Tag Archives: streets

Karachi at Street Level

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Went on my first ride with Critical Mass Karachi. We started at 6:45 in the morning. Despite the early hour it was surprisingly bright and hot!Our bike route took us from ‘the McDonalds on the way to Ayesha’s house’ to ‘The Point’ past ‘PTCL office’ and ‘Mohotta Palace’, ‘SeaView’ and ‘Bilawal House’. (I am becoming a Karachitte because I no longer remember street names.)The ride was great – a chance for me to see the city on the street level and out of my protective and isolating steel carriage. (Don’t get me wrong – I L-O-V-E my car.) Karachi on the street is both very dirty and smelly and at times surprisingly pretty.

View of Sea View

One of our brand new bus stops. It’s a great improvement for the commuters of the city. Now if only the buses were not controlled by the mafia and we could have decent public transportation.

Shaheed (Martyred) Benazir Bhutto Park

Apartment complex with ruble outside. Ok, it’s the truth - this apartment block makes it look like Karachi is in the middle of a war. (Which it is… just not on this block.) Can you say bad property management?

Old Tree

Recycling

That's me in the corner.

Dogs and the Brain

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I saw the most disturbing things yesterday…I was driving around 8.30pm so the city was dark and as usual there were not streetlights working. On a busy fast moving street (sunset blvrd) the traffic suddenly started swerving weirdly.I was a dog trying to cross the street.I don’t think he made it un-harmed – he barely missed the car right in front of me only to slam right into the taxi in the next lane.  When I saw him as I zoomed by, he was still up but I’m not sure he got to the other side.Makes me think – what exactly was the dog looking for on the other side of the street? Couldn’t he wait till like 2 am, when his survival rate would be better? He is dog after all – its not like he has to BE somewhere.The little doggy clearly did not have the proper crossing technique mastered. I see people everyday; women in buqas with kids in tow, old men, cross the ‘highway’ near baloch colony. You know they see you driving by when they are looking past your car into the distance behind you trying to gauge the timing between cars.I’ve been reading ‘A users guide to the brain’ (ha ha – I know! The title gets me every time).It seems surprising since we do it so easily; but at the brain level gauging speed and distance are pretty complex tasks. Our brains evolved so that we can quickly access data in the brain and make decision (cross or not) in an instantaneous gut-reaction instinct kind of way.Which is why humans are better at crossing the street than dogs.

Although dogs can do some pretty fun things…