Sindh Culture

 The culture of Sindh ( سنڌي سڀيتا ) has its roots in the Indus Valley Civilization. Sindh has been shaped by the geography of the largely desert region, the natural resources it had available and the continuous foreign influences. The Indus or Sindhu River that passes through the land, and the Arabian Sea (that defines its borders) also supported the seafaring traditions among the local people. The local climate also reflects why the Sindhis have the language, folklore, traditions, customs and lifestyle that are so different from the neighbouring regions.Sindhi culture is also practiced by the Sindhi diaspora.

 The roots of Sindhi culture and civilization go back to the distant past. Archaeological researches during 19th and 20th centuries showed the roots of social life, religion and culture of the people of the Sindh: their agricultural practices, traditional arts and crafts, customs and tradition and other parts of social life, going back to a ripe and mature Indus valley civilization of the third millennium BC. Recent researches have traced the Indus valley civilization to even earlier ancestry.

Archaeological discoveries

Mohenjo-daro

Archaeological discoveries sometimes help to unfold the certain latent aspects of a specificculture. The excavations of Mohenjo-daro have unfolded the city life of a civilization of people with values, a distinct identity and culture. Therefore, the first definition of the Sindhi culture emanates from that over the 7000-year-old Indus Valley Civilization. This is the pre-Aryan period, about 3,000 years BC., when the urban civilization in Sindh was at its peak.

Ranikot Fort

In Sir Mortimer Wheeler's book,Civilization of the Indus Valley and Beyond, it is said that; "Civilization, in a minimum sense of the term, is the art of living in towns, with all that the condition implies in respect of social skills and disciplines." When people speak of Sindhi civilization, they have to concern themselves, mainly with the material and concrete side of human habitation of which Sindhi culture is the only essence called the superstructure.The present day Sindh, along with the Northern part of the Indus Valley Civilization (around 3000 to 2500 BC) is located on its urban civilization.

Ranikot Fort is also a landmark of the Indus valley civilization. It is the world's largest fort, with walls extending to 20 km. It has been called a "second Wall of China", and it attracts many visitors.

Sindhi language is an ancient language spoken in Pakistan and many other parts of the world. It is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by approximately 41 million people in Pakistan, and 12 million people in India; it is the second most spoken language of Pakistan, mostly spoken in the Sindh province. It is a recognized official language in Pakistan, and also an official language in India. Government of Pakistan issues National Identity Cards to its citizens only in two languages; Sindhi and Urdu.

History

Sindhi language is ancient and rich in literature. Its writers have contributed extensively in various forms of literature in both poetry and prose. Sindhi literature is very rich, and is one of the world's oldest literatures. The earliest reference to Sindhi literature is contained in the writings of Arab historians. It is established that Sindhi was the first Eastern language into the Quran, when it was translated in the 8th or 9th century. There is evidence of Sindhi poets reciting their verses before the Muslim Caliphs in Baghdad. It is also recorded that treatises were written in Sindhi on astronomy, medicine and history during the 8th and 9th centuries.

Poetry

Sindhi poetry is also prominent in Sindhi culture. Poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. Sachal Sarmast is very famous amongst all of Pakistanis. Regional poets are Shaikh Ayaz, Ustaad Bhukhari, Ahmed Khan MAdhoosh, Adal Soomro, Ayaz Gul, Abdul Ghaffar Tabasum, G.N.Qureshi, Rukhsana Preet, Waseem Soomro. Many Sindhi poets are doing their poetry work continuously.

Music

Main article: Sindhi music

Sindhi music has its own unique quality. It is performed in many different ways.Sufi music is performed at shrines, and other simple music is performed atstudios and gatherings.

Cultural character

The ancient Sindhi civilization was the place, where the aesthetic utilization of leisure was freely indulged. There has been evidence, that the excavations of sites dating back to 3000 BC (all over Sindh) is also true, around 1200 years ago when Jaina Dakshiniya Chihna (778 AD) described the distinguished features of Sindhis in this way: "Elegant, with a lovely, soft and slow gait, they are fond of the art of Gandharvas (that is, songs, music and dancing) and full affection towards their country."
Sindhis celebrate Sindh Cultural day world wide on 6 December by wearing Ajrak & Sindhi Topi on that occasion.

Pakistan Hockey Team

Pakistan hockey team has defeated World Champions Germany by 2-1 in the first quarter final of the FIH (Federation of International Hockey) Champions Trophy at the State Netball Hockey Centre in Melbourne, Australia, qualifying for Semi-Final of the grand event for the first time since 2004.

In the backdrop of three goals in as many outings and almost a dozen misses, Pakistan coaches worked all morning Tuesday to make players realize their mistakes. Both the goals by Pakistan were scored by centre forward Shakeel Abbasi.

Germany took the initial lead as German captain Mo Fuerste gives Germany the 1-0 lead nine minutes into action. Pakistan did not manage to put the ball into the nets during the first half until Abbasi strikes two back to back goals for Pakistan in the second half.

The Green-Shirts missed several chances, including three penalty corners, to better the scoreline but held on to beat the much higher placed opponents. This was Pakistan’s only second win in the tournament, after losing against Australia and Netherlands but won against Belgium to ensure a quarterfinal spot.

Earlier, Germany came from behind on Monday to upset India in the last Pool-A match. German coach Markus Weise was all praise for the Pakistan team when he talked to the reporters here at the State Netball Centre

The Champions Trophy Hockey is witnessing the quarter-final stage for the very first time. The format has been changed to keep teams’ interest alive. Besides a place in the semis, the victory over Germany has included Pakistan directly into next year’s Champions Trophy.

In another quarter-final on Thursday, Australia will be looking to beat England to keep themselves on the road for the record thirteenth Champions Trophy title. Pakistan will play winner either Netherland or New Zealand in the grand Final.


History

Hockey was originally brought to Pakistan under British rule, and like cricket soon became popular with the local population.

The Pakistan Hockey Federation came into being in 1948, following the independence and partition into Pakistan and India. Prior to this, players from what is now Pakistan had competed internationally alongside players from what is now India. In the beginning, the Federation's membership included the Provincial Hockey/Sports Associations of West Punjab, East Bengal, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Bahawalpur & Services Sports Board. Pakistan played their first international in London when they defeated Belgium 2-1 in 14th Olympic Games hockey tournament on 2 August 1948.

The first President of PHF was Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan with Baseer Ali Sheikh as Honorary Secretary. The Pakistan national side soon established a strong reputation in international competition, helping to maintain interest in the game in Pakistan which assisted the growth of the Federation. However, no full-time central office or secretariat, as such, was established until the 1960s.

The office of the Pakistan Hockey Federation, located in Gaddafi Cricket Stadium, Lahore, was developed into a Secretariat in 1971. It was during the second term as president of Air Marshal M. Nur Khan from 1978 that Pakistani hockey entered something of a golden age. National Senior, National Junior and Women Hockey Teams were all competing internationally, increasing the work load of PHF Office and secretary Brigadier M.H.Atif tremendously.

On the personal initiative of Air Marshal M. Nur Khan, the FIH introduced the World Cup Tournament and the Champions Trophy Tournament, which are now rated amongst the major international tournaments, alongside the Olympics. At this time, Pakistan held all the major titles in men's international hockey.

However, the 1976 Olympics in Montreal had seen the introduction of artificial turf to international hockey competition. Pakistan was unable to build as many of the new pitches as the European nations or Australia and New Zealand and so the strength of the national side declined. It was after a lapse of 12 years that the Pakistan Hockey Team again started climbing and won the Champions Trophy and the World Cup with Air Vice Marshal Farooq Umar as president and Colonel Mudassar as secretary of the Federation.

Fancy Pigeons

"Pigeon" and "Dove" redirect here. For other uses, see Pigeon (disambiguation) and Dove (disambiguation).

For pigeon species familiar to people around the world, see Feral Pigeon, Domestic Pigeon, and Rock Dove.

Geographic range of the Columbidae Family

Pigeons and doves constitute the bird family, Columbidae, that includes some 310 species of near passerines. They are stout-bodied birds with short necks, and have short, slender bills with fleshy ceres. Doves feed on seeds, fruits, and plants. This family occurs worldwide, but the greatest variety is in the Indomalaya and Australasia ecozones.

In general, the terms "dove" and "pigeon" are used somewhat interchangeably. In ornithological practice, "dove" tends to be used for smaller species and "pigeon" for larger ones, but this is in no way consistently applied, and historically, the common names for these birds involve a great deal of variation between the terms. The species most commonly referred to as "pigeon" is the Feral Rock Pigeon, common in many cities.

Doves and pigeons build relatively flimsy nests from sticks and other debris, which may be placed in trees, on ledges, or on the ground, depending on species. They lay one or two eggs, and both parents care for the young, which leave the nest after seven to 28 days.[1] Unlike most birds, both sexes of doves and pigeons produce "crop milk" to feed to their young, secreted by a sloughing of fluid-filled cells from the lining of the crop. Young doves and pigeons are called "squabs".

Pigeons and doves exhibit considerable variations in size. The largest species is the Crowned Pigeon of New Guinea, which is nearly turkey-sized, at a weight of 2-4 kg (4.4-8.8 lb) The smallest is the New World Ground-Dove of the genus Columbina, which is the same size as a House Sparrow and weighs as little as 22 g.[2] With a total length of more than 50 cm (19 in) and weight of almost 1 kg (2 lb), the largest arboreal species is the Marquesan Imperial Pigeon, while the Dwarf Fruit Dove, which may measure as little as 13 cm (5.1 in), has a marginally smaller total length than any other species from this family.[2] Smaller species tend to be known as doves, while larger species as pigeons, but no taxonomic basis distinguishes between the two.[2]

Overall, the Columbidae tend to have short bills and legs, and small heads on large compact bodies. Their characteristic head bobbing was shown to be due to their natural desire to keep their vision constant in a 1978 experiment by B. J. Frost in which they were placed on treadmills - they did not bob their heads as their surroundings were constant.[3] The wings are large and have low wing loadings; pigeons have strong wing muscles (wing muscles comprise 31–44% of their body weight) and are amongst the strongest fliers of all birds. They are also highly maneuverable in flight.



The Common Indian Dove mostly seen in the Villages of India
The plumage of the family is variable. Granivorous species tend to have dull plumage, with a few exceptions, whereas the frugivorous species have brightly coloured plumage.[2] The Ptilinopus fruit doves are some of the brightest coloured pigeons, with the three endemic species of Fiji and the Indian Ocean Alectroenas being amongst the brightest coloured. Pigeons and doves may be sexually monochromatic or dichromatic. In addition to bright colours, pigeons may sport crests or other ornamentation.

Like some other birds, Columbidae have no gall bladders.[4] Some medieval naturalists concluded they have no bile (gall), which in the medieval theory of the four humours explained the allegedly sweet disposition of doves.[5] In fact, however, they do have gall (as Aristotle already realised), which is secreted directly into the gut.[6]

Pigeons and doves are distributed everywhere on Earth, except for the driest areas of the Sahara Desert, Antarctica and its surrounding islands, and the high Arctic. They have colonised most of the world's oceanic islands, reaching eastern Polynesia and the Chatham Islands in the Pacific, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Réunion in the Indian Ocean, and the Azores in the Atlantic Ocean.

The family has adapted to most of the habitats available on the planet. The largest number of species is found in tropical forests and woodlands. These species may be arboreal, terrestrial or semiterrestrial. Various species also inhabit savannas, grasslands, deserts, temperate woodlands and forests, mangrove forests, and even the barren sands and gravels of atolls.



The Zebra Dove has been widely introduced around the world.
Some species have large natural ranges. The Eared Dove ranges across the entirety of South America from Colombia to Tierra Del Fuego, the Eurasian Collared Dove has a massive (if discontinuous) distribution from Britain across Europe, the Middle East, India, Pakistan and China, and the Laughing Dove across most of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as India, Pakistan and the Middle East. Other species have a tiny, restricted distribution; this is most common in island endemics. The Whistling Dove is endemic to the tiny Kadavu Island in Fiji, the Caroline Ground-dove is restricted to two islands, Truk and Pohnpei in the Caroline Islands, and the Grenada Dove is restricted to Grenada in the Caribbean. Some continental species also have tiny distributions; for example, the Black-banded Fruit Dove is restricted to a small area of the Arnhem Land of Australia, the Somali Pigeon is restricted to a tiny area of northern Somalia, and Moreno's Ground Dove is restricted to the area around Salta and Tucuman in northern Argentina.[2]

The largest range of any species is that of the Rock Dove. This species had a large natural distribution from Britain and Ireland to northern Africa, across Europe, Arabia, Central Asia, India, the Himalayas and up into China and Mongolia. The range of the species increased dramatically upon domestication, as the species went feral in cities around the world. The species is currently resident across most of North America, and has established itself in cities and urban areas in South America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The species is not the only pigeon to have increased its range due to the actions of man; several other species have become established outside of their natural range after escaping captivity, and other species have increased their natural ranges due to habitat changes caused by human activity.[2]