Sunday, December 10, 2006

Shah Balut? It's a pine tree!

By Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman - The News International - Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Tuesday, October 17, 2006

After the write-up on the park a number of people called to say that Shah Balut was a sufi saint; a local philanthropist and so on but the most sound explanation was given by a gentleman, Ijlal Haider Zaidi, who said the name means 'Pine tree' which is obviously correct as a few old pine trees are still standing there.

Now who would have thought a tree would have such a human sounding name -- though we often borrow the names of plants for humans -- so I guess I and many others can be forgiven for thinking it was a well known personality!

Anyway, what I said about honouring our local personalities in a proper manner still stands as there are other places which are not named after trees but local heroes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nope. Its the name of OAK tree in Urdu. Its not pine.

Unknown said...

Pine is Sanober or Cheerh
CEDAR is Deodar
Shah Baloot is Oak

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Shah Balut? It's a pine tree!
By Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman - The News International - Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Tuesday, October 17, 2006

After the write-up on the park a number of people called to say that Shah Balut was a sufi saint; a local philanthropist and so on but the most sound explanation was given by a gentleman, Ijlal Haider Zaidi, who said the name means 'Pine tree' which is obviously correct as a few old pine trees are still standing there.

Now who would have thought a tree would have such a human sounding name -- though we often borrow the names of plants for humans -- so I guess I and many others can be forgiven for thinking it was a well known personality!

Anyway, what I said about honouring our local personalities in a proper manner still stands as there are other places which are not named after trees but local heroes.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nope. Its the name of OAK tree in Urdu. Its not pine.

Unknown said...

Pine is Sanober or Cheerh
CEDAR is Deodar
Shah Baloot is Oak