KARACHI: The week-long third Marigold and Plant Festival organised by the Parks and Horticulture Department of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation opened at the Frere Hall lawns here on Friday. Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori inaugurated the festival.

The green lawns looked lusher with the yellow and orange pom-pom like marigolds giving it a beautiful contrast. Besides the signature yellow and orange flowers, there were also the extra pale or white ones. There were big marigolds and small marigolds though one of the gardeners there, Saleem Masi, pointed out that the smaller flowers are better known as ‘Jafri marigolds’. He also said that marigold, or the gainda as it is called in Urdu, may have a vibrant colour but it has a very mild fragrance.

“The rose is a far more fragrant flower than the marigold. But it is also expensive. Where the small variety of Jafri marigolds cost you Rs50 a pot and the bigger marigold is Rs200 to Rs250, a rose plant will cost you anything between Rs700 and Rs2,000,” he pointed out.

Ghulam Rasool, another gardeners’ overseer, said that the marigold is a seasonal flower with a very short life.

“The marigold season starts from around December 15 and ends by the time the month of February ends,” he said. “So it is best to plant it in early December to see it in full bloom around this time,” he added.

Tessori says it would be better for city if PPP, JI join hands on Karachi mayor issue

Meanwhile, even though the Marigold Festival was beginning on Friday afternoon, there were families visiting the lawns to enjoy the ambience being created by the flowers one evening earlier.

The Director of Parks and Horticulture, Junaid Ullah Khan, told Dawn that the Marigold and Plant Festival has been an annual feature on their calendar for three years now.

“Marigolds in full bloom are spectacular, and even though the festival is said to run for a week, the flowers we have planted here will last till their season ends,” he said, adding that after that this department will also hold other such festivals for other flowers also.

“All flowers are beautiful and have their own significance in religions, too, though flowers themselves are for all to love and admire. Marigolds are used most in Hindu festivals, roses in Muslim ceremonies and jasmine flowers are a favourite with the Christian communities,” he pointed out.

Karachi Administrator Dr Saif-ur-Rehman said there are over 60,000 marigold plants at Frere Hall.

The festival concludes on Feb 3.

Meanwhile, governor Tessori, who opened the festival, said that the people of the city have so many worries and the Marigold Festival offers them respite. “They face gas shortage, water shortage, power outages. Crime is rampant too. There is a need to work for the betterment of people here,” he pointed out.

Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Karachi Administrator Dr Saif-ur-Rehman and Municipal Commissioner KMC Shujaat Husain along with the DG of Parks were also present along with a big crowd of people enjoying the flowers and the cold breezy weather.

“We are all trying to work towards solving the issues of citizens. But we need to work together for this,” the Governor said. “It would be ideal if the Peoples Party and Jamaat-i-Islami join hands here and decide on a mayor and deputy mayor,” he said.

Syed Nasir Hussain Shah opined that it would be great if there is a PPP mayor and a deputy mayor from JI as PPP has come out as the bigger winner in the recent local government elections.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2023