We’ve talked about all sorts of foods and desserts available across the city.

What are your favourite tea spots?

How many “Quetta Unnabi” hotels have u seen…and whats your style when it comes to tea??

What about Parathas??

Some critical views were made about the dead pitch in Lahore which was a batting paradise scoring upwards of 1100 runs in the four days the teams played. The blame game started immediately after the match was drawn, the coaching staff and Captain blamed BCCP and they in turn blamed the wicket craftsmen. We all kept our fingers crossed hoping the Faisalabad wicket would prove to be some sort of a match winning pitch but as the players come off for tea. The batsmen have again enjoyed a mardi gras party scoring a massive total of 1600 runs until tea of the 5th day and still counting.

Critical to the Pakistan team – I remain puzzled as to why they continue to bat beyond tea with a massive lead of 400 under its belt, it seems as if they planned for a draw well before lunch on day 5 and had no intention of making it a match for any reason, it was simply treated as a round of net having the *Indians* bowl to them. Whatever the motive I feel they should have declared with a lead of 300 and have a run for the Indian wickets. After tea the Indians have shown their frustration by having their wicketkeeper Dhoni come to bowl, more as a show of frustration indicating to Pakistan that this is a lost cause.

We now only await the pitch status at Karachi and hope that the one day series would be a thriller and not a bore, maybe a pitch better suited for our pacers, would make the game tempting to say the least, Karachi One-dayer is the last of the series and I sincrely hope that Karachi match could be series decider.

and put ‘em in the tree museum…

This is what I saw at SF on my way to work this morning. First they grow all the trees, then they cut it like paper. Then they grow ‘em again, all in the name of progress!

According to this news report, the traffic police in our city seems to have recieved a large dose of motivation and determination to enforce the rule of law!!

Lets hope it stays that way instead of harassing people!

Wow! What serendipity! Discovered this fascinating montage of Karachi on Google Video. Enjoy!

About: Abby ka Karachi
Summary: A video record of Abby’s trip to Karachi, Pakistan
Director: Abby Knickerbocker
Duration: 5 min 13 sec
Date (creation?): May 15, 2005
Permanent link: Abby ka Karachi

No more speculation, the Bryan Adams concert tickets finally reached McDonald’s outlets across Karachi. I myself got hold of a few tickets from McDonald’s Tariq Road. The tickets are reasonably counterfeit proof as they are not paper based but made on those plastic coated cards (Like Jazz cards) with a security hologram and bar code included.

The purchase was not all that clean-cut-smooth as I was lead to a table along with an ARY rep who had me fill out a few forms. The sales rep informed me the only way to buy tickets was for me to apply for the ARY Sahulat (Sucker) Card and I had to surrender my contact details (ID card number & Phone numbers). It really sounded like a scam to gather as many customers into the scheme via a popular event, (ARY is a major sponsor but I feel the card should not be compulsory but should be an option). The sales rep kept on ranting that the ticket is technically *free* as the 3500 is only a security deposit towards the card, only refundable after you spend Rs 100,000 on the Salhulat Card (WOW- what a deal). I almost had the inkling to walk off but those tempting tickets held me bolted onto the chair.

The guidelines say that the gates will open at 3:00pm and close at 7:00pm (Sharp) I honestly doubt they can ever follow this timetable – my guess is the concert will barely start by 10:00.

Recommendation to other potential concert go-ers I would ask you to give the sales rep a run for his money and try to get those tickets without getting stuck in the ARY Sucker Card. Thumbs up if you succeed

Let really make this a night to remember Karachi

Can the huge, undistinguishable boulders be removed from the Lasbela bridge please? They were placed there around 3 days ago to mark the upcoming construction of a flyover. I noticed them the same way most drivers did: they jumped out of nowhere in the dark, and we had to skid slow just in time. Thank God for the trickle of traffic, or we were sure to bump in to cars from the back.

But we were the lucky ones. Not so lucky were many motorcyclists and car drivers that drove straight into the giant rocks which are marked only by a bare 1inch thin reflective tape.

It would be useless to point out what a grossly insensitive and thoughtless thing it was to place barely marked boulders out in the middle of a busy bridge. Many people have had accidents, and last night there were hastly marked and equally obnoxious “speed breakers” (read: car bumper breakes) to slow down the traffic. But it’s not working. People are still crashing into the boulders.

PLEASE REMOVE THE BOULDERS, and think of a human-friendly marking for the arches of the new flyover.

After reading Huma’s post, I made a trip to the APMC…and boy was it FUN!!!!!!

I managed to get there at about 9 pm ish….and had the opportunity to watch a group of young singers display their talent, followed by another young artist, who did a solo “khayal” with his harmonium.

The of the senior, more professional artists, one of the most enthralling performances of the night were put up by Ustad Abdul Sattar Tari on the Tabla, along with Ustad Nafees Ahmed Khan on the Sitar.

Although 2 performences, one by Sara Zaman, and another by Ustad Naseeruddin Saami, were, in my opinion, slightly boring, but the rest of the performanced truly ROCKED

All this topped off by a rocking performance from the Mekaal Hassan Band.

Truly, an evening well spent into the night!

Just got home at 4.35 am in the morning…

Were any of you there? your comments? opinions?

Wow, I didn’t even know there was a cable TV chaos going on in the city. Never noticed it. That’s one advantage of not watching TV, among many others. Now I really feel bad for those who spend hours every day glued to their plasma TVs. And it’s kinda funny too. You don’t realize how much you depend on something until it’s gone. Reminds me of the internet blackout days. Now those were really hard days for me.

Most of you would already know that the All Pakistan Music Conference is taking place in Karachi right now at NAPA / Hindu Gymkhana – I think its a great event for classical music enthusiasts to attend, and the fact that its happening in our very own city makes it extra special – today’s the 2nd day, those of you who wish to attend can check out the schedule here. And be sure to take a shawl / sweater along if you’re going, the event is being held in the courtyard, so things will get pretty chilly at night. Entrance is free, so one won’t have to pay an astronomical sum to hear good music :)