Climat and tempretaure

Climate:

      The district has a tropical desert climate. In summer, when it is too hot during day time, the nights are remarkably cooler. April, May and June are the hottest months during the day. December, January and February are the coldest months. The mean maximum and minimum temperature during this period are 28°C and 9°C respectively.

    There are wide fluctuations in the amount of rain fall from year to year and the yearly average for some areas is as low as 100 mm. Most of the rain falls between July and September, during the south -west monsoon, and is often concentrated in a period of two to three days.

Temprerature:

Average temperature (Centigrade) and precipitation recorded at Umar Kot, a part of Thar

Month        Max.                 Min.                    Precipitation in mm

January     25.6                   7.6                                            1.00

February     29.5                   10.7                                          2.00

March         35.3                   16.6                                          1.00

April           39.9                   20.7                                          1.00

May            42.4                   25.0                                          1.00

June           40.8                   27.3                                         10.00

July            37.2                   26.8                                          50.00

August       35.1                   25.8                                          76.00

September   36.2                   24.2                                        23.00

October       36.4                   20.1                                          5.00

November    32.3                   13.9                                          1.00

December    27.4                   8.7                                            1.00

Source: Meteorological Department, Government of Pakistan, Islamabad.

The above table shows that the best months to visit Thar are December, January and February.

Major Seasonal Ponds (Box item)

 Kerally, Chansary. Bhalwah tobho,Chhachhi, Unand ji trai, Paderio, Gudray, Rana Ser, Katho, Mithi, Sangha and Lorai

Water deposits in these ponds remain maximum to seven or eight months. There are many other small ponds that become dry with in a month or two.

Main Professions:

Woodwork, wool-weaving, leather work, jewelry-making, cloth-dyeing, embroidery, snake-charming, agriculture (in a few parts), herd-grazing

Some customs and traditions:

   The common life style in Thar is based on joint family system. All three generations; grand-parents, parents and children prefer to live under one roof. However, the men and women have divided out-door and domestic responsibilities among themselves according to their ages and skills. Main duties of the men in the family are ploughing the fields, animal-grazing, weaving and house-construction or other money-earning actvities whereas the women responsibilities include bringing water from the well or pond,

 cooking, washing, maintenance of house, thread-making, embroidering, knitting etc. The  money earned through any means by anyone is the common property of the family.

The daughter is given more respect and honour. If someone swear upon his daughter’s head, it considered more valid than any other swear. The Hindus and other non-Muslims settledown the engagement of their daughter in her childhood where Muslims go for daughter’s wedding in her adult age without giving any importance to her consent, age-difference or financial status. Mostly close relatives, family circle or caste is preferred for weddings even in Muslims too. Muslims have also acquired another tradition from Hindus that they wed their daughter and son in the same family together. If a daughter is married to a family with no girl, it has to pay some money to daughter’s father. If a family has no son to get married in replication then daughter’s father gets married with bride’s sister. Boy’s family celebrates the wedding by singing songs and beating dhol (the traditional drum) while girl’s family remains grim and no such activity is seen there. The wedding procession goes on well-decorated camels to girl’s house. In case of Muslim bridegroom’s death, the younger brother weds to the bride whereas Hindus have no such tradition and the widow cannot have her other marriage rest of his life.

If someone passes away in a Muslim family, they put on black dresses, women break their bangles and start weep-n-cry together. They mourn for three days. The Hindus shave their heads and mustaches and put on an unstitched cloth on their heads for 12 days of mourning. At the end of mourning in both religions, meal is served to family, relatives and neighbours after offering some prayers for the soul of dead one. Muslims have their graveyards but Hindus burn the dead-bodies and throw aches into sacred ponds and whirlpools.

Adopting a son by issueless families is common in Thari Hindus. They celebrate it like weddings by singing songs and beating drum in a crowd of relatives. The ownership rights of man’s property goes  to the boy, adopted by him.

Water and housing in desert:

        The rains play a vital role in the life of all parts of Thar as the water deposits in tobas (small ponds) are used for drinking, washing and other purposes. These tobas are the only source of water for animals and human in most of the desert area. Just for this reason, major portion of the  population lives like gypsies. When a toba comes to dry, they move to the next destination around the water-filled toba. The human settlements are mostly found near the Karon-Jhar hills where two seasonal streams flow but not in all the seasons. The underground water is rarely found in Thar desert. If luckily found, after digging a very deep well, it comes out quite sour and putrid. Simply undrinkable. Sometimes fortune do knock the doors of the Thar inhabitants, when sweet water comes out of a very deeply dug well. Then the housing units start increasing around that well. Digging the well is not so easy a number of times,

 it claims the lives of the well-diggers. According to 1980 housing census, there were 241,326 housing units of one or two very small rooms. The degree of crowding was six persons per housing unit and three persons per room.

For most of the housing units (approximately 76 per cent), the main construction material of outer walls is unbaked bricks whereas wood is used in 10 per cent and baked bricks or stones with mud bonding in 8 per cent housing units. A large number of families still live in jhugis (one room housing units formed with straws and thin wood-sticks). The wind storm proves these jhugis unsustainable all the times. But the poverty leaves no other option to these jhugiwalas (people living in jhugis).

Rivers and Streams:

Rivers and Streams:

  There is no river or stream in the district. However, in Ngar-Parkar there are two perennial springs named Anchlesar and Sardharo as well as temporary streams called Bhetiani river and Gordhro river after the rains