Though, as always, little late but Sindh gov. finally has moved and according to GEO TV “SHOs of 12 police stations have immediately been suspended here on Tuesday after the police failed in controlling the tense situation continuing in the city for the last three days”. Dont know if this is done as per competency or political affiliation but all we can do is hope . . .  read more

Just after the attacks in Mumbai Indian leadership started (their media jumping 10 steps ahead) pointing fingers at us, specifically Karachi. In his TV address their top man warned of consequences if appropriate measures not taken (”there would be a cost if suitable measures are not taken“). I take his words very seriously since I trust Indian leadership more than my own, when it comes to words. Though majority sees the current situation in city in an ethnic context, is there anyone who is willing to give a thought to an outside plan? Yes, I know its way too early so that’s why it’s a question. Any media report etc. especially if anyone was caught by police for interrogation? Are they starting the ignition and our people following innocently/deliberately?

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Situation in the country or the globe isn’t the greatest but it is sad when you catch something like this. This is the roundabout that sits in on the intersection in between DHA, Gizri and Clifton and a man sitting in the middle of the city’s busy streets is a rare sight. Read more

A few days back Dawn had reported from a press release issued by the Karachi City District Government that our 36-year old mayor was ranked as the 2nd Best Mayor in the world along with Berlin’s Klaus Wowereit, and Chongqing’s Wang Hongju.

But what has suddenly turned into an embarrassing situation for the CDGK, is when Joshua Keating an editor of Foriegn Policy Magazine revealed in a blog post that we never ranked him in any way. This entire mess could have been avoided with some very basic fact-checking and now in response the Karachi City Government has also scrambled to edit its own website to quietly amend its text to reflect the changed position
Read more

One hears so much hoopla these days whenever something controversial happens. Financial situation has gotten worse, many banks are rumoured to be closing down and cutting down operations, while commodity prices are reaching new highs. A lot of budget cuts are happening in case of brands, cancellation of campaigns, concerts and what not.

It was a high time that an event happened to shake this town a bit. Seventh Lux Style Awards did just that. Shook up some people and created lots of controversies.

LSA was postponed in August to be held in Karachi at the DHA Golf Club on 29th Oct, 08, with much razzmatazz and security precautions. Whatever and however the event was organized, one has to give credit to the brand for going ahead with the event even when every head in the industry was going this way and that.

I’ll steer away from the controversy wagon about who wore what and said what. That’s just an industry thing and happens all the time (e.g. Gia going bald). What I will review on however is: how I was blown away by the performance of Reshma,–a very well known Punjabi folk singer–Atif Aslam and Shehzad Roy. Their fusion performance received a resounding round of applause. Reshma also received the Lifetime Achievement Award and candidly accepted the fact that she could not speak English and would prefer commenting in Punjabi.

Yes, there were lulling minutes, when the power went down; heck, it’s Karachi after all! At least the audience didn’t have to wait for the ceremony to start for hours. Shaan and Ali Azmat did fitting anchoring of the show along their female cohorts. And for the first time, students from NAPA and NCA were recognized and four outstanding students (two each from NAPA and NCA) were awarded Unilever Scholarships.

Continue for a complete list of winners: Read more

The people of Karachi suffer yet another shock as the HBL cantonement branch of shahra e faisal was totally looted by two men who entered it at around 8pm on sunday night wearing uniforms of HBL security staff, tied the guards up and used gas cutters to break into 66 lockers.  These robbers got away with sacks full of millions in cash and jewelry.

What is really weird is that these incidents are happening with more frequency in this city and yet the government or the bank authorities seem to be totally helpless in this situation. Obviously robberies have happened before and will continue to happen but imagine what a customer goes through when their entire lives saving, jewelry and cash not to mention the dollars they hoarded recently dissapear one fine day. Banks do not offer compensation more than 10 lac Rs per locker and this can result in a major loss!

We can all only indulge in caution and pray that such an incident does not befall us. Remember keeping all your eggs in one basket is always maximum risk.

Full story Dawn

Throughout this Ramzan i have been wondering where all the people of Karachi are? There has hardly been any traffic on the roads during the evening hours, except for after midnight when everyone suddenly throngs the roads and everything gets jammed from 12 - 2am.

Therefore I was quite pleasantly surprised yesterday when i visited a Bayan at Gulistan E Anis by Dr Shuja and found the whole place jammed to the hilt. There was no place to sit and cars were parked outside for miles. After Dr Shuja explained the verses of the Quran he was translating for all, I got talking with a few “regulars” and found out that apparently Karachi has had a lot more people flocking to these darses and religious gatherings throughout the month. In fact one of the people I spoke to even mentioned an issue with mosques having no more space for people who want to sit in “Eitikaf” during the last 7 days of Ramzan as all of them are full.

This is obviously a good thing because Ramzan is meant to be a month of prayer and forgiveness but I still got the feeling that due to the economic and security situation of our city a lot more people are turning to religion.

When one finds no help from earthly sources one turns themselves to the heavens I guess. Speaking of turning to heavens the full moon party will be on shortly in Karachi and in all other cities of Pakistan in the form of the Roohate Hilal guys looking for the moon in our skies. Which begs the question, why are so many ill sighted people on the Rooh ate Hilal committee anyways, all i see on this committee are people with thick spectacles and portly stomachs. Plus they can never agree on when Eid will be and normally every city in Pakistan has its own eid.

Well whenever it is i certainly hope it is a happy one for all, Eid mubarak Karachites & the entire team at KMB!!!!

Last night when i was in gulshan sitting late night with friends we were discussing how the whole city seems a frustrated psycho mob. And yes politics had to be the center topic. Going for a change, i was searching for some serious jokes in newspapers this morning and here i found one (”The minister assured the governor that the water and power secretary would be in Karachi on Monday and take steps to improve the situation“). The minister hoping something even a prophet wouldnt commit. Because Prophets dont commit on abnormalities. Moving on, here is one MASTER JOKE i found from past. This post is just to share some such serious jokes about KHI in political context since i find there is hardly anything worth smile in this city these days. And the price hike in Ramazan was just the last nail in coffin we were waiting for.
NEWS, July 2005 :[ The water plants would also be installed in Karachi, said the president who was confident that the entire country would have safe water by 2007. He told the gathering that provision of electricity in all parts of the country by 2007 was among the government’s priorities . . ]
In coming days (weeks,months) i am very hopeful that the same statement will be repeated by Mr. Zardari (who is by the way much worried about Kashmir than Karachi these days) whenever he visits Karachi. The circus goes on and on . .

Usually when Ramzan starts the streets of this city, or the main shopping streets at least light up with festivity. Eid which follows the month of Ramzan is basically one event which every single family in Pakistan celebrates according to their own means.

However such is not the case this time as people in Karachi whatever class they belong to are so badly hit with inflation (around 27% since june) that they can hardly afford to make ends meet let alone go around spending on new things for Eid.

This off course translates into disaster for the retail sector of our cities economy as ramzan is supposed to be peak season for everyone from the corner grocery store to the bangle walla to the shoe shops to the brand name stores etc etc.

We have already lost almost all of our cities industrial sector due to bad governance and a worsening security situation plus high costs of doing business. If the retail/consumer sector follows next I wonder what will be left in this city of ours??

The streets are deserted at night and the city of lights is darkened by despair, will there be someone to save this dazzling metropolis???

well, ramzan are here and everywhere you go, you see a flock of people shopping at the last minute for sehri and iftaar and general grocery items.

myself and family being amongst the lot, we decided to head for makro for the month’s supply of groceries. to my surprise, the huge store was flocked to the brim so much that it seemed impossible to traverse inside.

once the hunt for parking was over, i set upon the search for a cart, as the security by the escalators cleared that carts were impossible to find. i went back to the parking area hoping to snag a cart as some shoppers stack their cars. however, i soon found out that all the carts were already booked by the time they got to their cars. so, i moved towards the main entrance, only to find out that the situation was the same.

as i moved closer and closer to the escalators, i realized that the carts were actually booked inside the store. new shoppers would come out with the leaving shoppers, follow them to their cars, help them unload and go back inside for their shopping.

i decided to leave at this time as i had spent a good half hour with no success.

what’s your experience of ramzan preps going on?