The long-planned Sea Karnival will soon be open for the public. A part of Karavan Karachi and promoted by the friends of the Heritage Foundation, it is expected to be a resounding success judging by the number of schoolchildren who participated in the opening ceremony parade, the elders who thronged Sea View until late at night and the VIP presence that included Sindh Governor, Ishratul-Ibad and Chief Minister, Mehar.
The objective is to make the sea popular and make the people aware of the varied delights it offers. But the people are aware of the sea in Karachi and how enjoyable it can be, but they are being consistently kept away from it by the vested interests who grab coast after coast.
First the hut owners in Hawkes Bay grabbed that coast and made sure no bus is driven on a commercial basis to that beach coast. If you go there without a hut of your own, you can’t get a glass of water. Its only Hotel Splendid closed down a long time ago.
Then came the ‘exclusive’ French Beach with its snobbish name, but without anything really French about it. The huts there are owned by the local sardars and the rich can afford to rent them in a restricted manner.
Somiani was once a lovely beach with millions of crabs scurrying about, but for long now it has been under the occupation of the army and the rocketmen.
Hawkes Bay and Sandspit have become dangerous for careless swimmers, as the huts have been built too near the sea, that cause tidal convulsions and deaths during the season of festivals. The government finds it easier to ban swimming during eid and independence days, than post lifeguards there.
The flat Clifton sea was open to all for long and the swimmers went far without fear of drowning. But the Defence Housing Authority has grabbed that coast and made it tough for people to get to the water.
In the past, families could go to Clifton and enjoy an outing by spending a little money on aalo cholay and other items. But now, one has to go to one of the posh restaurants that pay high rents to the DHA. So, quite a few restaurants have closed down and new multinational outfits are opening there. It is no place for the small man with his small pocket.
Explosion of galleries
Is the explosion of art galleries in the city good for the arts? While that may be debatable in their present form, it is good for the artists. But is it better for the development of quality artists? That is doubtful, as they have to race to paint more and more to meet the demands of the galleries. Quality suffers, but many of them become richer in the process and even set up galleries of their own to expedite their sales. The artists selling fast are not only from the city, but are also from upcountry and now from Quetta as well.
Such relevant questions arose last week when the 19th private gallery opened in the city. It was a “private viewing” of what is called an “art collection.” Is that going to be the name of the gallery owned by Ismet Kahlon and Jawaid Ahmed, who was not known in the past to be in the art line?
The very impressive gallery by local standards at Bath Island is spread on two floors, with every square feet of space taken up by paintings. It had about 200 paintings by 40 to 50 artists, and 39 of them had been sold on the very first day at pretty high prices. But, of course, not all the paintings were for sale, for example the dozen works of Jamil Naqsh.
Naqsh’s abundant nudes vie for space with the ample Rajput women of Najmi Suravand. Later-day entrants to the art world like Shakil Saigol with his skeletonish Afghan brides, Guljee and Bashir Mirza are there in sizable numbers.
Colin David is there from Lahore, along with Changez Sultan from Islamabad. The women artists are not as well-represented there as the men. There is a Zainul Abedin, too, along with the work of Jamal from Bangladesh and other artists.
Ismet says what was on show was the collection of hers and Naved Ahmad, spread over a long period. But she was not offering all of the collection for sale.
Naqsh, whose works were not for sale, used to say until recently that he did not want his work to leave the shores of Pakistan. But during his recent visit to London for treatment, he painted plenty and sold them there at good prices.
Will more collectors put on sale their treasures in view of their high prices? It remains to be seen. Ismet says she used to spend six months in a year in London. But now, because of the gallery, she would be spending more time in Karachi, hand-brushing it.
A cautionary tale
Book-launching ceremonies by newspapers in Pakistan are rare. And this was no ordinary book, but the competent compilation of the editorials of Business Recorder for three decades. The premier business paper of Pakistan had been cautioning successive governments against their erratic economic policies and showing the right path for economic salvation.
The editorials covers ideology and constitution, policy-making and governance, planning and budgeting, taxation, Islamic order, donors and the Press.
The book begins with some highly-instructive quotations from Quaid-i-Azam that were ignored by the rulers and the people as a whole over the years, and covers such vital areas as the role of the Armed Forces in Pakistan and the blight of corruption which has afflicted the so-called educated and the intelligentsia.
The articulate editor, M.A. Zuberi, says Quaid-i-Azam asked him to join Dawn in New Delhi, that he did in December 1945, and focused on economic and financial issues.
Business leaders paid tributes to Zuberi that delighted his three sons Wamiq, Arshad and Asif Zuberi, who work for the paper. The invitation was issued by M.A. Akhyar, Executive Editor, who did the compiling of the editorials with a great deal of diligence. Zuberi said he did not known Akhyar was compiling the editorials until that was complete, and he was delighted.
Yusuf Shirazi spoke of the contribution of Zuberi to the growth of private sector in Pakistan. Feroze Cassim, former president of the Karachi Stock Exchange, spoke of his contribution to the development of the capital market. Feroze Kaiser, chartered accountant and special assistant to Z.A. Bhutto as the premier, spoke of the economic ideals that Zuberi upheld, and revealed that his own opposition to the privatization of sugar and textile mills by Bhutto in 1976 prevailed.
Ahmed Ali Khan, now the Chief Editor of Dawn again, said that communism might be over now, but capitalism was not delivering either water in the city nor education or medical services for the masses.
Dr Ishrat Husain, who presided at the ceremony, said the government was now practising the ideas upheld over the years by Zuberi, and had stablized the macro-economy of the country prior to moving towards greater goals and higher economic growth.
Visitors from the US
Haider Shoro, former chairman of the Ghee Corporation of Pakistan and later the head of Premier Tobacco, and his vivacious wife, Zareen, now live in Los Angeles, US; spend summer in Nathiagali in a lovely hut, and winter in Karachi. They were recently in the city where they were visited by son Khurram, an architect in LA and his wife, Natasha, who is teaching art in a major college there, as well a doing a post-graduate course in art. Natasha wanted to have an exhibition of her work here, but had to put that off to a later date for want of time.
She did a sketch of the US Consul-General’s house at 1, Fatima Jinnah Road, some years ago that serves as the new-year card of every US Consul-General thereafter. The present Consul-General, John Bauman, too, sent out that card as the sketch makes his residence resemble the White House in Washington and makes him proud.
The Shoros gave a lunch to meet Khurram and Natasha, as well as their daughter, Amna, who is an investment banker in New York and their niece, Ayesha, who lives in Australia. The Grammar School friends of the younger Shoros mixed with the old friends of the senior Shoros, crossing the age divide easily.
Zareen Shoro is studying glass-jewellry making in LA. She had two successful exhibitions in the city where her work is popular with the ladies.
Super mix of talent
The host, Rafia Safi, has been a human rights’ activist with a boxful of degrees from abroad, and is now a senior executive at KPT. And he has now been selected as the managing director of SIDA (Sind Irrigation Development Authority). He and his wife, Barrister Nausheen, gave a lunch to meet their friends from abroad, that included Barriman, the chief of Gillette, Russia; and the heads of Citibank in Dubai and Standard Chartered Bank in Greece.
ICI chief, Azhar Malik, was there with his wife, Lubna, to enjoy the fish karahi and prawn biryani. Politicians were large in number and included Makhdoom Khaliquzzaman, Kamal Azfar, Javed Jabbar, Waheed Kaptar and Aftab Shaban Mirani, who were busy in a hot political debate with Zia Ispahani.
Lawyers were aplenty there and included the Attorney General, Makhdoom Ali Khan and Yawar Faroqi, the president of the Sindh High Court Bar Association.
Former information secretary, Saleem Gul, flew down from Islamabad for the lunch and met the media men with whom he is very popular.
