Karachiites know donkey cart races well.
I have myself witnessed them on many different streets in the city, from Sharah-e-Faisal to the main Univeristy Road. Amin Gulgee has even erected a monument to celebrate the city’s interesting pastime.
Donkey carts, with their single riders guiding them masterfully on Karachi streets and making noise from pebble-filled cans, may be deemed dangerous by some residents of the city, but they are a unique Karachi thing and demonstrate the vibrancy present in the local communities (in this case it is the coastal Makrani community who are typically given the credit for inventing donkey cart racing in Karachi).
Believe me, if you haven’t seen them before, you are missing a stirring sight. Even our President Musharraf has remarked in the past that “Donkey cart race reminded me of Ben Hur movie”.
The following news item in The News caught my attention. Its great to see some attention being given to our local sports and customs. (Nice headline too: Only the city’s best kept donkey carts would be allowed to participate in the race. Those with worn out tyres or unfit carts would not be allowed. The participants of the race will be accompanied by police mobiles and traffic police motorcycles to clear any kind of obstructions. These mobiles will also carry referees and judges who will decide the winner of the contest.
The winner will get Rs. 15,000, runner up Rs. 10,000 and third position will get a reward of Rs. 5000, said one organizer who added that there will be about 50 to 60 participants in the race and each will get Rs500 for their participation. Governor Sindh Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad and the Chief Secretary Sindh Fazal-ur-Rehman will be the guests of honour and will also address the participants after distributing the award money.
Talking to The News, Zohaib Hasan, Advisor to Governor Sindh, said, “The President gave a directive to the Sindh Government to promote activities that represent the vibrancy of Sindh.� He added: “The government wants to re-establish the tradition of donkey cart race as people are preferring foreign sports over their own and this race is one of the identities of the province and city and the public should be involved in it.�
According to the organizers, the government is trying to make it a routine event of the city and the idea was to launch three or four small cups and then invite the winners to big contests like the one due today. After the Chief Secretary Cup, the participants will be invited to the Governor Cup which is one of the main events of the Sindh Sea Festival to be held in November.
Dr. Bilal Zuberi is Vice President of Product Development at GEO2 Technologies in Boston (MA), USA. See more at Bilal’s blog: BZNotes.
If you want to see a video of what donkey cart races might look like, watch the video below. Forward to a little past the 3/4th mark and you will see a wonderful video of donkey cart races:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1TvhlAykgw
It is interesting that this is really a Karachi thing. I dont think it is anywhere else. NOt in Punjab or even Balochistan.
I am from Trinidad and found this interesting becasue donkey racing was quite a passion here also.
When I was a kid I nearly got run over by one of these
Folks,
The Chief Secretary Cup 2006 for donkeys race was held in Karachi yesterday. The story also covers about other prominent donkey race competitions and the interest of public in these events. For my surprise, the winner covered 14 km in 17 min and 13 seconds. Its unbelievalbe !!!
“Talash’ emerges with the crown”: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=1766 4
MSK,
You are right donkey carts (gadha garri) are mostly seen in Karachi. Elsewhere in Pakistan donkey is largely used as a pack animal and sometimes also as a mount animal or both. A possible reason could be that any two points in Karachi between which goods may be transported were connected by roads where a wheeled cart could be used. This was not true (until recently) for most other cities of the country where the terrain varied from tarmac roads to no roads to hilly or mountainous tracks. This is why, perhaps, the cart culture could not take root in other cities of Pakistan. I am not sure, though. This is simply a conjecture.
Incidentally, using a donkey cart is not only more efficient than transporting goods on donkey’s back but is also easier on the animal — and, unlike the ubiquitous Suzuki, is vry environment friendly.
MSK: Maybe just like the blog that IFaqeer maintains for Rickshaws, we can have one on donkey carts. The different varieties found, and their uses.
I remember our dhobi coming on a donkey cart to our house and once while he counted his next assignment inside, somebody stole his donkey cart. Poor guy was quite upset when he thought he had lost his donkey (and the expensive laundry). Luckily the donkeys are also known (at least among the dhobi community) to be stubborn. A few blocks away from our place, the donkey decided not to move any more. Stubborness of the donkey helped its owner tremendously that day.
Great To Know About Such An Event!