Some of the public parks in Pakistan are one of their kind. Few months ago we had introduced the Haunted House of Hill Park, and today we will introduce Mumtaz Mahal located inside the Karachi Zoo. Karachi’s zoological gardens (also called Gandhi Gardens) has many animals to boast about. Animals are however not the only creatures at display here.
For the past 35 years a ‘maa-fauq-ul-fitrat’ (super natural) character is also kept in captivity here. This creature has a head of a lady and body of a fox. It is kept in a special pavilion called Mumtaz Mahal.
Inside the zoo, it is easy to find Mumtaz Mahal as the organisers use megaphone to invite you to see it. Zoo’s entrance ticket does not cover the visit to Mumtaz Mehal therefore one has to buy a separate ticket to see it.
Once inside the pavilion, you will see a fox’s hide placed on a table. Suddenly a woman’s head appears out of this hide in bright lipstick and heavy make-up. Small children in the audience are usually spell bound at this stage. The creature then talks with following starting line:
I was born like this in Africa 35 years ago, and live on cake, juice, and fruits …
This woman-fox creature also tells visitors their destiny and can allegedly answer your questions in any language of the world. I’ll leave the proof of this claim to our readership, who should visit Mumtaz mahal and ask this creature a question themselves. I’ve read on a website that people ask this creature all kinds of questions about their destiny. Somebody even asked about when will he get a work visa for Dubai.
The reality of Mumtaz Mehal is of course a big joke or hoax. The lady face is actually an enunch who has been doing this job for many years. The effect of fox body is created by optical illusion using mirrors. One thing I do want to mention is eventhough I wrote off Mumtaz Mehal as a big joke, it is still very popular among visitors.
I also have many fond memories of going to the zoo for day field trips with my primary school classes and family. I must admit, at younger age I used to be scared to go to Mumtaz mahal and look at this creature.
Following distant shot of Mumtaz Mahal pavilion shows the complete name of this creature as ‘Mumtaz Begum Africa wali.’
I’ll now end this post with a very short history note. Actual Mumtaz Mahal was the nickname of Arjumand Bano Begum (1593-1631) who was the wife of Mughal emperor Shah Jehan and in whose loving memory Taj Mahal was built.
While doing a web search today I found this interesting video where “Mumtaz Begum Africa wali” is being interviewed by some TV Channel.
Reference: ‘Foxy Lady’ is the title of a famous psychedelic rock song by Jimi Hendrix which came out in 1967.
Brought back so many memories. wonderfully written yaar
Wow. Brought back so many memories. Vey nicely written yaar.
That show is still on, I must confess I was there last year.But this time I investigated and found that there is a short guy in make up sitting behind the table talkng in a female voice shakes the tail with a wire connection and a pushy one to throw money at him. Oh Please, who are they trying to fool. Yes the little kids and the innocent villagers.But to be honest I enjoyed it too.wink
Owais, I did not mean to put down the legitamacy of Mumtaz Mehal as a Karachi landmark. Your piece was wonderfully told. As I mentioned, I only visited the place in my twenties, so obviously I went in with expectations lowered by a decade of cynicism.
Akif, your comment made me smile :) I agree with you and Pervaiz that it is an innocence lost thing. If I go there now I’ll have the feeling that what the heck was that. What a waste of time and money on such a mediocre set-up but in our childhood I used to get very curious (or may be scared) of this drama :) Amazing that this Mumtaz Mahal has survived atleast 35 years (may be more).