AS was mentioned in the last column, Prince Karim Aga Khan was in the country in the first week of December 1964. From Dec 8 to the rest of the week till his 28th birthday on Dec 13, his schedule was chock-a-block.

He arrived in Karachi on Dec 8 after a nine-day visit to East Pakistan. On Dec 10, he attended a baby show prize distribution ceremony organised by the Aga Khan Central Health Board for Pakistan on Britto Road. Addressing the audience on the occasion, he said he intended to set up an institution in the country for training doctors and nurses that would meet the requirements for a modern hospital and a medical college, provided the government gave a piece of land at a suitable location. We all know, it happened!

On Dec 13, members of the Ismaili community in Karachi celebrated with enthusiasm and joy the 28th birthday of Prince Karim Aga Khan. During his stay in the city, he was to visit the Karachi Press Club as well.

Many interesting events took place that week. On Dec 8, an exhibition of rare Turkish manuscripts and miniature paintings opened at the National Museum of Pakistan. The managing director of the National Bank of Pakistan and president of the Museum Associations of Pakistan, Mumtaz Hasan, inaugurated the show. Talking to the media and art lovers on the first day, he recalled that how strong was the cultural unity and friendship among Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, especially in the RCD context.

A few days later, on Dec 11, the National Museum became venue for another important cultural event. It was about the Murung tribe living in the Chittagong hill tracts. There was an anthropologist named A. B. Rajput who had just been elected a member of the Royal Anthropology Institute of London. Mr Rajput held a ‘colour’ slide show at the museum familiarising the audience with the way the tribe led its life. In those days colour slides were a bit of a novelty and Chittagong was part of our country. So now the tribe sounds all the more alien to us.

A day later, book lovers received a valuable nugget of information. Dastur M. N. Dhalla (1875-1956) was a Parsi scholar of repute. On Dec 12, the Dhalla Memorial Committee announced that it had donated the scholar’s literary works and books to the department of archeology. There were some 2,000 books and 20 manuscripts, including the English and Gujarati translation of Shahnama-i-Firdausi. Interesting, isn’t it? Today, someone should get in touch with the department to inquire about that treasure trove.

This should not misguide anyone into thinking that Karachi and Karachiites only like to bask in the glory of the culture they’ve inherited. The city and its denizens have never lost sight of modern trends or technological developments. On the night of Dec 7, the country’s biggest neon sign, it was claimed, was ‘switched on’ in the city. M. Ziauddin, chairman of the municipal corporation, turned the switch on of the neon sign of a tyre manufacturing company installed on the rooftop of the Metropole hotel.

PS: Last week it was mentioned in this column that on Dec 4, 1964 an Urdu adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s celebrated play ‘Waiting for Godot’, translated and directed by Ali Ahmed, was staged at the Arts Council. A gentleman, Faridullah Siddiqui, phoned this writer adding to the information that he (Mr Siddiqui) played one of the central characters in the drama. Latif Kapadia and Alauddin Agha performed the other two important roles.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2014