Nihari in Karachi

Adil Najam

3QuarksDaily (3QD to friends) was the very first blog I visited and I got addicted to it immediately. I find it to be the most intellectually stimulating and educative blog out there. Over the last year, I have probably told more people about why they should visit 3QD than I have about ATP. That is how much I admire the work that the 3QD team is doing.

Although much of the 3QD team is from Pakistan, the blog itself is much much more than a ‘Pakistani blog.’ However, because so many of them are from Pakistan, a certain Pakistaniness does seep through into the posts in terms of the topics they cover and the way they over them.

One such very Pakistani post was the recent video made and posted by one of the 3QD team members. I must confess -sheepishly – that I may be one of the very few Pakisatnis who does not actually like Nihari. But I did love the video.

I love the video because it has this feel of real citizen journalism to it; both in its topic and its execution. But much more thank that, I love it because for some reason it gives me this very authentic Pakistani – and Karachi – feel.

Maybe it is because of the subject matter and the places it shows; maybe it is because of this very deliberate ‘unprofessional’ feel to it with the jerks and the dhakkas (what could be more Pakistani than a few dhakkas as you wak across Burns Road!); maybe its the simplicity of the narration. Whatever it is, I have been enjoying it for the last few days; the people at Karachi Metroblog have also been doing so for the last couple of days; and I thought you would too.