THE intensity of humidity in the Capital can be best measured on the evening walk, when one does not see too many familiar faces as on any regular and pleasant day.

In Isloo, the definition of socializing is different from that of other big cities. Gathering at a funeral procession of a serving bureaucrat’s spouse, an evening walk at a particular place at a particular time, and of course the dinners and functions enjoyed at the cost of the tax-payer’s money, all come under true socialization in Islamabad.

As the summer vacations come to an end and schools begin to reopen, the residents can be seen returning home. The upper class is settling back after the summer (a very hot one this time) spent in Europe, whereas the middle class is driving back from Nathiagali. Being a small town, the absence of even a few socialites makes a difference, giving it a deserted look. Fund-raisers, catwalks, concerts and exhibitions, which had come to a halt, are getting geared up for the coming season. It started with the Nomad Art Gallery and a joint exhibition of landscape and figurative paintings by Irish artist, Fiona Torrence Spence and the Islamabad-based Tabassum Rizvi.

A student of Mansur Rahi, Tabassum’s paintings are in oil and express her freedom of expression. Her lavish use of thick paint gives her strokes a bold touch, adding richness and movement to her paintings. Fiona’s vibrant paintings, on the other hand, pay a glowing tribute to the stunning natural beauty of the Capital’s surroundings and the Northern Areas. Fascinated by the gorgeous mountains and countryside, her landscapes of the Hindukush, tent pegging and bull racing are results of her keen observation.

Margalla Hills, its flora and fauna, and quiet and serene atmosphere is quite conducive to creativity and inspires artists, poets and writers. Old stone walls of the Saidpur Village and the narrow lanes which are remnants of Hindu, Sikh and Muslim periods around Kuri Village, attract painters and relate the history of days gone by in gray and blue ochre colours.

“When I first moved to the Capital in 1974, I concentrated on landscape exclusively to capture the inspiring and motivating beauty of this city. Its colourful seasons, particularly autumn when it burns with red, yellow, orange, crimson and brown hues, with occasional touches of sap green, remind us of the cycle of life,” says landscape painter Ghulam Rasul. “It appears that all colours discovered in nature over the world have gathered in Islamabad,” he adds.

Always on his toes, prepared with his brush and paints like a photographer’s camera, Ghulam Rasul misses out no moment to capture the changing mood, time or colour of the city. Pointing to the present monsoon, he says, “Sawan Bhadun presents green of great multiple varieties, Jacarandas, Amaltas and Sumbul trees blossom one after the other, and shed blue, purple, yellow and red petals which keep this glorified garden (Islamabad) very much alive even in hot summer.”