Friendly chess

The Russian Cultural Centre, or the Friendship House as it’s famously known, has been literally a beehive of cultural activities in Karachi for decades, with its motto or aim being the promotion of arts and crafts on a non-profit basis to give people particularly the younger generation not only an opportunity to display their talent but to further improve and groom their natural gifted talents and skills.

The centre has made consistent efforts to help budding young artists by holding art exhibitions regularly and now has a permanent art gallery.

Similarly, connoisseurs of films are entertained to film festivals where famous movies like War and Peace, Anna Karenia and other Russian movies are screened from time to time. A literary circle has been established where intellectuals, scholars and students hold literary seminars, discussions and meetings. Book launchings and exhibitions are also held in which writers are encouraged to engage in debate to sharpen their intellectual power.

But perhaps the most prominent feature of the Friendship House is its chess tournaments which draw a lot of avid chess players and fans from all over the country. The Russians are excellent chess players and have produced such renowned Grand Masters as Boris Spassky, Garry Kasporov and Vladmir Kramnik, who have literally kept chess fans in awe with their brilliant and strategic play.

A three-day competition ended yesterday in which prominent players, including National Master Shazad Mirza of the PIA, who is quite instrumental in organising such chess tourneys at the centre also participated.

Karachi lacks much cultural and artistic activity and kudos to such cultural centres as the Friendship House and the Alliance Francaise, the French equivalent of the Friendship House, to promote and organise such healthy recreational activities for entertainment-starved Karachians.—Syed Ali Anwer

The fear factor

Some days back a friend went to a toy shop to buy something for his kid. He was shocked to see that most of the toys on display were pistols, guns, daggers, swords, fighter jets in different sizes and shapes as well as video games based on themes of violence and aggression.

He asked for toy birds and animals but there was none. Then, he looked for small gardening tools like fibre shovels, wheelbarrows and watering cans but unfortunately he failed to get hold of them either. Still, when he tried to find if there were any small replicas of clinics, buildings of national heritage, science laboratories or pictures of great people, the storekeeper remarked, “Gone are the days when people used to buy such toys for their children.” The young father went to other toy shops and found the situation equally distressing. Later, he bought some stickers and a few picture books for his child.

As he narrated his ordeal and shared with me his worries about the future of children who are offered ‘terror’ toys to play with, I had no explanation to cheer him up. Whatever I could say was that children always had small imitations of things from the world of adults. And I, too, feel pity for the innocent souls who are being unknowingly prepared for a society where weapons may ultimately decide who will survive.

It has not been a long time since I came to know through a friend in police that robberies with toy weapons had increased over the past couple of years. It’s the nightmare of terrorism and violence that the city has gone through that people hand over whatever they possess without demur. To carry toy weapons was no crime, the cop said, narrating a few expeditions wherein after prolonged chases the only weapon he could recover from robbers was a toy. But then he said there were certain other sections of law under which police nabbed those terrorizing or hoodwinking others.

Anyhow, it may only be wishful thinking to expect the authorities to ban or regulate the sale of such toys in a situation where the city is already flooded with deadly weapons and no disarmament drive, if one has been initiated at all, has succeeded.—HA

Open-air accommodation

While on a recent visit to Quaid-i-Azam International Airport to see a relative off I decided to go up to the visitors’ gallery on the roof of the Jinnah terminal. It had been quite some time since my last visit and some innovations had been made such as the installation of walkthrough gates and close-circuit television cameras.

The gallery commands a panoramic view of the entire apron and the runway with spectacular scenes of aircraft landing and taking off at different intervals. It is a place which fills children as well as adults with excitement in equal measure.

On my way back I was surprised to see a couple sleeping on a bedspread in the gallery with some belongings nearby. As my curiosity got the better of me I turned to the airport security official for information who told me that since the couple had come from a faraway place in the interior of Sindh and since their flight was scheduled to depart the following morning they decided to avail themselves of the open-air accommodation, with the tacit blessing of the security official of course.

Although one can be sympathetic towards the couple’s plight, the fact of the matter is that an airport security official can hardly allow them to relax in a high security area and that too in full view of passengers, including foreigners. All over the world, airports establish temporary waiting lounges for passengers booked on long-haul flights, but airport premises cannot be used for purposes other than the ones they have been set up for. —Rizwan Ali

Compiled by Syed Hassan Ali

karachian@dawn.com

Transport problems

Sir,
We, the residents of Korangi and Landhi, are facing an acute shortage of transport while going to work in the early hours. Previously, some bus owners had been awarded the route permit for the Korangi/Landhi-Tower route, but due to some unknown reasons these buses have been removed from the route during the early hours (i.e. prior to 8am).

The government had approved the UTS-9 Hino buses and F-6 wagon route, but these buses have also been removed due to reasons best known to the authorities concerned. Nowadays, we are totally at the mercy of Ilyas and Rambo coaches, which are not only few in number (this is evident from the scene which can be witnessed daily, i.e. passengers are compelled to sit on the roofs of these buses) while their staff also misbehaves with passengers.

Curiously, the traffic police officials on this route usually stop the buses during rush hour for 10-20 minutes, and after some underhanded dealing let the buses continue.

The rest of the buses which are plying on the Landhi/Korangi-Saddar route become white elephants for us because of their fare, which is too high.

Whenever we agitate about these issues, the staff of the buses usually start using filthy language.

To cope with the situation, the following proposals are suggested: the UTS-9 Hino buses and F-6 wagons should be restored immediately and the number of Ilyas and Rambo coaches should be increased sufficiently.

I trust that due consideration will be given to the above proposals and our problem will be solved by the government. The fares should also be reduced in view of the considerable decrease in diesel price as well as the further expected reduction in diesel price.

M. MUKHTAR AHMAD
Korangi

Phone complaint

Sir,

My phone number (021-225-3235) has a persistent problem of a loud noise, like the worn out sound of a florescent tube-light. This problem is persisting since the last four weeks and every day I register a complaint on 1218. A prompt reply is received from the lineman that he would attend to it the next day and that I should confirm that it has been rectified when a computerised call is received.

Previously, I had obliged him and “the next day” never came. Now I have realised his crooked act but still the lineman has never bothered to rectify the fault and again, the next day a new complaint is registered on 1218.

The previous one is deleted very deceitfully.

AKBAR MERCHANT
Garden East

Suggestion for traffic police

Sir,

One of the ways in which the traffic problem in Karachi could be reduced is to induce higher ranking police officers to go into the field. In my 40 years in Karachi, I have hardly seen any traffic police officer higher than an SI patrolling around key traffic points. It is a common sight to see an ordinary policeman being browbeaten or threatened by a motorist for a traffic offence. If even a DSP is available, the police constable will feel that he has someone to support him. Of course, higher ranking officers cannot always be made available, but even an occasional visit by them will make a difference.

Surely DSPs, SPs or even the DIG are not exempted from field duty. They can move out of their comfortable offices sometimes to see the reality on the roads.

SARDAR IKRAMULLAH
Karachi

Big hoardings

Sir,

Presently in Karachi all major roads such as Shaheed-i-Millat Road, Sharea Faisal etc are full of hoardings of about 40x100 feet, which are very dangerous to the public.

Two years ago, due to heavy rains/winds many people died or were injured because of these big hoardings. These hoardings are also aesthetically unappealing.

I request the city district government Karachi not to allow the placement of such types of screen advertisements/billboards on busy roads, which create trouble for the general public.

NAZAR IQBAL
Landhi

Prompt action by KBCA

Sir,

The residents of Esmeralda Co-operative Housing Society, Block 7, Clifton, highly appreciate the prompt action (sealing of premises) taken by the KBCA, against unlawful commercialization and construction being carried out in Town House No 1 of our society.

This particular town house, which was sold last year, was about to be converted into a commercial venture. To prevent congestion in the neighbourhood and to avoid overloading of the utilities and infrastructure and to save the residents of this housing society from permanent nuisance, the residents approached the owner to take into consideration our concerns.

The owner assured us of complete cooperation, but as the construction went ahead, it became quite evident that he had no problem in creating a public nuisance for residential neighbours.

The residents had no choice but to approach the authority concerned (KBCA) with a request to take action against this unlawful act, a violation of the plot lease and of the building regulations.

In numerous public notices over the past few years, the KBCA has been particularly emphasizing that residential properties in Kehkashan Clifton cannot be converted to commercial use. Therefore, this prompt action taken by the KBCA clearly suggests to all those commercial establishments in the area, which are currently running their commercial activities in residential blocks, to curtail their commercial activities or face action as per the law.

RESIDENTS

Esmeralda Society

city@dawn.com