Dirge for Karachi

It can be no coincidence that he was given a short but memorable and interesting role of a qissa-go i.e. storyteller in Aakhri Chattan, PTV's iconic period drama serial on the fall of Baghdad which featured Salim Nasir in the lead role of Jalaluddin Khwarzam Shah. Khaled Fatmi apparently never worked as an actor again on TV or any other medium. However, he continues his role as the narrator of tales in his first book, Na Murad Karachi, which interestingly is not a work of fiction.

Na Murad Karachi is a strange book, comprising apparently disparate short essays or sketches about various prominent and obscure people - from writers, poets, artists, politicians, bureaucrats and businessmen to students, neighbours, cousins, baggers, prostitutes, peons, dancers, trans-persons, moulvis, snitches, waiters, smugglers, magicians, gamblers and pimps.

The writer met these people over a span of sixty years from early 1960s to the present day in the titular metropolis which, according to him, was "destroyed with planning" and which he returned to after an almost 20-year-long stay in the United States.

These essays do not deal with those people in a prosaic manner. They often highlight some fundamental aspect of their personalities in a style akin to that of a short story.

Like a good storyteller, he also sometimes tells his readers scandalous rumours about these real characters with the disclaimer that he has no means to prove or disprove them.

He sometimes uses lighthearted sarcasm to criticise some evil, folly or shortcoming of these characters but this sarcasm never devolves into bitterness. The events narrated in these essays also shed some new light on the city, which the writer knows like the back of his hand.

The book sometimes seems like an encyclopedia of Karachi from its so-called golden era before the advent of religious extremism, militancy, sectarianism, high-rises and politics of hate and violence.

The pre-Zia Karachi of Khaled Fatmi is a magical city of cafes, bars, dance clubs, gambling houses and literary circles - a peaceful city teeming with intellectuals, writers, poets, artists and thriving businesses where people agree to disagree and where religion is practised in real life rather than being forcefully preached through loudspeakers and batons.

The book narrates how this tolerant and vibrant city metamorphosed into a city of fear, backwardness, communal unrest, concrete jungles and commercialised religiosity. Na Murad Karachi reads more like a candid conversation than a formal written discourse.

The writer continually refers to different areas, neighbourhoods, streets, alleys and even houses and shops of the city which ignites the interest of a reader who has lived here. However, those unfamiliar with Karachi may find these references confusing.

Interestingly, the book does not delve deeply into the writer's personal story, especially his romantic relationships. Nor does it detail his long stay in the United States. It seems that Fatmi's true love is the city itself, to which he migrated alone from Dhaka in the early 1960s.

The book is a testament to his deep affection for the metropolis and its people. It celebrates its past while mourning its present. It is both a song of praise and a dirge for Karachi, a city that provides for everyone, regardless of ethnicity, religion, colour or class, but which has always been exploited, plundered and devastated.