Changing Pictures ... Badaltee Tasveerain
We all have a certain image of our cities. There are "urban markers" on every inch of the urban environment. Just as rural environments have markers that do not change in considerable amounts of time. Urban markers may be that certain roads have certain specific trees on them. Like the tree in the middle of the road near Karachi's City Raliway Station / Junction. Certain turns have certain shops infront of them. Some Hawkers keep their stalls / thehlas at the same spot on the same road in front of the same old closed store with the old board on top that tilts on the right.

These things are a part of our memories. They are as dear to us as is the memory of a tea stain on the wall behind the television in our house. Or the strange blue liquid that ammi used to clean dishes with when we were younger. Or the way the swing in our lawn was moving sideways in the wind and rain. Or the way the Jaman tree fell down in our lawn one day. These are all the things that are etched in our memories and will not leave. Thank god for that. One of my friends once told me that, when he was living outside Pakistan, whenever he thought of Pakistan, it was always the Canal Road in Lahore. That road with the trees and the canal was the personification of Pakistan to him.

There is one downside to this whole scenario. The cityscape changes a lot. New building are built where old ones are demolished all the time. Some people who return to Pakistani cities after five years cannot find their way. They have to ask people the address of houses where they spent 20,30 or even 40 years. With every change a series of memories are deleted for ever. Since they were all linked to the visual effect of the bygone picture. Gone forever. With every house torn down and every overhead bridge built the city changes and grows. For the better or for the worse. And a host of memories are lost.

Lost is the view of Karimabad Chowrangi when coming from my house in North Nazimabad. With the building on the left that had boxes boxes on its front. Lost is the view of NIPA chowrangi. No more strangely shaped green patches around the chowrangi. Lost is the view of the Nazimabad Chowrangi. With no planes attached; a good shooping area in Rizvia (with one of the two Mr Burgers in Karachi); and the series of Photgraphy shops on the side of Nazimabad Do Number (Number 2). Lost is the view of the unspoilt beach with no multinational food chains and no lights, just a plain old golden sand beach stretching till the eye can see. Lost Lost all is a lost. A million memories gone asunder. The walks from my Nanihal to the Nazimabad Chowrangi and onwards to Mr Burger (a time when burgers were very uncommon).

But I can look forward to some times with the things that havent changed. The midnight drive along Shahrah e Faisal with all the golden street lights and the complete lack of traffic and people making it seem much much better than it is at day. Presenting a glimmer of hope for a distant future that is better than today. The same old horribly broken and pot holed roads as soon as you leave the main road. The same old Bunder / Jinnah road with all those stages from Bundoo Khan to Mai Kolachi. The same old Aga Khan Hospital with its red marble rising to the skies. The same old Kashmir Road with a canopy of Coconut trees better than any in the world. The same old beach with the golden sands stretching as far as the eye can see. The same old series of flower shops right besides the Teen Hatti Bridge.

But this week one of these will be lost. The flower shops. I have been seeing them at least once a week since I was old enough to understand that I am looking at a group of flower shops. And while passing in front of them this week I saw them all broken down.

A million memories down the drain. A million thoughts,emotions and snapshots of life lost with the swing of a bulldozer.

Lets just hope that this is happening for the better. And during the course of this post I have realized one thing. I love this city. I would not want to be in any other.
- posted by aalahazrat @ 17:06