Karachi- City of Cool and Chaos

My city of birth used to be a sleepy fishing village. My mother told me that its streets were washed every morning, with the fresh smell of water seeping into its desert sands filling the morning air. On my recent visit after 3 years, I observed Karachi’s journey more keenly than ever. On the one hand, the fear of terror and looting that had gripped the city in years past was gone, although phone snatchings continued unabated. I reflected on how many refugees have found open doors here, how many have found new homes, work and just basically survived, most recently Afghan’s and Pashtuns after the Russian invasion followed by the American occupation and bombings of Afghanistan. I appreciated once again the cosmopolitan nature of Karachi, a community of so many communities, from Punjabis and UPites, Dehliwallas, etc. (Indian Muslims who migrated after the bloody partition of India), Memons, Christians, Parsis, and on and on. Like the sea air that breathes freshness into Karachi every evening, these communities continue to grow and flourish in this city of refugees. My husband and I took a tour of Karachi and saw a Memon Mosque, a Christian Church (St. Pat’s), British institutions from the Raj and a Parsi temple. I am sure if the tour would have been longer, we could have seen remnants of ancient Indus Valley civilizations not far from Karachi, Jewish temples, Hindu temples and many other communities.

As a child I spent a few years in Karachi in my strict grandparents house where faith and education ruled the household. At that time, in the 60’s, Karachi seemed to be on the verge of becoming a Paris of the East, another potential Dubai. Excitement was in the air, there was no violence to speak of, business was thriving, women were making great strides and progress in all fields- including my aunt Hafiz Rizwani who excelled in several sports and was in the paper every single day. But those dreams were sunk after superpower politics hit Karachi hard and in a totally unexpected way, making violence a permanent part of this City.

Today Karachi still is the mecca of business enterprises, and business oriented communities are thriving there. I was impressed by the many clubs that our relatives and friends took us to- lovely family oriented clubs with all sorts of facilities in addition to the finest dining and ambiance, from the British era Sindh Club- which felt like one walked back in time to the British Raj, Karachi Club, the modern seaside Golf Club, the Creek Club, the Boat Club surrounded by mangraves- vegetation that lives between sea and fresh water, something I learned from our friends the Jabbars. Cool restaurants and designer boutiques line the fashionable parts of the City, reminding us of the beautiful fusion of the traditional crafts with the creativity of modern globally conscious designers designing for a jetsetter audience. And the bungalows of the rich are amazing and beautiful, soaring above their surrounding walls allowing a peek into their serene interior, where house servants meet your every need and make life just a plain luxury!

What truly impacted me most was that the ancient culture of hospitality, grace and generosity is alive and well, and is taken to its ultimate perfection in my husband’s community – the Punjabi Dehli ke sodagran (meaning Punjabi Merchants of Dehli)- they deserve a whole blog on their own! Every sibling, niece or nephew, cousin, grandniece or grandnephew in our family and all of my husband’s friends from childhood went out of their way to welcome the “American” visitor, uncle/aunt or granduncle/grandaunt! Every meal was a ritual of delightful food, beautiful customs and non-stop serving of the other. I was so touched by the love and the grace I saw and will never forget it! We attended a wedding in my husband’s family, and I was so impressed how the hosts served the in-laws throughout the evening, and then finally, when thousands of guests had gone, they sat down to eat themselves as a family- way past midnight, exhausted and yet having preserved hospitality par excellence.

In contrast, the government and public infrastructure has gone to pieces. I observed an increase in the filth and chaos- broken roads all over, horrible traffic and trash all over the City waiting for the China Pakistan Economic Pact to kick in! Imagine even our own trash collection has to be outsourced. Everyone blames the government for its corruption and inaction, quite the opposite of US where the latest sentiment is to tell the government to do less- after it has done so much for so many for so long! The paradox of the rich Karachi and the poor Karachi intrigued me, as it did when I visited Rio de Janeiro or Bangkok or Cairo so many years ago. Does it always have to be so extreme I wonder? And yet I enjoyed this privilege thoroughly, of being driven by chauffeurs that negotiated the horrible traffic, fended off the street beggars or euneuchs – with their prayers or damnations depending if you gave or not- encircling the car; gates opened by chowkidars, insisting on not letting us even lift a mere shopping bag; meek houseboys and housegirls with their specific appointed duties offering tea/coffee, ironing clothes, preparing baths, cooking, cleaning, babysitting, etc. This is an enticing life I thought, enough to entice the liberal elite to let it be and a corrupt government to not act all. May the material condition of Karachi catch up to its humanity, its peace-loving and progressive population and its spirituality of love. I fell in love with Karachi all over again!