Good morning Karachi!
Greetings Karachi!
Just to announce that a new contributor is in town!
You can call me Neoka, I am originally from Canada but have now moved to Karachi to live here for a year while I work for an NGO.
The reason I came to write for Metblogs was obvious, I want to learn more about this city, its people and its culture, and share my experiences along the way.
I am looking forward to interacting with my readers and other contributors throughout my experience here in Karachi. Some of the things I want to get out of contributing to this blog is a deeper and stronger understanding of the culture and society and all the diversity that exists in this city, while having a good time exploring! Some of the things I want to give to this blog are my perspectives as an outsider on a whole series of issues facing this city. Trust me when I say that I like to discuss the ‘Elephants in the room’ which in other words are the challenges that everyone knows is there, but no one wants to talk about.
So I ask you to share with me your culture as I will mine and that we will have some excellent dialogue happening here about all things Karachi! So ask your questions, share your comments and really interact with me!
Cheers and best wishes for the coming Eid festivities!
Welcome on board, now lets clean out the cobwebs from this city ;)
welcome aboard kurt!! lets see whhat new stuff u bring
Good Evening Neoka(I would take Neo over Neoka any day :-) is this you by the way? http://www.blogger.com/profile/3134494
One advice, keep mind open , don’t judge us and you would be all fine.
Any how welcome to the city.
Welcome Neoka !! I’m one of the pure Karachiites, residing in Oxford these days for the sake of my Higher Education. No Exaggeration in saying that living away from Karachi is as embarassing as living away from my Parents and Family :( . There hasn’t been even a single day, when i could be saved from a sparkling memory of my days back in Karachi, in any corner of my brain. huhhhhh … anyways …I might be coming back soon to my beautiful (more from inside) coastal city, Karachi.
I would be pleased if I could increase your knowledge regarding ANYTHING in/of Karachi. Do not hesistate to put up your posts. Thanks and Good Luck.
NOEKA..WELCOME.
DO you have your personal blog? I donot see any information on your personal WEBSITE/BLOG. Would like to know YOU better as well.
Welcome Neoka. Where in Canada do you come from? And if you dont mind sharing, what brings you to Karachi?
BTW, how do you become an author on this blog?
Welcome Neoka,
Hope u fall in love with this city…and never return to Canada!!:)…I’m in Canada too abhi but I just can’t stop missing Karachi…!!…Waves crashing onto my horizon!!…:)
Hey, welcome!
This guy sounds like bad news… One more outsider… full of opinions…. of course he will go out of his way to see everything in a negative fashion.
Haven’t we had enough of such folk?
Greetings nd good luk!
wowie! One post, and you already have a friendly neighbourhood cynic judging something that hasn’t even happened yet (referring to “Booster” above).
In any case, best of luck, Neoka! Hope you have fun here! : )
Well, read between the lines.
“Trust me, I will make sure you hear of whatever is bugging me this day and…. trust me…. I will make sure to ram my experience of living in Canada down your throat… just to let you know, how we do things *the right way*… trust me”.
You guys want to get a headache “discussing” stuff with this guy, go ahead. I’m out of here.
LOL
And Booster said :: “I’m out of here.”
Thankyou, Booster. That’s probably the most useful thingum you’ve said in this thread thus far. :P
welcome…nokia!
Hey everyone! Thank you all for your greetings!
Im originally from Calgary, and I came here because I want to learn about this place first hand, away from the crap the medias keeps throwing up on our TVs. I DID NOT come here to complain or push my canadian views on anyone. I feel it is important to share the reality that is Karachi – and so far my experience has been way better than expected. You wont get any negative tandems from me. Thanks booster for bringing the FIRST elephant out in the room :) please keep it up!
Welcome to Karachi. Which NGO you are working here with, btw?
A warm welcome to the city. Watching anything from an outsider’s prospective is always constructive, I am sure your views and your experience being in Karachi will not only help us understand our city on a better level but will help this city to be a better place :).
In our society we are often afraid of the elephants, may it be a social crime or a social problem, we are often too shy to talk about the elephants, The elephants we label as Taboo. Discussing such issues and watching the people react to them will be really helpful in understanding our social structure on a better level.
Anyhow, It’s a pleasure to have you among us.
NEOKA – welcome aboard,
Calgary in winter games 1988 I enjoyed being there at that time. Now Am back and happy in my city, among my own people.
I would suggest keep your self elevated from religious bigotry commonly practiced in this country. Please never form an opinion based on religious racism which is quiet common a veil to turn blind eye from the civil & human right abuse / incompetence among us as the Karachities and among few of the bloggers as well.
Hey Neoka, it would be wonderful if you could maintain your personal blog too and put all our observations there about Karachi. I would be very glad to read your day in and day out observations. I am not sure that you would be posting your perosnal experiences here.
By the way 1988 Calgary always reminds me of my ex roommate’s pet “Tomba” which was named after Alberto Tomba. What a nice dog it was.
Hello Neoka,
Welcome aboard the Karachi Metroblogs. Please do tell us more about yourself and give a full proper introduction in a post. I am sure we are all interested in knowing more about you. Please do post a picture of yourself as well. It would be nice to know who is the new blogger from our city so we can interact with you better.
Khush Amadeed!
hi Neoka .. salam… and welcome to karachi….:)
Now let’s admit TRUTH. We are getting too excited[read defensive] as he is a white skin man. I have never seen any one getting so much warm welcome here. We have been always first to drag down any new author.
Neoko , that was just inside tip but honestly we Karachites go extremes to make our guests feel welcome especilaly if they are from abroad.
I must say, you have all done well to make me feel welcome here. In fact that has been one of the greatest experiences since I arrived – the amazing hospitality that I recieved.
I work in youth development and leadership, helping youth to realize their individual potential. Its very rewarding job as I get to work with university students across Pakistan.
One thing I want to know from you all is what kind of threads would you want to see? More whats going on in Karachi? More location reviews? more news commentaries? You tell me the stuff you like to hear! Thanks!
hey! another canadian in the house! awesome eh! ;)
Well im an avid reader of this blog all the waay from toronto.. :)…its like i get to travel vicariously through this blog! I’m really interested in what your doing there, hope to do something similar after undergrad as well so i would love if you could keep us updated on ur position- either through this site or through a personal blog. At the same time, i’m eager to read what you have to say, your experiences, ideas things that made u laugh!..(the wide range of roaming livestock on the roads did it for me :P) i personally visited karachi for the first time this past summer and it was a pleasant experience, looking forward to returning soon!
Have Fun..
……karachities are really hospitable.. verry tru!…
Add a third Canadian to that from Edmonton.
Neoka, are you following the NHL from Karachi?
Hope you have fun!
neoka my friend you have just killed the spirit of metroblogging….by asking what do we want…how do we want…..blogging is not free delivery pizza….have a nice day!
@booster
Pray tell, why are you afraid of differing viewpoints and opinions?
Welcome aboard, Neoka! And a warm welcome to our beloved city and country.
Hope you have a pleasant stay among us.
@ Mara: I think you were referring to India when you talk about “wide range of roaming livestock on the roads” cause I dont think it exists in Karachi. Except maybe in small remote areas.
@ Neoka: It would be good if you can make posts about your frank impressions about Karachi, the city, its people and its lifestyle. From a view of a newcoming outsider. That would probably be the best kind of posts.
@ SWA: I beg to differ. Where I live, that is, Gulshan, I still get to see a ‘a wide range of roaming livestock’ on roads. Infact, just yesterday, (Sat) I almost had a head-on collision with a bull, as I was standing on a patch of green grass which he had an eye on.
@arsalan haleem
“I was standing on a patch of green grass which he had an eye on.”
LOL!!!
Noeka, tell us how u are managing driving around. A chauffer driven car with a gunman ?
I hope your NGO is looking after you well and given you a list of areas to ‘STAY AWAY’ ! Watch out for your chauffer, he may be SPOOK !
Do not forget the DANIEL PEARL incident!
The title reminds me of the movie
“GOOOOOOOOOOOD Morning Vietnaaaaam!”
Oh come on people, I know we all love Khi but we should not hide the fact that its really difficult to live in Karachi.
For us we are already use to of it, but for an outsider who have never experienced these kind of problems its really terrible.
Mr. Neoka be prepared for a power failure which would be suspended erratically, whereas you might know that Canada ranks fifth in electricity generation.
The shopkeeper can cheat you on the price, the robbers can loot you on your money, traffice police can stop you for no reason, no trash can anywhere, no online statements for mostly banks, anybody can snatch your cellphone … please dont resist otherwise you will be no more.
There is no schedule for bus … they can come any time … you would have to be careful to catch the bus … the driver will not care about your life at all, there is no any underground subway … to get rid of traffic rush, be careful while crossing the road … its not Canada where the drivers stops the car as soon as they see any pedestrian on the road. If you are entering somewhere nobody will hold the door for you.
If you are driving you will face a lot of problems as you will find no courtesy.
We Karachittes we love Khi regardless of any problem we face but I am sure the outsiders dont like it. And I am letting you know all these facts, you may have to face, otherwise you will get tired of living here, and will start hating it.
Karachi is a big city, there are some black sheeps in it (which I guess are everywhere), but mostly you will find honest, unselfish and good hearted people.
And you all Karachittes please face the reality and dont lie.
what an interesting mix so many pros mixed with so many cons in this city. Im really glad ur all sharing these stories, but please aldo don’t get me wrong – In fact I dont have a chauffer. I take rickshaws or yellow cabs to work most of the time, ive gotten quite skilled at the art of baskheesh in my time here, and very important skill, esp. for a Gora ;)
@Neoka
So u are trying to tell us that you are mastering the art of living in Karachi. With Kurta Shalwar ON, you are surely making smart move to commute in rickshaw, & yellow cabs.
by the way when in Kurta shalwar, where you hide your cell phone, :D
Cool! A Calgarian in Karachi. I read this Blog on a regular basis. I am really interested in reading your views on Karachi as I am from Calgary as well. I was born in Karachi and then moved to Calgary and now working in Dublin…
Hey, and welcome to K-town. Well hopefully you will have a great stay here…i moved here myself a year ago..so i know how it can be in the beginning..but hopefully all will work out!
Good Luck!
Neoka, welcome to Pakistan, Karachi and KMB. I am sure you ve already found out that Karachi is a city more to be ‘felt’ than ‘seen’ and we all karachiites love it for what it is, pray and hope for its weaker aspects to get better and are optimistic about its future. There are amongst us who emphasize more on ‘the glass being ‘half empty’ rather than ‘half full’ but then again criticism is itself a positive contributor to improvement.
I interact with foreigners a lot and have an idea that most love it for the place it is. I am sure amongst the hustle and bustle of life here you will find the beauty that is in the eye of the beholder. Here we ‘beholders’ call it Home and there’s no place like it.
Once again welcome.