THE meat crisis (highlighted in this column last week) that had disturbed Karachiites’ daily lives seemed to move towards a resolution as on March 16, 1974 thousands of men and women swarmed one-third of butcher shops in the city which opened after nearly two weeks, paying more than the controlled prices in their eagerness to cook meat dishes at home. It all started from 8am. Beef was mostly available in the morning, selling for Rs4.50 to Rs6 per seer. The controlled rate was Rs3.75 per seer. After 9am, some shops sold mutton for a couple of hours, too. Housewives complained that the quality of beef was poor. It seemed that the animals were slaughtered some days back and their meat had been kept in cold storage.

In a related story, this newspaper on March 14 claimed that the national airlines PIA had beaten the butchers’ strike by daily flying their requirements of mutton and beef from Lahore [to Karachi]. But they were not happy with the food prepared in the flight kitchen. The reason was not substandard meat… but the cooks. With the exodus of the airline’s Bengali staff [to Bangladesh], PIA was left with only junior chefs and no one was in the league of the first-class experienced cooks. It affected the standard of food served on flights. Despite some senior cooks’ recent employment 100 per cent satisfactory standard had not been achieved.

Food is to do with living beings. Plants are living beings, too, which need nourishment. On March 16, horticulturists said that the increasing number of dodders (root — and leafless parasitic plants) was causing serious damage to city plantation. According to them, the worst affected were those grown by individuals in their houses, particularly in neighbourhoods such as PECHS, Mohammad Ali Society and Nazimabad. Their growth had gone unchecked because people were generally ignorant about the extent of damage they could cause to the plants.

In the world of art, though, things looked pretty hunky-dory. On March 13, a three-day exhibition of Eqbal Mehdi’s artworks was inaugurated at the Arts Council. A reviewer said powerful drawings backed by a deep study and detailed observation was the feature of the sketches and illustrations on display. It was the artist’s third exhibition in five years. In all, 73 artworks, quite a few of which were made for Dawn and several for an Urdu digest Sabrang, were exhibited. There were also five paintings done in oil consisting of one landscape and four portraits. The review read, “The beauty of Mehdi’s sketches and illustrations is that they catch attention at the very first glance. As these are impressionistic [works of art] the viewer is invited to study them in greater depth to appreciate the emotions and psychological traits of the subject. Since his last show in 1972, he has made nearly 400 paintings, illustrations, sketches and drawings six dozens of which are in the exhibition. One cannot but appreciate the perfection that he has attained in his technique. He seems to be particularly interested in portraying human suffering and pensive moods. Mehdi projects these moods with skill. In spite of that, each sketch looks different from the other.”

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2024