This happened a few weeks back but it still has the power to shake me up. It was a regular evening for me. I left work at the usual time; little did I know that I would be subject to moral policing par excellence – Taliban style – in the day light and that too in Karachi.

On my way back from work, I was waiting at signal of Hotel Crown Plaza. The driver of the taxi next to me knocked on my window, I thought there must be something wrong with the car or something so I rolled down the window and raised my eye brow in question. It was then all hell broke lose. He went ballistic, first he accused me of promoting promiscuousity by leaving home un chaperoned and then said that we, as a nation, are facing so much trouble because our women have stopped observing hijab and what not. After the initial shock and paralysis which lasted a full ten seconds, I rolled up my window and decided not to listen to his tirade.

The signal turned green and I put the car in motion but that taxi driver decided to teach me a lesson and started following me and banging my car with his hands which was very dangerous in rush hour traffic. It was then I got really scared and decided to stop by next to a traffic police constable who was manning traffic at the signal. I complained to him but he couldn’t help because the taxi driver drove on when I stopped next to the constable. He asked me to wait it out for a few minutes so I parked my car there for ten minutes. After waiting for a while, I too decided to go, but instead of taking the usual route, I took the more crowded route because I was too scared to go anywhere less crowded.

I have lived in Karachi most of my adult life, I love living here but if this is the shape of things to come, then things look very bleak.

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

On the first day of Ramadan it’s 3:30, although more then four hours before one opens the fast with a soft, sweet date still everyone on the road is impatient. Switching lanes, blaring horns, and motorcyclists rushing as if they are on a mad race in a virtual dimension where they have several lives before it’s game over. And cars Screech-halting on every signal and a few even running through the red light. 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)….

This is not a picture warped by a bad cell phone camera or a flash, i just took this picture at 9 pm at the Regent Plaza signal on Shahrae Faisal with my 8 mega pixel camera. The glare you are witnessing is from the insanely giant LCD screen installed right across from a major 4 way traffic signal at Regent plaza in Karachi.

Suffice to say the screen has the effect of a major distraction in the day time on this busy junctio,n and at night it acts as a mini sun. Imagine what the drivers vision is exposed to it this is what a camera gets as input? then we complain about traffic accidents in Karachi, here is a hint stop blinding drivers!!!

Here’s a photograph I snapped whilst at a traffic signal. At first I found it really funny that the girl had her head down, but then the horror of the situation set in very quickly. I’m sad that our families are used to this “nap on a bike”… Tired from school, unable to rest at home because of frequent power cuts (I refuse to refer to them as loadshedding, because I have no idea what load they are shedding anymore!), this is what everyday life has become.

Just caught this sign being erected today at the Mohd Ali Society signal, in an attempt to relieve the traffic congestion on Shahrai Faisal at Awami Markaz the traffic police will not permit a right turn onto Shahrai-Faisal heading towards Baluch Colony between the hours 8am - 10am & 5pm - 8pm.

This specific picture is off the sign located on Fatima Jinnah road at the MAHS & Sh-Faisal intersection (Awami Markaz), but I also witnessed another similar signboard being welded specfically jsut before this same Awami Markaz signal on main Shahrai Fasial (traffic heading towards saddar) which also read the similar rules, preventing the right turn and a much used U-turn at the same signal.

I personally think this is a good move and will lighten the traffic congestion drastically on the main artery, I have yet to see if the Tipu Sultan signal has been handled in this similar manner as that too is a sore spot for many rush hour traffic commuters. Just a warning out to those who might get caught confused in this sudden new development, don’t say we didn’t warn you, as I dread the first few days we are bound to see a major confusion until people realize the changes

Lets step aside for a moment and take a look at our city Karachi.

I think of sharing my views with you guys, actually I have just been on a trip to Islamabad and Muree, although I went there primarily for some personal business and not on a vacation to enjoy. I did try take that opportunity and visited the well-known tourist points in Islamabad and Muree. Undoubtedly the places in Muree such as Neelam Point, Bhurband - Pearl Continental, Kashmir Point, the chair lifts and cable cars in Patriata are superbly beautiful. The cleanliness and strict laws of Islamabad and a few worth visiting places are simply awesome. Most importantly the road-trip from Islamabad to Muree is the most enjoyable because of the stunning natural beauty and the curvy dangerous narrow two-way roads cut between the green mountains. Multiple routes connecting Islamabad and Muree are simply unexplainable. Some of you might have been there, but for those who haven’t, let me tell you - I enjoyed the places in the off season, you can imagine what it would be like in the “on” seasons. You have got to be there, take a break from our busy and fast lives and give yourself some good time.

You can see the photos here. I tried to write about the trip while I was there and I did make some posts on my blog, but I lost track in all the traveling and stuff. I was seriously thinking of extending my visit and and spending some more time in Muree, but I had to cut short my tour and get back, my leave was expiring and I didn’t have much cash in hand.

The point in making this post is not to just share my trip details with you, but to actually share what I learned / realized from the trip besides everything. It was a four-day trip from Wednesday till Sunday, on Saturday night I was in the hotel room in Islamabad, I was on the flight to Karachi the next morning.

On Saturday night something came up and I thought I should go out and buy what I need. My hotel was near Aabpara Market (its a busy market). Its 10:30 in the night and what I see amazed me. Every shop was closed, there were just a few people on the street, SATURDAY NIGHT and no cars! I found only a bakery, a medical store and few other shops left open. It was like a day of strike in Karachi! Anyway, I kept walking until I reached the medical store, I just had my dinner so I thought of trying out a meetha pan of Islamabad, and guess what! They don’t have khokas! On the whole road, I walked about 20 minutes, there was no sign of a khoka or any shop from where I could find a pan. May be there was such a shop but got closed as it was “too late”. I don’t mean to portray Islamabad as the “city that always sleeps”, but for me (being a karachitte) it was unusual.

As for the food, the well-known food-street (a.k.a food-court) in Islamabad, for crying out loud! I can’t find a single place where I could get Chicken Biryani. I ate every thing from Pulao to stuff like yellow rice with boiled chicken in the name of my dear Chicken Biryani! The spicy chicken ginger! oh so sweet! and the mini buns by the names zinger burger. I couldn’t find KFC, McDonals, Pizza Huts so common as they are in Karachi, in fact, I never saw one in my whole trip! I realized it when I reached Karachi Airport and saw a big yellow ‘M’ just in front of it along the parking area! :)

All night I was just thinking and comparing the three cities. Besides the natural beauty in Muree and it being an official tourist place, I was just left comparing Islamabad with Karachi.

I came to realize that Islamabad is as good as nothing in terms of Implementation of Law and cleanliness in Pakistan, the underpasses seems to be just a regular natural inclining and declining road due to the mountainous area -unlike Karachi’s underpasses when you bounce off 3 feet in the air while entering one and the drainage cover moves and sounds like its broken into 5 pieces and you just made the 5 pieces 8 with your car, they sometimes also fills up with water too :) .

There is no signal violation, no car on or ahead the zebra crossing on the signal, even the police or government cars being fined for breaking the signal or any road law. There are no coaches or mini buses, “khaan-taiyaara” or “sarko ki malka” -type vehicles on the roads, only 14-seater vans for public transportation. Very few bikes, very very wide roads, proper road signs, minimum chaos on the roads. In short everything is so damn perfect as compared to Karachi and its core and most talked-about problems.

I took my expensive phone with me and I was literally roaming around and showing off :) in the streets in ISB and muree taking pictures and messaging never fearing that a 125 bike will be coming from behind and I’ll be greeted with a shining metal of a gun as a reward to my showoff. Its a lot better in terms of street crimes.

But there is nothing like the life in Karachi! I always thought of myself as a boring person, but I realized that I’m much more fun being in Karachi than anywhere around the country (as far as I have been). You can never have a life that you have in Karachi anywhere else.

Keeping aside the crimes, traffic problems, political uncertainty and every small and major issue, I can bet that once you get a break from Karachi you will realize that we curse the city way too much and how much we are dependent on the life of Karachi. Its not like “aankh aujhal Pahar Aujghal” its like once you get on a “pahar” you will have a much better, clear and true realization of what you have been into and what you have been missing all the way.

I hope that every Karachitte feels and realize what the city Karachi really is and how we are connected to it in every aspect of our lives. Being bloggers, writers readers or any one from Karachi who thinks about Karachi, needs to get a different perspective every once in a while to change our thoughts and views, and probably alter our attitude towards our City.

Its us that is Karachi and its Karachi that is us, a codependent association that needs a little tough outside the box.

Just got a call from a colleague of mine saying that Sh-e-Faisal and Baloch Colony are both blocked because of some Very Irritating Problems movement passing through.. My Goodness! Almost feels like I am role playing a GE diagnosing a serious condition! But point of this is, if you don’t have to anywhere in a dire emergency, you may want to consider steering clear of these places.. After all, they are ONLY Karachi’s most traveled through locations.

Would appreciate if someone could give the green signal here when they manage to travel through the open road again-

While car owners may have (arguably) gained a lot from the flyovers and signal free corridors that the government seems to be intent on making, it is the pedestrians who have ultimately lost. I remember a time when the road below baloch colony bridge was considered one of the most dangerous roads to cross. Now it seems university road, gulistan-e-jauhar, a major stretch of shara-e-faisal and i don’t know how many roads have become just as dangerous.

We definitely need a LOT more footbridges. But one more important thing that we need is driving etiquette. Footbridges can be built if the government has enough money, but how does someone teach driving etiquette?