That Boat-Bridge On Indus Poem by Sadiqullah Khan

There used to be a boat bridge some thirty years ago between the cities of Dera Ismail Khan and Darya Khan. The bridge would be tied when the river was in low tide in winters. In summers a steamer S S Jhelum would ferry through. A huge Second World War thing. Now there is a straight concrete bridge over the Indus connectingKhyberPukhtoonkhwa province to Punjab.

Milkmen on floated sheepskin is a commonsight when they carry their milk fromkucha area, the river bed, and swim across to the city, riding their sheepskin and filling it with air from their lungs. They would tie their clothes on their heads and change when the crossing is done.

Shah Latif of Bhit is the early eighteenth century Sufi mystic poet of Sind who eulogized the river and composed his verses on its bank. Sohni is one of the characters of his stories, who was drowned in the river while crossing the river to meet her lover.

Macedonian refers to Alexander the great who traveled down the river. Alexander Burnes was the British adventurer who worked for Eat India Company and had travelled the river upward. Black-eyed damsels refers to the accounts written about him, as he was murdered in Kabul.

Ranjit Singh was ruler of Punjab before the British seized it. He had a formidable army trained by French and Italian Generals.

The name India, and anything like Indian, including the discovery of Columbus, calling his new world India and the inhabitants Indians, arise from the name of the river.