As Pakistan woke up to commemorate its 75th independence day on Saturday morning, a number of Karachiites went to bed having celebrated the occasion on streets the previous night. This is how Karachiites have traditionally celebrated the day for last innumerable years.
The discussion on the menace of silencer-less motorcycles, noise of bajas – which resemble vuvuzela horns – and the stupidity of aerial gunfire has become clichéd now. Traffic gridlocks, or rather mayhem, are also a regular feature every year on the night between August 13 and August 14.
Still, the iconic image of this year Independence Day celebration has turned out to be a photograph of the 5-Star Chowrangi in North Nazimabad. The image shows what looks like a traffic jam caused by people celebrating on the roadside. There are motorists, bikers, and pedestrians in this aerial photo that has gone viral over Twitter.
Reportedly the people in the image had gathered to watch the fireworks.The luminosity is striking. The entire chowrangi, or the crossroad, spread over a large area basks in artificial light.While the nearby apartment buildings speak for country’s development, the minarets of a mosque in the corner testify to country’s Islamic ideology.
The image corresponds to a video shared by a twitter user, Annus Raza. The video captured the fireworks that began at exactly 12am.Raza noted that none of the matwalys, as he described the jubilant crowd, had not been following Covid-related SOPs. “Covid19 was on sick leave during the last hour,” he said.
Another twitter user Waqas Ahmed tweeted the same image with the caption, “Nothing..justkarachiwaly at 5-Star on independence day.Karachiites in other parts of the city also thronged the streets to celebrate the freedom.Car with oversized flags and bikers with pillion riders flooded Shahrah-e-Faisal, the main artery of the city, driving either directions.
At several private events people celebration the day with cakes topped with the pictures of the national flag.
