KARACHI: Have you heard the story of the camel and the Bedouin’s tent? So this camel peeps from under the flap of his master’s tent with a request to let him bring his nose inside, because it is freezing outside. The master doesn’t have a problem with it and says, “by all means, you may do so” before turning over and going to sleep. Then he is woken up by the camel’s movement in the middle of the night.

A sunshade outside a mosque for Friday prayers.

The camel has brought inside his head and long neck, too, and seeing his master up he requests that he be allowed to take a little extra space by placing his forelegs inside as well. The master says “fine” while shifting a bit to make room for the animal. Seeing this, the camel clears his throat to humbly make another request to allow him to just stand inside the tent. But the tent is small and once the camel is entirely inside his master is pushed out. “Hey, it’s freezing outside,” the master complains. “Sorry, but there’s no room for you inside,” replies the camel!

Khaki tents for the army.

Well, the camel and his master only had a small camping tent. Had they come to Burnes Road in Karachi to get their tent, they would have had enough space for the both of them. The tent shops here have been around since 1947. Not only do they make many types of tents, they also rent them out.

Poles and bamboos needed to put up a tent.

The variety includes the common shamiana, the elegant marquee, the miniature Swiss cottage tent, the circus-type single-pole tent, bath or outhouse tents and the practical shelter tents used by scouts or military personnel mostly for themselves or for storage purposes.

The shamiana, comprising two folds of cloth, with the inner side being the flowery material and the outside cotton or canvas, is set up in such a way that air is allowed to pass through, keeping it cool. There was a time when all wedding functions were held under a shamiana. Sad gatherings too. “But this type of tent has been somewhat pushed aside by the marquee, which can be made from jersey, jacquard or parachute and be any size. If the outer side is parachute, then it also offers a bit of protection in rainy weather but here in Karachi we are seldom worried about such things,” says Mian Maqbool Hasan, who deals in tents of all shapes and sizes.

A booklet of the variety of tents available at a shop on Burnes Road.

Though the shamiana is printed, the most common and desired colour for marquees is off-white. “Well, off-white goes with all kinds of decor,” Mian sahib adds.

The tent dealer claims that his family have been in this business for around 200 years. Initially based in Delhi, they moved to Lahore after Partition. Now they have two outlets at Karachi’s Burnes Road and Clifton. “Most people complain of not being able to find parking space on busy Burnes Road. For them we have opened our Clifton branch,” he explains.

A tailor stitching a tent.

Syed Nasimuddin, who works at the Burnes Road shop, reveals a bit of history regarding their work. “In the beginning we used to make tents for raja/maharaja that served them in the battlefield or during their hunting expeditions. Then came the British who wanted tents or khema for their army,” he says, “so we made tents for them as well,” he adds.

These tent manufacturers have also contributed in making several during the devastating earthquake of 2005, which displaced many people from upcountry. There are a couple of shields in their shop, too, recognising their contribution during the calamity. “Actually, many of the tent shops here contributed by making a few hundred tents each. Altogether there were 300,000 to 400,000 tents,” Nasimuddin recalls.

Basharat Ali, a senior resident of Burnes Road, says that the place where there are so many tent and catering shops now used to have party decoration shops owned by Hindu folk, who fled to India during Partition. “The first few tent shops here were then opened by people coming down here from Lahore. The most famous of these was the Malik Tent House but now after its owner Malik’s passing away, his family doesn’t seem to be too interested in running the business, so they have leased it out to some other party,” he shrugs.

Suddenly, a couple of green and khaki pick-up trucks pull up at one of the shops to drop similar colour material for army tents while a few workers get busy unrolling the material on the footpath before cutting it to proper size. In another shop, tailors are busy stitching two materials together on a sewing machine while on another pavement the men are busy hand-stitching shiny green jersey and a blue printed material, no doubt for a marquee. “Tents are big in Arab culture. Living in deserts where there are hardly any trees, they need these temporary shelters to save themselves from the harsh sun and heat. But Arab tents these days are far too grand. Some are air-conditioned as well. That is why many of our labour is working in the Gulf producing these tents for them,” says Mohammad Akram, another tent shop owner in the area.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2015

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