Every city has an essence. Every city has a flavour. Every city has a heart, that, although completely different from the rest of the city, still defines it in a strange yet powerfully potent way. As far as I am concerned, for me, that is the I.I. Chundrigarh Road.

With so many offices and so many people working in them, the road seems as if it is alive. It pulsates with the activity going on in all the hundreds of offices on its shores, on its footpaths and all the lanes open to traffic. It has the feeling of being in a major powerhouse. Buzzing with the creation of power. It breathes. The ebb and flow of traffic feels like the breath of a titan ready to charge at any moment. The road reflects in the city’s spirit. Always on the go, vibrant, confused and hectic. The traffic moves in the most amazingly indisciplined way but even then manages to pass by very smoothly. Somehow, like life in the city, order has come out of disorder in an amazing way.

A thousand people with a thousand lives working in a thousand offices sitting in a thousand cars going to a thousand homes in a thousand neighbourhoods and all of them waiting at the same traffic light at the end of I.I. Chundrigarh Road to turn green at six every weekday. Seems like the whole city has wrapped itself into a tiny space.

Ok, guys. Here’s the real deal. The first survey/poll at metroblogging karachi.

I am compiling a list of things to devour and where to go to get the very best of it. At present, the list is incomplete. But not for long. With your help we will complete it, and add more items to it. Soon it will become a source of reference for those who believe in getting the ultimate quality when it comes to eating out.

So here’s what you have to do. Go through the list below. If you think you can contribute to any of the items, leave a comment. For example, if you think best pizza can be found at not pizza hut but some other place, tell us more about it. If you think there needs to be an item that is missing, let us know about it. I shall update the list every month based on your feedback.

This experiment depends totally on your participation. So help us to make it a success.

So without further adieu.

Best Ice cream - McDonald’s hot fudge
Best Burger/sandwich - KFC’s Zinger
Best Kabab roll - Hot n Spicy
Best Pizza - Pizza Hut’s Chicken Tikka
Best Nihari - Nihari Inn, Boat Basin
Best Biryani - Student’s Biryani
Best Chaat - The place opposite Nimko Corner, Saddar.
Best Shake - Gilato Affair
Best BBQ
Best Karahi Gosht
Best Coffee
Best Cold coffee - Gilato Affair
Best Shawarma

Looking own at the recent entries makes karachi look like a food city.Another addition to this chain of restaurants would be ‘hot n spicy’.Located on main khayaban-e-shamsheer,hot and spicy is a famous breakfast spot for most of the people around,especially students,who can afford the place any given day.The rolls are totally yummy and addictive.The variety of flavours is endless.From ‘chicken cheese’ to ‘garlic mayo’ to ‘malai chatni’ to what not roll.The place is usually jam-packed with people of all ages most of the time.It’s opened till pretty in the night which adds to it’s plus points.All in all,hot n spicy is your place to be at if you’re looking for some scrumptious breakfast,lunch or dinner.

For more information:
Hot N Spicy

The two week long spring is over. The nine month long summer has arrived. Seasons have a completely different meaning in the city by the Arabian Sea. They are either short and fleeting with lingering memories or long and permanent with strong impressions that cloud our every thought of the city. The Mangoes have blossomed and their flowers litter my driveway, to be picked up, sniffed and rejected.

Summer in Karachi means a steady, warm, humid wind blowing in from the west. It has its own smell, one that I have to come to associate with summers. It has its own taste. It has its own feeling. Like a sudden gust of cold wind on a hot day. Yes, I think it is the wind, suddenly one day, it has all these characteristics, and I know that summer has arrived; not to leave for months. And my companion in the summers, the amazing sea breeze, that I have come to associate this city with.

Along with summers comes another thing. The scents of all the flowers that bloom all of a sudden. The Raat ki Rani, the Motia, the Chambeli. The warm, humid atmosphere suddenly accentuates their fragrance a thousand fold. I feel a waft of each one of them, distince and strong, as I cross my lawn to get to the gate. I remember each and every section of my lawn by the smell that punctuates it into different parts. It is the progression of fragrances that leads me into or out of my house.

As soon as I enter my house there is only one thing. Fans, turned on, full. The three fans in the hall all make a different, distinctive sound, just as if they were different people with their own voices. They all throw air at me in strong gusts. Summer for me means entering my house and being greeted by their sounds and their actions. Tired and sweaty I enter my house, into the cool embrace of my fans. Whose voices stay in my memory every day I am not with them.

As you might have realized. I love summers. I might say something completely opposite to this when I have to endure days of an electricity less life, but, remember then, that this now, is what I think of summers, when I am sane of mind and thought.

Mobilink seems to have crashed lately. I read an item in the newspaper about the network going down from Thursday night, and it seemed that nobody was able to make phone calls or send messages for much of Friday. I had already planned to go get a Telenor account, and I did, so I’ll have to test it for the next month and see if I prefer it. I hear Warid Telecom is coming soon to Karachi, but it will be interesting to see how the prices drop once the big foreign guns come in. Mobilink already dropped their prices in response to the Telenor offerings! But over the next three weeks you’ll probably see all sorts of telecommunications errors and messups; blame it on the planets.

Tariq Road McDonalds Drive-thru is probably one of the most hilarious High-tech joints in Karachi. When you pull up to the parking lot huge signs direct you towards the Drive-Thru window and a smiling face inside the small booth greets you for your order, you later settle your bill issued by a high-tech cash register you assume that the order has been electronically placed into the system. The cashier asks you to pull ahead, with a puzzling look you search for the delivery window, don’t worry none exists. In the confusion you catch a guy sneaking out of the delivery booth and running to the main kitchen, he soon returns to your parked car with the order in hand.

They could probably do with a few waiters standing outside and not go through the stage show but NO !! as then it would look too much like Kaybees. McDonalds has an image to carry

Chinese Food is one of the most favorite cuisines among Karachites. This is quite obvious from the number of Chinese restaurants flourishing in the city. The most popular among them being China Town, near Bilawal House, though my personal favorite is Ming Court located opposite Jimmy’s Studio in Khadda Market. Part of its appeal is that it offers something different from the usually oily and masalaidar desi cuisine which we normally eat. Far from the authentic Chinese taste, they have successfully managed to adapt the taste to cater to the local palette.

After a brief interlude above 10,000 the Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index had gone below 10,000. So, it would seem that the five figures were not all that sustainable in the short run. But it will in the long run. Oh, it will.

I remember betting Rs 200 in March 2003 that the market will cross 3000 and that it is not overinflated. I won the bet. I did not bet again, since I myself was not that bullish. But things seem to have been different.

The market is only an indicator of the immense positive sentiment and the immense economic machinery gearing up to boom. It is a feeling that is physically palpable if you go to Saddar or I I Chundrigarh Road. Let us see how things go.

So who wants to bet about the market level in the near future? Will it hit 11,000? I am ready to bet Rs 200 yet again and make a petty fortune?

It seems as if Shahrah-e-Faisal will no longer be known as the busiest road in Karachi. Rather, it seems that the road should now be dubbed as Shahrah-e-Mobile. Drive down Shahrah-e-Faisal these days and you’ll know what I mean. First up, you see an Instaphone billboard, advertising, next you’ll see tons of small Jazz billboard, in a horrendous red and yellow color. Drive further up near FTC and Iman Ali laughs at you from another huge Jazz billboard. Cross the FTC signal and voila! Its the new player in town - Telenor. Also if you look at the right side, you’ll see a GO CDMA and a Ufone billboard. On the left hand side is of course - Paktel! Tell me, do these cellular phone companies really think they’ll manage to hook customers by turning the city’s skyline into a game of ‘lets put up the highest billboard ever’ and make citizens who adore their city get extremely terrified of a huge billboard falling on them during a windy day?

Paans (betel leaf)have been karachi’s speciality for ages.Every nook and corner of the city has it’s own ‘paan ka khoka’ or in other words,a paan shop.Even though Dadi jee key paandaans have been reincarnated into candy dishes and ice-cream bowls,the thought of having a meetha or khushboo wala paan,after a scrumptious meal at Bundoo Khan’s is as luring as ever.The spirit of paans has sure been kept alive by our bus and rickshaw-walas who seem to chew paan all day long and leave the proof of it over foot-paths and pavements.But even then,eating a juicy,tantalizing paan,on a summer eve by the seaside can be highly delicious.The silent crunch of the coconut,the sweet flavour of the colourful i-wonder-what,and the syrup melting over your tongue like honey glazing gravels is a seductive experience which,for some time at least,makes you forget the worldly worries and just think of the slice of paradise in your mouth.So,paan anyone?