Old Karachi Weirdness (Part 1)

Not able to sleep, the excitement of the new surroundings making me twitch, such a contrast from what I know back home. It’s no good, I stroll out from the alley at the side of the nihari master’s shop and out into the madly narrow midnight streets of old Karachi.

To my left is the weird sight of shiny expensive motors jammed into the street. Expensive non-battered cars just don’t venture into this part of town. Seems some rich kids from Defense colony are up to something. I come to a halt and begin hearing the muffled thud of bass.

A red Merc blocks my path, so I walk around the streets finding an alternative route. There are no street lights just the odd protruding weak light bulb randomly protruding from a shop front. Quite eerie, especially with the distant sound of the chokidaar blowing his whistle, the way it tapers off has a touch of sadness about it. Instead of silence it soon disappears to become repetitive bass, becoming louder with each step. I try not to move in time but it’s hard. Coming closer I see a few more shiny cars, one with its headlights on, sitting on the bonnet are a girl and a boy. As I approach they are framed between the featureless walls of two tired buildings. I can’t help but take a mental snapshot. Click: The carefree rich sharing a cigarette and a joke in their beautiful clothes sitting on a mint 4 by 4 raising them high above the city filth.

As I come close they glance at me and then carry on chatting. Kind of a relief. I walk towards the doorway to check out the party. A small group of lads and a woman look confused, then tense, then angry and I wait for things to develop.

"Eh yahan kya kaam hain tumarra?" Hmm, bit disrespectful. It did make me aware of my creased grey shalwar khameez and their designer gear.
"Just wandering about."
"Ah, you are from London?" I saw smiles now and noticed a surprising number of piercings.
"Yeah. What's going on? Any special occassion?"
"One of our close friends has just come back from the U.S.- he has completed his MBA." Someone interrupts for the sake of it... "And we are celebrating"
"Cool, can I go in..look around?"
"Ya ya."

I ventured in, then realised one of the chaps was accompanying me, he had taken the role of smiling guide. Music was not the soft rock that seemed to be favoured by my cousins, it was big beat, dance and house. Fat Boy Slim and the like. The place was decorated beautifully with fabrics draped here and there, soft colours, seemed much less industrial than the clubs back home. Got some strange looks owing to my clothes but things seemed cool. My guide decided I should meet a friend of his.

"Umar yeh, ek londonstani seh millo"
"Hello, Hello teek taak?"
"Teek Taak"

Once I told him my name he asked what I did there, all the perfunctory stuff. Then he asked if I heard of "Jugarr". My confused look was his cue:

Jugarr is when you pay someone a cut and as if by magic a job considered impossible some how gets done. The girl beside him betrays a little smile but seems intent on just reclining an taking in her surroundings rather than listening intently. Serene and sophisticated. Umar continued..

"An ambassador from America, I mean an American Ambassador had an S-Class Mercedes, one of the only ones in Karachi. As he was driving along, something went wrong with it. So he showed a mechanic. Mechanic said it was impossible to fix, it needs a Mercedes part and there are no Mercedes Garages in Pakistan. The Ambassador asked what he could do. The mechanic said you'll have to ship the car to Dubai, the problem is they'll keep the car for a few weeks. This was no good for the Amabassador. "Look what we can do said the mechanic is use jugaarr. The part costs about 80,000 rupees you give me 100,000 and I will use jugaarr. You will get your car in a few days."

"The ambassador got his repaired car and was pleased and asked how the mechanic did it. The reply was "jugaarr". Curious, the ambassador wanted to know what it was.
"Look it's just Jugaarr" said the mechanic."

"A couple of months later Musharraf visited Bush at the Whitehouse. And Bush asks: "We hear Pakistan has some new technology...what is this jugaarr?"

We laughed, his laugh was surprisingly high-pitched which made me laugh more.