A family that plays together stays together

Especially when they are playing water combat during the Aqua Festival at the Sunset Club

KARACHI: It is a Sunday well spent when families have something fun to do together. "A family event is hard to find these days," says Shaheen, head of The Whole 9 Yard (TW9Y) and organiser of the Aqua Festival at Sunset Club.



Families, including kids and elderly persons, thronged the club and indulged in intense water and dirt fights. Water gun stalls surrounded the main lawn area as parents went about purchasing water guns for their children, only to be sprayed moments later by the recipients of their generosity. Kids, loitering around in shorts, seemed uncannily trained as they went about hunting for targets among the people who preferred to stand away from the frenzy, watching the show unfold from a distance. Twice or thrice one could feel water, at times mixed with mud, being sprayed on one's back, only to find that the culprits had disappeared, moving on to their next victim.



Shaheen said that the idea of organising an event like this every year is to have fun with a purpose. The funds collected from the stalls will be donated to both the underprivileged and to an elderly home so that they could spend the coming Eid more festively. "We wanted families to come out of their homes and have fun. It is healthy entertainment for all. Remember a family that plays together, stays together," she said.

Neelofar Zakaria, a member of the club, said that although the water fight is a must-have every year, the pools are a new addition. "No, no I am fine here. There is too much water out there in front," she said, declining the idea of going towards the stage area where a major water combat was in progress.



On another side of the lawn, people tired of the deafening music and water frenzy, roamed the stalls laden with food, readymade clothes, jewellery and other collectibles. Among these stalls, Kiran Imran was introducing her homemade frozen, shami kababs. "The special thing about these shami kababs is that they have more meat and less pulses in them," she said appreciatively. "Elsewhere in the market, you will find it the other way around."

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31st, 2015.