December 2005: Pakistan Railway, Karachi

The thought of a business trip to Karachi fills me with a bit a fear. If the media, Western or otherwise, were to be believed, it isn't one of the safest placed to visit. Once you step out of Karachi International airport, you will be greeted by the brightly litted MacDonald's restaraunt. A nice place to have dinner, except it was bombed not long before my trip.

The Karachi Sheraton that I was put up in looks like a nice safe place, too. Then again, the security check that your taxi has to go through day in day out betrays the sense of security. One night, while buying dinner at the KFC near the hotel, my curiosity was piqued by a plague that hangs by the counter. It praise the hardwork of the KFC staff that enable a quick "recovery". A trawl of Google throws up news of the restaurant's bombing back in November, the same year.

So, on one fine weekend, it was with trepidation that I started out on my "little walk" of the city. The plan was simple, find the broadest street that run out of the Sheraton, then walk all the way to the sea. Somewhere along the way, the railway will cross my path, and I will take a trip between just wo stations on the Pakistan Railway. The idea of a long rail trip was out of the way, if one was to believe the media, Western or otherwise...With that plan and a city map, it was the beach that I headed.


Once out on the street, it became apparent that the media has probably exaserated things a bit. The road to the beach was bright, clean and orderly. There was no hint of menace all the way. Of course it does help that most of the stretch looks like the city's embassy area and rich residential area. If memory still serves me, not far after the Iranian Cultural Centre, the rail road did crossed my path. The closest station was Karachi City. I made a note of it so that I could return to it on a later date.

The trip to the beach was a pleasant one. It was a pleasant surprise too when I reached the beach. The sand was black in color, and it was not because it was dirty. With Phuket and Langkawi a short flight from Singapore, I was more used to the white sandy variety. The beach wasn't much of a bathing beach. That would be expected, given that Pakistan is an Islamic republic. The showing of flesh will be frowned upon. In fact, the whole stretch of beach was devoided of women when I was there. But, it was a lively place, with camel rides and horses practising their run.....Arabian steeds, I imaged.....














The next week, I made another trip back to the Karachi City station. The next station on the line was another Karachi station, the Karachi Cantonment Station. And so it was, one short trip on the Pakistan Railway: Karachi City to Karachi Cantonment.

On the platform, an old man looks into the lens, shielding his eyes from the bright sunlight. The youngsters of Karachi were more open to getting their pictures taken. In fact, once they see your camera, they were likely to approach you for a pictures, a ready smile on their face. Here, the young brothers manning the colorful platform snack and drinks stall display their wares for the camera.




The trip on the train wasn't really spectacular. As with the slivers of land on both sides of railway tracks in most part of Asia, the Pakistanis park their rickety slum dwelling besides the tracks. At the end of this short trip is the Karachi Cantonment Station. As you walk out of the station, you will be greeted by coolies, or porters in their bright orange uniform, seating in line, waiting for their turn to carry a traveller's lugguage. Waiting too, are the taxi and tuk-tuk drivers.








--KIV--