READERS of this column may remember that on April 6, 1966, Bala, a giraffe at the Karachi Zoo, gave birth to a calf. It had happened for the first time in the 70-year history of the wildlife park that a baby giraffe saw the light of day on its premises. The mother and the father of the baby, Buland, were imported from Khartoum in 1962, and in exchange for them, a pair of Royal Bengal tigers were sent to Sudan.

Buland and Bala were a sensitive couple. At the time of the baby’s birth, they were not comfortable even with the presence of their keepers. When the baby made an effort to walk on its wobbly legs, the parents did not let anyone come near it. Later on, for reasons best known to the zookeepers, Bala and Buland were kept in different enclosures. It may have something to do with the female’s health, not sure though. Things took a strange and tragic turn when on Aug 16, 1966, Buland died. This newspaper published the news of his death with the headline ‘Giraffe dies of separation’. It meant that Buland could not bear the distance from his beloved and passed away.

A few days after that, a KMC spokesman took readers by surprise suggesting that Buland was poisoned. According to him, he died within 24 hours of the removal of the barriers across the approaches to his cage and it’s strongly suspected that someone fed him some harmful substance, ruling out that he died of heartbreak. Giving out details of the investigation, he said: “The inner linings of the heart showed inflammation indicating endocarditis, a pathological and not a psychological disorder.” He appealed to the people visiting the zoo not to feed the surviving mother and baby giraffes on their own.

It was a strange phase in Karachi’s life. If on the one hand animals were giving birth to babies, on the other hand the (human) population of the city was on the decline, at least this was what a survey suggested. On Aug 18, the City Family Planning Board announced that about 30,000 fewer children were born in Karachi in the previous fiscal year against the estimated annual birth rate of 80,000. The reduction in the birth rate was achieved, it claimed, by protecting 16 per cent childbearing population through conventional contraceptives. The board hoped to cover at least 40 per cent of the total childbearing population during the ongoing fiscal year. Wow! How optimistic the board was! Little did it know that in the near future the phrase ‘family planning’ would disappear from our lives as if it never existed. No matter how stern an eye we keep on the demographic boom, it keeps burgeoning at a rate of knots.

Here’s something interesting with regard to keeping an eye on untoward happenings. On Aug 19, Karachiites came to know that a 20-foot watchtower had been built by the KMC at Hawkes Bay at a central point commanding the entire dangerous zone for swimmers. The watchtower was supposed to be manned by a divers’ squad for which a sanction was awaited before they could be employed by the KMC. An official statement said similar towers were to be built at Sandspit and Buleji. Ah, only if promises are kept.

Published in Dawn, August 15th, 2016