Hopes and fears for 2012

Keamari - Good ol' days

Note: Following are blips of recollections from cousins, Salmana Ahmed and Adnan Asar, also eldest grandchildren of Dr. and Mrs. Ikram

Salmana:

Adnan, Noaman and Meena we had so many lovely memories. Do you people remember “khatti metthi goli” from Nana abba’s clinic I still remember old water hand pump and nani amman’s “nemat khana”.

Adnan:

oh yes the khatti mithi goli was our favorite and nan abba always let us have a few; not sure exactly what they were 

the hand water pump is something i clearly remember because i used it to pump water on many many occasions. i also remember boiling water over a the stove for friday showers before prayers in winter in Keamari. For some reason, winter was unusually cold in those days too. and talking of stove, one of my fondest memories are sitting down, chukku mukku, with nani amma in the kitchen kneading the dough and flattening the dough to make chapatis. 

And the stove wasn’t anything fancy that we have these days but a simple (gasoline i think) burner that served as the cooking stove. Just thinking back i am just amazed how naani amma kept the kitchen going every single day and had fresh lunch and dinner served daily at 1pm and 9pm. the 1pm lunch and 9pm dinner cycle is so embedded in my biological clock that even today when its 1pm or 9pm, i think back that its meal time somewhere in my past life (i have always been focused on food  and then obviously the day was not over until you take all the dishes out to the tap outside the house, near nana abba’s dispensary office, and wash all  the dishes. 

I remember many evenings sitting with Nani amma and Naila baaji washing dishes … Naila baaji would do it grudgingly (just kidding). i am just amazed at the hard work ethics that Naani amma  had and in spite of all  the work she always had energy to make us all laugh with her zesty personality and attitude in her younger years. what a joy to be around. 

I love her and miss her very much.

Keamari - Recalled by the first son-in-law of the family

While much has been written in the article regarding mordern Keamari, my memories are limited to the period 1968-1972 when i lived at the doctors’ residence of  Bachu Bhai Edulji Dinshaw Dispensary, more commonly then known as BED Dispensary.

This dispensary owned by Karachi Municipal Corporation was managed by Abbi. Although a small dispensary it catered for a large population covering:

• People working for customs
• Army officers residing in the Embarcation Headquarter Compound
• People working for Karachi Port
• Residents of Manora,an island a few kms from Keamari.
• Journalists residing in Mules Mansion
• Business class having shops in Jackson Market.

Most of the serving staff of the dispensary  resided in the same compound. They were very loving and faithful. I remember Ooka, the man who will always be remembered for keeping the entire premises exceptionally clean.

My wedding was organised in the dispensary compound and the lush green garden on the rear. This was a unique reception of the time in which the residents of the area played an important role. I was told that Aziz Charia (also known as Captain Old Gold), contributed by helping the police in managing the traffic.

As Abbi was a doctor loved and respected by everyone, we enjoyed all the justified benefits from the custom officers, police officers, journalists, industrialists, barber, milkmen, meat sellers etc.

The 1971 India/ Pakistan war is yet another memorable event of the time.Keamari being a port with oil reservoirs, millitary and naval establishments, was on the hit list of India. With the declaration of war the Indian planes started bombing the area .Adnan was just  two years old . One early morning the Indian planes invaded the ares under heavy shelling.Qaiser and Adnan who were out in the compound tookm shelter under the doctors desk in the duispensary.We only knew when the planes returned and the shelling stopped.

It is sad that the BED dispensary no longer exists New roads have emerged in place. The only landmark is the railway crossing which was immediately after the dispensary gate.

The Jackson Market was just opposite the dispensary.

Close by before the dispensary was the Nagin Cinema which we often visited for a change, A new market has been constructed in its place.

Just opposite the gate was a mosque which still exists.

Behind the mosque and before the railway crossing was a road leading to the Junior custom officers quarters. At the corner of the road was a one  small room barber shop.which served the entire family.

Immediately after the railway crossing is yet another road leading to the Senior Customs Preventive Officers bungalows beautifully built in stone.

Further down was the Embarcation Head Quarter, followed by Clock Tower and finally the Keamari Passenger Pier from where motor boats, small passenger ferries and boats still move people around, to Manora or outer anchorage where the merchant ships are anchored.

Yaad e Keamari ab ek khab hai Yarab.

The Keamari residence is no longer there. We are dispersed allover and by the grace of God we are all happy. Let us cherish the memories and pray for a happy future.

My earliest memories from Keamari home

By Adnan Asar

Some of my earliest memories in Keamari are also the earliest memories of my life and they are a few flashes of images from the war of 1971 when I was two years old. Usually one does not remember anything from such an early age but I guess war can be so traumatizing that it leaves behind flashes of blurry images even in a two year old brain. One of them is seeking shelter under the dining table with bare mama as airforce planes flew above us. Another is that of seeing large flames erupting while driving in a car perhaps from the bombing of the oil reserves. I have also heard of how I was playing outside in the compound when the war erupted, planes started flying overhead and bare mama rushed out to grab me and take me inside.

Another one of my earliest memories is with nana jaan in their Bihar colony home where he is carrying me around and showing me things, I don’t recall exactly what. But I remember him smiling with joy as any great grand father would feel playing with their great grand child. I feel very privileged to have the blessing of experiencing his love and presence in my life albeit short. People tell me that he lovingly called me Adnan Menderes, after a Turkish leader.

Remembering Keamari

This page will hold memories of the family of Dr. Ikram who lived in Keamari. It is an effort by them to record Keamari's history from their memory.

In the meantime, here is a great article on Keamari that you can read:

Jackson's Journey

- By Peerzada Salman

Source: http://www.dawn.com/2011/01/02/jacksons-journey.html

It`s the breeze. Cool as a moment of bliss and refreshing like a thought full of hope. It blows from the west and if you`re at the fag end of Bunder Road facing St George`s Church, it will greet you with a thirst-quenching spirit, and may make your hair look dishevelled. Don`t be surprised if it starts talking to you: “I`m Karachi`s gentle wind, befriend me.” It sounds loony. That`s the kind of magic that Keamari can conjure.

The whole area is a minefield packed with history. There`s a colony made for customs officers lined with beautiful stone-made bungalows; there are breathtaking churches; there`s an old dockside; there`s a colonial clock tower and numerous other such vestiges of a period when time was both lover and beloved, when diversity was accepted in all manifestations. While some of these places are not known to many Karachiites, there`s a market in the Keamari area that was famous in the past for its cheap-as-chips goods. (It is still a fairly bustling bazaar.) It was known as Jackson Market.

Before you reach Jackson Bazaar, as it is referred to nowadays, the journey from Native Jetty Bridge to Jackson Market is a simple yet exhilarating one. There`s no other sight in the city like this one on either side of Bunder Road. The ships anchored at the harbour, the official as well as residential structures made of stone, the birds dotting the sky and the breeze, yes, the breeze, unadulterated temperate wind. You move in a linear direction and keep looking left. After a few shabbily maintained bits of stonemasonry you`ll see Central Fire Station. Keep moving.

Move ahead and you`ll get to view some new constructions and then see a rather small and nice building, which is a workplace related to the shipping industry. Some yards away is the magnificent Mules Mansion and just before you reach a Sufi saint`s mazar, turn left in the not-so-narrow lanes to enter the world of Jackson Market.

In modern-day Karachi this bazaar has lost its pristine touch. New concrete buildings have sprung up. New shops have emerged. New shopkeepers occupy the area. Not too many aged structures can now be chanced upon in the market (though this can`t be said about other parts of Keamari). If you enter the bazaar from the street just before the above-mentioned shrine, after a few blocks you`ll see a work of construction with unique-looking quadrangular and rectilinear windows which doesn`t commensurate with the blocks preceding or following it. No one knows what it was originally called nor is anything written, inscribed or embossed on its walls that indicates its date of construction and maiden name. (One man working at a bank will tell you it`s called Masoomal Building.) What can`t be argued is that it`s a building built before partition.

A little ahead at the corner of the street is a residential structure with shops on the ground floor. It is indisputably a piece of stonemasonry. Again, no names are mentioned anywhere, but the locals know it as Khushi Ram Building. This gives you the idea that the neighbourhood in its early days was inhabited by the Hindu community.

Now walk across the lane from where Khushi Ram Building stands, because here lie two examples of vintage colonial architecture. Look to your left and there`s an edifice which will grab your attention. It is Baveja Building made in 1936. The piece is not a well-maintained one and additions have been made to it. Still, it`s a nice reminder of peaceful yesteryear.

Turn right and a couple blocks ahead there`s another such structure called Banoo Manzil. The date of construction written next to its name is 1930. So it`s six years older to its stone sibling and is also in need of restoration.

Architect Noman Ahmed says: “Keamari`s architecture, that is Jackson Market and its adjoining areas, has functional type of constructional attributes which adjusted themselves according to the evolving requirements of the time. Initially this zone was developed by a number of Hindu businessmen and merchant navy entrepreneurs. The record that we have suggests it was after 1839 that a majority of developments was supervised by the British.

“You`ve mentioned Baveja Building. According to some documents, it was made in the 19th century, and later on additions were made to it. It was a public residence whose most interesting feature is the balconies. Then there used to be a Hindu dharmashala in the neighbourhood; it is now under the Auqaf department.”

“I don`t exactly know which Jackson the market was named after. What I can tell you is, there was a certain Dr Jackson who ran a popular dispensary where he worked as a Christian missionary doctor treating patients for free,” says Mr Ahmed.There was a certain Dr J. Jackson who was principal of the DJ College (1888-1907). Was the bazaar named after him? Probably. Probably not.

When you try and return from Keamari, it`s not just the old surroundings that make you revisit the area, but also the breeze…