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[Credit : Asad Hameed]

I am happy to report that I just spotted a bus stop in Clifton with ramp access so that people with disabilities can access public transport independently. This bus stop is opposite Park Towers.

It’s a small step but I am so very happy that someone actually gave some consideration to people with disabilities. Kudos to Karachi’s city government for taking another step in the right direction, you made the citizens of Karachi proud.

The Economist in its latest issue published a report measuring the cost of living across various cities of the world, Karachi ranks 132 on its list. There are some list / rankings that you wish your city to be graded at a higher level but this is one list that I’d not mind being near the bottom.

Sharp exchange-rate movements since the autumn have affected the relative cost of living in the world’s main cities. The strengthening dollar has pushed American cities up in the rankings compiled by the Economist Intelligence Unit, a sister company of The Economist. Chicago now shares the ranking as the world’s 23rd most expensive city, up from 39th place in September 2008. Meanwhile, the plunging pound means that, for the first time since 2002, London is cheaper than New York. Asia is home both to the cheapest city in the survey, Karachi, as well as the priciest, Tokyo, which has grabbed the top spot from Oslo on the back of a stronger yen. Living in Tokyo is 52% more expensive than living in New York.

Happy to be a Karachitte ;)

Hamara Karachi festival ended with some fireworks and a musical concert last night. Thousands of Karachiites from different backgrounds came at seaview to enjoy a much needed entertainment, thanks to CDGK and all the people who organized it. It was even better last year but this one didnt disappoint as well. Apologies for not being able to get some snaps for fireworks as i had to rush but here are few to tease those who missed it :). Related
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I wouldn’t review the exhibition as I myself am one of the 30 participants and then my opinions might be seen as a bias. But I would to like to bring into notice what Daily Times thought about it. Today, 28th February 2009 is the last day of exhibition so if anyone of you are interested to visit then you are more than welcome. Alliance Francaise is located behind ICAP Clifton and gallery remains open from 10 AM to 8 PM. (more…)

Photography Exhibitions are thankfully increasing in Karachi with advent of digital cameras as good amount of people who have taken it as a serious hobby. In some way these photographs are documenting Karachi’s vibe, sights and people.

One such exhibition this week is being organized by Photo Club of Karachi at Alliance Francaise. The exhibition will feature above 200 photographs of 30 amateur artists selected by professionals. Hope this one brings us some aesthetic pleasure.

 The skies were fairly clear with a few clouds dotting the blue, after sunset a few more clouds united over the city to shower it with a bit of a sudden rain, enough to soak me dripping wet in just three minutes that how long the first shower spell lasted and now after an hour or so a light drizzle has again started. It looks like the prediction of rain in the city for coming Friday by the metrological department is coming true a bit too early as the scattered showers have started already.

Living in Karachi we are always complaining that the national resources are low on clean water, we complain of the load shedding and power breakdowns, gas water heaters rendering useless at times with the gas load shedding. But between all those complains and whinings how easily we forget that we can conveniently over come at least one of our issues by simply changing our showering habits, actually not even changing but going back to the good old ways, and enjoying it, yes I am talking about the Balti Baths, and this blog that I came across today, give it a read and you might too turn to enjoy the Balti Baths in the future.

Here is the Blog for your read: http://herekar.blogspot.com/2009/01/balti-bath-and-beyond.html

Karachi’s young and energetic Mustafa Kamal, the mayor is chosen by an award winning American magazine Foreign Policy as 2nd best mayor in the world for year 2008.

From DAWN:
“An award winning American magazine Foreign Policy, has chosen Nazim Karachi, Syed Mustafa Kamal as second among the three best mayors in the world for the year 2008.

The magazine has included the names of Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit and Wang Hongju, Mayor of Chongqing as the other mayors of the moment, said a CDGK statement issued on Sunday.
The magazine said no city globalises on its own, but with shrewd investments and smart urban planning, a mayor can help turn a regional player into a global powerhouse. About Mustafa Kamal the magazine wrote that the mayor of Karachi is an unlikely poster child for innovative urban planning.
It said the 36-year-old Mustafa Kamal governs a city that’s more often in the news for religious violence than cosmopolitan ways. But the hard-charging Kamal is looking to change all that. He’s courting foreign investment, encouraging international ties, and boosting the city’s tourism.
According to the US magazine Kamal is not shy about his goals: He has said he wants to turn Karachi into the next Dubai. His Green Karachi project aims to plant thousands of trees in the city. Kamal is not letting anything stand in the way of his grand plans. He has threatened to arrest anyone who tries to cut down the new saplings, it added.
In a statement, the Nazim said that in the past there was no concept of ownership in Karachi. He said his administration carried out development works on a large scale, but added that lot of work still remains to be done.”

Source : http://www.dawn.com/2008/11/10/top11.htm

This October 2008, 60 museums and art spaces around the world are showcasing Pedro Meyer’s Heresies Exhibition around the world. Karachi’s The Second Floor is the venue for Pakistan to be exhibiting this fabulous exhibition, a retrospective comprising of four decades of groundbreaking work by one of the world’s most innovative photographer.

” Mexican photographer Pedro Meyer is as renowned for his powerful and provocative photographs as he is for his pioneering work with digital imaging. Meyer’s photographs consistently test the limits of truth, fiction and reality. With the advent of digital photography in the early 1990s, Meyer evolved from a documentary photographer who created so-called “straight photographs” into a digital-documentarian who often combines photographic elements from disparate times and places to arrive at a different or higher truth.

 Meyer’s oft- expressed contention that all photographs — digitally manipulated or not — are equally “true” and “untrue” has been labeled “heretical” in the orthodox documentary photography community. Hence the title Heresies. ”

 

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