Inspired by forum member jbest123, I too have now decided to start a "then and now" thread about my city! So here is it people, the city of Karachi - How it used to be in in 1900, and how it is today! Here by the way is a vido on YouTube, of how Karachi used to be like at the time of our independence (1940s). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkPab6NY2Vk And this here is a video of what Karachi is like today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lehLxkcJ0WI So this is Karachi, in a span of 110+ years. from a population of just 105,000 people in 1900, to over 20 million today! Karachi of the past 1 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of the past 2 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of the past 3 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of today 1 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of today 2 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of today 3 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
Thanks Frank! But it's jbest123 who inspired me today to start this thread! Yes, by all means - Please do! In fact whoever can do so, please start a similar threat about their own locality. Let's all now go for a "then & now" theme! I now wonder what other changes will take place in the next 110+ years??? Maybe like something shown in this video perhaps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzEm5bqgaB0 So exactly how short will ladies' dresses become in the years to come? That I think is the million Dollar question - Or should I say a million Chinese Yuan question? Still, it will be damn interesting to see a time, when women only wearing a hairpin will be considered fully dressed!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
I'm really enjoying these posts. I hope more of our members will follow suit and show us how their towns/cities have changed in the last hundred or so years.
Really enjoying these photos of then and now. Can't do my home city haven't lived there in more than 45 years. I would not have any recent, personally owned photos. (sigh)
I'm sure my little town looks exactly the same as it did 100 years ago! Well... maybe a few new buildings and I guess the water tower.
OK, now a bit of history about Karachi city... Many 100s of years ago, there was this Balochi lady called Mai Kolachi. It however is no longer clear how she made it to this area from Balochistan (which is West from Karachi city). Some historians say that she was ostracized from her own Balochi community after the death of her husband. While others say that she was sort of like a hideous bandit who found these parts empty, and so decided to settle here. However what they all agree upon is that she was a true matriarch of her time, and so nobody ever dared to even look her in the eye. If anyone is interested what she must have looked like, then click this link which shows the treaditional look of a lady of those times: https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-D93A ... 2585_n.jpg Anyway this female chieftain is said to have had many sons, all of whom being extremely loyal to their mummy. So this is how the fishing village of Kolachi was founded, near the Indus River delta. Which has today become the city of Karachi! Later the name Kolacho got twisted into that we now know as Karachi! By the way, the word before Kolachi is Mai - Which means highly respected lady. However please note that it means that in the old use of the language. As now in the modern usage, the word Mai means borderline illiterate and extremely stupid woman - So be extremely careful when saying this to any urbanized Pakistani woman of today, as 9 times out of 10, you are likely to get slapped!!! Karachi of the past 4 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of the past 5 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of the past 6 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of today 4 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of today 5 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of today 6 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
Great contrast between the now and back then,..the older pictures are more of how we expect that area to look like,..interesting and of another people,..these days every city in the world has started to look similar with the new glass tall buildings.
Yes that is true, I know someone who visited Karachi recently, and said that it now no longer feels any different from living in Johannesburg South Africa, or Sidney Australia... The global culture really has blanketed over everything that was once unique. But I guess this too isn't all bad either, as now a person like me can feel at home in just about any megacity of the world (as they all look and feel exactly the same)... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM3SHPYNYHg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttdMUS0da58 Karachi of the past 7 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Karachi of today 7 ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
Hello S-H. I too love vintage photos of cities. We are glad and fortunate to be living in places that has a lot of legend and heritage with them. I have an old book titled "Glimpses of India" [full of pictures], by A.H.Fairneux in 1897. If I remember right, there are many pictures of Karachi as India was undivided at that time. It is a beautiful book, I have seen someone re-publishing it some years ago. It's a real collector's item may be still available online. I post one picture, vintage Mysuru [name recently changed from Mysore]. Ours also has become so thickly populated to such an extent that the old city is unable to take the load. They were never designed that way and none expected that growth would be so rapid and in manner that is undesirable. It has become a very crowded place now and the two structures have seen them all. The clock tower on the left is in memory of Lord Dufferin - 1885 or somewhere... the building is still a vegetable market built around the same time.
Hey! Thanks for sharing that vintage photo above! Yes you are right, when our 2 countries gained independence from the British, both probably had no idea that the population of some key cities would explode so rapidly... Karachi however did a little better then some of the other cities, as it was the nation's capital, (up till 1958), as well as being the only port city of West Pakistan for a very long time. Which is why the administration remained somewhat strict, and the mushrooming of shantytown slums remained at a minimum. But elsewhere like in East Pakistan for example (now Bangladesh), the capital Dhaka suffered a great deal due to the influx of countless refugees... Still, one thing is common in all cities of the sub continent, which is that wherever we now go, we will always see a clock tower somewhere! No doubt a legacy left by the British! So here in Pakistan too, majority of such clock towers build out of stone have today been declared as heritage sites! This one is the most famous in Karachi. It is called the Merewether clock tower, built in the 1890s as a memorial to Major General Sir William Lockyer Merewether. Amazingly, Merewether tower carries on it the Jewish Star of David, which over here stands out as something extremely unique, (because we don't have a Jewish community anymore)... Another clock tower is located at the Karachi harbor. This one too has been declared as a landmark. 3rd most famous clock tower in Karachi is of the Empress Market. This was the first major farmer's market of Karachi (built in the 1880s), and remains functional to this day! However it has a secret which not many people know about - For this is the exact same spot where over a dozen or so freedom fighters were hanged by the British. Their crime was participating in the 1857 War of Independence. So they all got publicly hanged here (to set an example, which they hoped would serve as reminder to anyone who'd again think of mutiny)... However the authorities soon realized that this place was going to turn into a site of pilgrimage - Which may have actually fueled more anger against the colonial rule. So that is why they quickly build a market in that exact spot, and called it "The Empress Market", in honor of Queen Victoria. Anyway, we have other clock towers too, for example the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) building has a clock tower as well, and so do many of the old churches. And this is the most famous church in Karachi, the Saint Patrick's Cathedral, behind which is also the Saint Patrick's school. And then there is the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) building also. Built in 1912 I think, and still is owned and operated by the KPT authority. And yes, this too is now a national heritage site! And this historic building is of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry. It's unique feature (which unfortunately cannot be seen in this picture), is that it's foundation stone was laid by Mahatma Gandhi - And so till this day bears his name on it! So when I'll visit that place again, I'll for sure take a picture of it and upload here for you! However, the landmark which today defines Karachi, or one could say that it has become Karachi's true icon - Is the giant mausoleum of M. A. Jinnah, the father of Pakistan, who too by the way was from Karachi, and so is forever known to us as Quaid-e-Azam (The Ultimate Leader)! He is actually so well respected today, that there is a law which forbids any building having more then 3 floors in a kilometer radius of his tomb... So Karachi is knows as "Quaid ka Sheher" (home of the ultimate leader). So just like someone visiting Paris has to bring back a small tabletop size replica of the Eiffel Tower, or a wearable emblem of it at least, like a badge - Same is true with Jinnah's tomb over here. As it now functions as Karachi's identity.
Wonderful, S-H. I really never had imagined Karachi was so lovely. To be honest, there was no opportunity that presented itself to do that. I'll also share some photos of my city in a separate thread as vitrsna suggests. I'm also very interested in heritage of our city. The British and Mysore Kings were in good terms. I need a lot of time to write, choose photos and share here. First I'll group the photos and then start to share slowly. Will try to find some, in the coming days. I'm glad there are also people having the same interests besides gardening. Cricket is my other great passion and I still play league cricket. The Silver Jubilee Clock Tower for you here. Built in 1927 to commemorate 25 years of [golden] reign of King Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV. This is to the north of the Mysore Palace and in front of another 1890 building 'Town Hall' [not in pic, as this is behind my back]. The second picture is of a foundation stone. I think you must gather all available stones in Karachi - even street name tablets [if there are any] as they would be a very rare record. I have done that for my city as much as I can and even now I keep an eye on these, but many times I'll be without a camera.
Well Dinu, Karachi has a lot more to offer, and way too many places to visit (specially if you are interested in heritage sites). However, the actual mesmerizing charm of Karachi is very closely related to the ocean! Take the harbor's light house for example, also built by the British, and still functioning today. You can see more of Karachi's coastline in this video that I made a few years ago: There are of course other landmark buildings built by the British too, like the District & Sessions Court (which we simply call the City Court or the Lower Court). Then there is the Sindh High Court building too, as well as the Karachi section of the Supreme Court of Pakistan - All 3 are located in different areas, yet all have their own historic value. This picture below is of the High Court. And this is the Karachi section of the Federal Supreme Court building, when Karachi was the capital, this was functioning as the actual Supreme Court. Then there is of course the historic Singh Assembly building too, which once functioned as the national parliament when Karachi was the nation's capital. So this is where our first leaders took their oaths, on the day of our independence (14th August 1947). And this is the historic State Bank of Pakistan's building! Today it has been converted into a Museum, and a newer huge multi story building build next to this is the actual Federal State Bank of Pakistan. But this one is still maintained and even now known as the State Bank building - Originally this was the Bank of India's building. but after independence from the British, it became SBP. This SBP building has a lot of sentimental value for me and my family, as the street on it's side is named after my paternal grandfather (in honor of his services to the nation, as well as playing a key role in the creation of Pakistan itself)! Actually my grandfather was the governor of the State Bank for a time also, as well the creator of the National bank of Pakistan! See the marble plank on the side street of the SBP building's east wall - It is in Urdu (so I doubt if anyone over here would be able to read it), but it says "Mumtaz Hasan Road". And this is a view of the actual street. Just write the keywords "Mumtaz Hasan Road + Karachi" in Google Maps, and you'll see it also! This old 1 Pakistani Rupee currency note bares my Grandfather's signature when he was the governor of SBP. OK, I guess everybody over here must now be a little bit confused (as I never actually mentioned my family in such detail before). So allow me to share a bit more this time, (now that the cat is out of the bag)! In this next picture my great-grandfather Muhammad Hasan (who was a very senior judge in the Punjab High Court) can be seen, and behind him is my grandfather (when he was young). However seated in the front row is Allama Iqbal, today known as Pakistan's national poet and visionary - Who put forward the idea that Muslims of the Indian subcontinent should have a separate nation of their own (Pakistan). He himself never lived to see the actual creation of Pakistan, but his ideas really caught the attention of the younger generation of those times - Hence my grandfather too was inspired! Next picture is of my grandfather, where he is standing behind Mr. M. A. Jinnah (father of Pakistan)! This was taken in 1946, just after the British had agreed that a new separate nation (to be named Pakistan) will be created out of India. So on their return they stayed in Cairo, Egypt, as offical guests of the Egyptian government! My grandfather was at the time Mr. Liaqat Ali Khan's personal secretly. On the 14th of August 1947, Liaqat Ali Khan became the 1st Prim Minister of Pakistan! And this last is a picture of my grandfather, when (many years afterwards) he was awarded one of the highest civil awards by the President of Pakistan - In recognition of his services for Pakistan! Here is a newspaper article about my grandfather: http://www.dawn.com/news/971972/mumtaz-hasan-a-multi-faceted-diamond
Thanks S-H. Really wonderful, a proud grandson of Mumtaz Hasan, illustrious man! Treasured photos, I'm sure it is just a tip of the iceberg.
