What’s a pangolin? It’s a nocturnal mammal with a scaled body. They have a strong olfactory sense because of which they easily find insects and swallow them in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.

Why is it being discussed? Well, on April 2, 1964 the authorities at the Karachi Zoo were cock-a-hoop about having a new animal, an ant-eater pangolin, describing it as ‘one of the few toothless animals with a prehensible tail found in Asia’. The newspapers even flashed a picture of the animal. Not a pretty sight, mind you.

What was pretty though was a colourful performance given by an Indonesian troupe on March 30 at the Arts Council. The group comprised 20 girls and five boys. Those were the days when the city had set its priorities straight. Cultural activities were as important to the authorities as politics or economics.

This is perhaps the reason that they used to keep a check on things that affected city life. For example, on March 31 the regional transport authority cancelled road permits for 18 rickety public transport vehicles, including three buses, 12 taxis and three auto rickshaws.

In 2014, the word rickety is a given when it comes to public transport facilities. Not just that, on April 3 the traffic police impounded five rickshaws for plying the roads without fitness certificate.

On April 1, it was announced that the Karachi Development Authority was considering a proposal to provide land to those living in huts in different parts of the city to build houses on a cooperative basis.

Jhuggi dwellers would be asked to form cooperative societies through the cooperative department. Well, cooperative societies are dime a dozen in Karachi, and so are the areas where makeshift huts dot the landscape. Having said that, at least they thought about the masses in the ‘60s.

One person who really cared for the masses was poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. That week he was in Karachi. On April 2 Faiz sahib helped sell his autographed works at the Anjuman Kitab Ghar to raise funds for the guild’s publication projects. Yes, those days taking autographs was in vogue.

Another thing in vogue was an international fair that took place in New York. On April 3 about 30 paintings were selected (preliminary selections were made by the Arts Council) in Karachi to be sent to the New York World Fair which was to take place on April 22. The paintings were dispatched to Big Apple on April 4.

This was the time Russia and Uzbekistan were part of the same state. There would be regular exchanges of important people from Pakistan and the Soviet Union. On April 4 a noted Uzbek scholar Prof Shanighamatov delivered a lecture at the General History Department of the University of Karachi.

The gist of the talk was that he was mighty impressed by the profound feeling of goodwill that Pakistanis had for the people of the Soviet Union. Alas, nowadays not many Pakistanis have an idea what to make of the Crimea situation.