In Karachi

Sightseeing today.  Started off at 9 am to find the old Air Ops building where Father used to work.  He had been showing an old photograph of it around to see if anyone recognised it, and to determine exactly where it was in modern Karachi - indeed if it was still standing.  Our host the previous evening had - after much consultation - had the idea that it may be the Supreme Court building.  We therefore asked our guide to make it our first stop.

The old Air Ops building, now The Supreme Court of Pakistan

It had hardly changed in the last 55 years, and was instantly recognisable from the photo.  We had to obtain permission from security and also a person who appeared to be the Superintendent, But eventually were allowed inside.

It had hardly changed inside, the entrance hall was just as Pop had remembered it, but we had some difficulty finding the Ops Room.  It turned out to be Court #1.  The Judge’s desk was the exact same one which Pop used to sit at on the raised balcony area.

The superintendent had invited us for tea, which we now accepted in his office.  It has been a feature of the trip so far that everyone is extremely hospitable, and is interested that Pop has come back after 55 years.  With the superintendent was a former high court judge, who did not seem to mind in the slightest that we were interrupting his meeting.  He remembered Karachi as Father did, and was able to enlighten us on several points of local topography.

After that we went to Elphinstone Street which had completely changed, only a few buildings remaining from before partition, and those in a very sorry state indeed.  It is very noticeable that everything is not maintained, even the modern buildings.  The streets are very dirty, full of potholes and the pavements even worse. In fact manhole covers seem to be entirely optional here!  Whilst on Elphinstone street I received a call on my mobile from my brother.  The locals were amazed that I was talking to someone in Paris

Thereafter we passed down many back streets where scenes had not changed since

A spice seller at the Empress Market in Karachi

Pop’s day.  Horse drawn ‘Victorias’, donkey drawn carts, the sides of the streets home to many small stalls and open fronted shops and workshops.  These sold everything from food, shoes, live birds (edible and ornamental), spices and cats in cages.

Inside the workshops was some very sophisticated machinery including lathes and metal presses, much of it driven by old standalone internal combustion engines of the type seen 50 years ago driving agricultural machinery in the UK.

The Empress Market

These workshops, I suspect, are used to make spare parts for all the old vehicles on the streets, especially the buses which have been maintained rather than renewed for very many years.  We arrived at the Empress Market; built in the 1880s and not changed appreciably since.  The market sold food and hardware to the locals, and although photographs will capture the sights, nothing will capture the smells (thankfully).  These were particularly strong around the meat market where everything was crawling with flies (although

A fish stall at the Empress Market

the meat itself looked fresh).  The fish market however did not smell at all bad.  The fish, all packed in ice, were fresh, and made a wonderful display.  There were very many types, most of which I did not recognise.  There was also shell fish including some of the largest prawns I have ever seen.  The fruit stall also had wonderful displays of very many varieties, again all crawling with flies.  I now appreciate why you are warned against eating fruit.

We were shown bowls of ‘Pan’; a green leaf which is mixed with tobacco and chewed to produce a mild narcotic effect.  Every corner in the market was stained brown up to about 18 inches above the ground.  These are the ‘spitting corners’ where the locals spit out the chewed remains of Betel nuts (and the Pan)..

After leaving the sights, sounds and smells of the Empress Market behind we drove to the Jinnah Mausoleum, where lies the body of Jinnah the founding father of Pakistan.  A very solemn place, it is a domed building with open arched entrances on all four sides.  In the centre stands a carved marble sarcophagus, surrounded by two solid silver railings, one of which was donated by the Shah of Iran.  From the ceiling hangs a multi-tiered chandelier made from solid gold and weighing many tons, which was donated by the Muslim peoples of China.

We returned to the hotel, where we had lunch and the afternoon relaxing (The Sydney Olympics was on TV).  We were picked up At 5pm and spent a rather comical half and hour whilst our guide discussed vigorously with several money changers the rate we would get  for our starling travellers cheques.  He recounted to them (as he did everyone we met), that Pop was revisiting after 55 years, and like everyone who hears they found this quite interesting.

Crab Fishing

The evening's entertainment was ‘crabbing’.  We were taken down to the harbour which was a very lively and noisy place.  Many people were waiting to get on one of the small ferries which were coming in and out.  These were small wooden boats capable of carrying perhaps a maximum of 20 people.  There were also about a dozen crabbing boats moored up.  Small sailing boats about 30 feet long, quite broad in the beam aft, but tapering off quickly forward, with an open cushioned seating area at the aft end.

We went aboard with our guide ‘a trainee’ and four local crew.  One of them, a boy of about 15 climbed up to the top of the mast to unfurl the sail, and we set sail with the help of two oars.  We emerged into the harbour proper which has some oil tankers unloading into a pipeline on our left and a naval base on the right.  Ahead was a large island with a light house on one end.

About halfway across, the sail was furled and we were handed crabbing lines by our crew.  they then proceeded to extract some large, live crabs from plastic buckets in the bilges.  The removal of further decking planks revealed cooking utensils and an old fashioned Kerosene stove.  Whilst we fished (unsuccessfully) the crew dismembered the crabs and threw them into a large pot of water.

When the crabs had been cooked, and soup been made from the water, we ate a supper of crab (breaking the claws open with an empty Coke bottle), crab soup, fried potatoes, vegetable curry and nan bread, washed down with 7 Up.

When the sun had set over the island we set sail for the quay again.  A most agreeable evening.  We returned to the hotel and after a coffee in the lobby cafe retired to bed at 10.