Annual flower show draws big crowd on inaugural day

Spring is here, so is the season for literature festivals and flower shows. As the Karachi Literature Festival concluded last week, another much-awaited annual event of the city — Pakistan Annual Flower Show —kicked off on Thursday.

The 72nd edition of the four-day show, which is organised every year by the Horticultural Society of Pakistan (HSP), opened at the lush green lawns of the AK Khan Park at Sea View. The venue, especially its close proximity to the sea, pleasant breeze, and the mild temperature all combined to create a perfect evening for families who came to attend the show.

Though attendance was thin as the opening ceremony began, the park became abuzz with visitors with the sunset. There were people of all ages and from all walks of life, mostly those who harbour love for greenery and nature.

Speaking at the ceremony, HSP Chairman Fahim Siddiqui said the menace of Covid-19 was finally over, making it possible for events like this to take place. “The day is very beautiful with just the right temperature, the air is pleasant and life is returning to normalcy,” he added.

Siddiqui said the country was going through testing times as the economic situation was not so good. Last year, floods destroyed around 900,000 houses with a total loss brought on by the disaster calculated at around Rs9 trillion, he shared, adding that floods, glaciers melting and recurrent heatwaves were all impacts of climate change.

He pointed out that there were four existential threats the world was faced with and climate change was one of them. He explained that the basic reason for climate change was the use of fossils fuels that led to carbon emissions forming a layer that trapped sun heat close to the earth surface.

The HSP chairman said Pakistan’s contribution to carbon footprint was 0.8 per cent yet it was among the 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change. He emphasised that the solution lied in cutting down emissions.

He said there were billions of trees that kept our environment fresh, adding that a grown-up tree absorbed 22 kilogrammes of carbon and released 118 kilogrammes of oxygen in a year, and human beings had not been able to develop anything with such a capacity. He remarked that the previous government’s Billion Tree Tsunami project was the right step in the right direction as increasing forest cover was the best thing to reverse the effects of climate change.

The Karachi corps commander was supposed to grace the occasion as the chief guest but he could not attend due to personal engagements. Sardar Yaseen Malik, one of the guests of honour, spoke on the occasion.

The speeches were followed by award of prizes for the best gardens. Beautiful and colourful floral arrangements were a sight for sore eyes. Besides, there were many club stalls, including HSP’s Ladies Horticulture Club, Ikebana International Karachi Chapter, the Amateur Gardeners’ Club, the Sogestu Study Group, the Indus Sogestu Study Group and the Pakistan Bonsai Society. There were also stalls of succulents, cactus, handmade pottery, and arts and crafts.

Dr Nusrat Jamal minding the Karachi Sogestu Study Group said, “Ikebana is a Japanese art of flower arrangement and there are three schools of it in Karachi: Ikenobo, Ohara and Sogetsu that have different style. The oldest of them is Ikenobo while the most modern is Sogestu.”

She added that the group held classes and exhibition. “At this show, we have all the arrangements on display in the sculpture form,” she said. At the Amateur Gardeners’ Club, Shazleen Wahidy said all their members were amateur gardeners. “We select a theme every year and create an environment with arrangements around it. This year’s theme is sustainable gardening that stays relevant for long,” she added.

A visitor, Uzma, said she had been visiting the annual flower show since her childhood. She added that the exhibition should be held two to three times in a year as some of the speakers had said at the inaugural ceremony. “You feel relaxed here. Flowers are beauty of our city and we should showcase them,” she remarked.