RAWALPINDI, Feb 3: For fish vendor Waheed Ahmed, a weekend means good business. This Sunday, however, turned out to be a blessing as he sold all his stock by the afternoon because of the rainy weather.
People thronged to fish shops to enjoy the rainy day with fried and tawa fish. The sale of fish increased after the weather became chilly, especially after the rain.
The residents of Rawalpindi woke up to the wet Sunday as light rain started at about 4am and continued till filing of this report at 9pm varying from drizzles to showers. The chill in the air forced the people to stay in warm rooms. They preferred fried fish to other items available with the eateries.
“I want to have some different food at the weekends to enjoy it with my family. So, I prefer to bring home fried fish because it is good for health,” said Munir Ahmed, at Saddar.
Another citizen, Mohammad Irfan, said due to the rain he did not take his children to a park this weekend and preferred to get some warm food for them.
“I came to buy fish for my family,” said Mohammad Naseer, a resident of Committee Chowk. He said his family mostly wanted fried fish during rainy days.
“People from different areas come to enjoy fish on Sundays. But today all my workers are busy in frying tawa fish which is selling like a hot cake,” said Waheed Ahmed, the fish vendor at Saddar.
He said in routine he sold out all his stuff by late night but today due to the rainy weather he was running out of the stock even in the afternoon. “I have to purchase more fish from the dealer to meet the demand till the evening,” he said.
Anwar Sultan, another fish vendor at Committee Chowk, said the sale of fish increased in winter, especially during rainy days.
He said people mostly came to enjoy fish with their families and friends.
In the meantime, other traditional items at Saddar and Commercial Market also pulled buyers. People also started enjoying traditional winter delights like Doodh Jalebi, Gajar ka Halwa, chicken corn soup and Kashmiri tea. These items are also in high demand particularly on Sundays.
Meanwhile, the Met Office said temperature in Islamabad and Rawalpindi was recorded at six degree Celsius. The federal capital received 12mm rain while in Rawalpindi it was 11mm.
The Met Office forecast scattered rains/thunderstorm till Tuesday. “Heavy rains are expected in the next 24 hours and another cold wave will hit the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad,” an official said.
Meanwhile, the rainy weather created problems for air passengers as it caused a delay in about 12 flights. Two flights to Peshawar and Sialkot were cancelled.
According to officials at Benazir Bhutto International Airport, the flights were delayed by 40 minutes to an hour due to the rains and poor visibility.
