Guest Post by Mast Qalandar

You have read about “the good” Islamabad in Part 1 of this post, which, it seemed from the comments, sent some of you reminiscing about the Islamabad that you knew. Well, here is the not-so-good and the ugly side of Islamabad as seen by me and my camera.

In Part 1 of this series on Islamabad, I had said that there were certain things that ‘self-respecting’ Pakistanis won’t do. Riding a bicycle and carrying anything heavier or larger than a briefcase were two of them. I would like to add one more thing to this list: no proud Pakistani would like to be seen stopping or slowing down his/her car at a crosswalk or ‘zebra crossing’ to allow a pedestrian to cross the road peacefully. Even the cars that are turning from a side street would barrel down at the pedestrians forcing them either to run for their lives – literally – or scurry back to safety.

I find it ironic that on the one hand we take so much pride in our cultural values of courtesy, hospitality, lehaaz and “pehlay aap” – and often flaunt them – and on the other hand the moment we get inside a car we toss all those values out, just as we routinely toss candy wrappers and other trash out of our car windows. I have never understood this sudden transformation.

Adil Najam

Speaking at inaugural ceremony of the Bagh Ibne Qasim in Karachi, General Musharraf announced that one of the tallest buildings in the world is planned to be built in Karachi.

How tall, you ask? Well, the word from the top is all of 1947 feet. One assumes that this number is no coincidence. I guess there will be something special on the 14th floor and somehow August will also be commemorated.

Adil Najam

Since we are on a roll here in talking about Pakistani cities, I thought I would share with you this very interesting video on Karachi I saw posted on Karachi Metroblog. It is done by something called ‘Chai Panni Productions.’ Unfortunately I could not find much information about them (if anyone knows, lease share). I have titled the post as I have (instead of using the title ‘Dekh Magar Piyar Se’) because it struck me that his does capture the rhythms of Karachi so wonderfully and authentically. I like it for the same reason that I liked the video we had posted earlier on Nihari in Karachi. While I was not particularly impressed by the child reciting rote learned ashaar (because of the selection), but the pace and the sound, and the style made me think back fondly of the years I spent as a child in Karachi.