Everyday, I have to pass through one of the major arteries of Karachi. The main road through Golimar. It connects all of Nazimabad, North Nazimabad and everything north of that to the main business centres of Karachi and other southern areas of the city.

Suddenly some people decided that the road has to be built, actually is was in a pretty bad condition. They closed the whole road and ripped it up to start making it from scratch, I completely support this as well.

The problem started when the work started. Work is progressing very very slowly and that is exactly why it seems as if this road building will take another month or so. I am happy that eventually the road will be a lot better but noone I have talked to has been happy with the speed at which the work is progressing.

Frankly, I have never passed that road and seen any kind of work being done over there. There are all kinds of mechanical equipment lying across the length of the road but I have never seen even one of them moving about.

At the same time everyone who used that road has to use another VERY heavily traversed road, Jahangir Road. Causing severe traffic jams due to which everyday I have to spend at least fifteen minutes more in horrible traffic to get home. I hope this gets resolved soon.

This situation actually shows the extreme level of incompetency of the management of the whole road rebuilding process. We can only hope that people learn from this experience and next time proper thinking is done before a project turns the lives of the citizens of this city into hell.

Welcome to the graffiti capital of Pakistan.

Karachi during the day is filled with smog. Traffic, pollution, bad days at the office, all come together to make you wish you could escape to another land, far far away.

But when the night descends, Karachi becomes the City of Lights. The traffic is still there, but King of Self is blaring on the radio, your tummy is full from the diet strawberry ice cream and you look towards the horizon, and see the lights. And you smile, because Karachi will always be home. If nothing else, the twinkling lights will always remind you that.

A friend of mine in the US was feeling home sick and also wanted to show some pics of her neighbourhood to friends so i took these snaps and sent them to her, thought it would be a good idea to create a collage (thanks to Picasa) and share it here. The pics of particular interest are the ones of Metropole Hotel (top right corner ). They were taken about a year back when i had come to know that the hotel had been sold and i noticed part of the building had its windows removed and the entrance broken. The coffee shop at the hotel used to make the best Fish n Pastry and will be missed at our family get togethers.

Sometimes I think about the wide variety of contrasts that I see everyday. Huge mansions with expensive cars coming out of the driveways having ascetics sitting on the grass waiting for some light to shine on them.

Me going to Bandar Road / M A Jinnah Road and first getting grazed on my left rear view mirror by an expensive and a very new Honda Civic. And then later on on the same road having my right rear view mirror grazed by another.

After feeling very very sorry for my car the whole day I tried to return home in the afternoon rush hour. I saw this Donkey cart taking dirty clothes to be laundered.

We do indeed live in contrasts that would boggle any mind that sees.

One of the greatest things about Karachi, amongst many many others, is the fact that it is home to Zainab Market, the shopaholic’s paradise. Where you can shop till your heart’s content, and yet still have money left over to buy bun kababs.
(more…)

Today it was a little less cold. Matter of fact, the day was pretty pleasant. However, the moderate weather turned out to be paradise for mosquitos. It seems as if the city belongs to them and we are just stopping by for a short visit. And soon we will be consumed by these blood sucking whistling needle headed creatures.

None of the insect killing tactics prove to be useful. Resistance is futile. There is only one way that is guaranteed to kill these little beasts. Use your hands. That’s right. Unless you don’t crush the insect between your palms, it will keep bugging you in sleep. So what if your neighbours think you are having mehfil-e-qawali at your home. Everything is fair in war. And that too war against the biggest enemy of mankind.

My blood is too precious. I am saving it for other important tasks, like if I have a fight with my girl friend’s brother, I am sure to shed some. There is no way I am gonna let these mosquitos enjoy the taste of it.

I know what you’re going to say, corporate sellout/amreeka is the enemy/multinationals are eeevil and so on, but hear me out. Although I would agree with the facts that they overstuff their burgers with various crunchy veggies instead of meat and the place is flooded with children on most days, McDonalds is actually one of my regular haunts for a couple of weeks now for two reasons:
(more…)

Since food seems to be the flavour of the week (a bad pun is a sad, sad thing), I thought I’d pitch in with my current favorite food joint: the Pizza hut mobile at clifton beach.
(more…)

One of my favorite restaurants in Karachi is Lal Qila. Situated on main Shahrah-e-Faisal, it is modeled after the 16th century Shahi Qila in Lahore that was built by the Mughals. The restaurant serves scrumptious Pakistani cuisine, alongwith a number of Western dishes. While their food isn’t as oil-laden as the more famous Village restaurant at Seaview, the true fun of dining at Lal Qila is the ambience. Call me a romantic, but it actually seems like we’re dining in Mughal times and I often feel like I should be wearing a gharara and balancing a peacock on my arm.
(more…)