The cry which is going to grow throughout the city this year during ramzan, as it has every year since i can rememberr. Karachiites are known for being very generous, ready to help (most of) their fellow man in the time of need, be it their neighbours or a random dude on the street. This feeling gets intensified during the month of ramadan when piousness hits them fulltime.

This characteristic of karachites is what is then exploited by the thousands of beggars which flock to the city and line the streets every year during the holy month. This year too, we’ll see a rise….

The problem with these beggars is that they’re professionals! And i mean really professionals.. On a typical night, they can earn upto 3 to 10 thousand rupees each, and yet they’re right there, on the road day in and day out. Personally, i dont even feel like giving them anything now, as it is very difficult to figure out which is the deserving and which is the devious. And over the years, they’ve increased a general sense of apathy within me, to such an extent that, five years ago, i couldnt bear to see a beggar go without giving them something, to now when i can easily wave them off, no matter how ‘needy’ they look, and not even think twice about it.

Image Credits: Traveller.org

For the third year running, we are having problems with correctly seeing the moon in order to celebrate Ramadan. Last year, the issue was so intense that the Chairman of the Ruet-e-Hilal Commitee threatened to resign. I was shocked to see him back in his seat this year.

The moon issues raised over the past years lacked credibility because the witnesses to the moon did not have any support from the high and mighty RH Committee. This time around, however, it is a completely different deal.

According to this news report, 18 persons saw the moon in NWFP and the Zonal RH Committee also forwarded these references to the central body, which declined to accept them as witnesses.

Whats suprising, is that we have always heard of the Met Dept being involved in the moon sightings. Has SUPARCO ever been engaged in this process? Should they be?

Also, reader opinions are invited on the moon conflict. Lets not forget that this time, its official.

The long awaited IMEI blocking equipment will finally start operation from September 30th! This system, according to what i’ve heard, was in the works for a very long time, but not all operators were eager to get onboard, and hence was stalling. I guess PTA somehow got them to come onboard too!

What it does?
Makes a cellphone reported as stolen, totally useless anywhere in the country.

How it does it?
The reported IMEI number (which is not changeable on a handset) will not be accepted for service by any of the service providers in Pakistan.

Why should i bother with it?
Hopefully, this should slowly result in a drop of cellphone snatchings, since they will no longer be of any value. Consequently, we may actually be able to carry our cellphones around visibly, without fear of them being stolen.

While featuring Hijaabi women in advertisments and tv commercials is common in middle eastern countries, I believe this is the first time a hijaab clad female has been featured in an advert in Pakistan. Fair & Lovely has been running a scholarship campaign. Theyve been going to college/universities in their quest to award 100 scholarships to deserving females.

Whether the female on the billboard is a hijaabi for real or not isn’t the issue here but the fact that she’s representing the thousands of women who observe hijaab in our society. Women who observe hijaab form a substantial part of our society and yet we see no portrayal of them in our media. Fair & Lovely has taken the first step in changing that.

P.S: The picture was taken from a cell phone camera in a moving car, hence the bad quality.

Dear Valued Customer,

We are proud to announce our brand new service, Total Black Out. This service has been offered keeping in view your demand of uninterrupted service and our problems with that demand. We assure you that we will be providing you with no service at all for an extended period of time. Total Black Out aims at bringing consistency to our services. Let me mention that it is an extremely cost effective service; both for you and us. We will be saving some much needed electricity and our extravagant maintenance costs and you would be saving on your electricity bills.

We are here to cater your every electricity related need and we assure you that all your complaints and protests against us have been catered to with this service and I am sure that you will agree that we have delivered on our promise of uninterrupted service.

It is with great regret that I inform you that there will be a few glitches initially in this service. As with any new service we have not worked out all the problems but we at KESC & WAPDA believed in the dire need of this service in the country. We hope that you will bear with these problems till we work them out. After all it is not easy to ensure uninterrupted service of no electricity nationwide. We also know that you have no other choice.

We tested Total Black Out last night successfully for 6 (and more) hours throughout the country. Consider it our gift to you for the Holy month of Ramazan. We hope to bring it into effect more often and for longer periods of time.

We wish you all a very happy, electricity deprived Ramazan to you and your loved ones. May Allah shower his blessings upon you and may solar energy never replace the need of power. We remain your loyal and most humble servants.

The WAPDA & KESC Management Team.

said armitage sometime back….

They dont have to! WAPDA and KESC are doing a pretty good job of that as it is! 6+ hours of blackout everywhere in the city has just been horrible! I hear its the same throughout the country. God save us during Ramzan.

After the usual Reut-e-Hilal Committee goof-up, Karachi now anxiously awaits to start the Holy Month of Ramadan from tomorrow the 25th of September.

On behalf of the entire Karachi Metroblog team may I wish all the Muslims around the world and Karachi a very blessed and peaceful month of Ramadan. Please remember us in your prayers and also pray solemnly for the continued progress of our country when wading through the rough waters of Globalisation. Ameen

Do check out the Ramadan Kareem Blog (PkBlogs Proxy) and also get the entire Ramadan Schedule below
(more…)

So, here I am typing this post in dark and scorching heat, minutes before Isha prayers and Taraveeh, marking the start of the holy month of Ramazan. We don’t need to be bombed to stone age. We are getting there on our own.

These cute and colorful cars are a part of a BTL (Below The Line) advertising campaign by “SLANTY”. I spotted them a few days back and instantly they grabbed my attention. These cars are filled with packets of different flavor of the snack they are promoting and when I reach near one of these cars they allow me to try their product.
(more…)

to grace the advertisment world here in Karachi with the infamous telefun “Kaun Banega Crorepati” campaign, and it seems like he has proved that indian actors endorsing stuff in Pakistan is an effective technique. And why would it be? Most of us have grown up watching the indian cinema more than our local programming/movies. The next actor, now gracing billboards all over the city, thanks to SonyEricsson, is Arshad Warsi! (btw.. who’s that next to him? cant rem her name or anything for that matter).

Who’s next to be featured in Karachi by the ad world?