Love You Indus.

I was feeling jaded so I went to see you. O Indus, you are always there for me to rejuvinate my soul. Love you.

It is not over.

You are settled. I am settled. Let the game begin.

Keti Bandar.

On 3rd May 2007 the allure of the distant sea took me to the end of Pakistan in the south to the small port town of Keti Bandar. When I reached there I was convinced once again that fear of unknown lies in our mind not outside of it. I reached Gharo at 9 am where my Memon driver was waiting for me. Without wasting time we moved towards south on our way to Keti Bandar. Passing through the heart of Indus Delta we reached Keti Bandar around 12 noon. The first sight of the sea gave me the pleasure of finding a long lost friend. We entered the town and met Mr. Bukhari, a member of Fisher folk forum, who gave us remarkable hospitality beyond our expectation. The sea water all around us was actually the intrusion by the sea in the lands of Sindh. The intrusion is caused by the lack of flow of Indus river into the sea therefore sea water is gnawing the land each year. Where we saw the salty water of sea there once stood the crops of rice. I asked Mr. Bukhari to show us the roaring sea. He told us for that we had to travel on boats to enter the Arabian Sea. We embarked on a small boat called " Horo" in Sindhi. All the way we saw small islands on which the Debali community of fishermen lives. After travelling for half an hour we saw the high tides of Arabian Sea. We were about to enter into the open sea when I asked the boatman to return to Keti Bandar. After spending sometime there I left for Hyderabad and reached my home at 8 pm.

For more pictures visit my Fotoblog.

Banbhore.

The Mosque of Banbhore, Sindh.

Yesterday I went to Banbhore. When I sat foot out of my home I didn't know that I would reach Banbhore because I intended to go further south to the Arabian Sea coast of Keti Bandar. After contacting some people of the area I came to know that the route to Keti Bandar goes from Gharo, a small town on the road between Thatta and Karachi. By the time I reached Gharo it was already 2pm and when I asked the driver of the taxi how much time it would take to reach Keti Banadr he told me that it would take around 3 hours. So I decided it was too late to go to the place and asked the driver to show me the nearby places. The driver belonged to the Memon community of the town and I was surprised to know that he knew so much about the life in Indus delta and sea. Memons are usually businesspersons. He told me that he was married in the Mir Bahar community who are actually fisherman. Mir Bahar, the king of Sea, has given the name Admiral , the commander of the fleet of navy. We first went to Gharo creek where the fishermen were catching fish and then we went to Banbhore. Banbhore is a ruined city now but it is said that when first Arab conquerer of Sindh Muhammad Ibne Qasim came here it was the bustling port city and called Debal. I took some pictures of the ruined city with the Gharo creek in background. The famous poet of Sindh Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai has immortalized the love story of Sassui and Punnuh through his poetry. Sassui belonged to Banbhore. The first mosque in the Sub continent is said to be built in Banbhore around 712 AD at the time of Arab conquest of Sindh. I came back home with better and clearer understanding about visiting Keti Bandar that I will visit soon.