I’m in Karachi right now. It’s been more than 10 years since my last trip here. All I remember of Karachi is epic quantities of dust and noise. I never really liked the place. And this trip isn’t going to change my mind.

Read further ahead into why I will NEVAR EVAR like Karachi City, after the jump.

Water Everywhere

It rained for a day and the city is paralyzed for a week. There’s an impromptu swimming pool at the bottom of every slope. The roads are littered with abandoned cars which didn’t get out of the rain in time and were soon submerged. It amazes me that, for a supposedly great city, there’s no arrangement for the disposal of rainwater. I mean, Jeez, the gutters are overflowing. I could’ve sworn I saw my own turd floating down the street.

Karachi’s Cripped Sewage System

Is it so hard to build a working sewer system for a city? This problem has plagued Karachi since forever. What have the city officials been doing all this time? Their dark rituals involving cat sacrifices aren’t working and they’re all out of ideas.

Load-shedding

As if that wasn’t enough, all the power lines of Karachi seem to be water soluble. There’s no power anywhere. Even in the Navy housing society we are staying in, there was no electricity for the past 24 hours. Most of the city still doesn’t have the power back.

If you’re watching the news, you’ll know that many people have come out on the streets to protest. This basically means that people have come out on the streets to burn things. I saw a guy stoking a fire in a shop as if it was his fireplace. Stupid people. Will burning other people’s tires provide you with electricity? Believe me, if things worked that way, I’d be at the Goodyear factory with a flamethrower.
But coming out on the streets wasn’t wise. If it rains (it’s going to rain for the next three days non-stop), many people will drown. OK so I may be exaggerating; they won’t exactly drown. But at least they’ll be up to their ankles in their own waste once the gutters start puking again.

Look on the Bright Side!

The only good thing I found about Karachi so far is the absolutely terrific Sunday bazaar. I haven’t seen in its full glory yet, but I can already tell that the real deal is going to be better than you. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen in this trip because of the iffy weather. And this just in: the house we are staying in has no running water now. Epic Fail. It’s as I said : Every city wishes it was Lahore.

Duckzilla
*Images courtesy: Dawn.com