O Lovely: January 2014

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Sea Snail--Whelks

On a Sunday I planned an outing with the family to a sea side which is almost virgin and very few people are allowed there. The sea side is semi rocky and is near Karachi, Pakistan. The place is a Big Mountain Rock and the sea hits its base which is around 200/300 feet below. A fisherman family lives there on top of the rock and earns their living by fishing in the sea. They have their Launches and Boats for Fishing. Plus they use fish traps to catch fish.

While interacting with the fisherman family I learnt that they also catch Sea Snails with the help of specially designed traps. This was new for me and I thought I shall share this information with you.

As can be seen here the trap is almost a shape of a round box with an inlet from where the Sea Snail enters by crawling to eat the fish hanging in the middle as a bate. But after entering they are trapped and cannot go out as Snail cannot swim and the bottom of the trap has no outlet.

These Sea Snails (whelks) are a delicacy and are in high international demand. Though the fishermen don’t eat them themselves but sell it to the international buyers. They are normally sold at a price of $ 3.5 to $ 4 per Kilograms. The Fisherman told me that he catches around 300 kilograms in about 36 to 48 hours.

THE SEA SNAIL TRAP

THE BOAT IN THE SEA MONITORING THE SEA SNAIL TRAP

The Sea Snails

The Sea Snail coming out of its shell

A species of sea snail in its natural habitat

Sea Snail in International market

Friday, January 10, 2014

Generosity

I was at ‘Sea view’ Karachi as usual on a weekend. Normally I visit the ‘Sea view’ early morning before sunrise and enjoy the cool breeze of the early morning along with the cold water of the sea and the lovely sound of the waves coming and going and striking the sea bank. I wait for the Sun to rise and enjoy the view and then leave. It is very soothing and relaxing activity.

The other day when I was about to leave that I saw the few pheasants, comprising of the laborers and some homeless people were gathering at a particular place. Out of curiosity, I stopped and kept watching as to what is going to happen. I saw lot of hope and inquisitiveness in the eyes of the people waiting there. As if they were awaiting some event.

After a short while I saw an old man coming on a bicycle. He had two large Thermoses placed in a basket/bag which was tied to the back career of his bicycle. There was another basket which had two containers in it and in them there were Muffins and cake Rusk and empty tea cups. The old man came and parked his bicycle near the people gathered there and I than realized that they were all waiting for him. He took out tea cups from his basket and the people gathered there came in a queue and started getting tea from the old man. Each person was given a cup of tea and two pieces of Cake Rusk or one Muffin.

Sea View Karachi

When the old man got free than I approached near and asked him as to what he was doing. He told me that he, since long, comes to the seaside and give free breakfast to the labourers and the people who can’t afford a breakfast/food. And, know what, he does not charge a penny.

He offered me a cup of tea and Wow! What a delicious cup of tea that was. I tried to pay him but he refused by saying the he is doing this for ALLAH’s sake and not for any reward.

One must have seen that the people with abundance of resources have very little and small hearts whereas, persons with very few resources have a very generous heart and they are ready even to share those with others. Here today I have shared the story of an old man who has very meager resources but has a very big and generous heart.

This man’s name is Mr. Abbas and he is almost 78 years old. He is alone and has no family. He earns his livelihood by predicting the people’s future through a parrot. He earns very little but still, ensures that whatever he earns, he keeps little for himself and the rest he spends on preparing/arranging the breakfast for the needy/poor. I was really inspired by him.

I narrated the story to my kids and the next day I took my kids along as they were all exited and eager to meet Mr. Abbas.

Posted by Zaffar Iqbal Durrani

Monday, January 6, 2014

DOLPHIN SHOW AT KARACHI, PAKISTAN

On 5th January 2014, one of the unique show was arranged by Pakistan Navy at Karachi. It was for the first time in Pakistan and even at South East Asia. And it was a show of skills of Dolphin, Whale and Sea lion. Highly reputed trainers conducted the show. People spend thousands of dollars to watch such shows abroad and Pakistan Navy brought this to our door step. Thanks to Pakistan Navy who started planning this show in the beginning of 2012. With Lot of efforts were able to make the arrangements. A special pool (ARENA)was constructed by spending millions of Rupees to make the conducive environments for the Mammals. The crew of Whale came from Russia, and that of Dolphin and Sea lion came from Egypt. The show was for about one hour and every act was amazing. At all acrobats performance of the mammals one was amazed as to how intelligent the human beings are to teach such skills to the Mammals. Below are some of the pictures of the same.