![](https://blogs.tribune.com.pk/application/../wp-content/uploads/2013/10/19121-Karachi-1381227630.jpg)
What is Karachi like?
Karachi is dangerous, yet it is safe. Karachi is dirty, yet it is beautiful. It is a place of contradictions.
Karachi is to Pakistan what Pakistan is to the rest of the world – a place of contradictions! It is a really difficult task when one has to explain this city to a person who has only been exposed to it via the media.
However, deep down, I enjoy this task.
So on one Friday morning when there was not much work to do, I received a question from an anonymous blogger asking:
What is Karachi like?
Instead of sending a brief textual reply, I did this:
Well...
Karachi is lame,
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/spiderman-has-got-a-new-ride.jpg?w=337)
Yet it makes sense.
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/3101.jpg?w=600)
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/beggar.jpg?w=600)
Yet it knows how to smile.
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/humans-of-karachi1.jpg?w=450)
Karachi is cheap,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/market.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is fancy.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/mall.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is conservative,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/pakistani-muslims-anti-us-slogans.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is open minded.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/open-minded.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is orthodox,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/contemporary.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is contemporary.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/fashion.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is dirty,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/dirty.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is beautiful.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/beautiful.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is crowded,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/crowded.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is peaceful.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/peace.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is backward,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/backward.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is modern.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/modern.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is dangerous,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/dangerous.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is safe.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/safe.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is old,
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/old.jpg?w=600)
Yet it is new.
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/new.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is all sorts of things!
Karachi is love.
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2215.jpg?w=600)
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2313.jpg?w=600)
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2413.jpg?w=600)
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2512.jpg?w=600)
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2611.jpg?w=600)
![](http://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/2710.jpg?w=600)
![](https://pullquotesandexcerpts.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/paan.jpg?w=600)
Karachi is so many things that I can go on forever!
The city of lights has a roller coaster journey for anyone who wants to explore this metropolis and all its contrasting beauty.
Check this page for more on this beautiful city.
PHOTOS: CITIZENS ARCHIVE OF PAKISTAN, HUMANS OF KARACHI AND THE INTERNET
This post originally appeared here.
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