Flames leapt from a power transformer on a narrow street off Burns Road just after the sunset as people started to throng the popular roadside restaurants and eateries there. Within seconds, the entire neighborhood plunged into darkness as many people rushed to light candles, lanterns and small and big generators to brave one more night without electricity in the area.

It was one of the many and usual power breakdowns resulting from the collapsing of the overloaded, rickety transmission and distribution system of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation, which is testing the patience of the people of this teeming mega-polis every day since the start of the sizzling summer season over here. That fateful night was no different.

The next morning was the same old story - another day without electricity, bringing routine work of many small traders, shopkeepers and businessmen to a stand still.

Arif Rehman, one of the victims of the frequent and prolonged power breakdowns of Karachi, was sitting helplessly outside his printing press, where machines were silent. His biggest worry was that he would not be able to deliver the promised printed material within time.

Kashif Ahmed, who also works for a printing press, says that people want their jobs done. "They are not interested in knowing about the reasons of the delay, including the persistent problem of power failures," he said.

The KESC says that it is not just its old transmission and distribution system, which is letting the people of Karachi down. The huge gap in the supply and the demand remains the key culprit.

With Karachi's electricity needs hitting 2,380 megawatt during the peak hours against the supply of 2,100 megawatt, KESC officials say that even the additional 100 megawatt promised by the state-run Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) will not solve the problem of electricity shortage in Karachi. And increasing the power generation and fixing the dilapidated distribution and transmission network of the newly privatized power utility will take years to materialize.

Adding more to the woes of the residents of Karachi is the alleged sabotage activity being carried out against the KESC by some disgruntled employees opposed to its privatization. This disclosure by German CEO of KESC, Frank Scherschmidt, has added more to the worries of Karachiites. But many of the KESC employees do not agree with the conspiracy theory given by the new management.

"We would have brought down the whole system to its knees during our campaign against privatization," a labor leader claimed on condition of anonymity. His assertion was that the new management has replaced some of the most experienced engineers and the new ones appointed for the job are unable to handle the workload. "We do not see the KESC privatization working. The private investors will be out of here if they continue to book losses for two consecutive years, leaving behind a lot more damaged utility."

Like him, many other employees believe that the government should invest more money to upgrade and modernize the KESC and increase its power generation capacity rather than handing over the job to the private management.

KESC officials say that most of the power generation plants of KESC were old and no new one has been added since the mid 1990s following the former premier Benazir Bhutto's government brought in the independent power projects under its controversial energy plan.

The rot in KESC after all was not all of a sudden. It was gradual, but unfortunately none of the successive governments tried to go for the long-term solutions and were happy with stopgap measures including handing over the utility to the army, that was done by the ousted government of Mian Nawaz Sharif.

However, none of the stopgap measures worked and situation went on deteriorating from bad to worse. It reached a stage where we see power and water riots erupting in the city adding one more security and law and order dimension to Karachi - already shaken by a string of bombings, terrorist attacks and rampant crime.

A petition in Sindh High Court among other issues, raises the point of enormous problem of water breakdowns in the absence of electricity. The KESC officials and employees admit that the summer of 2006 had been the worst for Karachi.

People are furious as they see none of the government plans working including its failed attempt to conserve electricity as majority of shop owners and businesses openly flouted the shop act - forcing the authorities to buckle under pressure of the interest groups.

And the electricity shortage is taking its toll on the people of Karachi. Professor Musarrat Hussain, Head of Psychiatry Department of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center, says multiple issues ranging from lack of proper ventilation, sleep to financial constraints are provoking discontent among people.

"Noise pollution, poor environment and congested living conditions mixed with high temperature causes frustration and brings the tolerance level down," he said, calling the violent protests against power breakdowns as not a case of law and order but rather a mistrust.

Power supply may have improved now with provision of additional electricity but the pleasant weather cannot always help to calm down tempers.

So what role the people can play to improve the situation?

The voluntarily conservation of electricity is perhaps the only answer to the problem. Whether we like it or not we have to think ways of using a little less amount of electricity. For this from closing shops early, switching off electricity supply to the giant billboards to turning off the unnecessary lights, fans and air-conditioners in our homes and offices - it all could help in easing some pressure on the overworked and overloaded system of KESC – till such times the situation turns for a better.

The sea is Karachi's most appreciated landmark and by illuminating the sea shore with flood lights, authorities have enhanced the pleasure double fold. Driving down the cornice by night is a wonderful experience, especially when the tide is high and the frothy white surf is spotlit in an otherwise dark mass of ocean. The light catches the white sea gulls skimming the sea surface for fish and artistically plays with the plastic kites braving the brisk sea breeze. In the background you can spot solitary ships sailing out into nothingness. The isolation on the horizon provides the ideal contrast to the bustling sea side. Smoke rising from wood fires as vendors roast corn on the cobs, the decorated camels and the pretty white horses standing in line for business provide picture perfect artistry. As far as Karachi goes, artistic creativity ends there.

The task of creating anything beautiful seems to be left for Mother Nature and she too does not visit often enough. Authorities around the city, KDA and City District Government especially, seem to have left no stone unturned to make sure that all things pleasant are kept away from general sight - a great part of the beach has been blocked by an unattractive piece of greenery called Beach Park and the beautiful and now scarce population of trees are being chopped down in the name of development. Ugly concrete sculptures are being put up, amongst other eyesores, to 'improve' the cityscape. As if the city's nuisances were not bad enough (spit-stained walls, defecated roadsides, slums, ugly buildings, lack of greenery), these monuments have added to the torture of getting from one place to another. Why, one asks as citizen of Karachi, are we oblivious to this invasion of ugliness?

Take the red sculpture put up in front of Agha's Supermarket in Clifton, for instance. To an untrained, albeit aesthetic eye, the sculpture seems to be a calligraphic rendition of the word Allah and if I'm not mistaken there's a jugular going around it, indicating 'Allah's in my heart'. For linking God's name with anything so horrendous, the artist or whoever came up with the brainwave, should be put away for blasphemy. I've never seen anything more offensive. At least that's what I thought until I drove pass the other roundabout-beautifying piece of art on the Boat Basin meets Mai Kolachi junction. What seems to look like a giant pterodactyl dropping is in fact a hideous black concrete sculpture of a small boat on waves. This probably needs a paint or polish but still has no hope. Sculptures like this are supposed to appear beautiful from all angles and this one is a 3 dimensional monstrosity. The clock tower that originally stood in this place was a masterpiece in comparison.

So what do we have against things that look good? We are either too uncivilized to recognize or create anything beautiful and when something does come our way, we maim it to distortion. A couple of years ago Amin Gulgee was commissioned to create a sculpture for the big Barbeque Tonite roundabout. Today the sculpture stands in ruins, its copper being hacked off by miscreants everyday. "I wanted to make a light and hearty piece as opposed to the oppressive pieces of concrete that were being made," says Amin, "but the sculpture needed to be lit properly, which it never was. I put in two years of hard work but had to disengage myself from this baby as there was nothing I could do to save it. Once an artist is paid for his work, it could well be hammered in front of his eyes and he can do nothing. It's the only way for survival. I was born and bred in this hell hole and I love Karachi but sometimes one just needs to move on to remain sane."

There is severe lack of planning and foresight in the way the city is being planned out. The result is disastrous. Look at the KPT underpass that just doesn't finish. It was constructed in record time and the amount of hours being put in to decorate it with a simple layer of sandy tiles is equally record-breaking. It's been six months. The tiles are put on, scraped off. The adjoining wall is put up, then chipped down. There's such a barbaric relevance to it all, as if Karachi has been set back to the 17th century where simple tasks used to take decades. Shah Jahan took 23 years over Taj Mahal. Does KPT feel they can complete beautifying the underpass in just about that time? In all fairness the emperor had thousands of workers on the job but then how architecturally challenged are we that we cannot line a straight wall with square tiles? It's mind boggling!

Karachi doesn't have much natural beauty to bank on. Our generation sees it as a dusty, polluted city that is suffering under an invasion of billboards and town-planning mismanagement. Our ancestors remember it as a long lost haven with clean roads, frequent rains, a dust free environment and yes, trees. We need to set time back as far as beautification of the city is concerned. Trees must be planted, excessive billboards must be pulled down and buildings must be made keeping the aesthetic mood of the city in consideration - sandstone works just as well here as red bricks work in Lahore. People commissioned to make public sculptures must have the experience, expertise and aesthetics to create pieces that will gel into the surroundings with good taste instead of sticking out like a sore thumb.

– Photos by the writer

As the monsoon season unfolds in this part of South Asia, the citizens of Hyderabad instead of enjoying the beauty of sawan are getting irritated. "Stagnant water, shortage of drinking water and load shedding for long spells are the result of rainfall – a gift of nature. So why should I be happy with rainfall that brings nothing more than miseries for me?" says an irate resident of Hyderabad commenting on last week's downpour in the city. It resulted in a loss of millions of rupees for business and affected overall normal life due to the power closure, water shortage and standing water on narrow streets and arteries of this already clogged city.

There are very few things that remain affordable for the 'so important' common man in our country. Of these rare affordable things, rain is one of the natural gifts available to bring happiness and pleasantries for the citizens. But in Hyderabad after the rain, it is an altogether different story. Instead of providing relief from the scorching heat, the citizens' difficulties have increased after the rainfall which was followed by a dust and thunder storm.

Many irate citizens informed Kolachi that they can't sleep due to frequent power failures in their areas. Water shortages also affect their normal routine especially the Friday prayers. The graveyards of the city were also flooded as there are no machines to drain out the rainwater.

The reason for utter chaos that follows the rains can be attributed to the fact that authorities have no contingency plan to handle the problems that come with the monsoon. Despite knowing that the monsoon season is around the corner, hardly any planning is done. As usual they haven't realised that prevention is better than cure.

It is an absolute necessity to have a plan of action before the start of the monsoon season. Very crucial in fact so that the citizens no longer have to endure the miseries that continue to mar the pleasant weather and the enjoyment derived from it.

Sanitation and water supply are major problems of this city. Thus, the authorities including district, provincial as well as federal have laid special emphasis on the improvement of the sewage and water supply system that according to authorities has collapsed due to an increasing population which at this point stands at a staggering 1.6 million.

It really is remarkable how only a couple of days' rainfall for a few hours each time has exposed the performance of the civic authorities and electric supply company's inefficiency in delivering services to the citizens. And as the MET office predicts that the rain spell will continue for days, this news is certainly not good. Rain here only creates problems that add to the difficulties of the citizens.

The stagnant rainwater provides a picture of negligence at the site of the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA). The agency responsible for draining out the water, however, was busy in shifting the responsibility to the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) for intermittent power outages soon after the spell of rain.

The low–lying areas of the district now look like artificial lakes as water has not been drained for many days due to the inadequate arrangements by the municipal authorities. Major streets of the city are giving an ugly picture of stagnant rainwater mixed with gutter water exposing health hazards for passersby and creating severe disruptions in the flow of traffic. It really is amazing that such light rain has caused immense damage to the city. Almost ninety per cent of the city was plunged into darkness soon after the first drop of rain. WASA officials responded saying that it rained on the second day as well, therefore the water could not be drained out. But people are aware of the fact that there was no rain for 16 hours between the two days of rainfall.

The District Government has also been of no help in providing relief to citizens in the aftermath of the rainfall. No control or emergency room has been officially established to receive complaints from the public and provide assurance to suffering citizens about the water and power crisis and water accumulation.

Usually, the district government holds various meetings with officers concerned before the start of the monsoon for taking precautionary measures to minimise the sufferings of the citizens but this time round, these steps were missing.

It was an honour for Hyderabad to have standby generators – said to be the only ones in the entire country – installed to avoid water and sewage system disruption. But they have not yet started operating – the citizens are now wondering why they were installed in the first place if they can't be used. It is pitiful how the citizens are at a loss about whom they should contact for their complaints as WASA is blaming HESCO for power shutdowns and HESCO is blaming the weather which is hitting their 'fragile system' of power supply.

The faults in the electricity system is not only affecting Hyderabad's electricity supply but also of other parts of the province as several nearby towns are facing multiple power breakdowns. HESCO officials claimed soon after the rain that 90 per cent of the city has been provided with electricity but the reality is different.

The concerned quarters should really start paying attention now, as the rainy season will continue in the upcoming days. HESCO should also avoid making tall claims they can't fulfill. The citizens of Hyderabad have suffered much and feel frustrated – the recent incident when a HESCO office was ransacked is proof of this. The sub division office of HESCO was attacked when residents of Latifabad Unit 11 ransacked the office after an 18 hour long power outage. Scores of residents of the locality ransacked the Allama Iqbal sub division office in Latifabad as irate protesters raised slogans against the power failure in their area since the rain started on Wednesday. They ransacked the office while HESCO officials escaped.

The District government needs to fulfill their promises to the citizens who have elected the representatives for a resolution of their problems, not for an increase in their miseries.

District Nazim Kanwar Naveed Jamil recently told a visiting envoy about the socio–economic condition of Hyderabad district and informed her that 'many mega development projects were being implemented to improve and extend the drainage and water supply facilities to the citizens'. But the citizens have a good question to ask – Do we need to ask foreigners to help us resolve our problems? The right answer to this is no, as an efficient policy and infrastructure can easily end these self created problems.

By Kaleem Omar

Many of Karachi's bookshops one frequented in the 1950s and '60s no longer exist. A bookshop on what was then Victoria Road switched to selling electronic goods. Another on Elphinstone Street switched to selling readymade garments. Another in a lane off Somerset Street was housed in an old building that was torn down to make way for a concrete carbuncle. I mourn their passing – all the more so because they were where I first bought many of the books by writers I've been reading since the early 1950s.

Some of these writers look like weeds you could knock down with a feather. Samuel Beckett, the late Irish novelist and playwright, whose bleak 1957 masterwork "Endgame" is due to be staged again in London next year, epitomises the traditional image of the emaciated writer, starving away in a garret. But Beckett's emaciated looks didn't stand in the way of him being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969.

Other writers, such as the American lyric poet Richard Wilbur and the best selling American thriller writer Mickey Spillane, look like crew–cut US Marines. They look as if they would be quite at home dodging bullets in the bunkers of Baghdad. Wilbur hasn't yet won the Nobel Prize, though over the last fifty years he has won just about every major American literary award for his dazzling lyric verse.

The late Mickey Spillane, however, was about as far from being a writer of literary merit as it is possible to be. He was never in any danger of winning any literary prize. Not that this ever bothered him very much, given the fact that at one point in the 1950s – the hey day of his popularity – the list of the 10 best selling novels of all time included seven by Spillane.

Born in Dublin in 1906, the late Samuel Beckett was the son of a quantity surveyor, and was educated at Portora Royal School in Enniskillen and Trinity College, Dublin. After leaving university, he took a teaching job, and then moved to Paris, where he became a friend of the great Irish novelist James Joyce (another emaciated type). During an unsettled period of his life in the 1930s, he travelled in Europe, and began to write, publishing poems, stories and a number of novels.

Some years before the beginning of World War II, Beckett decided to live permanently in France, and during the Nazi occupation of the country he was active in the French Resistance. He wrote sometimes in English, sometimes in French, providing his own translations. His novels "Molly", "Malone Dies" and "The Unnameable" were first published in English between 1951 and 1958.

His famous play "Waiting for Godot" was first presented in Paris in 1953, and was seen in the English version in London two years later. That was when I saw it. An example of the Theatre of the Absurd, this tragicomedy has proved baffling to many theatergoers, but it is a stunning piece of theatre, written in a highly individual style, and despite its experimental and apparently non–commercial nature, it was immediately, and immensely, successful internationally.

Some writers believe in getting their feet wet in order to write about water or in taking up boxing in order to write about pugilism. Ernest Hemingway is one such writer. Indeed, he practically invented the genre. Norman Mailer is another, though in his case it sometimes seems to be more a question of his need to come across as a tough guy than a search for authenticity in his writing.

Born in New Jersey in 1923, Mailer was educated at Harvard. During World War II he served as a private in the US Army in the Pacific. His experience resulted in the war novel "The Naked and the Dead", which was published in 1948 and made him famous, its enormous success being due, at least in part, to its relentlessly realistic picture of men at war. It remains the best American novel to come out of World War II.

Mailer followed up that work with "Barbary Shore" and "The Deer Park", which appeared in 1951 and 1955. But neither book was a patch on "The Naked and the Dead", and many critics thought that Mailer, like so many other novelists, would turn out to be a one–book writer.

In 1983 Mailer published "Ancient Evenings," a huge story set in the Egypt of three thousand years ago that reestablished his reputation as a writer. Then, in 1984, came the best selling "Tough Guys Don't Dance," an atmospheric detective novel set in a New England town and written in a laconic vein that showed Mailer at the height of his powers.

In his fiction Mailer is almost always an abrasive social commentator, a crusader. He has also produced a number of non–fiction works in which this tendency is largely to the fore. In 1959 he brought out "Advertisements for Myself," an extraordinary mixture of stories, essays, extracts from work in progress and autobiographical material.

"The Presidential Papers" came in 1963, and the 1968 publication of "The Armies of the Night: The Novel as History, History as a Novel" brought him both the American National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize. Among his other works are "Miami and the Siege of Chicago," in 1969 (an account of the Republican and Democratic national conventions of 1968), and "The Prisoner of Sex," in 1971.

Mailer has never believed in the idea of the author as a recluse – he is a public figure, much involved in politics, and often the centre of controversy. His writings, like those of most authors, are uneven in quality, and a tendency to self–indulgence is occasionally evident.

With "The Executioner's Song," a long non–fiction account of a murder, Mailer won a second Pulitzer Prize in 1979. His other works include "Cannibals and Christians" and "The Bullfight," both published in 1967.

When one talks of bullfighting, however, the writer that most immediately springs to mind, of course, is Ernest Hemingway. His first book, "Three Stories and Ten Poems," was published in 1923. Two years later a collection of short stories, "In Our Time," appeared.

But Hemingway really established his reputation with the success of "The Sun Also Rises" published in 1926. Bullfighting in Spain, and the "running of the bulls" at Pamplona, where young men race through the streets of the city dodging rampaging bulls, play an important part in the book. Lady Brett Ashley, the novel's central female character, is one of the most memorable heroines of twentieth–century fiction.

In 1929 Hemingway brought out "A Farewell to Arms," the novel which for many people represents his finest work. After more short stories, collected in 1933 in "Winner Take Nothing," Hemingway turned to non–fiction, producing "Death in the Afternoon," his hymn to bullfighting, in 1935, and "The Green Hills of Africa," on big–game hunting, also in 1935.

The Spanish Civil War provided the background for Hemingway's novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls," published in 1940, and memorably translated to the screen as a vehicle for Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman.

A gap of ten years ensued before the publication of "Across the River and Into the Trees," which was considered one of the weakest of Hemingway's books. But he overcame any damage to his reputation with another novel, "The Old Man and the Sea," set in Cuba, where he was then living, which appeared in 1952. In 1954 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

He worked on other books, but did not complete any of them before failing health and unhappy personal relationships drove him to shoot himself in 1961. Three years after his death, a volume of autobiography, "A Moveable Feast," was published. It is a wonderful evocation of the Paris of the 1920s.

At his best, Hemingway is an innovative writer of great power. He invented for himself a style which was terse, spare and immensely powerful, and which many writers have attempted to copy. Few, however, have observed with so sharp an eye, and even fewer have been able to achieve the depth of characterisation and feeling – and, yes, even poetry – which lie beneath those tough, sinewy short sentences. Reading him, one is struck by the thought that even tough guys do dance, after all.

Noor Fatima is a 38–year–old maid working in three households. Unlike most people doing the work she does, she's actually quite educated by national standards – she's "matric pass". She works from ten in the morning till eight at night, cooking, cleaning and ironing and then goes back home to help her children with their homework and cook a meal for her family. Noor Fatima never thought she'd have to work but six years ago, unforeseen circumstances forced her to leave her little children at home and earn some income in order to put food on the table.

Kolachi: Have you lived in Karachi all your life?

Noor: Well I was actually born in a village in Punjab called Pakpatan. However, being the youngest of six siblings all of who were settled in Karachi, I would come here often and even studied here while I lived with my sister and her family. Eventually my mother decided to settle here permanently, she hated being separated from her children. However, I also spent a little time in other cities because my father was in the railways, so he was transferred a lot.

Kolachi: Of all the cities you've lived in, which one have you liked the most?

Noor: I would have to choose Karachi. I've lived here the most and most of my education took place here. I'm too used to it to enjoy living anywhere else.

Kolachi: Your husband was reluctant for you to leave the house and work. Why were you compelled to do so?

Noor: Six years ago, the city was suffering a great deal of violence and anarchy. My husband used to work in a textile factory. However, during this time the entire factory was burned down by arsonists. My husband lost his job, and he was trying to make ends meet by doing odd jobs. But it just wasn't enough, I have five children and all of them need an education. That wasn't possible with the income coming into our household. At first I tried to give tuitions, but in my neighbourhood there isn't a market for that sort of thing, people aren't interested in education. It took a lot of convincing but my husband realised we had no choice. That's what led me to this job.

Kolachi: How do you commute to and from work?

Noor: I walk. My house is only twenty minutes away by foot.

Kolachi: In this city, a woman walking alone can be an uncomfortable experience. Does that hold true for you?

Noor: Absolutely. But it varies. Sometimes you get home before you know it, and other times men harass you in every way possible, some even stopping their bikes. You just have to deal with it.

Kolachi: When you got married, did you think you'd ever have to work?

Noor: Never. The thought never crossed my mind. The only thing I thought I would ever do would be to care of my home and children. When I first started working it was very difficult for me, I'd never done anything like it before.

Kolachi: Do you still feel like work is a burden or do you enjoy the opportunity?

Noor: Well, even though my husband has a job now the income from two sources is absolutely necessary. But in spite of that, I do enjoy my work and I don't think of it as a burden anymore.

Kolachi: You stress a lot on the importance of your children's education. As a mother, what are your ambitions for them?

Noor: All I want for them is to study and not have to resort to the job that I do.

Kolachi: The violence taking place in Karachi affected you in a personal way. How do you feel about the situation in the city today?

Noor: Today it feels like Karachi is a city that can't be lived in. People killing each other is a norm. Citizens don't realize that a lot was given up to create this country, a lot of sacrifices were made. Yet people continue to take the concept of life lightly.

Kolachi: In spite of this you feel that Karachi is the only place you can live in?

Noor: Yes. I'm too used to this place. Anyway in some ways Punjab is worse – if here the mentality is repressive, in the villages it's worse. At least I can work here, but over there you can't think of doing such a thing. The question of "honour" is present in Karachi as well, but far more so in Punjab. Over there I could never go where I wanted or do what I wanted.

Kolachi: What about all the problems associated with living in this country like shortages and expenses?

Noor: Oh, these problems are absolutely terrible. It's because of the ever–increasing expenses that my husband's income was just not enough to support the household anymore. The electricity and water shortage is continuously causing problems and I wish the government would just do something to prevent this City of Lights from always being swallowed by darkness!

Kolachi: Karachi has some interesting sights. With your busy work schedule, do you ever go for outings?

Noor: Absolutely! As a child, my sister took me everywhere – to all the mazaars, the beach, everywhere. I try to do the same for my children. We often go to Hill Park, Keamari, Manora Island and Sea View.

Kolachi: Do you feel that the lifestyle of Karachi is at times too fast paced and materialistic?

Noor: Not at all. It's just a matter of a struggle for survival; this is why people in this city work so hard.

I left Noor Fatima pondering over the hard labour women do in this country – yet this backbone of our society receive the least rewards and the most oppression. Her ability to overcome all odds and get used to anything is inspiring. A mother, a working woman, a multi–tasker who can recognize the problems of Karachi and still wish to live here permanently – such is Karachi's character.