The (much needed) first rain of winter has arrived last evening and now the atmosphere is all clean and tidy. There is, of course, a significant increase in the intensity of weather’s chill, which has forced you to finally fix the gas heater of your room. You have loads of work to do, but you are just not in the mood. Instead, you think of updating your blog (which, incidentally, you haven’t updated for ages). So you call your elder brother and ask him where his camera is. You then grab that camera and get on your home’s roof. And then you do what every amateur photographer does: point and shoot!

Starting the series is a photograph of the sun, the clouds in front of the sun, and a tall structure that is apparently a water tank, but in reality is just a hollow piece of architecture serving as a huge decoration piece for the surrounding area. The sky at that time wasn’t as yellow as it appears in this picture, but I am not really complaining — it gives a great “touch” to it.

Next comes the coverage of a limited overs cricket match played by some Pathan (Afghan?) kids who normally spend their day carrying a large, untidy bag on their shoulders and stuffing it with junk in hopes of earning some cash. The little park in which they are playing is just adjacent to my home, and is also the one where the empty water tank stands. You can see the boys’ “work bags” lying some steps away from the wicket-keeper. Also, it’s not that apparent in the picture, but the cricket bat is actually just a stick. Gotta love the spirit of these boys.

Next picture is a complete fluke. I was actually trying to capture the birds while they were sitting on the top of the water tank, but while I was clicking the button, they decided to fly away. The moment turned out to be the luckiest I have ever had so far in bird photography.

And now comes the turn for the ever attractive sunsets. As you can notice, the clouds which were present at the time of the first picture are now gone and only few have remained. Nevertheless, they make a pretty picture.

The sun after getting really low…

And just a couple of minutes before disappearing…

And thus ends the filmstrip!

I have no idea what the CDA guys had in their minds. Maybe they were trying to transliterate “9th”, but seriously, did no one there realize how it would be read?

Maybe a simple نائنتھ would have done. Or, perhaps, even a blunt نواں could have done the job (though I agree that if read in Punjabi, it would mean “new”), but somehow the creative minds of CDA came up with ۹ نتھ (literally meaning “9 nose rings”), and even if it was an error, it went unchecked among all the “highly qualified, experienced and capable professionals“. Just like when, some time back, they transliterated دامنِ کوہ as “Damn-e-Koh”, damning the poor recreation spot.

Ah well, what can I say. Maybe they’ll correct it after some time. Till then, good luck to me and everyone else who plans to go to the avenue of 9 nose rings.

You see, that’s the hardest part. Whenever I am asked to state my name so that it could be scribbled down on the top of a receipt, I usually end up stating it twice, thrice, or even — what comes after thrice, by the way? — and then ultimately spelling it. Some cheerful fellows chuckle when they finally get it right. Some seem apologetic. Some frown when they have to cross their previous understanding of my name. And some shake their heads in disappointment as if trying to tell me that I could pronounce my own name better. Yesterday, however, I was slightly surprised when that dry cleaning shop attendant listened to my name just once, nodded his comprehension by repeating it and appending a sahab to it, and then wrote it down.

It was just some moments later that I was staring at that receipt, trying hard to find my name on it.

Now, dear readers, I invite you all to click on the image below and enjoy the calligraphic fluency of that shop attendant…

I am sure you’ll be able to find more amusing things too (for example, the “highly detailed” description of my clothes, or the terms at the bottom), but for me, this remains as a monumental piece of paper with a highly unique rendering of my name.

Aur rahay naam Allah ka…

After the rain…