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(Last update : 8/8/99)
Karachi was made the capital of Pakistan
after Independence. It is the headquarters of the
Pakistan Navy. Karachi is the busiest
city with great activity in the trade, industry, education
and other fields of life. It has gone
through a tremendous change and development in various
A
View of Karachi Port.
spheres. With enormous rise in the population,
several residential colonies have emerged
in Karachi accommodating the influx of
people from other provinces as well. Due to this reason
Karachi quickly expanded within a short
span of time.
Karachi is the center of education and
other cultural and social activities. A great number of
prestigious educational institutions are
functioning here. It is an ultra-modern city, with most
modern cinemas, recreational clubs, hotels
and restaurants. There are beautiful beaches at
Sand spit, Sommiani and Hawks Bay. These
places are excellent picnic resorts with their
tranquil surroundings and provide an atmosphere
to rest and relax. The opportunities for
yachting, water-skiing and cruising are
also available here. The presence of huge and tall
buildings has given it a grandeur and
majestic appearance.
( Paradise Point - a popular point.)
(Hawkesbay - an ideal picnic beach.)
Karachi has an state-of-the-art international
airport where flights from all over the world land and
take off. It has thus become the "Gateway
to Pakistan". It is a sea-port which is the source of
conducting international trade and business.
It is considered as commercial and industrial capital
of Pakistan. It has played a vital and
dominant role in erecting Pakistanis economy on firm basis.
Karachi is a Cosmopolitan city with people
coming from different parts of the world. It is a
mingling of old and new, east and west.
It has absorbed the charm and beauty of modern and conventional way of
life.
Karachi enjoys great importance because
the Founder of Pakistan, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad
Ali Jinnah was born here. He received
his early education in this great city. The Quaid-i-Azam
is buried here. The Quaid¹s mausoleum
is the most important monument in Karachi. It stands
in the heart of the city with its splendor
combining classical oriental architecture with modern
way of designing. His birth place, the
Wizard Mansion, has been preserved as a national archive.
There is a great Steel Mill established
in Karachi with the assistance of U.S.S.R. It is the only steel
factory of the country which is playing
an important role in stabilizing country's economy. The
Government is planning to develop few
more picnic spots in Karachi for the attraction of the tourists.
A proposal has been made to establish
Hub Lake Tourist Complex at the cost of Rs. 200 million
which is 56 km from Karachi. The proposal
has been submitted to the Sindh and Baluchistan Governments and the Federal
Tourism Department. It will be the most fascinating recreational resort
which is likely to attract a large number of tourists and the local people.
Karachi, is a friendly cheerful city of
eight million cosmopolitan people. Its wide streets, bright lights and
miles of golden beaches more than make up for its chaotic traffic and quick
changing city scope.
Karachi boasts all the trappings of a
modern metropolis. Multi-starred hotels,
glamorous shopping centers, exclusive private clubs, a refreshingly green
golf course, facilities for sea sports, aerobics
and yoga, elegant restaurants,
and other similar essential luxuries. At fancy office buildings, textile
magnates and other seths including many multinationals, conduct their business.
There are art galleries
galore, and dozens of boutiques and specialty shops offering a dazzling
array of choices. For
a mega-city and center of business and industry, Karachi has a wonderfully
relaxed and informal air.
Even though life is fast nobody appears to be in a rush. People have time
for one another.
In keeping with city's proletarian ways,
entertainment tends to be simple and colorful. Crabbing in
the Arabian Sea in sailboats, camel rides
on the seaside, cricket matches on any convenient open space. Juma or Friday
bazaars now offer, besides fresh farm produce and other necessities, an
opportunity for community socializing.
Eating out being a national pastime, delicious
food is available even in the many wayside restaurants
that dot the city. The Boating Basin area
offers the widest possible variety of eating choices, mainly outdoors,
and visitors relish the place's sociable, sea breezy ambiance. Burns Road
is another
popular center of gastronomically delights.
(Dining out in style.)
Karachi's sights, both historic and natural,
are found mostly in and out-side its environs. However,
the city does offer several buildings
of architectural interest, many displaying an extraordinary
jumble of Victorian, Gothic and Rajputana
styles resulting in a pleasing aesthetic experience.
Worth seeing are the mausoleum of the
Quaie-e-Azam Mohammad Ali jinnah, the nation's
founder, the Tooba Mosque, the many old
churches, Frere Hall, the Karachi Municipal Corporation
and the Karachi Port Trust buildings and
the Jahangir Kothari Pavilion.
For the seeing eye, a stroll down a Karachi main road presents exciting possibilities. The tiny cigarette-cum-paanwalla (beta leaf seller) kiosks, roadside handcart walls hawking everything
A "Pan" shop, selling beetle leaves and tobacco.
from luscious fresh fruit to rubber slippers,
the sputtering motor rickshaws and the richly
decorated buses whose vivid folk art manifestations
would put New York's graffiti covered
subway trains to shame. Not
to mention the cheeky donkey and sedate camels carts which
are fast giving way to two-stroke
Suzuki Vans.
Rowing
in Sunset.
Karachi's sunny seascape is filled with
the sound of wind on water, of waves crashing on the
seashore. Strong sea breezes blowing over
the Indian Ocean are funneled by the Arabian Sea
into Karachi, giving it the nickname of
"windy city". Seaside picnics are a popular weekend
activity at Hawkesbay, Sand spit, Paradise
Point and Clifton. There is also the more exclusive
French Beach, where foreign visitors swim
and sunbathe under cloudless skins.
Boating
in Karachi Funland.
Crabbing in the Arabian sea.
Around Port Qasim, the mangrove fringed
coves and channels constitute the world's fifth largest mangrove forest.
These mangroves present an unusual sight, banks of lush green sea vegetation
appear to be swaying right in the middle
of the sea in a stiff breeze. But
it is Karachi's bustling
bazaars, radiating energy and vitality,
color and variety, that both dazzle
and satiate the senses.
For local color plus products of every
kind there's Bhori Bazzar, Khajoor Bazzar, Bottle Bazzar,
Saraffa or gold and jewellery Bazzar,
Machhi Miani and others with equally exotic names and
goods. For visitors with sophisticated
tastes Zainab Market is a must. This colorful place
specializes in affordable European and
indigenous garments, leather Jackets and handbags,
Afghan jewellery, handicrafts, antiques
and a mind boggling variety of knick knacks and souvenirs.
Empress Market, a
quaint Victorian structure with Mughal and Gothic touches is worth a visit
even if you aren't
sout to buy anything. Here you get a glimpse of striving struggling humanity,
Third World style,
determinedly trying to board buses, sell produce, catch your attention,
make
a statement, shout
a slogan, creating in the process a noisy turmoil reflecting raw energy.
Top
quality fruit and
vegetables are sold in the stalls inside the market. Fish, poultry, meat,
talking
and singing birds,
guinea fowl, partridges and quail, just about everything is available here.
The National Museum
located not far from the city's many major and other more modest hotels
houses artifacts
from the 8000 year old city of Mahrgarh where women wore their hair in
a
variety of unique
styles. These elaborate hairdos of old would do credit to any coiffeur
in the
west today. Seals,
Moenjadaro satiates, the coins gallery and collection of rare manuscripts
shed revealing light
on the past history of the country.
PLANETARIUM, If the
night sky thrills you and the stars and planets intrique you, Karachi offers
the facility of
a modern planetarium, built and gifted to the people of Karachi by the
national
airline - PIA. Regular
programmers are shown every afternoon and evening except Sundays.
