WOULD not it be nice if the Karachi zoo regularly informed its visitors on what new additions of species it has made to the facility? Well, it used to happen five decades back, but today the zoo authorities are not engaging with the media as much as, some might say, they should.

On June 11, 1966 it was announced that three naughty chacma baboons (native of Africa) and 20 pretty Java sparrows were among the latest addition to the Karachi Zoological Gardens. A little before them, the ‘timid’ but ‘intelligent’ gavials (gharyal) and the famous bird chakur were some other added attractions. Wow! These are all interesting creatures. The present lot of zookeepers will do a great service to animal lovers if they are able to come up with a list for them that what rare species the zoo used to have and which one of them they intend to make part of the zoo in the future.

Speaking of rendering service, this was the week when two civic bodies — the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) — locked horns over a power transfer issue. In the first week of June, it was proposed to the government that the charge for water supply and sewerage services be given to the KDA. On Jun 8, the city fathers held a special meeting at the KMC office and strongly resented the proposal. They warned if that happened they would launch a public movement to safeguard the rights of the citizens.

Explaining its position, the KDA responded that although the KMC was in charge of assessment and collection of water and sewerage service charges, it had not been able to meet the financial needs. Therefore, it said, the suggestion was to transfer the services to the KDA. The transfer, however, was temporary, calling for the setting up of the requisite machinery for efficient operations of the services. Whenever the government decided, the KMC would again be given the responsibility.

If the KMC-KDA rift had a domestic ring to it, the mystery around the shaggy Americans (as mentioned in the last column) who had entered Karachi via Balochistan without visas claiming they were pilgrims, had an international vibe to it. On June 6 one of them told a journalist that the group was in close contact with the US Embassy.

On June 10, it was reported that a group of three more Americans, including a girl named Judith, were found moving around the city in a conspicuous manner. All of them were begging on the street for food and cigarettes. They insisted they were tourists and had come to Pakistan from Afghanistan, and like others who had arrived before them, planned to go to India to continue their ‘round-the-world’ trip. The two bearded men, Jannie and Frear, declined to answer personal questions related to their visit. The piece of information that they divulged was that they were living in Hut number 25 off Hawkesbay and came to the city every day. Frear also complained that the police had interrogated him for hours. Who says history doesn’t repeat itself?

Here’s mystery of another kind. On June 8, this newspaper published a small story about a Turkish magician, Dr Vankadra, whose show at Fleet Club had been entertaining Karachiites for the previous few days. The interesting thing about the magician, who held a doctorate in metaphysics from Vienna University, was that he constantly talked with the audience while doing his tricks. He spoke six languages apart from his mother tongue. He was also a fortune teller and could talk to ‘souls’. Fascinating? Why didn’t anyone ask him about the future of the wandering Americans?

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2016