First, he won’t get any license. PPP wants all Sindhis, mostly un-educated and belonging to interior, to do everything. From sweepers to customs officers at port, to PIA’s various GMs, and the President of the god-damn country.

If in case he gets the license, he will do lot of things.

For one, he will not allow CNG rickshaw to remain green for ever. He will turn it into red blood with various slogans and his huge portraits, made white using extra box of talcum powder.

Non-Mohajirs won’t be allowed to sit in his CNG rickshaw. He will only allow Mohajirs to sit behind him (he likes everyone behind him!) He will also not use the traditional peep peep horn. In fact, he will use mulla-style speakers and blare MQM-zindabad slogans as he weaves his way across the city. His CNG Rickshaw will also not look like a CNG Rockshaw but more like a donkey fitted rickshaw. (Most of his party looks like a bunch of donkeys). And his CNG rickshaw will not climb the many idiosyncratic flyovers his assistant, Mr. Mustafa Kamal, has built around the city. So he being Altaf Hussain will flatten most of them much to the determinant of the city and its exploding population.

Altaf Hussain being Altaf Hussain will also not allow Pushtun-run buses to ply the city without harassing them. He will make sure that his red-blood CNG Rickshaw is always parked in front of their mini-buses. He will also try and poke Pushtuns and will try and provoke them. This will cause massive blood-shed in the city and Altaf Hussain being Altaf Hussain would ask all Mohajirs to carry arms so that they may protect themselves from the ‘terrorists’ Pushtuns. Thereafter, all CNG Rickshaws would be snatched at gun-point and other points from other drivers, painted red, with MQM flags installed and Altaf bhai portraits flashing with dark face and elephant white teeth. Then all these red-painted rickshaws will move behind Altaf Bhai’s rickshaw and will stop whenever he gives his comic speech to the millions of bhais and sisters of the city. (Meri behnoon tumhara kia, mein janoon mera Rickshaw janay).

Altaf Hussain is requested to remain in London and die there and not become the CNG Rickshaw driver in the city of Quaid-e-Azam. We can do without Altaf bhai riding the red-blood rickshaw. God Willing.

My grandparents (father side) lived in Bahunagar and then Bombay. My grandfather used to have a tea stall which he used to run along with his elder brother, Ahmed. British army was their regular customer and when they came they came in droves and all the war chat would take place there, albeit in English, a language my grandfather never really understood except for the morsels. He also tells me, whenever in good mood, that Hindu banyas were also his prized customers and they would be very rich and very tidy in their manners and style.

Then they came to Karachi, Pakistan.

Unlike many migrants pouring from India by train or walk or by mules, which was always a dangerous thing to do in those bad times, he and his wife arrived by ship. In those old days, ships b/w Karachi and Bombay were very common and lot of people used to rely on them for trade. Thankfully, it wasn’t disconnected after partition. If I can recall it rightly, it took around 7 days for the ship to reach Karachi and vice versa, and the journey was, as they remember, quite emotional but un-eventful. They off loaded in a city which was far cleaner, more managed, having wonderful, big roads and with lot of joggis around for people pouring in. Karachi was then a port city and it was just that. Further, he tells me with a shine in his eyes that the major thoroughfares would be daily washed clean on the orders of Mr. Jinnah, founder of Pakistan and the resident of this city.

I am also told that Karachi had no fear. People were loving and good-natured; Hindus and Parsis were the major businessmen. They had lots of properties and some really wonderful buildings to their credit. Khojas and Memons were also there but in lower number. As migration forced it way, that number eventually rose (that of Gujerati speaking groups) and lots of Hindus fled Karachi fearing for their lives, just as Muslims were doing from across the border.

I am also told that wide roads, (almost) zero pollution and a sense of new found destiny improved public imagination, which in turn helped people in re-building their lives from the scratch.

As more stories come to mind or are related they shall be uploaded here as comments here. Readers are requested to add their own treasures here.