Anarkali....You are in full bloom....

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It is almost the end of the spring in Abha – and yet all plants are still in full bloom. The pomegranate commands my love and respect. If you asked me why, my ready answer would be: I don’t know. But the question remains for me to answer for myself so I dig deep to find the reason.
    
      My infatuation with this plant and its flowering plumage has turned six this beautiful spring. We started out as nodding acquaintances, but our relationship has ripened into an inseparable intimacy. She has never let me down. As I walk by the orchard, tended by an elderly Pakistani man, she greets me with all her twigs in a nodding gesture, no matter if I stop by for a chat or not. I stand in awe of her beautiful visual appeal, her richness in nutrition and her wide use in natural healing, all of which have made her name mentioned in almost all the scriptures of the world religions.

     Anar is the Urdu word for pomegranate, and anarkali انارکلی  is the word for its blossom. It seems to me the most romantic of all flowers, more so than the rose. Not only that, but it is also present in the heavenly abode. The word has been appropriated into fashion and dressmaking in India. However, it first brings to mind one of the most romantic characters in the legendary tale immortalized in the Bollywood movie Mughal-e-Azam. 
The movie tells the love story of Crown Prince Salim and one of the court dancers in Mughal Darbar. Anarkali, born Nadira Begum or Sharf-un-Nissa, was a slave girl, believed to have been from Iran originally and to have migrated to Lahore in present-day Pakistan with a trader's caravan. The crown prince, who later became Emperor Jahangir, used to call her Anarkali, showing his passion for her. His father, Emperor Akbar, didn't approve and they fell on hard times, as happens in many great love stories. In one of her masterful dance performances at Darbar she sings:
 "I haven't stolen anything but just loved ... so why should you fret about me?"

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