Daily Times

Staying indoors certainly does not mean that we miss the songs and colours and giggles of the spring, which has already set in full earnest. Timely and heavier than normal snowfalls followed by a sparkling string of wide-spread rains across Pakistan could only mean a wholesome spring in most of the country.

No matter where you are, spring is all too ready to cast its spell throughout Pakistan for all and sundry. It could be a crimson flowery onslaught of Semal trees across Punjab; Gul-e-Mohar or flame trees in upper Sindh; Berna with its milky white floriage across Sindh; Gul-e-Nishter and pink Jacranda in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; almond, cherry and apricot magic in Baluchistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir valleys.

No matter where you are and how stale days may appear, all you need to do is to peep a look out of your window or across your courtyard garden or along your street or around your village. Flower-laden trees, with colourful spectacles, involving birds and butterflies and insects, are all too eager to welcome any onlooker.

And spring is not only about flowers. The month of April is also the month of unison, pollination, mating chores and dances, which are gleefully indulged in by birds, butterflies and insects alike.

Staying indoors as a precaution against a pandemic can be turned into a fulfilling, meaningful and joyful pastime

Frist the birds, who would be surely flitting across your garden, alley, street or village in search of nectar of flowers. Depending upon which part of Pakistan, you are living in, you can be certain to see finches or hummingbirds or honeyeaters or orioles or warblers or sunbirds or chickadees (there are many online directories of birds, and it would be great fun to identify the bird which you saw with the first ray of sun from your window on any morning).

But birds of early April have other important matters to look into aside nectar collection. Mating and preparing for nesting are all meant to welcome the next generation into the lap of mother nature. With a little practice, you could be able to differentiate varied tones of bird songs, which they employ to attract females; mark territory for nesting; challenge contesting males or for shooing away intruding outsiders. A small change of tone and rhyme of bird song gives away any of these worldly worries that these innocent souls are required to live with as part of survival saga.

And don’t forget to mark yet another marvel and wonder of April across most of Pakistan – the butterfly bash. The next time you look out of your window or stroll in your garden, please remember that there are a few hundred varieties and colours and wing shapes in which butterflies can be seen across the motherland. There are Apollo butterflies; metalmark butterflies; gossamer-winged butterflies; brush-foot butterflies; swallowtails; yellows and silver spots; blue tigers; Baltistan meadow browns; Chitral Walls; Balochi Rock Browns and Hazara Pierrots. My favourite hill butterfly is Himalayan Blue Cupid. All you need to do is to remember the shape and colour of the wings of the butterfly you saw and google any of the many butterfly identification brochures on the internet.

Who said there was boredom in staying indoors?

For those among us who would not be content with merely listening to natures’ songs and looking at colourful birds and butterflies, there is also some action to do in April spring.

Why not try your hands at planting tree saplings in your homes?

Planting is an activity where you purify your hands and body by mixing it with the essential elements of creation – soil and water. Digging a hole for planting a sapling would fill your surrounding with an unforgettable aroma. Placing a delicate sapling or seedling, which needs to be done with silky hands, and then spraying water around the freshly planted tree or shrub would exude a balmy fragrance that would intoxicate your soul beyond description.

Getting up early morning and watering your seedling or sapling of choice with a touch of love and care and witnessing the blooming and sprouting of tender buds into shoots day after day. Each passing day, you learn to care even more and love even more and all the more protect your labour of love, which gleefully responds by growing taller and greener and stouter.

This is how staying indoors as a precaution against a pandemic can be turned into a fulfilling, meaningful and joyful pastime. In our mad rush of life, we have forgotten to register the multitude of songs of the morning and evening birds around us. We have nearly lost our sense of smell; depriving us of the opportunity to intoxicate our senses with the fragrance of spring among us. We wilfully lost sight of colourful rainbows written largely on wings of a flitting butterfly around us.

Here is a time to drown and immerse ourselves back in the unfathomable spring saga granted to us by mother nature. And all of this can be done while staying inside our homes; around our backyard gardens and beneath our courtyard trees because it is the month of April, heralding the heady, sunny spring across Pakistan.

The writer is a jungle wanderer and a forester. He can be reached at syedrizwanmehboob@gmail.com