To see two people on a motorcycle, both wearing a helmet is a bit rare in Karachi. You might sometimes spot military police jawans riding a motorcycle together with their helmets on but rarely does this happen with the average citizen. In this incident, the guy sitting at the back is either sufficiently safely conscious or may be he is a biker too who is taking a lift and happened to have a helmet anyway and wore it.

Motorcycle safety is a real issue. I am witness to two separate terrible incidents at my work place both involving technicians meeting an accidents while driving a motorcycle, sustaining head injuries. One of them died, the other one was permanently disabled.

Security requirements for motorcyclist has always been a problem to implement. Apart from lone motorcyclists refusing to wear a safely helmet for a number of reasons – laziness, considering security a burden and helmet theft itself, safely helmet requirement drives have often met failure because some people insist on a waiver due to their wearing of turbans that are treated as religious symbol.

Another problem that appears to be without a solution is wearing of a helmet by ladies. It is almost funny to see the male motorbike driver securely wearing a helmet while the lady companion at the back prone to any possible head injuries. Would an accident involving a motorbike would be selective in causing head injuries to the driver only?

Talent Unlimited DOT COM. As RAJA puts it, “One more reason (why) we love Pakistan”.

Javeria describes how shopping in Karachi translates into lots of headaches, especially due to tardiness of shopkeepers to open in the morning, the practice by shopkeepers of cheating customers out of every penny they can and the lack of prayer places for women which makes offering prayers almost impossible.
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Some open source enthusiast has plastered his Suzuk FX with ‘Learn Linux’ posters from inside the windows.

The Dengue Fever cases are again on the rise after the rain spell. According to Daily Times, 1527 Dengue cases have been reported in a mere 2 month period!

The WHO has also warned that Dengue fever may turn into an epidemic in the next 5 months, as bad as Congo, SARS and Bird Flu if immediate preventive measures are not taken.
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Warid users probably received following text message recently:

Special Comedy play on 25,26,27 Oct.9pm @ Arts council Karachi tickets Rs500-1500 available @ McDonald’s: Tariq Road, Nazimabad, Tin Talwar, Airport. Info 080078601.

I received this message from “Omer Sharif” but there is no one by that name in my address book. Also, I cannot reply or call the sender of the message.

So basically warid is spamming me by sending messages without my authorization. Guess it’s another annoyance that we have to live with it.

And by the way, I don’t know how many people will decide to see the play just by this sms.

(image found on Cloudkhizzy, verified on newsweek.com)

The events of October 18, 2007 have left a painful memory in the hearts and minds of many people. This image, shows what reputation it has brought us as a collective nation.

Thank you very much.

I spotted this somewhere in the city. What is it and where could you possibly locate it?

*note: please keep your comments relevant to the topic and refrain from abusive language and/or personal attacks. all comments not adhering to the KMB commenting policy will be edited or deleted without notice*

Mausiqaar presents an Eid Milan at Royal Rodale on 2nd November, 2007 where Mehnaz Begum will be performing. Charges are 500 Rs per person, dinner included.The ghazal programme starts at 10:00 till mid night.

Umar blogged earlier about how the final one-day international match between South Africa and Pakistan was in jeopardy after the blasts last week, and it has now been confirmed that the match will be played in Lahore instead because of those very “security reasons”. I’ve been critical of teams refusing to travel to Karachi on such grounds in the past, but I’ll admit that in the circumstances we’re faced with now it may be too much to expect the South African players to feel comfortable traveling to our parts.

On their part, at least this time South Africa (or perhaps more specifically their skipper Graeme Smith) did at least make some attempts to shed some of the shallow misconceptions they held about Karachi in their last tour to Pakistan. Their 10 day stay here in the early part of the current tour, when they played both the 1st test match and a pre-test warm up game here, will hopefully mean the South African team go back home this time with a better image of Karachi in their minds; an image that embodies our spirit as a resilient and peace craving city, sadly often tortured and victimised by all sorts of groups with vested interests.