Remember that scene from Vanilla Sky with Tom Cruise in an empty Times Square? Well, if you’re a Cruise fan and have danced around your living room in your underwear, Karachi’s roads offer a chance to sample the cavernous emptiness a la Cruise every sunset. Stop in the middle of a road; get out with your mates and play an impromptu game of cricket; zigzag in your car; lie on your car’s bonnet and ponder the mysteries of life – you can do whatever you want for a good half hour every evening.

Good news for all the girls! :)

Ravissant Salon, in Clifton, near SZABIST is offering free haircuts.
The offer is valid only till Saturday, 11 am to 3 pm.

Call 021-5370808 for an appointment.

It’s a special Ramadan promotion, the haircut is excellent, done by experienced people.
It is done impeccably with all the extra services, shampooing, conditioning, blowdry et al.

There is a talk of free hair color in the third week of Ramadan,
so keep checking the metblog for details! :)

Everyone talks about most economical iftaar dinners offered by restaurants around the town. But I am interested in the most expensive ones. A reader pointed out Copper Kettle costs around Rs. 550. Do you know any place that costs more? Let’s see who wins this one.

FIR: Members of a student group have lodged an FIR reporting kidnapping of their associate in Karachi University on Wednesday.

Police said that complainant Mujahid Rasheed reported that his associate and member of the Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba, Sulaiman, was taken away by members of a rival student group, Jeay Sindh, from the campus.

As reaction to the kidnapping all classes were disrupted in between and canceled today. The security measures of Karachi University have gotten strict. The main gate was closed not allowing any buses inside or students without their University ID cards. Private cars have long been restricted entrance without a gate pass.

Student parties have been a part of Karachi University for as long as anyone can remember. They also have a history of bloodshed between them. While things have gotten peaceful for the past few years in terms of bloodshed, fights and cancellation of classes remain fairly common.

The security measures of Karachi University have gotten strict over the years and get stricter with every incident that might lead to violence. At best, things between these student groups are tense. At worst…well one never knows quite what to expect.

So this month in Karachi quite a few of the restaurant and cafe chains appear to be open through the night. Papa John’s, Pizza Hut and Costa are the few that I know of and the staff are friendly enough to let you stay beyond the closing time. A warning though: the staff will coax and cajole you to order stuff and before you know it, you might struggle to pay the lease on your car.

Two days before Ramadan I was waiting at the signal installed on the main Shahrah-e-Faisal to crossover to Tipu Sultan road. I was on the right hand split of the road created to insure a free flow for the traffic which goes straight, when suddenly a car moved in from the extreme left lane and swiftly negotiating a left u turn joined the opposite flowing traffic on the same road barely missing a car. The policemen hardly had time to even blow the whistle at him.
(more…)

The government claims to have taken a hard line towards sellers who are profiteering from raising prices of commodoties despite the city government fixing the prices by imposing fines on them and the opposition is crying foul play.

Decidedly the government probably won’t curb the rising prices much but one has to say that they are trying. And by setting complaint centres they’re doing something and taking some action. While the initiative taken is the right one, whether it’ll work is doubtful. The opposition on the other hand has decided to slam the government’s efforts like always where as they should have worked together with the government to control the rising prices. Do the vows of the opposition parties include a clause that says that they shall not support the government in any endeavor no matter how beneficial to the general public, come what may?

And while we may talk about people who fast or don’t fast, or the spirit of their fast, the fact remains that there are people in this city who are fasting and yet they dont have enough food on their table to open their fasts. And if the government’s initiative helps some of them then it would have atleast have done some good.

That said, has there ever been a drive where the government set up sehri/iftaar centres for the poor?

For the past few days ive been hearing that our great city Nazim, Mr. Mustafa Kamal, has ordered that the repair of all damaged roads be completed by October 2, 2006, in order to facilitate higher traffic flows in Ramadan.

It is also reported that the opening up of all major bridges (to what ever extent possible of they are under construction) has also been ordered.

So far I have seen the road turning towards Karsaz Road from Dalmia being carpeted and many sections of the road from Johar More to Jauhar Chowrangi being repaired.

Oh, and last week, midday at 2 pm, they started reparing holes near the 2 talwar intersection and completed by 6.

Any roads in your area under some urgent form of repair? please post here and let us know.
Disclaimer: I have no confirmation of any such order, but have heard a few radio broadcasters discussing this.

Ramazan is a month that provides us lots of opportunities to build a strong character. How many of us actually take advantage of it?

Roza teaches you to be patient. I witnessed people violating traffic lights as always.

You are supposed to hold your temper while fasting. I saw people breaking into fights during the day.

I heard people using obscene language in the state of roza. Doesn’t Islam teach you to watch it while you are speaking in Ramazan?

The only thing we gave up was eating and drinking. Is the starvation really worth it when we are not willing to give up anything else?

During this month the government has long figured out how to make yet another category of second class citizens – those who choose to exercise the seemingly innocuous right to eat.

Forced to hide in corners, surreptitiously nibbling, puffing or gulping, the persecuted food eaters didn’t have places to indulge their dark art for many years. And in a reversal of roles, it’s the food eaters who would plaintively knock on windows, crying, “Bhai, khaana toh khila do.”

But as sanity slowly returns, it’s good to know that several places are opening up for take away in the early afternoon and that bakeries are opening earlier. If you know of any place that will sell food in the day, post it here. You will at least earn the blessing of Tonacatecuhtli, Annapurna, Rongo, and Uke-Mochi – the gods of food in various cultures.