Think Karachi and you don’t exactly think of tourists. Of course, with all the mayhem that has been happening in the city of recent, one doesn’t dare think of Karachi as a tourist hub. That is why whenever a Karachiite gets a chance to show off the brighter side of the city to anyone passing through, we do our best to display that things are as normal in Karachi as they are in any other metropolis in the world.

And that is why I took a particular foreigner who had flown into the city for work on a trip to one of the un-touristy corners of the metropolis.

The occasion was a colleague’s mehndi ceremony at one of the ubiquitous marriage halls in North Nazimabad. And the foreigner in question was none other than an American. An enemy to some in Pakistan, to me he was the perfect opportunity to show that things aren’t that bad in Karachi. Security was on our minds no doubt. But we decided that an armed guard would draw unnecessary attention. And then, what’s the need for involving office security people? They would have no doubt created unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles with a possible list of dos and don’ts, with a ‘don’t go to the party’ being the only point of contention. So no security.

After picking him up from his hotel at 9.30pm, we — two female colleagues and the two of us — were off in the direction of North Nazimabad. Places to hang out and show someone would probably be Clifton and Defence. That’s where the high-end, good and glamorous of the city reside. Still, that’s what others in the office were planning on doing, so we decided to do something different.

Obioo, our American friend, was well dressed for the occasion, in a designer shalwar kameez. The man had some difficulty getting the hang of it. And instead of the drawstring he improvised and simply tied a knot to hold the shalwar in place.

Our route to the marriage hall took us past some of the well-known localities of the city; the National Stadium, Gulshan-i-Iqbal, Azizabad (Mukka Chowk should definitely be on the tourist map) and finally onto the main North Nazimabad road before parking in front of the marriage hall.

The mehndi ceremony was, as expected, colourful with lots of music and dances. For the American, this was an entirely different side of Karachi, one that sharply contrasted with the stereotypical view that our perception of fun is entirely different.

After the song-and-dance routines, it was food time, which really challenged Obioo’s non-spicy taste buds. Soon after it was time to head off. Already it was past midnight. But the hustle and bustle of the city — even at that hour — had him thinking different about Karachi, with the image of guns, killing and a Stone Age existence challenged to some degree.

We drove past the same route, saying our goodbyes to the never-sleeping neighbourhoods of the city. Time was of the essence.

Of course, we all had to be in the office in a few hours’ time.—Atifuddin Khan