KARACHI:

Under the bamboo shelter at the site near Makli graveyard in Thatta, a girl who calls herself Samina, is busy making bricks that are later going to transported three hundred kilometers away to Karachi where they are going to be used for the renovation of Denso Hall Library, a pre-partition building that was in a saddening state of disrepair just a mere three months ago.

Samina, who does not know her age and looks not older than a teenager from her appearance, belongs to the Wilari community and has spent many years living like a gypsy and a beggar.

It would be hard to tell from her emaciated young frame but Samina had previously given birth to two children. The young mother, who along with her husband, was struggling to make ends meet and when their two children were born. Both the children needed medical treatment after birth and both children succumbed to their conditions, as Samira did not have money for the treatment they needed.

 

Now she is happy as she is earning Rs400 daily by making bricks.

“Earlier, before the job, I used to sleep hungry,” she said, adding that “Some time people threw us leftovers, so our large family was able to eat that night.”

Samina, a young beggar, believes that the ‘the library’ has given life purpose to her life. “Otherwise, we live by begging for money or food,” she said. “Once I was a begger with no money and no future at all. Thanks to God, now I have my own bathroom in my house and have some money to spend during times of need.”

Despite that, Samina’s torn clothes and her sun burnt face reveal that her struggle is not over just yet. However, she is proud of how far she has come. While preparing the clay for the bricks, she proudly touches her nose pin and says, “I earned this by making the bricks.”

“We will sell it when the family needs it most in the time of grief or disease but people can no longer calls us beggars,” she says.

The gypsy community wanders through different areas of rural Sindh and live in makeshifts huts (shanty towns). Samina’s family has maintained their hut close to Makli graveyard, but during the first year of the pandemic, they hardly slept a single night on a full stomach.

PHOTOS: Athar Khan/ Jalal Qureshi

“Earlier people visited [Thatta] daily either to visit any of the wiseman graves or to take a picture by standing behind historical sites,” says Samina.“But now all our businesses have been ruined due to the pandemic. However, thanks to the Heritage Foundation of Pakistan, we now have dignified jobs.”

The Heritage Foundation is renovating the Denso Hall Library and developing a 400 foot trail next to the library. For the project, the carbon free bricks that the construction of the trail requires, are being prepared by Samina and 230 other women living in Makli graveyard in Thatta. Although it should be noted that unskilled labour who are employed to do similar brick-making work are normally paid Rs1,000 per day and skilled labour charge more that Rs3,000 approximately per day, so the decision to employ these women isn’t entirely free of some quid pro quo and does carry a faint smell of exploitation.

Located at the corner of M.A. Jinnah Road and Murad Khan Road in Saddar Town of Karachi is the sprawling brown brick colonial library called Denso Hall. Constructed in 1886 and designed by James Strachan, it was the first library for the natives of Karachi.

Along M.A. Jinnah Road, the library is flanked on one side by the well-known Jahangir Kothari Building, also designed by James Strachan, on the opposite side are several other historical buildings built by the old merchant princes as reminders of Karachi’s eminence as the largest wheat exporter in the entire British empire. The famous Marriott Road, located on the rear side of the library, also possesses many historical structures of the city.

People in Karachi, recall those early days of the city where women used to sing at different kothas in the area. People from different parts of the city, used to come here to listen to the different genres of music being performed at these gatherings.

In the evenings, people used to sit on their roofs as the city administration used to spray water on the and clean garbage on the streets daily.

“We used fly kites on the roof every morning and enjoy the cool sea breeze that blew in the evenings," says Babu Bhai, the oldest resident of the area.

Due to its warm weather, see breeze, state-of -the-art buildings, wide streets, clean water supply, restaurants, night gatherings and tea shops, presidents of the area, considered this place a small paradise.

Looking at the sky, which has been rendered invisible from gases emited from vehicles, it’s hard to imagine that the birds in the area once used to hover high in this sky.

Staring at the old and deteriorating edifice of Denso Hall, it would be hard to imagine that the building would play a role in elevating and alleviating the lives of a tribe of gypsy women located hundreds of kilometres away from the structure. However, a glimpse into the Denso Hall’s Rahguzar project, demonstrates an amalgamation of preservation of heritage and intervention in social responsibility that is rarely seen in this corner of the world.

The area was established during the British Raj, most of the area was named after different British warriors and administrators like Charles Napier road and Burns road.

“In the first phase, we’ll be making the buildings beautiful again by fixing carbon free bricks and establishing forests. In the next phases, we will be making pavements all the way to Karachi port,” says Naeem Shah, Project Manager of the Denso Hall Rahguzar project.

“You see, after the partition, uneven development of the area had ruined all it’s beauty,” he adds. He further says that the encroachment of historical buildings is common sight.

The area, which is considered the business hub of the city, comprises thousands of small and big businesses where millions of people earn their bread and butter daily.

In the immediate surroundings areas of Denso Hall, hardly anyone who works here, fully understands the importance of heritage. For them, these are just brick and mortar buildings in the area, with no underlying meaning or historical value.

For the onlookers passing through Marriot road, it is an unusual sight for them to see people planting trees and laying bricks on the pavements.

A strong mafia also exists in the area and they want nothing in the name of development here. “When we start our work, they always lay hurdles. There are some shopkeepers who are inspired by the work but there are certain shopkeepers who encroach the pedestrian walks by enlarging their shop shutters,” says Shah.

“Most of the historic buildings, as you can see, have been encroached. Several others have been demolished, while others are in dilapidated condition,” he said.

“The business community has small knowledge about the significance of heritage,” he complains adding that “So that we initiated our work by renovation of the library and later engaged the community.”

A one shopkeeper on the condition of anonymity says, “They [The Heritage Foundation] are coming here to ruin our businesses. I don’t know what they are doing in the name of development. I own a shop worth Rs200 million here and they have plans to destroy my business.”

Another street cart vendor says, after their development, they said we have to move to another place.

But most people believe that this is a positive step taken by the foundation.

Babu bhai also agrees that there is some kind of mafia, the project is overall good, now we are waiting for the final inauguration of the beautiful trail.

Naeem Shah said if one visits inside these buildings, you can see the state of the art architect.

But to see art we need an aesthetic sense that needs education. That is the main reason we initiated the project by renovation of the Library, as this nation most is education.

What Yasmeen Lari says

“One of the most important things is we are empowering the women in rural Sindh and securing the beauty of Karachi,” says Yasmeen Lari, Co-Founder and CEO, Heritage Foundation of Pakistan.

The women who are making the bricks have stamps of their names which they impose behind the bricks so that they are not only earning money, they are increasing part for the development of the Karachi heritage. “Even after 100 years, someone can find the footprints of these women, who are considered the lowest segment of the society,” she says.

“We are also using carbon free bricks, made with only sand and lime and not with cement or iron so it would be free from environmental hazards,” says Lari.

“After making the library digital and completion of the pavement, we will look after other heritage sites of Karachi,” says Lari.

“We have already identified 600 buildings as a heritage of the area and we must take steps to take care of these buildings,” she says.

She also complains that there is always bureaucratic hurdle, several other buildings have already been occupied and we have to reclaim it at any cost.