Last night, after many weeks of feeling secretly demoralized with the city, I felt the Karachi spirit rise up inside me again at the culmination of a Foundation Year project at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture. An event management project held by the first year for the friends, alumni and students, Karachi Nights was a comment on everything we love and crib about, in this dusty city of ours. From the dinner food served on the roadside thelas a la Burns Road and Boat Basin style, to the gorgeously done twinkling lights and stars, all the way to the W-11 passenger personalities, ethically mismatched love stories, timechecks, annoying ads and qawwalis, it was a hilariously true tribute to Karachi in every sense of the word. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open to public for many reasons (one being that it was an actual graded project) but it is something that one can definitely request them to go public with. After all, Karachi loves attention.

This is jammie, signing out.

This past year and half in karachi has been in labour- and all of us have suffered, some like patient mothers, breathing deeply in an effort to get the day over with and others like impatient fathers, slamming it down, not understanding the growth process which must take place for the miracle to happen. Along with the angry rioting crowds I have bashed and trashed Karachi to my hearts content in the privacy of my head but my public approach has always been staunchly positive, awaiting the Big Change, as we know it will happen, eventually, if we hold our breath long enough. On Monday-Much-Needed-Labour-Day-Holiday, as I was being driven to some place or the other, I suddenly tuned in to the many changes we have seen happen over the last many months- roads which have suddenly taken shape (creating traffic issues somewhere else), walls which have suddenly cropped up (blocking the sea stretch on the drive along) and diversions which have suddenly been created (to manage the insane bottlenecks that this constant construction has caused). And I realized that somewhere along the line, maybe not exactly how we would have wanted it but slowly, surely Karachi is finally taking shape.

Even though there were the usual catcalls and hooting, that did not bother me as much as the lack of consideration people exhibited for each other. People who brough in 7 month old babies for a 9-12 show and a variety of kids aged 4-8 who isistently scremed for the “bandar” to come on stage. And anyone who has seen the movie will know that the monkey does not appear till almost halfway down the scenario. Other than that there was the fact that people sitting behind me translated the movie into urdu for their partners loudly. Thats what the urdu show would be there for, I think. Funny thing is that everyone acted like they were the ones who bought the ticket and were hence allowed to do as they will, whether it meant standing with the door open to shush a crying child or to stand and shout for the popcorn wala.

Someone once said that Karachi has the least bit of community sense in all of Pakistan. Sadly I agreed.
I’m a frequent cinema-goer, Pakistani and otherwise. I love the experience contrary to what my recounting might be and I see good things happening. Maybe it’s all about traning then and as it becomes more common to show more movies, people will learn the etiquette too. Here’s hoping!

Karachi again.
After last weeks *peaceful* supports, was it too much to hope that this week would go by wihtout us inflicting damage on ourselves? There was an ama going around last week about how our enemies don’t need to worry about attacking us- they just need to do something somewhere else, and we will start destroying ourselves.
Why? Why? Why?

I understand the politics behind it- yes I do. I understand the liberals and radicals and their opposing points of views. What I don’t understand is why THEY don’t understand that all we really want is to to live a normal life. To not be fearful of each day passing by and to not be immune to such things either. I know this is a familiar rant and rave- but bear with me. And then also please answer…why has blogger been blocked or is it a maintenance glitch? Just adds to the frustration of the whole worldwide debate on freedom of speech.

The picture has not much to do with the article, except it echoes the lonely melancholic tone that so many areas of Karachi had tonight.

But two days of strikes pass by, with shutters hesitantly down, main areas closed reluctantly and a partial hush about town, people go out and eat and shop in restuarants and malls protected by shamianas. They drive in streets blocked by containers and sit in the cool night, determinedly relaxed, air to have their chai and cigarettes and sheeshas even if surrounded by police-wallas. After all it’s only a strike and nothing can stop a city like Karachi. Especially on a saturday night.