Fishing, Karachi

Turtle beach, Karachi
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

I really love this serene shot of mine I took two years ago. We were on a hunt for turtle (just to see them, not kill them) and after turtle watching we went to the other side of the beach where these men were preparing and hauling their catch. Some have been in the sea since last night; some were new comers. Under a dim light of the very early Sun, this photograph was taken. I recently uploaded it to my flickr account.

Monkey Business

Monkey Business
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

I was asked to shoot monkey for my assignment on the cultural aspect of Pakistan. Well, now-a-days, monkeys have gone out of business as more and more people become poor due to economic stagnation and lack of government will power. Monkeys, it appears, will go back to the wild while their handlers will do something else to earn their sort-of-a-cruel earning. But that's not true for this Punjabi handler, who has been at the Sea View since last 35 years.

I am not sure what others say about all this monkey show but this is cruel and positively banned in many Western countries. And you can see why. These handlers buy monkeys young (this one was 3 years old and not very co-operative) from Islamabad / Pindi, where they can be found in the jungles at Margalla hills for Rs.5000 (un-trained). Then these monkeys are hit with the stick day and night and kept partially hungry so that they may learn their trick. While I was photographing this monkey walla and his monkey the poor creature got a lot of spanking on his head and hands due to which I had to cut short this show. I paid him Rs.150 and I am not sure whether I did the right thing or not.

Snake charmer with mongoose

Snake charmer with mongoose
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

I found him at Sea View yesterday (16th October 2010) and asked him to get his bansri out and show me the snake show. He insisted on fighting his snake with this large mongoose, which I objected to. So he took out the snake and showed me the show and I handed over Rs.150 for his performance. Honestly, the snake was a bit slow and very small. It's price was Rs.200-300 and it has been caught from Thatta. No wonder our wildlife continues to dwindle at a very fast pace.

Shot on assignment.

Khobani seller, Balochistan

Khobani seller, Balochistan
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

I was in Baluchistan with my working partner and friend, Danial, during the first half of June, 2010. We were on a mission to photograph certain parts of Balochistan for pakgatweway.com. And despite contrary views by people who've never been to Balochistan, we had lots and lots of fun while doing our work. And one of the better parts of that fun was to eat fresh, delicious fruit right from the trees they grow from.

This is Khobani and we ate so much that our stomachs were upping. But not aching.

This expedition into the heart of Balochistan was funded by www.pakgateway.com.

Another bhai killed; more violence to follow

It is a done thing in Karachi and Urdu parts of Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas. That when the MQM leader is killed violence must follow. Karachi, the center of all MQM, is the hardest hit among the cities of this unfortunate country. This mega city, where the infamous center of attraction 90 (MQM Headquarters) is situated, sees the most blood around. And Pathans get the most whacking for God knows why.

Yesterday, MQM's kicked-out leader, Dr. Imran Farooq, was murdered with knives in London, a city much known for love-hate relationship with Pakistanis. First, it was match fixing scandal and now it is the murder of the former top leader of MQM, a terrorist organization, which has paired the names, 'London' and 'Pakistani'. And those two pairings have been rather unfortunate for the entire nation.

It must be noted that this particular leader had fallen out of favor of Mr. Altaf Hussain, the pig-faced leader of MQM, now stationed in London since 1992, some two years back. Since then, as some reports are today suggesting, he has been living in some sort of poverty. Just imagine a founder member of a party like MQM living in 'some poverty', is this not very strange? Not so. In Pakistani politics everything goes. Just look at Altaf Hussain and his antics on TV. He is crying like a fat baby whose most lovable toy has just been snatched. As is known among MQM cadre and party workers, Dr. Imran Farooq was no lovable toy of Altaf Hussain and that these 'crying' stints of its leader are just media-savvy.

In Karachi, the popular version today is that MQM itself has killed this man. One may not be sure because in London murders using daggers / knives is a pretty common crime. So, perhaps, Metropolitan Police, will be looking into this matter with all such facts, not least that he had fallen out of favor of its own citizen, Altaf Hussain. I hope this time around someone in London will catch the thief.

Hindu temple, Netty Jetty, Karachi

Hindu temple, Netty Jetty, Karachi
Originally uploaded by Ameer Hamza

Hindu, a local of Karachi, feeds the remaining fish at the temple, which was built during British Raj in Sub Continent. This constant feeding has caused extreme level of pollution on the edge of this Arabian Sea. Unfortunately, religious leaders and government officials turn a blind eye to this and other such practices. I was fortunate enough to have been allowed within this temple. Generally, minority Hindus keep Muslims away from their temples in Pakistan.

9/11 - Changed perceptions

I was just reading this nice blog on Dawn today by a former student, who was there in USA when planes struck Twin Towers.

I was in Pakistan at that time and I was also a student, a sort of a fire-brand type. It was evening and darkness had already pervaded our university. I can clearly recall that that day I was sitting in my computer lab and for some reason I was late in going home. Almost all my classmates had already left for home. On another system my classmate, Ovais, was sitting when he suddenly called me over informing me that some building in USA is under fire. I looked at the screen and thought maybe some odd fire had broken inside. I was wrong. Ovais hastily told me that it was some plane, which had hit the twin towers. Twin towers for me was a new term. I went home.

At home, as soon as I entered, my mother greeted me with more than a flourish and invited me to look at the screen, which was positively blackened with the dark, billowing smoke coming out from the towers. It was CNN and the anchor was horrified at what was happening just behind her. I was just beginning to settle when suddenly a plane took a sharp turn and rammed into the second tower, which till then had been standing amidst chaos and drama. It later emerged that planes had been hijacked and used as suicide material. What an ingenious idea that was, I had thought. And I was really very glad, just like my parents and siblings, that finally that great Satan had been 'controlled'. Future events and the consequences for Muslims the world-over would prove us all wrong. These terrorist attacks into the heartland of USA had not only shaken the great Satan, it had in effect woken them up and all of us to the reality of international terrorism. A reality, which sadly has harmed interests of Muslims world over.

Today I and my parents feel that the events of 9/11 were not perpetrated by Jihadis (as CNN would have us believe) but by real terrorists, people who have no faith or religion. Today I can see clearly that killing of innocent Americans, whether Jews or Christians or Muslims, won't serve anyone's purpose. We cannot ask for revenge on a common American for the misdeeds of their Army and politicians in Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine. This we all Muslims should understand and realize. We cannot isolate ourselves from the real world and continue to fool around. We must consider murderers and killers as terrorists and not some good Muslim Knights.

Today I am not happy that common Americans were killed that day. I just hope I wasn't happy in 2001, when the events broke out. But I was and I accept it now.