after a hiatus of around a month, my so-called weekly feature, the monday 55 is back.

we’ve heard practically everybody who ought to know something about the matter decry the sale of the beachfront and the islands andall the arguments for and against it. i think everyone concedes its not the best idea since the persians invented the faluda in 400 bc. so this time we will be writing not about whether or not it should have been done but why the powers that be sold our land – yes the land belongs to every citizen of karachi – in the first place. so without further ado, here’s my opinion.

he walks on the beach, wondering where he’s supposed to come up with the billions he’s been asked to. they made him a minister and now the party’s campaign must be funded. at any cost.

he smiles.

why do you think they sold it? write about it.

this week we’re going to write about the least lovable of all the identifying traits of the denizens of our metropolitan jungle – their garbage disposal policy. we – and i use that term loosely as a collective identification for the majority of the populace – think nothing of dumping all our garbage on our city streets while stressing the importance of keeping our homes and ourselves clean. cleanliness is half of faith after all. and hypocrisy, apparently, is our birthright.

she’s spent the whole day lovingly tidying up the flat, polishing the doorknobs, sweeping the floors. its tiring, but when all’s said and done, it is her home and she just has to keep it clean.

she casually lifts up the bag in which she’s collected the dirt and tosses it out of the window.

as always, we await your responses, preferably in the 55 fiction format – but you can write anyway you like. have a nice week!

after the more or less favourable response to the first instalment of this series last week, we’ve decided to continue the trial run of this particpatory creative writing meme. so without further ado, i present the topic of the week, loadshedding. now that’s something anyone who’s ever been in karachi is familiar with; moreso those who’ve braved our blazing summers hand in hand with the supremely efficent kesc.

your turn people.

one of the fastest spreading memes in the desi blogosphere is the genre of microfiction commonly referred to as 55 fiction. this is basically a type of story which is written in exactly 55 words. though the concept itself was introduced in the eighties and is copyrighted, it has spread like wildfire since the popularisation of blogging.

as you all know, kmb isn’t exactly the type of blog which misses the train at fad station. so we’ve decided to create a sort of weekly diversion where we (and this includes you, constant reader) will try to give our creative cells a workout and come up with some karachi related 55ers. if we get some positive feedback, this can be made a regular feature.

the title of this post mentions the theme of this week’s 55 fiction entries – road rage, practically a trademark of karachi’s streets. here are my two cents:

let’s see your entries in the comments area. all of you have seen road rage in karachi. now its time to write about it!