The city that sleeps
Apathy: Lack of interest or concern, especially regarding matters of general importance or appeal; indifference. – The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
Sounds familiar? It is what Karachiites have come to be afflicted with in recent years. Our beloved City of Lights or rather City of Loadshedding has undergone tremendous changes in terms of its facade and none of these changes have been beneficial. Yet here we sit, reading our newspapers in air–conditioned comfort, sipping our flavored cappuccinos in the glitzy coffee bars sprouting all around Karachi, while we skim over the reports that would ordinarily shock the living daylights out of any conscious or more appropriately conscientious citizen.
The News reported that at the behest of the US Consulate officials, a private road has been constructed in the midst of one of the heritages of our city, Frere Hall. The road was built so that the American diplomats could commute in no time at all. It is of no consequence at all that thousands of commuters are inconvenienced daily, since they cannot pass by the Frere Hall since the city government has banned all public transport and motorcyclists from that particular route.
We sat back, saw it happen and did nothing. A national heritage has been sitting idle, thanks to ‘security concerns’. Weekly book fairs at the venue have been stopped due to ‘security issues’. Hundreds of people were inconvenienced, and deprived of the chance to buy low priced, good quality books. Obviously, a pile of books might cause grievous harm to the consulate. Perhaps a disgruntled pile of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry compilations might rise up and strike the consulate?
What really made this scribe feel that the citizens of Karachi had lost hope for the city’s betterment and development was when the Lahore Darakahat Bachao movement was formed in Lahore recently, spurred on by the announcement that 3000 trees were to be cut down on the Lahore Canal Road, to facilitate commuters. The movement is made up of prominent Lahori personalities, and also includes people from all walks of life. Their efforts have made the Chief Justice of Pakistan personally intervene in this matter. This is a brilliant example of how conscious citizens can help save their city from turning into barren land.
Yet when they cut down trees every day in Karachi to make space for more and more billboards, we drove by quietly, to be greeted the next day by a smiling pretty model, looking down at us from where a tree once shaded the pedestrians of this city, and were home to the birds of this city. The City Government has now decided to make Shahrah–e–Faisal a billboard free road.
All I know is that I will never be able to tell my children of that tree on Shahrah–e–Faisal where I once saw the prettiest butterfly ever.
We keep sipping our cappuccinos.
Construction is happening all over the city at a snail’s pace. Roads are dug up, and then conveniently forgotten about. Cable internet companies dig up roads all over residential areas, do their work and vanish. Potholes have become a permanent fixture on roads, and one begins to get shocked when they don’t pop up after a two minute interval.
The President visits the city and people die, trapped in ambulances stuck in road blockades and traffic jams, while the President whizzes by in his bullet proof BMW, purchased with the tax payers’ hard earned money. News reports get published, letters to the editor are written, yet the minute a high ranking official visits our poor city, it is the same routine all over again.
Oil spills took place at the Clifton beach. Thousands of marine life perished. People contracted diseases. Editorials were published, political leaders made grand statements.
The sea went black. The sand has turned a shade of granite grey, which makes one feel that they’re walking on cement. Clifton Beach provided entertainment to millions. Another pride of our city has lost its charm and grandeur.
We still sipped the cappuccinos, while electricity breakdowns take place daily, bomb blasts happen, petrol pumps are burned down and life comes to a standstill.
Our cappuccinos have gone cold and it is time to wake up. It is never too late to make a change and it HAS been done in the past. It is time we throw away our apathy pills, stop looking towards the citizen’s prominent personalities for help, and do something on our own.
Or we can continue sleeping our sleep of apathy. It’s time we make the better choice.
