You must come back, the swings of sawan await you along with me). There are special raags associated with sawan like desh malhar and mian ki malhar. There were legendary singers and musicians with whom a myth was associated that when they played a specific raag, it would start raining. Their art had such a mystic quality that it would reach the skies and stimulate the clouds. The local music and poetry depicted both the festivity and nostalgic moods of a rainy season.
The writer is an assistant professor of Political Science at Kinnaird College. Her email isahawan99@gmail.com
Published in Daily Times, July 8th 2018.
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