City Walk – Trespassing in Marwari Lines and Urdu Bazaar

Curiosity often kills The Karachi Walla. How do the houses around Bunder road look from inside? On a humid Ramazan day Karachi Walla banged few doors asking them if they would allow me to document their spaces. Patience runs low in Ramazan and I was declined. My vespa mechanic offered to help and took me to his friends place in Marwari Lines. His friend was not home so we turned back from his door but not before taking few pictures. The building was built around a courtyard. The central space was divided between two neighbors; a bike was parked in front of one gate and well, a bull in front of the other. There was a kitchen on the ground floor and few people were busy preparing daigs for iftari. There was a makeshift cage and few goats were lazing around it, waiting for the inevitable. On the other side few children were swinging in roadside rides.

We rode back to Urdu Bazar where my car was parked. A Bohri uncle saw me taking photos and stiked conversation. We had a little chat and he offered me to take to his relative’s place. We rode our vespas through narrow streets around Urdu Bazaar and stopped opposite a rundown block of apartments. Almost all balconies had clothes hanging from them. Classic downtown Karachi! We walked inside the ground floor, a humble two room space. The front room served as guest room and the other as a multi purpose one. There was a tiny store and washroom in the backyard. The house had wooden cabinets installed in the walls, which have been painted at a later stage. Bohri Uncle asked me to take photos of aunty’s family stove and chuckled that now it could sell for a higher price.