Reema Siddiqui, Vice Chairperson of Looseends Pakistan had talked about this messy bridge on a number of meetings, urging people to do something. Finally Looseends, Ankahi and Samaa TV decided to have a major clean up operation, which meant a whole day cleaning event. Massive planning went into organizing the event as it was on a very large scale, hundreds of people registered as volunteers. The City district government  made arrangements for security and traffic control.  I clean Karachi was scheduled for 12th October 2008 starting from 10:00AM onwards. The weather forecast was an excruciatingly hot day and it certainly was.

People started gathering slowly and were organized into groups and handed scrapers and gloves to start the tedious task of getting the stubborn posters off the walls. It was tough as the sun was beating down furiously on our backs, while we scrubbed and scraped. It was heart warming to see people flocking in with young children, old grandparents, all motivated to clean up their 2×2 space. We saw many celebrities playing their part in the event like Faisal Qureshi, Mishi Khan, Shakeel, Qazi Wajid and many others. The event was being covered live by Samaa Tv, so Faisal Qureshi was going around asking people for their comments and as to what motivated them to get up early on a Sunday morning.

ICI was kind enough to provide paint for the event and had sent their representatives to help out. The walls were first painted white after getting the posters off and later everyone let out their artistic side. Many Da Vinci’s and Van Goghs were discovered that day as people let their paint brushes flow and create master pieces of their own. Indus Valley students made a beautiful mural. The end result was fantastic as the walls looked clean and very eye catching. It was a very satisfying and fruitful day.

Just 2 days later, paan had been spat on the newly cleaned walls, which people had spent hours cleaning and painting. Are we so so insensitive or cleanliness just doesn’t appeal to us? Do we like living in filth?

There is a beautiful monument of two dancing horses near sea view, one of the very few we have in Karachi.  It had been spoilt by graffiti by some responsible citizen. Looseends noticed it and decided to take corrective action.

We got together as a group, invited friends and family to help. City Nazim Mustafa Kamal gave permission and arranged for security. It was a hot July afternoon and the sun was blazing down fiercely. The beautiful white horses had been sprayed with stubborn red paint, so they had to be scrubbed clean with sandpaper. It was a daunting task which left the arms aching but we managed to get the paint off to some extent. Next came the fun part, where we had to paint the horses back to their former glory. Everyone picked up brushes and helped in the paint job, the end result was magnificent, the horses looked amazing.  The sad part during this whole activity was the traffic passing by , where all heads turned curiously, to see why so many people were gathered at a round about with security personnel and TV cameras, but no one stopped except for one gentleman.

It felt really good when we stepped back to see our work, everyone felt a sense of ownership.  We can”t help the country in its economic turmoil or security issues but this small gesture as a group made a huge difference in my opinion and made our city, our home, look good. I now consider those horses as my very own.