How do you avoid it?

For a majority of people in the city, who live in gulshan side of the city, and work in I.I Chundrigar/Clifton/S, this is not a problem, but for the other half, those who live on the clifton side and work on S.F or gulshan side of the city, its a very dangerous proposition going back home around sunset. SF faces due west, which means, whenever the sun sets, its right in your face if you are unlucky enough to be driving towards metropole at the time.

How do you avoid the glare of the sun and see where you are going at the same time? Till now, my personal favourite has been to use the sun visor, but at times, even that doesn’t work, and like today, i end up bumping the motorbike in front of me.

Spotted this ‘almost giant’ fan installed in a mosque in Defense. Two such fans have been put up to serve the open veranda of the mosque and it appears that the fan have been manufactured locally. The six wings of the giant fan are driven by a remote motor by means of a belt and the system is equipped with a magnetic switch. I could not see the fan in action from a close point but they they appear to be running without much noise from a distance of fifteen meters. Have you seen any similar big fans for any other purposes? I guess they can soon become common for ceremonies that take place in tents on the road during hot weather.

Looks like quite a few questions have sprung up regarding the campaign. I’ll try to answer them here in this post.

Q: Is this campaign the brainchild of KMB authors?
A: No. T2f director, Sabeen Mahmud, came up with the idea soon after the October 18 bomb blasts. We at KMB are merely a part of the campaign, as are a whole load of other people, because we’re citizens of Karachi.

Q: Why have a campaign at all?
A: The masses need to be involved in the process of taking control of their own city. This is OUR city. It does not belong to so-called politicians who come to roost here occassionally.
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The City by the Sea has beaten the rest of the country for the top slot on the literacy rate ladder, according to statistics mentioned by the Pakistan Millenium Development Report of 2006.

In 1998, Rawalpindi was at the top slot, followed by Karachi, Lahore, Jehlum, Gujrat, Sialkot, Quetta, Chakwal, Abbottabad, and finally Gujranwala rounding off the top 10 most educated districts in Pakistan. Seven years later, however, the positions have changed slightly. Karachi now holds the top slot, followed by Rawalpindi which has slipped a notch.

Lahore has maintained its position at number 3, while Chakwal has moved up four places (from number 8 to number 4). Gujranwala is up five places (from number 10 to number 5), Jehlum and Gujrat have dropped two places to numbers 6 and 7 respectively, Quetta has dropped one place to number 9, while Sialkot has dropped a whopping four notches to number 10 (from number 6 in 1998).

[Credit: Daily Times ]

[Disclaimer: Irrelevant, off-topic and abusive comments will be slashed / mutilated / killed mercilessly. Follow the rules. ThanQ.]

Yet again Karachi is in the midst of terror and violence. As citizens and stakeholders we have decided to raise hell and make a nuisance of ourselves. What we are aiming to do is to express our outrage and let our leaders know that we have had enough.

Join us is our struggle to reclaim the city of lights

Here is what you do to participate

1. Wear a black arm band to work or school everyday for the week
2. Change your Facebook picture to the black ribbon
3. Put a black band on your blog or website
4. Come to T2F on November 1st at 7:00pm to hear a young woman’s experiences about reporting from the front lines
5. Join us for a peaceful protest at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday November 3rd at 6:00pm

Event Website : http://www.t2f.biz/karachi/

Sign up for the facebook event to also show your support or download the campaign poster

Have we become that cowardly a nation, that we now have to let the air out of someone’s tires to let out our aggression? Yesterday, while performing an errand on Tariq Road, i parked my car in a small side lane taking care to press my car as much into the sidewall as i could to let other people pass. When i returned, i find one of my front tires is flat!

First, it used to be this guy in my apartment building, who didn’t like me or where i parked my car. So he would leave me a gift of letting me change my tire every morning till i just got fed up and parked on the opposite end. Now, this happened.. I mean, where is decency any more! Next thing you know, someone would have bashed your car or break your windows if they don’t like you. As our morals decay on a daily basis, a bashed up car doesn’t even seem that far fetched.

Follow-up Question: Whats the worst act of passive aggression you’ve faced (or doled out) while out on the road? (Passive aggression is something someone does intentionally but in non-threatening manner to piss you off)

*note: comment moderation is still in effect! be civil and remain on-topic or be silenced*

On October 21, 2007, Daily Times printed the following story:

Blogs explode with blast reaction

The October 18 bomb blasts on PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto’s welcome rally have already made it to Wikipedia, with updates and an active discussion underway on the article’s ‘talk’ page.

Within an hour of the bombs going off, the blasts were also reported on a number of blogs originating from the city, including Karachi MetroBlogs (http://karachi.metblogs.com ), Adil Najam’s Pakistaniat.com, and Dr Awab Alvi’s teeth.com.pk.

While the blogs provided an analysis of the incoming news reports, commentators grieved for the losses of life, and the degenerating law and order situation in Karachi. ‘Give us a break, and stop doing this to our country,’ was the most common response to posts put up about the blasts. Many quoted Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s couplets, and expressed solidarity with those who had suffered. More…

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With a number of money making rackets floating around in our city, we all know that this mafia also does exist. Private schools open up shop in a residential neighbourhood and immediately become a nuisance for everyone. Same is the case for this group of neighbours who wrote to me today in an attempt to find help.

I am writing to you because our neighborhood (PECHS Block 2) is facing a problem. One of the houses on our street specifically 202/2A PECHS Block 2 have rented out their house to the “Meritiorious” school chain. This will be a big issue for us as we have one school already in the area and having another school will be adding to our misery.

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The Radio Pakistan, Karachi had been of great interest being the first radio station founded by the Government of Pakistan back in 1948. I remember doing a post on it some while ago.

The superstition of fire breaking in the city on Sundays is becoming somehow true when a fire broke out at the Radio Pakistan, MA Jinnah Road yesterday with no casualities reported but reports of the years old furniture being damaged. However the centuries old records were fortunately not harmed.

“A table and chair set that was reportedly used by the first prime minister of Pakistan and two pianos that are supposed to have been used to compose Pakistan’s national anthem are feared burnt among the property destroyed.”
The fire destroyed assets worth millions.

Credit: Daily Times

Documentaries addressing social issues of our society are rare, and a topic to address the issues of the third gender, the eunuch, Khwaja Siraa or Hijra are even rarer. As a matter of fact and as far as my memory serves me I don’t recall any such documentary which may have addressed the social status of the Khwaja Siraa community in our society in depth.

But it all changed at the screening of the documentary “Bindiya Chamkay Gi” at t2f today. Ragni Kidvai the talented young Director and Producer of this short film addresses the issues faced by the Khwaja Siraas of our society through a narrative by Bindiya, one of the bold, and outspoken member of the Hijra Community. Throughout the documentary Ragni’s camera follows this eunuch for a day while Bindiya narrates the difficulties s/he faces in our society.
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