Dinshaw Avari- Trying my Hand at Blogging!

October 31, 2019 (Literally & figuratively, this is not meant to be a “ dry ” subject for a blog 😊 ) Consumption of alcohol = fall into a stupor; Consumption of drugs = fall to your death! I was told that one of the largest smuggling & illegal consumption of alcohol is in this region of the world … and it’s very believable! We see this consumption around us– it’s a fact of life.  Why can’t the government and rulers over the last four decades see … accept … and monetize that?  Our laws allow minority, permit-holders to purchase locally produced alcohol and it is taxed, which is fine.  However, far far more smuggled foreign alcohol is illegally sold and consumed (and not by minorities) - with no monetary benefit accruing to the government.  If our Governments stop policing so-called “moral values & virtues” of its citizens , the economic benefit to the Country is humungous!   “There is a qualitative factor too- one of percepti...

October 15, 2019 (In Gujrati, “Naatak” = “play”)   “ Mix Breed ”, based on a Parsi family who have to face “intermarriage” issues, is a light portrayal of the real-world issues our Community is facing.    With double meanings and inflections, the cast (90% of whom learnt Gujrati “ on the job ”!) entertained the Gujrati speaking communities of Karachi. The Script was written by Mrs Huzan Wadia, who has successfully acted & directed it in Mumbai; and selflessly extended the script on a gratis basis to Natalia Karanjia in Karachi, this play being the latter’s directorial debut.   Yay to Natalia! This is what Karachi, and Pakistan, lacks- ENTERTAINMENT.   We have food & drink and ………… hmmmmm.   Play and theatre is picking up in Pakistan but to a very restricted market.   The mainstream citizens do not get to enjoy theatre on a regular basis- whether drama, comedy, musical.   Our cast explained to me the ‘power’ of theatre – they...

September 27, 2019 …does that make me old? I think not. I can unequivocally state that my parents’ generation enjoyed the BEST times of Pakistan – no two ways about it.   However, my generation of the 1960s have evolved through one of the most INTERESTING and EXCITING periods of history – the TECHNOLOGY explosion.   I mean, we have first-hand witnessed - 1)       The change from rotary to touch button telephones; 2)       Analog to Digital services telephone services; 3)       The advent of the PERSONAL computer (my first computer was an IBM machine) in the early 1980s; 4)       Mobile phones - GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G … and all the future “G’s” that are to come; 5)       Laptops, sat phones, VOIP tech, skype, whats app, wechat, tablets; 6)       Newspapers to online news and RSS feeds; 7)    ...

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...