The streets of Karachi at night

Robbed twice and chased many times on my way home, I have paid the price of being a journalist working late shifts.

Have you ever travelled on a bumpy, desolate road in the cold nights of Karachi, on a motorcycle, knowing that anyone riding a two-wheeler can intercept you at any moment and mug you? These nights in Karachi are eerie. Gusts of wind are beating against you and the chill is running down your spine — no one but God and the robbers are there to give you company on your ride home and all you can think of is reaching home safe and sound.

Robbed twice and chased several times on my way home from office, I have paid the price of being a journalist working late shifts. Being a court reporter, I see hardened criminals — smugglers, rapists and extortionists — presented before courts during the day and similar criminals running around free at night.

Despite all this, there were a few positive things that happened on one of these nights. I forgot to fill the tank of my motorcycle while heading home in a hurry. As I reached Shah Latif Town on the National Highway, fuel ran out and the motorcycle stopped. There I was, standing on the dark empty road and before I could start it again using the reserve petrol, two men riding a motorcycle approached me. My heart sank and I started to prepare myself for being robbed.

“I think you have run out of petrol,” said one of them before handing me over a small Pepsi bottle filled with petrol. “We just got it from the petrol filling station for someone like you while filling the tank of our motorcycle.” They stood there until I had filled the fuel and then we left for our destinations together. I still feel I didn’t thank them enough that night, so wanted to say it here: thank you guys.

Apart from finding all the best and the worst of people on the road at night, I miss the law enforcers, who should be there to protect us. The advice they gave me when I once went to file a mugging complaint was: break the basic rule of travelling on the left side of the road and make a habit of travelling as fast as you can on the fast track because it reduces chances of being robbed.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2014.