Muhammad Bin Qasim Park: Poker faces and cupids scar Sukkur park

The park has turned into an open-air casino with small groups of men gambling across the lawns.

SUKKUR: Muhammad Bin Qasim Park in the centre of Sukkur should be teeming with families, shrieking children and smiling women. But instead, the green lawns are scattered with small groups of men hunched over their cards. As if that wasn’t enough to keep the families away, young men lounge about, busy on their cell phones but not busy enough to look up and pass a lecherous comment if a woman happens to walk through.

Almost always, their voices rise when a woman walks by. “Janoo, don’t worry so much, mein hoon na [I’m here for you]!” The talk is sweet but it’s hard to tell if it is for the girl at the other end of the phone line or the one who is just walking by. “I love you so much, jaan! I miss you so much that I cannot sleep at night!” The card-playing men are regular visitors who choose the best spot and spread out a blanket. Add to this cigarettes and a steady supply of tea.

“Aaj lagta hai bhabi sey jhar kha key aaye ho [Seems like you got a walloping from your wife today],” a player teases his friend, who replies, “No yaar, it has been 20 years since we’ve been married. Abb to baat bhi kum hee hoti hai [we barely talk anymore]!”

The players burst into laughter.

Another man in a group calls out to the tea vendor. “Oye chottay, four cutting [half a cup of tea] le aa!”

But it is not all about winning money. Little moments of humanity often slip by.

“Muhammad Ali, why are you so quiet? What’s wrong?” an elderly man asks a young man who is sitting with his head bent, plucking grass morosely.

“Nothing, chacha [uncle]. My daughter is sick and I don’t have money to buy medicine,” he replies.

“You didn’t get any work today?”

“No, chacha.”

“That’s not a big deal,” the elderly man pulls out 100-rupee note from his pocket. “Go get medicine for your daughter.”

The taluka municipal administration spent a huge amount of money on the renovation and upkeep of this park. It built walkways and a jogging track since this is the only recreational spot for families in the city.

It used to be a popular place with women and children but now the gambling men, who often break out into abusive language and the young, gawking Romeos have turned it into a more exclusive kind of a park.

While the police do take action against the card players every now and then, they always return the very next day.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2011.