My sister went to French Beach yesterday and told me about something wonderful. She said that a company has gone on a private venture and sponsored a team of lifeguards to patrol the beaches. They put out a job ad for the positions, got 300 applicants, and accepted 150 of those. A team from New Zealand came out to train them, and they’ve been kitted out with all the equipment including boogie boards, towers, rafts, and so on, and they can be seen on the beach, especially Sunday, in black and yellow uniforms. They are everywhere except on Clifton Beach. Now this is progress!

Zainab Market is a life-saver.It really is.Everytime one is low on cash and in need of a trendy pair of jeans and a shirt,Zainab Market becomes the answer to his prayers.Located in the chaotic,busy vicinity of saddar,zainab market is full of hustle bustle all day long.There’s denim,shirts,shawls,jackets all available on pretty cheap rates.In order to find quality stuff,you need to scan and dig through a lot of clothes but by the end,you’ll be one happy shopper.So if you’re the kind who need a new pair of jeans for every hang-out,zainab market is your place to be at.Light on the pocket,heavy on the style;)

I’ve always loved visiting bookstores and Liberty Books is no exception. The salespeople are friendly and knowledgeable, very helpful and kind (if a bit woozy at times, but they work long hours). The Liberty Books branch at BBQ Tonight is making attempts to become more cozy, with some chairs and sofas for people to sit and browse through books before buying. I even heard the hiss of a coffee machine last night while I was there but I didn’t see any coffee - maybe it was just my imagination. But a full-fledged coffee bar/shop/counter in a bookstore would be so lovely, don’t you think? Also, I wonder what happened to the Alternate Bookstore in Boat Basin. It’s been shut for months and shows no signs of reopening. And that was my favorite one!

The mercury is rising and everyday it feels like Karachi will simply evaporate into a little puddle. Of course, since that’s an unlikely possibility, there are a number of steps everyone should follow to avoid falling sick in this ‘lovely’ Karachi heat:

1. Drink lots of fluids, especially water.
2. Make sure you stay out of the sun in the afternoon otherwise you WILL get sunstroke.
3. Do not over-eat. That and the heat will just make you sick.
4. Don’t eat road-side food items in the day. They’ve been lying out in the direct sun for hours and God only knows what state they’re really in.
5. Carry a deodorant with you 24/7. This does sound stupid but the recent Mausummery Lawn exhibition has convinced me that the major portion of Karachi aunties are still unfamiliar with the concept.

Today I was complelled to write this post, when I was a witness to one of the most irrtiating sight of Karachi traffic. Right in the midst of peak rush hour some idiot gets a flat tire, we all get a flat tire once in a while, but mind you this is an idiot with CAPITAL letters as he takes the test of his intellegence a step further.

Mr. IDIOT stops the car immediately at the spot of the incident which conveninetly happens to be the fast lane of Shahrah-e-Faisal, with approximately a few hundred vehicles bumper-to-bumper stuck behind him. One might ask Mr. IDIOT to push the car to the side, but our extremely intellegent driver logically deduces that it would be a crime to destroy the tire and starts waving the cars behind him to wiggle past him as if he does not exist. Steps out of the car and calmly changes the tire.

Who cares about the traffic jam, or for that matter getting killed in the process, the tire is more important.

Vent your anger here, I have…….

Milk shops here are starting to diversify and are offering services not normally associated with them. Just yesterday I noticed this one milk shop with two counters, one read Lassi (a drink made with yogurt and sugar) Counter and the other Ladies Counter.

Pizza Hut has finally opened a branch at Zamzama. This should help ease up the load on the Clifton branch, it always used to be packed. From what I heard the Clifton branch is the highest revenue generating branch in Asia. I wonder if that will be the case any longer.

The All Breed Championship Dog Show is taking place on the 23rd of March 2005 i.e. tomorrow. Entry is free - the location and timings are as below:

Venue:
Kennel Club of Pakistan grounds
Opposite Bilawal House
ST-9, Block 2, Clifton
Karachi

Timings:
4pm - 10pm

An acquaintance recently brought the subject of stray dogs in Karachi to my notice. According to her, there are nearly 100,000 stray dogs in Karachi, and the civic authorities being the absolute idiots that they are, have decided to kill the stray dogs with guns and strychnine poisoning. Barbaric is too kind a word for the civic authorities in question. Not only that, they’ve even asked the public to help shoot stray dogs in exchange for cash.

For the love of all things holy, there are other ways to deal with stray dogs, especially rabies-infected ones. The least the authorities can do is revive the RSPCA and build a shelter for the care of stray animals. Then again, when beggars sleep on the streets daily unchecked, what do you expect them to do about dogs? Nevertheless, please be friendly to our canine friends (especially men, you know how the adage goes), and stop anyone whom you see shooting at stray dogs.

Does anyone know anything about this project? like where it starts and where it will lead to, or even how long it’s going to take? The lanes in Bath Island and behind the Alliance Francaise have turned into a major nightmare now that the road from Teen Talwar to Schon Circle has been blocked. I have no idea what the authorities are up to. Although on second thought we complained like hell about the Shahrae Faisal/FTC flyover and that turned out pretty good in the end. But still, I wish I knew more about the underpass… and I hope all the trucks and tankers get buried in it one day.