Karachi Odyssey

____________________________________

ko lachi-kurrachee-karachi
small fishing village
city now
                of millions
                of lights
                by the sea
mera shehr e karachi
in veins it flows
in memory     runs
but as i dwell
                and dwell
probing for advert of the seas
i flounder

***

often
father drove us
to kothari promenade
for sea-view     fresh air
and occasionally
we'd venture to the beach
ride camels

once     twice     a year
would visit hawke's bay
paradise point     sandspit
take socks off
frolic on sand

from the tower* he'd turn right
we'd roll up windows
cover our noses
expecting the whiff
                of lyari
in those days on the left
we'd see dhows on planks
being built
                by makranis, sindhis
the original habitants
over the years builders
and their boats
                ebbed
                and tides
of urban sprawl submerged
ibrahim hyderi
the town shah bhitai
                lived in once

the fishermen were true
                to their sea
these days it helps not
                being true

the waves
untiring in their conversation
                with the shore
                skip over those
who live by the sea
not by the sea

as i read
stories     novels     poems
by my compatriots
there is hardly any
                salt
                immortalized

***

aisa kyun hay?**
pata nahiN humaiN
                mumkin hay
asli bashinday yahaan kay
mahigiri jin ka paisha tha
hum maiN say na thay woh

hum jo bus ga'aye thay
is sheh'r e farozaaN maiN
yahaaN-wahaaN say aaker

hum ko tarbiyat yeh mili
kay dekho
tO srif ajdaad ki
aankhON say dekho

yehi bud'qismati rahi hay humari
kay aaj t'luk hum maiN say aksar
beenai say mehroom rahay

dekh sakhtay nahiN
khood apni aankhON say hum

***

you write
of moonlight shimmering
on wave after wave
traveling oceans
to keep their date
of frothy arguments
with pebbles -
of anchors     sails
vast shorelines
specks of dust
she said

i do? how audacious of me!
she smiled

***

and i
a poet by the lake***
drowning in thoughts
not arabian
                the sea!