Karachi |
Flickr’d by Khalid Bin Ismail

It is said that we have an overall turn towards materialism, consumerism as a race and that may be why we as a race appear so cruel and selfish nowadays, seemingly less tolerant. The generations before us may have been no better (probably crueler when you look at human torture, but I wonder if on the day to day interaction level, were they more group oriented than we are today?) I wondered if the new “communications media” were partly responsible for it too. I mean we all say how video games and TV are desensitizing our children but in addition, can we blame our friend the Internet?
(more…)

How’s that for a score!

Out of the HSSC Part II (pre-med) exams held recently, it was discovered that 30 schools in Karachi failed to produce even a single student who could pass the boards! Of the 30, 12 were public sector colleges while the remaining 18 were private sector.

Whether it was a lack of interest on part of teachers or lack of interest on the part of the students, we wouldn’t know, but it does paint a bleak picture of education in the city. I, for one, am of the view that students should not pass based on rote learning or because it gives the administration a good reputation. I believe students should pass based on their skills and on merit, which was something unfortunately not focused on in these colleges.

On the other hand, since none of these colleges had any graduating students, it means lessor competition to others trying out for university admissions, who knows, maybe we might even an actually studious batch of students.

Source: Gulf Times

Where in Karachi will you find the menu shown below?

Mr. Nazim Hussain, a resident of Cliton and a retired professional deep sea diver has been running a small medical aid centre out of a van for the past 5 years in this quiet neighbourood.

He is assisted by Dr. Alam, who spends roughly 3 hours per day, often more, examining patients, analysing their needs, prescribing medicines and dispensing them for free to whoever needs them. Dr. Alam runs a private practice, but comes from Shadman Town to assist in this venture.

“The key word here is need” says Mr. Hussain. His van, that carries this facility, makes it very clear that this is a service for the needy. “I still receive visits from about 3 or 4 people, per day, that walk out of an airconditioned car and ask for free medicine” he goes on to say. Sometimes affluent people bring their employees here to have them checked up, and end up asking free medicine for them.
(more…)

In the newspaper (DAWN) today: “At least 18 people died after drinking toxic liquor in different localities of the city on Thursday” The death count is said to be over 30 now (Geo).

Alcoholism is a disorder in which people cant stop them selves from consuming alcohol. In a literate society people understand the problem and seek professional help but for our poor illiterate masses there is no hope. And to make it worst we ask the licensed liquor to shut down for a whole month, and as a results the alcohol addicts and alcoholics of all religions and cast who cant afford to call their liquor dealer for a home delivery of a bottle of expensive vodka go for the only available “Kupi” and “Tharra” and end up killing them selves.
(more…)

I’m sure we’ve all heard about Michael Winterbottom’s A Mighty Heart, a flim which tells the story of the kidnapping of the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, in Karachi in January 2002. We all have our fair share of problems with this city, insecurity of your life and property, civic dis-functionality, absence of law and order, traffic, you name it. As citizens, we live this reality every day. Yet some how, despite the overwhelming nature of some of these problems, we still feel that the image of Karachi that’s sometimes portrayed in the Western media is prejudiced. Exaggerated to a degree that it fails to represent true Karachi as it is. Ananya Vajpeyi, a write based at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, has wrote an excellent review of The Might Heart, which mirrors this sentiment. First published in The New Statesmen, the article was syndicated today in The News, I’ll strongly recommend every to read this:

What I found shocking about this film, however, was its vision of Karachi. The city is depicted as a frightening and incomprehensible palimpsest of urban chaos, poverty and Islamic terrorism, teeming with Muslim men who are scarily numerous, devoutly religious and horrendously violent. Even the sympathetic “Captain” Javed Habib, chief of the Pakistani CID’s counter-terrorism unit (played impeccably by Irfan Khan), who is sensitive to Mariane’s agonising circumstances, tortures a man almost to death and then, directly afterwards, proceeds to the mosque for morning prayers. It seems we can expect nothing but cruelty in this hellish, baffling place.

(more…)

Im a great big fan of samosa’s, that too the allo ones! Till now, the tastiest samosas i’ve found have been from Dilpasand sweet mart near teen talwar and from Sohny Sweets near the KPT underpass. Which samosas do you find the tastiest and where do you get them?

Note: Mom’s samosas do not count!

Ramadan is upon us, and doing what we Karachiites love to do, we are still eating out.

Just to help people make decisions, I would request all commenters to post good Iftaar / Sehri deals in different restaurants.

I’ll start off:

Nando’s is giving quarter chicken meal with 2 sidelines and 1 drink for Rs 200 + tax (which comes to Rs 230).
Or you could opt for a half chicken meal with 2 sidelines and 1 drink for Rs 300 + tax (which comes to Rs. 345).

When this boy grows up, hopefully as a successful man in life, he would have all the rights to claim he had been through hard times. Still donning the blue-check school uniform’s shirt he wore in the morning, half way through the fast, he is lifting an iron hammer equal or even more than his weight as his senior enjoys a relatively easier task of placing the steel on the right mark.