Karachi Photo Blog: March 2006

Che

Many volunteers at WSF Karachi were seen wearing Che shirts like this one.

This picture from Cuba shows the original slogan.

A better world is possible.

World Social Forum 2006 being held in Karachi.
A short video is here:
http://www.ourmedia.org/node/192342

Banner reads:
A New World is possible.

Yasin Malik at WSF Karachi

Tariq Ali at WSF

Asma Jahangir at WSF

Dance at World Social Forum

This dance by Sheema Kirmani's troupe was a show stealer at WSF's plenary session.

Basant in Lahore

This handbill was given to me a day before Basant outside a Lahore mosque.

Shahtoot for me

Not sure why have we been depriving ourselves of all kinds of diversity. Just look at the fruits we normally eat; we seldom venture out of the small sphere that offers apples, bananas, oranges, and a few others. Well, enough of that for me. I have decided to relish every fruit of the season. Two days ago I bought a Kg of Shahtoot (Mulberry) for Rs. 100. The picture on the left won't tell you the taste the fruit had: sweet, juicy, and absolutely delicious.

World Social Forum in Karachi

It starts tomorrow.
http://www.wsf2006karachi.org/

Check out their 'Food' page.
http://www.wsf2006karachi.org/food.html
Karachi roadside eateries, like the one shown in picture, are going to be busy.

Manhood forever

Pakistan advertises its Viagra on walls. This ad is for a course of 10 'capsules', for eternal manhood. You will also receive a free copy of booklet about 'diseases and their cures.'

If only illiterate could read this

The sign says,
Breaking red light is an indication of your illiteracy.
[Loose translation]

Homemade

I found this TV stand in a village near Gharo.

Raw passion

I wonder why watching competitive sport is a religious experience for me. Perhaps because I don't come across such passionate people in normal day life.
This newspaper headline tells you about South Africa's historical victory over Australia in the fifth one-day match. And what a show it was! We were glued to our TV screens. Anyone who ever wanted to see what naked, raw passion and the desire to win at all costs look like could see them there in that cricket field. Players gave every morsel of their energy. Just watch the last 10 overs of that match and it will generate enough adrenaline in you for you to keep going for years.
South Africa had their 9th player caught out on the fourth last ball of the match. Three more balls to go, two runs to win, last pair playing! The incoming man is a bowler by specialty; the set batsman is on the non-striker end. The new batsman HAS to strike, HAS to make at least a run. If he doesn't strike, doesn't make a run, doesn't give a chance to the set batsman to finish it off, doesn't let South Africa win this match, there is a chance there would be racial riots in South Africa tonight--the new batsman being a Zulu, the one at the non-striker end is of European descent. The third ball is thrown, the new batsman is able to play it, and he RUNS. The crowd cheers like crazy, the passion is overwhelming, people are literally crying, South Africa has leveled the score. The second last ball is thrown, the batsman drives it to the boundary, South Africa wins the match in style.

It reads:
To show your love for Prophet Mohmmad, boycott European and American products.

Storage

In a village house.

Filthy

My destiny didn't change on Feb 15--I was counting on new Nazim's promise. You still see litter everywhere on Karachi streets.

Million March

Even Islamic fundamentalists get their ideas from the west.

Fountains at Askari Park

Credit

Illegal to steal electricity

By the order of D.G. Recovery.

This is what it says in Urdu under 'K.E.S.C.'

KESC has been privatized but it is still inept and inefficient. I pay gas and phone bills via Internet, but I cannot do the same with my electricity bill.

Everybody has a banner condemning the sacrilegious cartoons.

Askari Park

Remember Old Sabzi Mandi, that awful, smelly place between Hasan Square and Jail Road? Sabzi Mandi has now moved out of town; it is now on Super Highway. A park, Askari Park, has been built in the emptied lot. The park welcomes only families--a necessary safeguard against gawking men that you find everywhere. This night view shows landscape lighting in the lush green lawn with a new age fountain in the background. This has been one positive development in Karachi: many new parks have opened up, old parks have been revitalized. I wonder if Uncle Sam believes recreating Pakistanis would be less likely to answer the jihad call.

All our lives we will guard Prophet's honor, the banner says.

Crazy bus

In a Karachi amusement park.

Is west the only fertile ground for new ideas? The rest of the world seems to be just taking it easy.

Hot Gwadar properties

While an insurgency/separation movement continues in Balochistan.

Let's beat the Ahmadi boy

No matter what kind of controversy it is, in whatever way 'Muslims' are insulted or 'Islam' is threatened the wrath of the Pakistani mulla turns against Ahmadis (other variations of this sect, an offshoot of Sunni Muslims, are Qadyanis, Mirzais, and Lahoris).
The banner shown in the picture asks public to keep away from three things: Satan, Sheezan, and Qadyan. [Sheezan is a restaurant chain in Pakistan; it is allegedly owned by Ahmadis.]
Muslims living in the west ask the greater society to be tolerant towards them, but in Muslim countries the same people are extremely intolerant towards minorities living there. Shame on you.

Determined Nationalists

Asking for 'Freedom or Death, Country or coffin.'

Take the 'forces' out of Sindhi educational institutions, the sign says.

The Pakistani nation

That concept has not gelled yet--and periods of military dictatorship don't help. Just travel out of Karachi a bit and you'd find such writings rather frequently. This one was pictured in Gharo. Still, I gather that among Sindhis the vow for separation is not a prevailing sentiment, it is a loud cry of a very determined minority. For, compared to the East Pakistani society the Sindhi one has a strong feudal structure, and the feudal looks for his own personal interest first. There is a strong separation movement in Balochistan too, but that province of Pakistan is even more feudally oriented than Sindh. And in this age freedom struggles need popular support for fruition.

[For those who can't read Sindhi/Urdu, the sign says, 'Sindhu Desh, Zindabad.']