Dinshaw Avari- Trying my Hand at Blogging!

August 30, 2019 (Photo credit- https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/480344-Birth_Centenary_1986_of_Jamshed_Nusserwanjee_Mehta-Pakistan )  I’m visiting “The Big Apple” … and it’s clean! Jamshed Nusserwanji Mehta was the 1 st Mayor of Karachi in 1933.   “…Karachi became the cleanest city in the East. Its broad streets, lights, sanitation and water system, … [ ] … spoke of the city’s progress” ( https://www.dawn.com/news/649943/in-memoriam-jamshed-nusserwanji-the-builder-of-modern-karachi ).   My grandfather told us how the Mayor ensured the streets were washed twice a day, which he personally supervised periodically. Look at where we are now … ☹☹☹ .   We can have all the latest, mechanized tools but there’s no “system” or “will”, so we might as well [continue] to live in the dark ages. There is no reason Karachi cannot reclaim this glory.   I AM KARACHI ( http://iamkarachi.org/ ) , the social NGO, has proven that keeping city walls clean...

August 21, 2019   We live in a City but hardly go to visit the sites therein…and Karachi has plenty to see! So, off we went some years back to see Manora’s Lighthouse and St. Paul’s Church, both located in the Karachi Harbour and both which we pass regularly when sailing.  This is not only the second oldest lighthouse (1889) of the British Raj but, we were told, ONLY one of two lighthouses in the WORLD which are still cranked by hand (and not battery operated).  The other lighthouse is apparently in Chennai, India. There is still a lighthouse keeper … and every 50-odd minutes, he has to physically crank the lever that rotates the light, dusk to dawn! Hats off to the Karachi Port Trust in maintaining this iconic structure and the traditional art of operating the lighthouse successfully for the last 130 years. The still-active 1865 Church, St. Paul’s, stands adj...

(Cover photo- Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Malir-River-Basin-MRB_fig1_325475799 ) August 12, 2019 Last week I had written about recycling & harvesting rain water ( https://dinshawavari.com/2019/08/08/and-the-rains-are-upon-us/ ).  Then we faced rains in Karachi which I have not seen in decades.  The “natural” effect of this was the massive misinformation & incorrect (some genuinely mistaken) social media warnings & alerts on the effects of the rains in Karachi.  One post in particular, on the flooding of Malir River, got me thinking.   At the outset, let me clarify that these are my personal views and I hope it doesn’t lead to controversy …                Water flowing down Sind province makes its way into Malir River, which generally lays dry through the year.   It’s only when we have sudden rains or this current set of rains when it fil...

August 8, 2019 (Photo credit- https://www.instructables.com/id/20-Rainwater-Catchment-System-No-Gutters-Required/ ) Ironically, in March, I had blogged https://dinshawavari.com/2019/03/25/water-water-everywhere-but-not-a-drop-to-drink/ . … and now the rains are upon us and we don’t have any catchment system. Karachi is facing proper monsoon rains for the first time in decades.   It’s a good thing too – it cleans up the city; there is more greenery; the temperature drops; and life is so much more pleasant; and the three major reservoirs supplying water to our City get filled. What is lacking are individual CATCHMENT systems.   Each building can easily have their own rainwater harvesting systems – it doesn’t have to be expensive.   After the last set of “rains” a few weeks back ( though our rains are nothing compared to what India and Bangladesh have to go through during their monsoons and cyclone seasons ☹ ) I started reading up on rainwater har...