Malbari Hotel- An Old Man's Day Dreams.... Sad yet True!!!

  We all four old friends were sitting at the malbari hotel talking meaninglessly and passing the time aimlessly.It was a very gloomy evening because at least 20 people had died in what the media people call  "Target killing".Kharadar where our malbari hotel gets shut down every second day.
Suddenly Yaqoob Kiria asked "Brothers!who are these people died in target killing.Are they members of particular sect,group or a political party? "I replied " They have nothing to do with any sect or politics.Our police and other law enforcing agencies are just about useless.They have not been able to catch one murderer out of hundreds of people killed in recent weeks.
        Do you see our streets are deserted after the sunset like curfew was imposed on our streets.Master Siddiq said that we must discuss who is killed not who killed him.To catch the killers is the job of our law enforcing agencies,but about half of those killed are never identified.There is a law of post martum and identification procedures.But mostly the dead bodies are handed over to social workers like Abdul Sattar Edhi for burial.These bodies are burried in nameless graves without any name or number.only prominent social workers like Abdul Sattar Edhi keep records by alloting a number to each dead body.
        Isn't it tragic,a person gets out to buy bread or vegetables but he never returns.A laborer spending his nights on foot paths is dead by a bullet coming from no where and sleeps permanently on that spot.The blame game is on and everybody blames to the other groups for this killing.No one thinks about the laborer who died has come from his village thousands of kilometers away from Karachi to earn his bread.
        Ghaffar Kapadia said that this is true,the persons so mercilessly killed by those hidden killers are footpath dwellers or persons sitting like us at some small hotels.Only Allah is protecting us.I say " should we change our meeting place to somewhere else? "
         Master Siddiq said we get to our homes before the night is set we are safe InshAllah.Once we sit at night at this place or any other place a bullet may come for any of us.That is for sure.Government announces awards for the dead men's relatives (if any) but it is never paid.These announcements are to get clapping of the people present where the announcement is made.
        I have visited Edhi foundation's graveyard at Maach Goth and have personally seen grave markings with identification numbers only.Edhi foundation maintains a register of information about these bodies with photographs for any body wishing to see them.Thus if any claimant comes he show  the photograph of the dead body and identification marks found on the body to the claimant.But this happens with very small percentage of unidentified bodies buried by Edhi foundation.
      We can not imagine when a person dies so suddenly, what happens to surviving relatives.Besides a widow,there are usually 3 or 4 small children who are left without anything to eat or to pay school fees.Any of 1001 things left unattended.Why don't our philanthropist establish a trust or foundation to help such surviving families of persons suddenly killed by the bullet,so that they can adjust to their lives again.But unfortunately,most of our wealthy men are interested in clapping and photographs,not in actual welfare work.

Malbari Hotel- An Old Man's Day Dreams.... VISIT TO SEA VIEW

We the four old men were sitting at the malbari hotel and passing the time aimlessly.We were boared by this routine so were looking for some adventure to escape from this monotonous life.Yakoob kiria proposed that we should go somewhere away from Kharadar.Where to go?.. that was the question  than Siddique master came up with an idea.There was a common friend of ours who owned a car and would be more than happy to take us anywhere as long as we paid for the fuel.So the program was set for next Sunday  and we were all set for this exiting adventure.

Sunday came and we waited for abdul kabadi at the malbari hotel.At last  we heard some noise as if earthquake comming  and Siddique master predicted that Abdul kabadi was comming as this was the sound of his car.

Soon abdul kabadi came and parked his car near our table and came to us and after greetings and hand shakes he offered us to get into his car so we can  begin our journey. I was stunned by the look of kabadi"s car I had never seen such special car it was a topless car when it started rolling the noise was so tremendous that even dead would raise their heads to see what was happening.

As we sat in the car I asked abdul what model the car was  Abdul replied that it was a 1950 chevrolet and some time back a person who needed the roof of his car had offered reasonable price for it so Abdul cut off the roof of his car that made his car topeless and later on he replaced the engine of the car with a diesel one that made his car only one in the whole wide world.

As we settled and car started rolling  there was so much noise that we could hardly talk.I asked where he would take us?Abdul simply told to sit calmly and he would take us to Sea View.I asked abdul how he was so calmly driving  in such a noise. Gaffar kapadia commented that every part of this junk was making noise.Abdul replied that every thing but the horn makes noise the horn is not working at all.

Abdul kabadi was driving his junk like a general of invading army in enemy country abdul called his car "buggy".
He was taking us to the sea view so he took the vehicle towards Netive jetty and from there to Mai kolachi road to get to the Karachi beach called Sea View.

Abdul considered himself an expert of Karachi roads and streets so he kept narrating information regarding various parts as we passed through different roads

As we got near boat basin abdul pointed towards a park and told us that it was called Shaheed Benazir Bhutto park.I knew it as boat basin park but it was renovated and Neher e zubaida ( a sewrage drain ) was enclosed in the park.

Soon we reached Abdullah Shah Ghazi mazar where few days back a bomb blast left many people dead and injured.Now we were very near the sea view and one large international restaurart was within sight this part of beach is in administrative control of defence housing authority.

Our happiness was diminished because we were greeted by a foul smell rising from the garbage collected on the beach.

Abdul parked his buggy at a vaccant parking spot and we jumped out.The authorities had erected flood lights on this part of the beach and had erected little kiosks as canteens at every little distance and even many eatables were being sold on push carts.

Thing that hit me like a ton of bricks was the unhigenic condition of the beach there were many horses and camels for children to ride but the animals droppings were presenting a very ugly scene and air was full of foul smell.

Abdul was happy with his importance and ordered cold drinks and chat etc as we sat on benches.We walked on the beach for a while when siddique master pointed out that it was getting late so we returned towards our one in the world car to return to our malbari hotel thus ended our very happy journey of the sea view beach

Malbari Hotel- An Old Man's Day Dreams.... We can fight the PRICE RISE if we want!!!

We were sitting at the malbari hotel as usual, Siddique master was late and we were waiting for him.malbari came to us and exploded a bomb right on our heads he announced that now onwards a cup of tea would cost fifteen rupees instead of twelve rupees just then master appeared and I told him about malbari's announcement.Master was smiling very cutely like a kid getting hold of an unguarded fridge full of icecream.

I asked him why he was so happy?He could not hold his smile and said that he found a way to fight price hike.Than what he said was a eye opener for all.He told us that he went to buy some vegetable and saw that the vendor paid twenty rupees to throw away two crates of over ripe tomatoes that were not sold due to high price.

Master said that if we don't buy any thing that is expensive the price will come down or the thing will perish and tha vendor will pay to throw it away that is for sure.

Image:Sabzi Wala By Jugnoo

This is being done by the government through consumer societies and the like but we as individual never thought about it instead we try to pay more and more so that we are the first to get the thing no matter how high the price is.Not even thinking that there is always a replacement for every thing like when we need tomatoes in our curry we can use dahi (curd) instead or when we need some sourness we can add vinegar or tartaric acid crystals to get better results.For that matter we can change entire menu and use anything that is cheep and is easily available.

He said  with a smile that his wife did not know this earlier but now she knows this replace the ingredient method and  she also gave some thing to me to think about.

Mrs master told him that to handle the problem of price hike there has to be some more action taken.We should stop buying in bulk and storing things in refrigerators instead we should buy groceries on daily basis.This will decrease the demand and high price ratio.If something is not available in a price which seems right for that, customer should avoid buying it. This will pressurize the seller which in turn will pressurize the government.Every one should take this responsibility.What happens here is those who have money keep on paying high and those who can not afford are forced to pay the same price leaving the lower middle class in real deep trouble.

If we take practical steps and stop buying things for only a couple of week we will be able to control the price rise to a certain extent.

Malbari over hearing all this came to us and asked ,Do you plan not to have tea at my hotel? seeing at the critical and worried look on his face we all smiled and Kiria said only if you offer a cup cost 12 rs if four cups are ordered Malbari very Happily agreed.In a lighter mood at least our problem of sudden rise in a cup of tea was solved.