AND you thought that inflation was a new issue. It is an ongoing trend that doesn’t seem to end. How about that for rhyming. On June 9, 1964 the Karachi Bakers and Confectioners Association (trust me, there was one) issued a press release in which it ‘regretted to inform the public’ that the prices of biscuits and bread would go up by 15 per cent in the coming weeks due to the imposition of the same percentage of sales tax by the government. But the public likes it baked stuff, so the double rotis, rusks and the jelly biscuits kept coming out of the piping hot ovens without much ado.

That week the 15 per cent figure was in the news for one more reason. On June 14, the Karachi University Library proposed to establish a book bank. It would have enabled the students to borrow books for a period of one year. Lending charges? Yes, you’ve guessed it, 15 per cent of the cost of the books.

On the diplomatic front, on June 8 Indian nationals in the city paid homage to Pandit Jawahrlal Nehru, who died on May 28, at a ceremony held at the Indian High Commission to mark the immersion of the late prime minister’s ashes. Mrs G. Parthasarthi, wife of the high commissioner, read out excerpts of Mr Nehru’s will relating to his desire for immersion of some parts of his ashes in the Ganges.

Who doesn’t know of/about Karachi’s Boat Basin area? Visiting it might confuse a first-time visitor that why the word boat is linked to the locality. Well, in the ‘60s it was a boating zone, and a pretty busy one at that. On June 9, it was reported that the Karachi Port Trust was thinking to put a limit on the speed of vessels – boats, launches, tugs, small cargo ships – within the area. The KPT came so hard on it that the boats disappeared for good.

Not that the authorities at the time were a bunch of killjoys. They knew the significance of entertainment very well. This is the reason that on June 11 it came as a pleasant surprise for Karachiites to know that it had been decided that holidaymakers and visitors to the Bagh-i-Jinnah would be entertained to musical performances by Pak Army bands for an hour every Sunday. By the way, it would be interesting to know the kind of music that the bands played.

Summer in Karachi can be stifling, as can be gauged by the recent wave of scorching heat. But on June 11, 1964 a light drizzle in the city brought down the temperatures by 17 degrees F. Ah the summer rains!

The two Austrian hitchhikers who arrived in Karachi two days later must’ve taken a shine to the rather pleasant weather conditions. The journalists – Wolfgang G. Bosche (23) and Reinhard Gerowet (21) – had already covered a distance of 8,700 kilometres in their world tour before reaching Sindh’s capital. So it’s no surprise that they decided to stay for 10 days in Pakistan before leaving for Japan. The days: when foreigners can’t even think of staying back in this country!

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2014