WHAT a piece of work is a man, said a Shakespearean character while profoundly contemplating the various facets (unique, diabolical, angelic) of man. The same could be said about animals, though some might take issue with the notion. These days Karachi’s zoo keepers generally hit the headlines for the wrong reasons (death or disappearance of animals). Half a century back, uniqueness of certain species was what they would often be consulted for.

For example, on Aug 6, 1965 a mongoose and its strange taste became the talk of the town. It was reported that a mongoose in PECHS owned by a woman called Mrs William King was unlike the rest of its fellow mongooses. This meant it was not a true carnivore. So what did it eat? Now that’s where the weirdness of the story comes in. The animal was fond of sweet carnations, of a certain type at that. What type? Well: carnations are only grown in vases of flowerpots. (Perhaps the mongoose had a meek, artistic nature).

Back then the erstwhile Dr A. A. Quraishy was the curator of the Karachi Zoo. When the mongoose was shown to him for examination, it baffled the expert no end. In a statement published in this newspaper he was quoted to have said: “It’s a puzzling behaviour and no answer can be provided for this.” Perhaps that mongoose needed to be left alone than examined. Poor creature!

Speaking of unique things, on Aug 4, history buffs were elated to know that the only copy of the oldest world map in Pakistan would shortly adorn the walls of the spacious State Bank Library. The 800-year-old map, drawn by Arab geographer Al Idrees, was presented to the library a week earlier by Aftab Ahmed Khan, a director in the ministry of foreign affairs.

It was not out of the ordinary that a foreign affairs director was in the news. Those were the days when top officials of important institutions did not shy away from making public appearance. On Aug 5, President of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Air Marshal M. Asghar Khan was given a reception at the Karachi Press Club. In his address to the journalists he remarked he welcomed constructive criticism of the airline to make it a strong and effective organisation. This means that even at the time when the airline was doing well, it was being criticised by the media. (Ironically, today when it’s not doing as good, the media has other fish to fry.)

In fact, in the ‘60s the aviation industry in Pakistan was one of the best in the world. The technical facilities, especially at Karachi airport, were top-notch. On Aug 4, Tengku Abdul Rehman, Malaysia’s prime minister, made an unscheduled stopover in the Sindh capital as the BOAC aircraft which was carrying him from Bombay to Singapore was diverted to Karachi because the plane’s hydraulic system had developed a fault. According to a report, the aircraft touched down in the city by the sea because it had ‘the best technical facilities in the region’.

Finding the occasion opportune, the Malaysian prime minister gave a political statement saying he would like to see the Kashmir issue settled as both Pakistan and India were his friends.

A month later the two countries fought a war. So the friends did not listen to Tengku Abdul Rehman. Did they?

Published in Dawn, August 3rd, 2015

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