KARACHI: Who would believe that Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison, at the peak of their fame and popularity, landed in Karachi? Not many. But it actually happened. On June 8, 1964, to be precise.

According to a newspaper report at the time, the Beatles arrived in the Sindh capital for a short transit time on their way to Hong Kong and Australia. The young ones in the city, who by that time had already fallen in love with their songs, especially ‘She loves you yeah yeah yeah’, got wind of it and rushed to the airport in droves.

Of course, there was tight security. The police had cordoned off the airport. To no avail though, because Beatles fanatics, the fashion-savvy girls outnumbering the music-crazy boys, broke through the security zone and reached closer to the plane as it taxied to a halt. They shouted ‘Beatles, Beatles’ which cautioned Paul McCartney, John Lennon and George Harrison – Ringo Starr hadn’t come with them as he was supposed to join the band later – and they didn’t come out of the plane.

The teenagers, however, were not to be budged without catching a glimpse of their heroes. When the airport authorities sensed that the fans would stretch to any limit to see the Beatles in flesh, they requested the pop stars to move out of the plane. Only Paul McCartney, now Sir Paul McCartney, paid heed to the request and came out of the BOAC aircraft, while John Lennon and George Harrison preferred to sit back in their seats.

After Paul McCartney acknowledged the crowd he was led into the transit lounge. The fans followed him, breaking the police cordon, and unnerving the singer. They swarmed him making him shout ‘Don’t crush me, don’t crush me’. Somehow his manager, with the help of the police, managed to take him behind the bar counter, but the girls followed him and pushed him into a corner, oohing and aahing and touching his hair and face. The next attempt at rescuing him from the fanatic teenagers succeeded to some extent as McCartney was taken back to the plane. Still, newspaper reporters wouldn’t pass up such an opportunity just like that. They ran after him and were able to elicit a few answers to the questions hurled at the singer, and McCartney’s promise that the band would play at Karachi during their Middle East tour. Lennon and Harrison kept quiet most of the time. But in the end, they sang a line ‘We like Karachi, yeah yeah yeah’ together and the plane left Karachi.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014