The Karachi Walla

  Naryan Pura, an old neighborhood in Ranchor Lines is epitome of Karachi’s diversity. For centuries, Hindus, Christians and Sikhs have lived next to each other, celebrating each other’s festival as their own. The neighborhood has three temples, three churches and an impressive Gurdwara. KD, a friend of mine from work was showing us around […]

Nusrah Kanwal has been documenting Karachi floors on instagram. You can follow it here: ‘Karachi Floors‘. The handle does not specify her as the photographer behind it. The Karachi Walla met Nusrah on a Saturday evening at a cafe in Clifton. As the twilight faded into darkness, she emerged out of shadows. I expected a girl […]

It all started with a little bit of misunderstanding. I was walking down Dhol Gali when I saw him pointing in my direction. I wondered if he minded my camera so I smiled sheepishly and put it down. As I approached him he started complaining that I have ruined his business by parking a van […]

A vanishing scene. There are seven to eight shops in Dhol Gali off Napier road. Most of them have been selling tablas and dholaks for decades. The craft has been transferred from father to son and so on so forth. Though tablas and dholak are still very much present on display, other music instruments have […]

There are several things that you can do on a Sunday morning in Karachi. Watching this group of artists painting heritage buildings around Pakistan Chowk is a topmost option. Saddar and rest of the old quarters have seen public spaces diminish over time. Parks have vanished and reading rooms vandalized. Old fashioned cafes have given […]