This city by the beach!

Karachi - This city by the sea! The city I grew up in. The city home to millions of people with various ethnic backgrounds. The city that usually tops the national news for one reason or other. And the list goes on.

Be it recent target killing, energy crisis or fashion week, Karachi is everywhere. No matter how bad things go, Karachi is one city which rises back every time it’s struck down. Its resilience is divine. Something others have hard time understanding.

Being a Karachiite myself, I never felt anything different about the city. But my recent interaction with the species I fancy calling “non-Karachiites” revealed upon me that this city has an unusual image in their mind. I have met people who take pride in the fact that they have at least once visited this city and people who are scared to come because of what they see on TV. People who think Karachi is Pakistan’s New York and people who wonder how can anyone survive in such chaos.

Few interesting comments by such non-Karachiites are archived below.

Arsalan Sabir (Lahore): Karachi reminds me of Sea View drive, Karachi Silver Spoon Paratha rolls, Habib Bank Plaza and memons.

Nayab Fayaz (Abbottabad): The city with beaches, pollution, crowded buses, noise, terrorism, rich people and factories.

Mohammad Taher (Cairo, Egypt): It’s an important port at the Asian side of the world.

Saba Safdar (Islamabad): A different world! One that might as well be seven seas away.

Shafqat Iqbal (Lahore): Industrial backbone of Pakistan and target killing describes Karachi.

Robert Connor Latta (Fort smith AR, USA): A large crowded city with no grass or trees and with many children and many cars.

Huda Syyed (Doha, Qatar): Havoc, political instability and food.

Ayisha Bashir (Islamabad) and Noman Sajjid (Lahore): Paan!

Marium Jilani (Islamabad): Mutahida Qaumi Movement.

Funny yet interesting, these comments do reflect a bit of what Karachi is all about. But this isn’t the full picture. Karachi is larger than life. One has to be born and brought up here to appreciate its craziness! ;)