The week had a beautiful beginning as could be gauged from the headline, followed by a detailed story, published in this newspaper on Nov 16, 1970: ‘Sadequain’s remarkable calligraphy show — masterful painting of verses from the Holy Quran.’ Yes, the legendary artist was going from strength to strength, inspiring and impressing critics and art lovers in equal measure.

As per the report, Sadequain had done it again with his exhibition of calligraphy depicting verses from the Holy Quran that opened at the Arts Council on Nov 15. Once more, he had presented himself not only as an inventive painter but as a remarkable showman. The artist had done some calligraphy before and “now he’s possessed by it”. The unmatched grandeur and meaning of what he had [thus far] painted had influenced his style and presentation.

Giving details of the display, the story added: “He has chosen old, conventional material to write the verses — simple wood, parchment and cloth. The wooden slates have been designed in the fashion of the takhti. Though he is very revolutionary in the artistic sense, he has supplemented his calligraphy of the verses by taking examples of the art form from his ancestors to underline his kinship with tradition. He worked for this show in his unusual frenzy, completing it in 58 days with the previous fortnight spent in the exhibition hall where he worked till last night. To arrange his work, he has used the vast hall as a stage, with big and small arches and three dimensional cutouts.”

Wow! Sadequain’s brilliance lay in the way he created art. And this needs to be kept in mind, especially these days, whenever we try and simplify the kind of creative soul he was.

As the week progressed, civic issues took centre-stage in the media. On Nov 21, The Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW) declared a lockout in the shipyard in view of the law and order situation arising from a split in the workers union. A spokesman for the Regional Directorate of Labour Welfare said a referendum would probably be held the next day to determine which section of the Karachi Shipyard Workers Union had the support of the workers. The union was divided into two groups: one was with Begum Kaneez Fatima, president of the union; and the other with Mr Latif Lodhi, general secretary. Both, allegedly, had expelled each other from the union.

A lockout of a different nature happened on Nov 17 when four petrol stations were sealed for having ‘incorrect measuring machines’ in different parts of the city during the raids conducted by the local administration under the instruction of the provincial government. In all, 10 stations were checked out of which machines at six of them were found ‘correct’.

The provincial government was in the news for another reason. On Nov 20, the Karachi Development Authority (KDA) approached the government for permission to retain water supply of Federal B Area and North Nazimabad for at least another year — up to Dec 31, 1971. The suggestion was contained in the report submitted by the authority to the governor of Sindh in connection with the recent public controversy about the arbitrary and exorbitant water tax levied by the KDA on the two townships.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2020