Today even passing through Saddar, let alone stopping there, is a nightmare. It takes as long as 10 minutes just to drive by the short strip of what is called the Electronics Market on Victoria Road. So the most viable way of going to Saddar, if you must, is by a rickshaw or a taxi because besides the traffic congestion, it is also next to impossible to find parking space there.

I can still remember the time when it was such a pleasure going to Saddar and one anxiously looked forward to the trip. We would usually take a bus, which was never too crowded, to get there and it was a treat to walk on Victoria Road (now Abdulla Haroon Road) and Elphinstone Street (now Zebunnisa Street) going from shop to shop.

For clothes and household goods, there was no place like Bohri Bazaar. And, of course, a trip to Bohri Bazar came with the added pleasure of the famous chaat from the stall in one corner which was a must have. Ladies from different economic background congregated there during or after the shopping to have a plate of mouth-watering chaat and choley. Not too far off and next to the Parsi Fire Temple was the bhelpuri joint. I believe it is still there but there is much rush on what was once Somerset Street (will someone tell me its new name?) that now one cant think of going there.

Nimco, which opened in the 70s, continues to attract the same kind of rush. It is right in the heart of the Bohri Bazaar and is still approachable on foot. Incidentally, the brand name has become a generic name for these delightful snacks that Karachi has become so popular for and many more shops with the same name, selling similar products, have opened up in various parts of the city.

Being an avid reader I loved going to Saddar also because of the many bookshops there. There was a small outlet opposite the Capitol Cinema. It was called Liberty Book Stall. Hussain Bhai, the owner made it big; its now called Liberty Books (Private) Limited and has several outlets in the city including malls and 5-star hotels. It is among the top three importers of books in the country.

Then there was Paramount Bookshop, owned by one Saleh Bhai. His son Iqbal has greatly expanded the business too. But the largest bookshop in Saddar, Pak-American has closed down. One of the sons of the original owner is running a bookshop in Bahadurabad and another in Defence Housing Authority.

Among the shops whose closure one laments was Kitab Mahal, which had a fine collection of Urdu books. Agha Sahib, the owner, believed in giving generous discounts to all booklovers, more so if they happened to be students. This was also a practice with Nazeer Sahib, who ran Thomas & Thomas, the store with the finest collection of books on English literature. Sadly, the congestion in Saddar keeps many bibliophiles away, but some loyal customers do get the price lists and information about new books from Nazeer Sahibs son.

Greenwich, which specialised in watches and books, was another paradise for booklovers, but Mr Namazi, the owner, closed shop way back in the 80s. There were two small shops near the Fire Temple, facing each other Variety Book Stall and Tit Bit Book Stall, but they only attracted the non-serious reader since they specialised in pulp fiction and magazines with popular appeal.

Every Sunday my family made a trip to the Empress Market for grocery shopping, come rain or shine. You still can get a wide variety of things there but if you have a car you will think not twice but thrice about going there. BD Sethnas popular store is still there. Its the oldest and the products that the founders grandson offers are known for their high quality. But as newer localities, with their own commercial areas, sprouted in Karachi, people started shopping for their groceries in outlets closer to home, even if the prices are a shade higher than in Empress Market. There are, however, a few exceptions.

One lady, a distant relative, is still obsessed with shopping at Empress Market. She ends up spending more on rickshaw fare than the money that she saves by doing her weekly shopping in the iconic market. But one cant disagree with her when she says that the quality of non-packaged food items available in Empress Market is certainly better than anywhere else.

I am not a lover of street food but to those who are, Saddar offers different fare and at amazingly economical rates. I love Chinese food and cannot help recalling the four Chinese restaurants, which attracted those who loved the cuisine of our favourite neighbour. Sadly, they have all closed down now. But the food, though delicious, has never been very authentic. Once my husband took a Chinese guest from Shanghai to ABC Restaurant, the last Chinese eatery in Saddar, and much to his surprise, his guest didnt relish the specialities. Its more Pakistani than Chinese, the guest claimed.

He would have been much more disappointed had he sampled the Chicken Corn Soup that is served by many Pathans from their pushcarts near Empress Market. Pre-1971, a Bengali in the same profession was arrested by the police for serving crows meat instead of chicken in the soup. He was released shortly before the 1971 civil war, in what was then East Pakistan. Someone who went to Dhaka in Bangladesh in the late-70s spotted the man. Guess what he was doing there? He was selling chicken corn soup. Was it chicken or crow meat, no one knows.

Many of Saddars famous landmarks are sadly no longer there. A few old buildings were pulled down over time even though most of them were in good shape to be replaced by characterless, cramped structures. There is no building that I miss more than the beautiful Bliss & Company, which had a gramophone records shop, imaginatively named Hayden. I bought my first record player for what was a princely sum of Rs 250. It ran on batteries, which didnt last long. Replacing them was an expensive affair.

The pulling down of the Bliss & Company building was a belated wakeup call and the Heritage Foundation swung into action. Now its not easy to demolish old buildings, especially those that appear on the painstakingly compiled list of the Foundation; after all, they stand evidence of the glorious days of Saddar and its proud history.