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  Oh Karachi, my Karachi!
  Shazaf FatimaPublished April 18, 2014
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  -Illustration by Fahad Naveed.
  Karachi has arrived. And it seems to be having a curious effect on its citizens, many of whom are moved to write tortured paeans to it in lyrical prose; a veritable cornucopia for the city dwellers’ soul.
  Karachi teases and tantalises, it infuriates and amazes, it energises and depletes. Are you getting the drift? The juxtaposition of opposites? The ingenious fusion of content and style? The contrasts of the megapolis encapsulated in the antithetical patterning of prose? Never has it been more popular to write about the city. Many have risen to the challenge, and many are going to continue to do so. But why are so many people suddenly moved to such profound effusion?
  They do so out of charity and goodwill. The Karachi article is no ordinary article – it is the writers’ noble quest to make sense of the chaos of the city, an attempt to resolve the polarities they face every single day.
  Also see: Karachi Time Machine
  The fact that anything they have to say will be swallowed whole by a voracious press and provide them with the gratification of publication has very little to do with their motives which are, without a doubt, well meaning and worthy. They write not to exploit, but to enquire, to discover and to defend.
  And they do so in ways that are infinitely imitable, thereby ensuring that anyone can write about the city. This is to their credit, for the key to representation is not quality but quantity.
  By following the basic tips outlined below, you, too, can climb the Karachi donkey cart every time Karachi is under crisis. There is a story under every rubble stone. Here is how to tell it
  Apply a tortured metaphor (preferably oxymoronic) – Karachi is a neglected wife, a beloved schizophrenic, a furnace of violence and passion, a ticking time bomb, a poetic gunshot, a majestic explosion. Not only will metaphors allow you to conserve on word limit, they will leave enough ambiguity so that you will be saved from actually explaining what you mean under the mantle of poetic license.
  Personify the city. Talk to her. We all know that second person narratives are in vogue. O Karachi, you must be saved. You must be hugged, you must be loved and you must be rescued. O, Karachi, do not ask me who is to rescue you. I cannot get into facts while I am waxing lyrical.
  Get into an alliterative frenzy full of abstract nouns so no troll can bother you in the comments section by asking questions about specific details. So Karachi is bold, beautiful, buzzing. It is dazzling, dangerous and daring. It is wanton, warm-hearted, wary. It is cultured, crime-ridden, cut-throat, callous (but of course, stoically calm amidst all the ravages).
  To uphold the morale of Karachi, make extensive comparisons to the West – so readers can see the hidden potential that you have glimpsed. Equate Zamzama with Bond Street and I I Chundrigar Road with Wall Street. Tell them that Karachi is the New York of Pakistan. But since most overcrowded and urban third world megacities make the same claim, you can aim for originality and say that it was once dubbed the Paris of the East. In fact, if you look hard enough and go to Saddar, you can see old Britain in its buildings and even make a documentary about how Cambridge and Karachi are actually tremendously similar.
  Sentences. Without verbs. Karachi. A melting pot. City of tragedy. City of hope. Et cetera. Et cetera.
  Talk about the people. The people are its salvation. Tell them not to get bogged down by water shortages, electric breakdowns, transportation strikes, targeted killings, bomb blasts and all the like. And tell them to stop associating Karachi with only negativity just because you have listed it all down all over again. Tell them that they must keep positive. The world is their hand grenade.
  Make sure you talk about the ‘fibre’ of Karachi and its resilience. You have heard of other cities that decided to wrap up and go home because the going got too tough? Just.Stopped.Existing. It happens all the time. So unfortunate. In this context, do mention the slum dwellers, the survivors of sectarian bombings and all such victims who unfortunately don’t write romantic articles about the city because they are too busy surviving to write about survival.
  Talk about the places you love in Karachi. Let the reader glean what he will from your experiences, but make sure you talk about Lyari, Botal Gali and all non-tish tosh areas that are unusual and exotic, areas which your audience probably doesn’t know about so you can show how awami you are. Make sure you add something semi-derogatory about Clifton and Defence to compound the effect.
  At the end of it all, take heed, for there will be many readers who will attack you for producing yet another unoriginal piece of writing. If this happens, you can always say that writing about any city is destined to fall into these clichés, that the destiny of 'The Karachi Article' is doomed, because the city is doomed. (See that false syllogism that will have everyone running round in an endless loop?)
  Or you can say your failure was a deliberate one, thereby turning it into an unassuming victory. If anyone points out that you are contradicting yourself, say this is only because Karachi itself is a maze of contradictions. Tell them that an article about Karachi which does not befuddle and bemuse is not authentic; it is not true to the soul of the city.
  Karachi is dying, but there is value in its dying breath and the recording of each breath is worthy and not at all opportunistic. I am sure you will rise to the challenge and stand tall like the historic Habib Bank building — the Empire State Building of Pakistan.
  - This article was published in The Herald's April issue.
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  کورونا کی نئی قسم اومیکرون کے بننے کے عمل کے بارے میں نیا انکشاف
  سر کھجانے پر مجبور کردینے والی یہ بہترین فلم دیکھی ہے؟
  سندھی کیلے اور بمئبی کے کیلے میں کیا فرق ہے؟
  Comments (20) Closed
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  Najam
  Apr 18, 2014 06:44pm
  acha likha hai.
  Recommend 0
  Ali Xafar
  Apr 18, 2014 07:20pm
  says a lot about the media actually. we always get to hear about the resilience of pakistanis, but not the naivety as pointed out by the author. i too work in a newspaper and have experienced a lot in my 30 years in karachi, what i fail to understand is the reporters' inability to relate to the tragedies and always try to write in glorifying sense. kudos shazaf!!!
  Recommend 0
  K
  Apr 18, 2014 07:33pm
  Excellent. Bravo! You captured my bloodless heart, so damaged by each blast and yet uplifted by each ensuing article.
  Recommend 0
  SBB
  Apr 18, 2014 08:55pm
  If you really want to push point number 8 to the max, write about the Hindus and the Sikhs of Karachi, during whose time Karachi was much safer and cleaner than it is today. No one had to build Clifton to be secluded from "the city".
  Recommend 0
  KHawer
  Apr 18, 2014 08:56pm
  There is a difference between wit and snark.
  Recommend 0
  Tarique Arfeen
  Apr 18, 2014 09:02pm
  Bravo, Bravo. My brave city and always will be. Away from the city almost 18yrs but still i miss every bit of it.
  Recommend 0
  gerry d'cunha
  Apr 18, 2014 09:29pm
  oh karachi, my karachi of the 50s;60s and 70s 'a golden era' - oh karachi, my hell karachi of the 80s;90s and 00s 'a dark era'
  Recommend 0
  FIZA Soho
  Apr 18, 2014 09:51pm
  Quite witty with a bittersweet twist about a city beloved by many of us .. Karachi will always be my family's salvation... for Karachi gave a former Nawabzadi from Lucknow, India a warm welcome with open arms. A Nawabzadi who gladly gave up her luxurious palaces and life of royal social jet setting to live a simpler, humble yet fulfilling life in her much loved, newly adopted city, Karachi. Karachi is seen through the eyes of its beholder, for some a great Empress, for others a jalebi like web of frustration, confusion and at times despair. Or as some say, *KARACHI KARACHI HE YAAR!*
  Recommend 0
  Napier Mole
  Apr 18, 2014 10:29pm
  Lets accept the fact Karachi's problems are contrived and created and meant to continue so that federal government (read Punjab) can continue to manipulate it. It is Karachi's misfortune that its elected leaders (read MQM) have been been unable to strike at the core root of Karachi's issues vis-a-vis a single point, now or never, do and die, right - and battle - to have a fully empowered metrpolitan government in Karachi.
  Recommend 0
  Parvez
  Apr 18, 2014 10:43pm
  I think your right to an extent.............Karachi is what it is, a mega city with mega problems made worse by the inept governance it's been destined to suffer. Those who write about Karachi are like the American Rodeo bronco buster riders....each takes a go at it but few succeed to stay on the bucking horse simply because they lack the skill required.......don't blame the horse, blame the rider.
  Recommend 0
  Ashutosh Mishra
  Apr 19, 2014 01:31am
  I haven't visited the place mentioned; the author has generated curiosity. The manner of her discussion is so very enjoyable. Can learn much from her. Appreciatively, Ashutosh
  Recommend 0
  Kaise qum ho tum
  Apr 19, 2014 03:45am
  When you divide the nation in to Mahajir, Punjabi, Sindhi, Pathan and bloch. you will suffer and it not over yet. It will not end unless you change your mentality and support justice for All regardless who they are. But you won't do it because you have mentality of corrupt and not a true one nation It is just a matter of time if you keep doing what you are that is blindly follow stupid leader you will loose your freedom " phir sab mil ker ram ram kerna
  Recommend 0
  Zebra
  Apr 19, 2014 07:23am
  @FIZA Soho: Who was this great fan of Karachi? Give us some details.
  Recommend 0
  Syed Muhammad Danish
  Apr 19, 2014 11:25am
  Excellent article!! Loved the way you twisted the narrative from right to left, top to bottom. Can you please write on the way this city is divided into various class systems and social orders across the various bridges that interlink our metropolitan. For e.g kala pull joins defence, KPT fly over joins korangi, hasan square, nagan and other bridges join different parts of this city that are unique in their own way..
  Recommend 0
  n
  Apr 19, 2014 11:43am
  Excellent blog. I would add point 9, which is usually omitted out of political correctness, that had the city got the revenue that it generates instead of that money being continuously devoured by central government and Punjab, it would be a much better position.
  Recommend 0
  Parvez
  Apr 19, 2014 01:47pm
  @Ashutosh Mishra:........if you liked her style, then read her book ' How It Happened '.
  Recommend 0
  Jeff
  Apr 19, 2014 01:47pm
  People of karachi (and, indeed of Pakistan in its entirety) need to wake up and realise that their country is a joke and that karachi is just one example- travel further north and you see the sad picture of life in pakistan. Pakistan is a laughing stock of the world. I was there recently and have never seen more disorganised, selfish, inconsiderate, uneducated and disgusting lot in my life (to put it relatively politely). People of that country need to wake up and realise that they dont live in a New York of the east or that Zamzma somehow is equivalent to Bond Street. Even if they were, it is the people that leave a lasting impression on me about a country and I have already said enough about that. I feel sorry for every kid that is born a pakistani.
  Recommend 0
  sarah shah
  Apr 19, 2014 05:18pm
  we want back your glory...oh depressive city of Quaid......
  Recommend 0
  Reason
  Apr 19, 2014 07:03pm
  Well written but the whole country is in a mess and the city is still not as bad as some others.
  Recommend 0
  xibir
  Apr 20, 2014 10:04pm
  too wordiness
  Recommend 0
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