Hello folks. Oh sorry. Asalam u Alikum Ya Taliban & Ya Osama bhai and other Jihadis.

MQM chiefs have reportedly informed govt. of Pakistan (aka PPP and lots of coalition partners) that the threat of Talibanization to Karachi looks imminent. Mildly put, it means that we will all be Taliban sporting lot of things you see at National Geographic programs which are on Afghanistan. You will also like to blow up school girls, like Mama Parsi, and other brilliant places of education; you would also like to keep doctors away from your wives (one won’t do); you would also like to throw away your camera as photography is not much appreciated by them (never mind Osama bhai always gives video interviews). You would, if in case we have MQM replaced with Talibans and Al-Qaeda, also have to replace Bhai Altaf’s photographs, posters, and 90 from Karachi. In place of them we would need lots of Osama shots: Osama praying, Osama marrying yet another woman, Osama praying again, Osama tapping suicide bombers, and Osama doing everything else. Lot of printing jobs would be offered, but to those having flourishing beards, amamas (Arabic term for turban), and wives in tow (I think Jamatias will take away all the jobs!)

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I wasn’t going to post this up until later, but then I saw Afreen’s post on “Wake up and Smell the Rubble”… These were photographs I snapped when I was so frustrated trying to drive through the inner roads of Defence (the Green and Clean), where every major road was dug up.

You may want to argue that we live in a post-military dictatorship or in a crazy democratic state of mayhem, but the sad state of affairs is this - we’ve got more holes in the ground than the surface of the moon, and we seem to be okay with it. There are rallies and walks and protests to release the judges and make god knows what else right, but not one little picket when it comes to the stink and filth that is created around us. Not one worker, not one working bulldozer, and certainly not one protester screaming his frustration with what our streets have become. Read more

i’m sure all of us have come across situations where despite being on the right, have been ridiculed by people who believe they own the roads. maybe some of us are part of that crazy bunch!

2 events in succession have prompted me to write this post…..what hurts me is that instead of feeling ashamed of what they’re doing, they have the guts to actually ridicule the one on the right track!

just this morning, while coming to work, a guy came wrong way infront of Allah wala roundabout and blocked me at the signal, and started shouting at me to move my car. its best that i don’t express my emotions here……

please share your experiences and reactions (if any)….

Finally a place for the teenagers of North Nazimabad to hang out at? Or just another window shopping chance for the area’s aunties. Decked with branded shops from top to bottom, I was forced to think if the shops were considering a revision in prices to cater to the customers in this part of the city. Not saying of course, that people here are any poorer but it is a general perception here that the ‘old money’ in North Nazimabad, is less ostentatious than pull paar affluent.

Serious shoppers still head to Hyderi, that’s exactly opposite Dolmen Mall. Hyderi, too has its own version of shopping mall in the form of Madni Mall. Nonetheless, for all those who used to head to Zamzama for shoe shopping can now find some good brands right here.

This was a MOST fun sight I came across whilst driving through the Punjab colony area, from Clifton, onwards to Defence… A line of cows calmly crossing the street. Me, armed with my camera, of course did what was so natural - stop and click the scene!

Here’s something that never ceases to amaze me. The time it takes a cow, for example, to cross the road, would be enough to get cars and cars full of busy people going about their busy lives,  to honk like crazy. Few people would take the opportunity to switch off their cars and just let the ‘dairy on feet’ pass by. All this riff raff, running around seems a bit… inhuman.. unnatural.

I know I’m sound like quite the oldie here, but it helps to take a minute away from the fast paced life and well… watch the cows go home, every once in a while. And if we let them cows cross the road peacefully, then perhaps one day we will quite rightfully be able to look at a sight like this and say, “Hey Buddy! Mooooo Over, will ya?!”

Price hikes have gone thru a number of transformations - from shocking news, to hurting jokes and finally, now to cruel norms. Prices of essential commodities are shooting upwards but since they are indispensable, their consumption continues. However, this news sounds like a positive exception.

The crazy use of oil and Ghee in our domestic food chain has been at the center of a lot of disorders and health issues in our society. Think of a paratha at a Quetta hotel and you will get a mental image of a crisp red fried peta bread dripping with Ghee. Think of Nihari from a shop, and you would see an inch deep layer of reddened Ghee covering your dish. The lavish use of trans fats is somehow afforded by the labor class as they are generally involved in tough physical jobs but for the rest of us, it is a recipe of disaster in waiting.

As advanced cities move towards altogether banning trans fats, we can hope that this price hike brings down the usage of the bad trans fats.

About an hour ago there were reports of a fire in a building on Business Avenue on Shahrah-e-Faisal. The fire was apparently caused by a generator and luckily the fire trucks have reportedly reached there on time to control the disaster. I still hear fire tucks in the distance but am told that the traffic is crazy, so if you use that section near Lal Kothi (Tipu Sultan) please avoid the area if possible. More updates to follow as news comes in

I am sure the picture above is a familiar scene in Karachi. Getting stuck in crazy traffic jams is an everyday story now.

There are people who say traffic jams in Karachi is not a big deal as it happens in all big cities of the world.

Granted.

Observe the picture of a traffic jam after the jump…
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Saturday night was when a one of a kind event happened! The funny was brought up front and center, right on the stage of PACC. Sami shah, in his second stand up performance, once again rocked the crowd and brought us all down to our knees laughing!

If you know sami shah, you know he’s going to be very predictable.. he’s going to rant, and being a geek, he’s going to rant in a superhero style! (Thank god his undies were the right side up though!) The show started, albeit half an hour late, with a jab at the advertising agencies of Pakistan, who’ve made us think that if we are fair, good things will happen to us. This continue, with various brands being taken down a peg or two, starting with fair and lovely and ending up with state life insurace’s beema policy! 10 minutes into the act, the guy had the audience in stiches!

His next pieces concerned the kind of people who work in banks, the job hunt and the kind of people who seem to have the same career aspirations as him and keep following him from place to place. How he knows that? Cuz they do the same thing, no matter which office he’s in. Up next was karachi’s dug up situation and the crazy 7 hour traffic jams we had whenever our dear ol’ president and the prime minister went to town. The performance ended on how the comic book world was slowly becoming so real, when our real life ‘heros’ (the general obviously) act like batman! mild mannered president by day… and The General during times of trouble!

All in all, it was definitely a performance not to be missed. A bit overpriced, at 400 a pop, but still very much worth every penny, as the over-filled auditorium of PACC would give testament to.
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I had forgotten that little place that has seen more seats in it’s seats than most other places around town. Old fashioned and almost historical, Ampi’s is perhaps best known to people of the generation older than ours, who used to swing by Metropole Hotel for that quick dance gig and hop over to Ampi’s for quality cuisine and cold coffee. Aah yes, Ampi’s is still around, alive and well, and adds to the superbly thrilling day I have had!
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