| April 17, 2006 | Monday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 18, 1427 |
Last Days of Pompeii?
Will Narmada’s water wash the blood on his hand?
Killer buses on the loose
ONE of the lessons from the bomb blast at Nishtar Park in Karachi last week is that it demonstrated the dire need for a much better pre-hospital emergency care and transportation to hospitals for individuals with injuries. Such an emergency medical service is necessary not only for Karachi but for all major cities, including Islamabad.
Given the lack of any centralised agency to provide professional emergency medical response at the site of accidents or disasters in major cities in the country, the immediate response of well-meaning bystanders and those unhurt is naturally to get the injured to the hospital as quickly as possible.
The result, as was evident in television footage of the immediate aftermath of the bomb blast at Nishtar Park, is that some of the critically injured are inappropriately carried by their hands and legs and then practically dumped into any vehicle available so that they can be rushed to the hospital quickly.
Television footage of the Nishtar blast aftermath showed one injured person being carried in this dangling manner by four persons, two persons holding one hand each and two other persons holding one leg each. In the process of rushing this injured person to the vehicle to be transported to hospital, one of the carriers dropped one leg, and thereafter the injured person was being practically dragged to the vehicle by three persons, two holding his hands and one holding one foot.
If the bomb blast did not kill the poor guy, this kind of rough handling of an injured person would definitely have aggravated his injuries if not killed him!
It must be acknowledged that the ambulances arrived rather quickly after the bomb blast. But most of these so-called ambulances were small Suzuki vans with no first-aid facilities, emergency medical response equipment, trained paramedics, or even a stretcher. They were simply transport vehicles in which the injured as well as dead bodies and body parts were unceremoniously dumped and ferried to hospitals.
In the developed countries on the other hand, it is generally acknowledged that the initial emergency care rendered to the injured on the spot of an accident or disaster by professional paramedics can be the deciding factor between life and death, temporary or permanent disability, a brief confinement or prolonged hospitalization for the injured. It was quite obvious in the mayhem following the bomb blast at Nishtar Park that this sense of the precarious condition of the injured was lacking.
Most cities in the developed countries have an emergency medical service which provides 24-hour emergency pre-hospital medical care and ambulance transportation to individuals who are injured or ill.
The paramedics of such a service are trained professionals who are highly skilled in all aspects of pre-hospital emergency medicine. They treat a wide variety of injuries with medical conditions while providing supportive patient care and safe transportation in well-equipped ambulances to an appropriate medical facility or hospital.
Some cities even have patrolling Emergency Response Units (ERUs) which arrive at the scene of an emergency call before the transport ambulance. The ERU vehicles, staffed by experienced paramedics who are qualified to assess and treat all patients, are usually smaller than the transport ambulances and except for the stretcher, contain the same medical equipment as the transport ambulances. The mobile deployment of these ERUs enable them to respond to emergencies and intervene with appropriate medical procedures even before the arrival of the transport paramedics.
Some advanced cities even have big ambulances the size of buses for large accidents or incidents where many people are injured. Such bus ambulances, designed to carry some 10 stretcher patients each, are also equipped for active emergency care.
Obviously, part and parcel of such an emergency medical service should be a central ambulance command centre. This centre usually has an advanced computer-aided ambulance dispatch service that includes a call receiving system similar to the Police Rescue 15 call system.
Any emergency medical service would be incomplete without a search and rescue unit. The collapse of the Margalla Towers in Islamabad during the catastrophic earthquake last October demonstrated the need for a specially trained urban search and rescue unit in the capital city, as well as in other cities, to respond to incidents of structural collapses whatever the cause.
Such a unit would be responsible for the location of trapped persons in collapsed structures using dogs and sophisticated search equipment; the use of heavy equipment such as cranes to remove debris and work to breach, shore, remove and lift structural components; the treatment and removal of victims; and the securing of partially or completely collapsed structures.
Members of such a search and rescue unit would normally include structural engineers, hazardous material specialists, heavy rigging specialists, search specialists (including highly trained search dogs), logistics specialists, paramedics and physicians.
Emergencies, caused either by natural disasters like last October’s earthquake or by terrorism like last week’s bombing at Nishtar Park, may not be controlled or stopped. But they can be mitigated to a large extent by a carefully planned emergency response.
Agencies like the Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction Authority (Erra) and the National Volunteer Movement (NVM) were established after last October’s earthquake to oversee and mobilise resources to aid in post-quake relief and reconstruction efforts. But should another major earthquake or a terrorism attack occur in Islamabad, neither Erra nor NVM nor even Rescue 15 would be able to do what a well-equipped and staffed Emergency Medical Services Authority (Emsa) can do.
Emergency patient care administered by an effective system of coordinated disaster medical response and emergency pre- hospital medical care is not a luxury but a necessity, particularly in a country like ours which is prone to both terrorist attacks and natural disasters.
IT WAS 1981. I was then editing the Islamabad newspaper, The Muslim. Towards the end of the year an unkemped young man came to me and claimed that he was representing the French daily, Le Monde. I was surprised. How could a newspaper like Le Monde employ such people? The fellow beggared description.
I could have him thrown out but something told me to hang on and try to find a bit more about the youth. I offered him a seat and such refreshments as were available in my newspaper canteen. The manner in which the fellow ate and drank, it appeared that he had been starving for a week.
On the basis of what I had seen, I decided that the fellow could not possibly represent Le Monde. I asked him what was he doing in these parts. He had been commissioned by his newspaper to carry out an investigation into the sectarian structure in Pakistan, he said. That made me angrier than I should have been and I asked him what did he expect me to do for him. Everything, he said. He wanted to work in my paper’s library. He wanted my protection to interview people across Islamabad. He wanted my reporters to help him carry out his research work. His demands could not obviously be met but I kept my cool and asked him to leave and do some legwork on his own. The fellow left and I never saw him again.
Today 25 years down the line I am reminded of the man from Le Monde. Was he really representing Le Monde or was he working for some other agency? Your guess is as good as mine. But you know how sectarianism has been tearing out social fabric parts during this past quarter century. Are individuals or groups of individuals working for inimical interests wittingly or unwittingly? After what happened in Karachi, I am sure, things are coming to a head. The army remains the only unifying force in the country. But for how long will it continue to hold us together?
In 1953, the sectarian riots were effectively put down by Gen Azam Khan’s martial law. In 1958, Gen Ayub Khan’s military takeover was more than welcomed in the country. In 1969, when Gen Yahya Khan replaced President Ayub Khan, many among us thought that he could hold East and West Pakistan together. But this wasn’t to be. In 1977 when Gen Ziaul Haq showed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto the door, many among us thought that the saviour had arrived. Nothing doing. A little over six years ago, president Pervez Musharraf entered the scene. But his arrival was considered neither a deliverance nor yet another period of military suppression. People are indifferent to everything he says or does.
We no longer care. Are these the last days of Pompeii? Unfortunately, tragically, yes. It is not the enemy without. It is the enemy within. We can’t always put our act together with military assistance, especially when our own Chaudhry can’t see beyond his nose.
Have you ever considered that you can do away with the letter ‘e’ when it appears before the letter ‘x’?
Take for example, the word explain. Why not xplain because the ‘e’ sound is included in the ‘x’ sound?
Consider the following words without the letter “e”.
Xplosion
Xtra
Xtrapolate
Xpire
Xamine
Xit
Xterminate
Xhaust
Xhibit
Xalt
Xult
Xpenditure
Xpatriate
Xpulsion
Xcel
Xcellent
Xecute
Explicit
Xhale
Xtinguish
Xpert
Xpect
Xcept
Xample
Xhume and so on and so forth.
You can save a lot of space by not using the letter ‘e’ when it is not phonetically required. Xculpate, Xpiate. See?
Let me now take up Ravinder Kumar’s account of the Rowlatt Act agitation in Lahore in 1919.
Ravinder Kumar writes:
Despite the support of a large number of prominent citizens, the gathering of 4 February ‘was not very large, and other was absolutely no disorder or disturbance’ during the course of the meeting. However, when the Indian Association called for a second meeting to protest against the Rowlatt Bills on 9 March, its initiative evoked a much more enthusiastic response. This was so for two reasons. The speeches made by the Indian members of the Imperial Legislative Council, particularly the oratory of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, had received wide publicity in the press, and had apparently convinced large sections of the educated community of the iniquity of the new legislation. However, what had probably contributed in an even more significant manner to a change in the climate of opinion was Gandhi’s open letter of the 26th, which called upon his fellow countrymen to resist the new legislation.
The strength of Gandhi’s charisma, and the extent to which his appeal had aroused sentiment against the Rowlatt Bills, impressed itself forcibly upon Fazal-i-Husain, who presided over the meeting held on 9 March by the Indian Association of Lahore. While he was unequivocally opposed to the new legislation, Fazal-i-Husain’s sympathy for Gandhi’s call was lukewarm, because he believed that in launching a movement of protest on the lines of satyagraha Gandhi was playing with fire. But so radical was the temper of the audience on the 9th , that Fazal-i-Husain not only kept his views to himself, but he also sponsored a resolution which condemned the Rowlatt Bills and stipulated that ‘the Indian people will be justified in taking resort to some sort of passive resistance...’ When subsequently called upon to explain his behaviour at this meeting, Fazal-i-Husain asserted that by going through the motions of surrender in the face of popular pressure, he had in effect exercised a restraining influence upon the citizens of Lahore, and had presented them from committing themselves unequivocally to a course of satyagraha. ‘I think that the resolution was deliberately framed with the object of not taking Gandhi’s vow of passive resistance’, he pointed out. ‘We said that only when the Bill is passed into legislation will we decide whether passive resistance will be adopted or not’.
Notwithstanding Fazal-i-Husain’s attempt to restrain the growing sentiment in favour of Gandhi, popular support for a radical course of action continued to gain momentum at a rapid pace. On 18 March the new legislation was formally enshrined as the law of the land by the Imperial Legislative Council. Shortly afterwards, on 23 March, Gandhi appealed to people throughout the country to commemorate Sunday, 6 April, as a day of ‘humiliation and prayer’ by observing a hartal, and by keeping a fast. The citizens of Lahore hesitated not at all in extending their support to Gandhi’s movement of protest. On 2 April the prominent men in the city attended a meeting jointly called by the Indian Association and the Provincial Committee of the Indian National Congress to discuss an appropriate programme of action. This meeting endorsed Gandhi’s call for a hartal, and it issued a notice to the effect that a public meeting would be held on the 6th at the Bradlaugh Hall, the headquarters of the Provincial Congress Committee, to protest against the Rowlatt Act. The support which the Provincial Congress Committee extended to the appeal for a hartal significantly strengthened the advocates of satyagraha, since this support brought a powerful organization and several influential citizens in to the ranks of the movement.
The administration of Lahore had looked upon the public meetings held in February and March in protest against the Rowlatt Act with a certain lofty indifference. But it took a different view of the endorsement by the local leaders of Lahore of Gandhi’s call for a hartal, since it regarded the Rowlatt Satyagraha as a direct challenge to the authority of the British Government. On the morning of the 4th, therefore, Mr. H. Fyson, the Deputy Commissioner of Lahore, summoned to his office the Municipal Commissioners and the Honorary Magistrates of the city, since it was through these officers that the administration kept in touch with public opinion and exercised control over the community. The Deputy Commissioner harangued the Commissioners and the Magistrates on the disloyal conduct of the satyagrahis, and he urged them to ‘appreciate their responsibilities and ... to use their influence as far as they could to prevent the hartal’. (Evidence given by E.P.Broadway, Senior Superintendent of Police, Lahore, Hunter Commission Report, volume iv.) Fyson spoke in a different vein when later in the day he discussed the hartal and the public meeting of the 6th with a few prominent citizens of Lahore like Gokul Chand Narang, Duni Chand, and Rambhuj Dutt Choudhry. Both the leaders of the people and the representatives of the administration,he pointed out to them, bore a heavy responsibility for the maintenance of peace and order in the critical days which lay ahead. The government expected the popular leaders to refrain from coercing merchants and shopkeepers into observing a hartal on the 6th; and if the satyagrahis acted with restraint, the government on its part would not interfere with meetings, demonstrations, and other expressions of popular will. The local leaders found Fyson’s attitude unexceptionable, and they reached an informal understanding with him which formed the basis of a circular in which the Deputy Commissioner exhorted the Honaray Magistrates and Municipal Commissioners to be ‘present in their wards (on the 6th) in order to assist in keeping peace’. (Statement by Dr. Gokul Chan Narang, Congress Inquiry Committee Report.)
Conspicuous in the gatherings of the 6th were the students of Lahore. The students were conspicuous in these gathering because they had been affected by Gandhi’s call for a satyagraha to a much greater extent than any other social group in the city. However, the crowd which gathered within the city walls, near Lahori Gate, also included clerks and petty shopkeepers and men on the firings of the professions, whose emotions had been aroused by the propaganda conducted against the Rowlatt Act. The crowd was impressive in numbers, and rebellious in mood, and it flaunted its contempt for the authority of the British Government in a manner which impressed itself forcibly upon Sayad Mohamed Shah, an officer who had been posted by Fyson within the walls of the city:
I met them in the bazar near Lahori Gate (the Sayad told the Hunter Commission). They were in their thousands, bare headed, and they were shouting ‘Rowlatt Bill ki jai’ (Victory to Rowlatt Bills — obviously a derisive slogan). At the same time they were not allowing anybody to pass by the street. They even told me to take off my turban, which I did, because I knew that if I did not do so there would be trouble which I wanted to avoid... (The city inspector of police was also there.) He and I requested some of them that they should change the route because that was not the Bradlaugh Hall route. They were very much excited and threatened to assault him. Practically they lifted their hands, but I came between ..., and asked him to go, otherwise there was great danger of his being assaulted. (Evidence by Sayad Mohamed Shah, Extra Assistant Commissioner, Lahore, Hunter Commission Report, volume iv)
(More next week)
“WILL all great Neptune’s ocean wash this blood clean from my hand?”, Macbeth cries after he has killed Duncan, in Shakespeare’s classic tragedy, even as his wife scolds him and says that a little water will do the job.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi began a 51-hour hunger strike from Sunday ostensibly to mount pressure on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh so that work on the controversial Narmada river dam project is not stopped despite popular protests against it.
Had he gone on a similar hunger strike to protest the brutal deaths of Hindu passengers of a train in Godhra on February 27, 2002, he would be a hero of the Indian masses today. But instead he unleashed a reign of terror against innocent Muslims whose scars from the communal onslaught run deep and continue to fester with no sign of healing.
Therefore his new form of protest can only be a veneer to mask some sinister motive.
Modi is widely regarded as the architect of the anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat. But he will not be the first such politician to stage this peaceful form of protest. Last year in March, the granddaughter of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini went on hunger strike after her party was barred from running in regional polls.
Alessandra Mussolini described the move ‘a coup d’etat’. What really happened was that a Roman had ruled that more than 800 signatures collected by her far-right Social Alternative movement were false or forged. Alessandra Mussolini was due to run for president of the Lazio region.
When she began her fast Ms Mussolini acknowledged she was unprepared for a hunger strike, saying she had a stomach pain the previous day ‘and so I didn’t really eat enough beforehand’. It is not clear whether Narendra Modi is better prepared than Ms. Mussolini was to carry out the peaceful protest, but his politics of hate is far more entrenched than his protesting icon’s is in Italy today.
Hunger strikes thus symbolise a strong point of view that may belong to the left or the right of the political spectrum and, therefore, do not always guarantee justice. Moreover risks of failure are inherent.
Irish rebel Bobby Sands died on the 66th day of his fast, which he undertook to be declared a prisoner of war, a status denied by the British. Sant Darshan Singh Pheruman died on the 74th day of his fast in 1969 he undertook for Sikh rights. His demands remain only partly fulfilled.
Environmentalist and social activist Medha Patkar and her two other associates have been fasting for 20 days but with at least some signs of success or so it seems.
Modi’s fast is most likely aimed at triggering a head-on confrontation with Ms Patkar’s protesters. In 2002 the 51-year old activist was brutally beaten up by fanatics when she sought to campaign against his complicity in the Gujarat killings.
The Gujarat chief minister, by going on fast, is also playing on the vulnerability of India’s ruling Congress Party which has got itself tethered to the goals of ‘India Shining’, an idea it had opposed and thus won the national elections in May 2004. Congress leaders in Gujarat and other states through which the Narmada river flows are in a quandary over the looming standoff.
They have to decide which side they would go with. Modi is waiting with his trap.
Anti-dam protests are not unique to India. Ms Patkar’s protesters have a lot in common with Pakistan’s Awami Tehrik campaign against the proposed Kalabagh dam on Indus river. To that extent she shares a struggle with the Tehrik’s chief, Rasool Bux Palijo. It is important for the supporters of both to know and work with each other. A brief profile could be useful.
Medha Patkar’s father fought in India’s independence movement and later was a trade unionist. Her mother works in a women’s organisation. After earning an M. A. in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, she worked with voluntary organisations in Bombay slums for five years as well as tribal districts of north-east Gujarat for two years.
She left her position on the faculty of Tata Institute of Social Sciences when she became immersed in the tribal and peasant communities in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat eventually organised as the Narmada Bachao Andolan. The Narmada Bachao Andolan began as a fight for information about the Narmada Valley Development Projects and continued as a fight for just rehabilitation for hundreds of thousands of people to be ousted by the Sardar Sarovar Dam and other large dams along the Narmada river.
Eventually when it became clear that the magnitude of the project precluded accurate assessment of damage and losses, and that rehabilitation was impossible, the movement challenged the very basis of the project and questioned its claim to ‘development’.
Veteran of several fasts, her uncompromising insistence on the right to life and livelihood has compelled a whole generation in India as well as around the world to revisit the basic questions of natural resources, human rights, environment and development.
Facing police beatings and many jail terms on the way, she continues to believe in the best of people and the democratic system. She has won over police and even government officers through her simple faith in justice and comprehensive analysis of the facts. At a recent occupation by the Narmada Bachao Andolan of the Ministry of Water Resources in Delhi, a police officer was heard saying on his mobile phone, “But this is not a law and order problem.”
Linking the Narmada Bachao Andolan with hundreds of peasant, tribal, dalit, women and labour movements throughout India, Medha Patkar is a convener of the National Alliance of People’s Movements — a non-electoral, secular political alliance opposed to globalisation-liberalisation based economic policies and for alternative development paradigm and plans.
She has served as a commissioner to the World Commission on Dams, the first independent global commission constituted to inquire on the water, power and alternative issues, related to dams, across the world.
Medha Patkar has received numerous awards, including Right Livelihood Award, Goldman Environment Prize, Green Ribbon Award for Best International Political Campaigner by BBC, and the Human Rights Defender’s Award from Amnesty International.
However, given the growing collusion of ideas between the Congress party and Modi’s BJP, Patkar’s numerous achievements could be likened to casting pearls before swine.
GIVEN the rise of self-styled ‘godmen’ and religious conmen who control the minds of many a politician and bureaucrat in India today, this news item in the Hindu from its April 15, 1956 issue makes for an interesting irony.
“The West Bengal, Orissa, Madras, Madhya Bharat, Travancore-Cochin, Saurashtra and Bihar governments have welcomed the establishment of Vigyan Mandirs (science temples) in their States, said Mr K. D. Malaviya, Union Minister for Natural Resources, in reply to a question by Mr Deogam in the Lok Sabha. These states have also promised to provide the required accommodation for the establishment of these centres. Vigyan Mandirs — rural scientific centres — aim at helping and advising the villagers on matters necessary for their well-being and also making them science-minded with a view to breaking the age-long atmosphere of ignorance and superstition. These centres will be equipped for studies in soil and water analysis, plant pathology, pathological examination of the common human diseases and deficiencies, rural health and sanitation, identification of pests and insects, reading rooms with literature and materials for plant protection, and spread of scientific education. The Vigyan Mandirs will disseminate scientific information through magic lanterns, 16 MM projectors, through easy tracts, books, charts, maps, talks, meetings, conferences and exchange of views. The government of India have a programme to set up nearly 125 Vigyan Mandirs throughout the country during the Second Five-Year Plan period.”
jawednaqvi@gmail.com
THE accident involving a minibus that plunged down the ICI bridge near the Wazir Mansion railway station on April 2, killing 10 people, must make the authorities wake up to the menace of rash driving rampant on city roads.
The vehicle was running at such speed that it first overran a footpath and then broke through the bridge’s iron fence to fall 25 feet below.
Incidents of this kind are reported in the press almost daily. People travelling in minibuses and coaches will testify that rash driving is a routine with drivers, most of whom are drug addicts. When they are racing to reach a designated spot in the shortest possible time, or they fear another bus will pick up passengers ahead of them, they rev up their engines.
Minibuses and coaches now in use are faster than the old buses. The new large buses are relatively comfortable, but their fare is higher. The old buses still run on the same general routes they were allotted decades ago.
The old buses that have survived several decades include those on routes 2-D, 2-K, 1-C, 5-C, 7-C, 11-C, 1-D, 19-D, 8, 8- A, 4, 4-H, 4-J, 4-K, 4-L, 5, 6, 7-H, 61-A and 20. These buses, too, have been involved in many fatal accidents. But the increase in accidents came with the arrival of the minibus, dubbed as the ‘yellow devil’ after the death of Bushra Zaidi in the mid-1980s. Ms Zaidi, a college student, was killed while crossing the road near the Sir Syed College in Nazimabad. Her death had triggered ethnic riots that took many innocent lives. People have become so hostile to these drivers that in most cases they burn the killer bus as their immediate angry reaction to an accident.
The police authorities can curb the speeding and reduce the number of accidents if they seriously enforce the relevant rules. But they are openly seen pocketing small amounts of money after a driver is nabbed jumping the red light. This money-making business encourages errant drivers. They know if they fail to get away with it, they will have to pay just a nominal price for the matter to be hushed up.
Meanwhile, with regard to the older buses, the models might have improved over the years, but the signs decorating the interior remain. ‘Do not travel without a ticket’, says one sign, but tickets are no longer issued. ‘Respect women’ — their number has increased manifold as more and more women are leaving home to work for a living, and the section reserved for women has shrunk rather than expand. ‘Respect the elderly’ says another sign — but youngsters are no longer keen to vacate seats for the old. ‘Travel quietly’ — well, it doesn’t matter in view of the loud music blaring from the bus’s speakers. So the less said the better. ‘No smoking’ — but smokers are not disturbed. Co- travellers are too peace-loving to protest.
Peaceful strike
Mercifully, Friday’s country-wide strike ended without much violence. The shutdown was called to protest against the Nishstar Park carnage. The most deadly such attack in the city, suicide or otherwise, claimed 48 lives with more than 100 people wounded. The victims included top leaders of the Sunni Tehrik and the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat -– Abbas Qadri, Iftikhar Bhatti, Akram Qadri, Hafiz Mohammad Taqi and Hanif Blue.
The abominable act was carried out during the Maghrib prayers preceding a grand congregation organised to celebrate Eid Miladun Nabi. The festive arena was turned into a scene of massacre.
Condemnable as it was, the incident prompted various political and religious parties to call a strike for Friday. It was a manifestation of the anguish people felt from Karachi to Khyber.
In Karachi, the epicentre of the tragic event, the strike was complete. All segments of society -– traders, transporters, religious and political leaders, as well as the general public – were united in condemning the attack and demanding action to punish those behind the atrocity. People in all major cities and towns held demonstrations and stayed away from work to mourn the Karachi deaths.
Political parties’ tit-for-tat in blaming one another for the bomb blast is only based on assumptions and mutual acrimony. This may deflect investigations. Let’s hope that the real culprits, and not scapegoats, will be arrested and given deterrent punishment.
The Eid-i-Milad festivities this year were already eclipsed by the Faizan-i-Madina mosque tragedy. About 31 women and children were killed in a stampede there on Sunday, just two days before the Nishtar Park tragedy. Was this stampede also the result of some mischief, people have begun to wonder. This matter also needs to be investigated by a credible and non-controversial body. Indeed, all parties have the same goal — punishment to the culprits and measures to prevent such incidents in the future. If they cooperate with one another, they may help find a solution.
Death of a song
THE disappearance of many bookshops in the city has been often commented upon. Another change is now coming — and this in seen in some of the older music shops.
One such establishment once offered a lot of cassettes and CDs of serious music and properly displayed them. Ghazal singers ranging from Mehdi Hasan to Jagjit Singh greeted the visitor from a rack behind the counter. The rack also had EMI’s rare collection including Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry.
The next rack housed folk and sufi music, with a large collection of cassettes released by Lok Virsa. Another section presented old film music from Pakistan and India. Yet another rack had classical music from both countries, particularly from across the border. As if this was not enough, you could also find masterpieces of western music, vocal as well as instrumental.
Local music-lovers had developed a habit of regularly visiting the shop and a stop there usually updated them on what was happening in the music world. Those from other cities also went to the shop which was like an island of music in a sea of commercialisation.
Then it started to change with a visible decrease in folk and sufi cassettes. The reason offered was that Lok Virsa had stopped releasing their cassettes. Then other sections started shrinking with a reciprocal increase in commercial stuff.
During a recent visit to the shop, it was noticed that it has gone through a renovation. It now has a gentle lighting system. But there are fewer Pathane Khans, Kishori Amolkars and others and more movie and pop music videos and cassettes. When a request for a CD of Abida Perveen singing Heer was made, the salesmen went to a storage place on the mezzanine floor to fetch it.
Times change. Alas.
— Karachian
email: karachi_notebook@hotmail.com