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.
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!
Thanks Owais…that one actually had me laughing aloud. As one of the non-Pakistanis who reads this blog I can tell you that few of us who’ve travelled or lived abroad will think any less of you on account of your donkey racing or mango-mania, for that matter — I enjoy the mix of interesting light-hearted anecdotes along with the foreign policy aspect. My only somewhat similar experience occured in Bogota, Colombia and involved not donkeys (though there were quite a few of those) but Harley Davidsons… hundreds of them, enough to rival rural Wisconsin.
My Experience of watching a Donkey Cart Race
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During student days and especially near exam days we used to study overnight. Around 2:00 a.m. we would become very hungry and go to ‘char-pai’ hotel at Lasbela chowk, Karachi. It was called charpai hotel because after the road traffic would get thin around 11 p.m., the hotel owner used to put many ‘char-pai’ on the road side and food was served there.
Once we were having our usual ‘kaRaahi-chicken’ there when we suddenly heard a distant rumbling. The rumbling soon turned to vibration and then somebody shouted ‘donkeys are coming’ (O gadhay aa rahay haiN). A mini stampede followed and everyone ran to the road side leaving their food on ‘char-pai’ and shoes on the road. The road was part of a route of Inter-Karachi donkey cart race. The race was being conducted late at night to avoid traffic. Race contestor donkey-carts were coming from ‘Golimar’ area and taking a turn south towards ‘Garden West’ from Lasbela chowk. While taking this sharp turn at high speed many donkeys skidded a bit. Luckily none of them fall or overturned. Those who have seen the movie ‘Jumanji’ may relate to this animal stampede experience. Within 15 seconds or so hundreds of donkey carts whizzed passed us amid lots of cheering. I don’t know who was the winner of the race but this was my first-hand experience of watching a donkey cart race.
After that it was business as usual. people were back to charpai and resumed on their left over food.
A friend of ours who has earlier commented here on as to why we are discussing donkey carts on this forum may not know what he is missing. donkey carts and their racing are a part of a very colorful local culture :)
I have wondered why the type of donkeycart you have in Karachi is not found elsewhere in Pakistan. It is a very Karachi thing. Does anyone know if it is also found in other places in Pakistan. I have seen many donkey carts all over, but they are very different.