KARACHI: Be it in books or movies, whenever the story talks about imprisoning or entrapment the protagonists in them dig tunnels to escape. Another form of the tunnel is the one created by blasting through mountains or hills to make way for trains or other vehicles. But urban life has brought up the existence of a third kind of tunnel. We call it the underpass.

The first such underpass in Karachi appeared back in 2005 when commuters in Clifton noticed diggers on Khayaban-i-Iqbal, better known as Clifton Road. The foundations for the KPT underpass had been laid and everyone though inconvenienced at the time was glad to be having a signal-free track for uninterrupted flow of traffic soon. But as people said later, what good was that tiny bit of signal-free patch when you had to stop at Teen Talwar up ahead anyway for the signal to turn green. The underpass only turned out to be a quicker way to reach the traffic jam up ahead.

Later, when it rained and the underpass turned into a swimming pool its design faults were also exposed. Quickly they built inclines at the four entry points to stop the water from going inside with drainage lines put in to rectify the problem; things were back on track.

Digging away as if looking for treasure, soon the city had and is going to have many more underpasses. Every government looking to solve the traffic congestion issues of Karachi thinks about a few new underpasses. Thus tenders are floated, filled and contracts are signed with several opportunities of filling pockets and pleasing friends also emerging.

So we have the Sohrab Goth underpass, the Bahria Icon Tower underpass, the underpass dedicated to Mohsin Bhopali, the Nusrat Bhutto underpass, the Shaheed Munawwar Soharwardi underpass, the under-construction Punjab Colony flyover at the former Submarine Chowk, etc.

Nothing like the tunnels of Venice where lovers are known to hold hands while passing, each of the Karachi underpasses are, however, unique. The tall walls of the KPT underpass have been designed to match the Jahangir Kothari Parade. Though the one near the Jahangir Kothari Parade happens to be the Bahria Icon Tower underpass it does not take after its surrounding architecture. Earlier it had green walls which are now getting an off-white makeover.

Most of the inner walls of these places were also seen as opportunities for advertising. The detergent advertisements painted on the walls of the Sohrab Goth underpass call for a washing up themselves. The other one up ahead dedicated to Mohsin Bhopali has turned into a place for dumping trash. Its walls are also in a terrible state and in need of new finishing or a fresh coat of paint. Meanwhile, the newly-opened Drigh Road/Sharea Faisal underpass or the Shaheed Munawwar Soharwardi underpass as it is known presents a breath of fresh air with the walls representing a dense forest with different animals, including horses, elephants, giraffes, zebras, lambs and snakes. Passing through it one wonders though how long its charm would last.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2017