PESHAWAR: Though there are a number of swimming pools, Gora Digi or Gorakh Digi is the only pool in the provincial capital, with a freshwater spring that is said to have medicinal properties.
According to local elders, the spring is producing freshwater from 1675 onwards and also cures scabies and skin problems. While elders can bathe in it, some people bring their children with skin problems and take water from the pool to pour over the children, outside the pool.
It is also believed that initially it was a spring centuries ago, but a swimming pool was made out of it and a fence set up around it later.
Roohullah, a contractor running the freshwater swimming pool, told this scribe that his family had been holding the contract of the venue for the last 10 years. “It is called ‘Gora Digi’ because westerners staying in the region used to come here in large numbers in the past,” he added. However, some say it is in fact Gorakh Digi. “The actual name is Gorakh Digi as it is named after a Hindu saint of the past, Gorakh Nath,” says Aftab Ahmed, a Peshawari, who adds that they used to visit the place in their childhood along with their elders. A small park has also been set up around the pool named Khushal Bagh. The light blue tiles of the walls and ground can be seen as the water is clear and transparent. Freshwater oozes out from under the ground while a big pipe lets water out from the pool. Hence, the water is always fresh and cool, compared to other swimming pools where water mostly cannot be changed for weeks or months.
Roohullah also said that in the beginning when they got the contract of the venue, they used to charge Rs 40 per entry but nowadays a visitor is charged Rs 100 for having a bath in the pool.
“We pay an extra amount of contract by 30 per cent every year, that is why we have no option but to increase the entry ticket with the passage of time,” he said, adding that they were given the contract by the tehsil municipal administration, Town-II of Peshawar as it comes under their jurisdiction.
Saad, a student of the University of Peshawar, said that he visited the pool once a week. He said that he had also learnt swimming in the same pool.
Another swimmer, Abdur Rehman, said that he was not a regular visitor but came to swim in the pool occasionally.