Karachi Voice

With an empty stomach, the thirst, the heat, the work load, the stress, no cigarettes, no pan's for the addicts it is meant to be the month of controlling and holding oneself back from sins and bad deeds, but as it turns out the atmosphere around isn't very pleasant out on the roads. its a shame for muslims though, but there is one thing i noticed during this month was that they have arranged voulanteer traffic controller around the city. there are at least 6 to 8 men at each signal. they are indeed doing a pretty good job. thumbs up to you guys!

....And now its time, time when they have been exhausted, they have been hungry. The sun is about to set and the sirens are about to go off. This is the time when the watches are being watched the most through out the year, a second of which seems to pass extraordinarily slow. Women in the kitchen, men around the kitchen and kids probably be out with friends, flying kite or just hanging out, some of which make fake siren sounds to fool the crowd! Finally the moment comes, the sirens go off, its time to pray the dua and break the fast. The ever-new pakoray, phulkiyan, chanay, dahi baray type of iftari items fills up every dinning tables in every home. Just after 20 to 30 minutes they have eaten so much that they just want to crash down on the bed and take a nap. Thats the spirit of ramzan and the rozay!

Every night I wake up from the sleep, go into my balcony, enjoy the silence, the darkness, the light breeze, the fog and the dampness in air. I always think that the night is the most pleasant time in 24 hours. But in ramzan the pleasure of the night time is indescribable. The thing we refer to as 'Ramzan effect' is truly great.

Now the accelerator cable of this rickshaw has broken down. The guy is fixing it. and yes, Indeed! i just asked him why he had that advertisement there, he tells me that when it gets hot he uses it to sit on it or use it to shade himself from the sun. i then asked him does he have any idea what is written on it, he replied he cant read. i gently asked him to replace it. it was just a matter of a little communication, he immediately asked me a favor, he started to talk about his son who was ill and needed money for an operation. as i get off handed over to him some extra cash, as i never do that and highly doubt the deserving ones, also the month or Ramzan is just around the corner!

In reference to my earlier post about the 'Stuff' you can find in rickshaws and buses passenger area, this one clearly crosses the line of either illiteracy or vulgarity. Cant say for sure if this advertisement on the carton right into my face is a deliberate action by a 60 year old bearded driver or its just that they don't know anything (The probability of which is quite low).

And yes! this picture is correct, there isn't anything you could see in this image. Its all blacked out. After such 'Refreshing' traffic twice a day, this is how you are welcomed into your home. Second day in a row, i get home to relax and hey! guess what! you ain't gonna get none here too! Thank God that we had arranged for ourselves a UPS. So as far as relaxing is concerned, I can do it, but what about rest of the public who is not enjoying this blessing! Some say, people like me fuss about every little thing, but my question is to you that if you happen to be tangled into barbed wires, would you spare your time to appreciate how good the quality of steel used to make the wire is!

In nasheeli aankho se tum na daikho bar bar! a classy shair written inside the rickshaw i took to take me to the office. I wonder why these rakshaw walas and bus walas are so 'rangeen mizaj'. of course it is not for the passengers like me, its for the ladies, exclusively! the reason they do stuff like these could just be that they ARE like that, but it could also be to have the ladies' attention. if that what the reason is then my friends i highly doubt you having any success at all!

This picture is of a message displayed just under the Kala Pull. note that this is the place which i blogged about earlier having traffic jams and construction work going on. This place is still jammed with an added factor of water filled up at least 80 percent of the road (width wise). which is causing more problems. Ironically, the sign is a message from the government saying "KEEP YOUR CITY CLEAN"

Today as i woke up, i realized it wasn't very bright out side. just as Google weather predicted, its going to be cloudy today and tomorrow. But guess what! its not going to be just cloudy! its gonna rain. the wind is quite fast so i doubt some heavy rain, but it is drizzling as of now. I'm in a rickshaw right now on my way to office and I'm thinking its a pleasant day, at least weather-wise, what it would be work-wise! Lets hope for the best!

Last night was a blast! Fuzon performed in our office. It was good, but today as i reached office i found that some of the actors, actresses from last night were here, some camera crew were setting up the equipment. It is probably a HUM TV serial, starring Humayun Saeed and some others. (forgive me for not knowing the names of all the actors as Im not very 'In'). Its good for the company in a lot of perspectives, and Im glad to be a part of it! :-) www.ConvergeT.com

A hectic morning with a chill office day ends with Fuzon live performance here in my office. Although Fuzon band has broken apart, but they have a new vocalist. This might be fuzon's first performance with the new vocalist. Ive heard him earlier this evening while setting up the equipment, i must say this guy is quite competent, but he cant be a pure replacement of the previous guy. This event has been organized for our corporate clients and our own employees. right now we are waiting for the guests to arrive. Mobile blogging is quite something so live coverage might be possible!

Just as i reached Gora Qabristan i found some construction work going on, some security forces standing! The reason why they were there is unclear, but one thing is for sure that they have blocked half the road. just as i observed this, i noticed an ambulance stuck in front of the cops trying to find its way through the traffic. No one seem to care not even the law enforcements. Its true that life of people hangs in a balance metaphorically AND literally!

Its Monday again, its office again. im on my way to my office in clifton. talking my regular route, karsaz to kashif center. The traffic today is a little more than usual. it is running, but with a speed of snail. still not sure what the reason could be, but i heard a person on awami markaz saying on a loudspeaker "gora qabristan pe khudai ki wajha se traffic ki tangi", well i don't know, haven't got the chance to reach there yet. im still quite worried how much time will be required to reach clifton. (and im feeling hungry like hell)

Shershah Bridge towards gulbaee has fallen down. the latest marvel of Karachi construction is now live for the public. the project that took 5 years to build using foreign assistance had its opening 25 days back. Just about time, before a month could end the bridge has fallen down. There are (as per eye wittinesses) 2 heavy trailers, 1 cultus, 1 donkey cart with the donkey and a few other vehicles are trapped under the pile of concrete. There are still people trapped in the cars. The rescue workers and paramedics are at the scene, work is going on with the speed of snail due to the congested area! there are factories, plants and other bridges around, so there cant be no bigger machinery in order to clear the rubble. This bridge is believed to be build by NHA -run by Pakistani army. We are still not sure how many survived and how may have lost their lives. but our prayers are with the ones how are suffering. (source: local radio)

I don't know if someone has observed this piece of "Art" on shara-e-faisal or not. for me it is a painful and quite disturbing image. being a designer myself i can understand what the designer was supposed to make, but he ended up portraying the exact opposite of that concept. It is more like this that the horses are sucked into the wall, their faces show agony and there is blood all over the wall. Instead it was supposed to show the power what the horses posses that they can come tearing out of the barriers. There are so many sights in Karachi that has been displaying rather useless / worthless demonstrations of so-called art, i believe this is just a result of getting things done the easier way and not considering the quality-factor at all.

This is a not-so-clear image of GORA QABRISTAN. Its a weird feeling to see all the water still filled up around every grave. it has been weeks now since it rained. there is no ground you could see, it seems as if the graves are made in the water. An amazing yet horrifying image.

This is JAGUAR! from the balcony of my office on third floor. it is believed to be in the ownership of agha's super market. its a beauty! inded it is!