Month: March 2014

When I was in Peshawar I did a post on the Christian Cemetery (Gora Qabristan) Peshawar. It is a small graveyard which over the years has deteriorated due to neglect by the authorities. There are graves, some very old, some very new. A few days back I went to see the Christian Cemetery of Karachi which is located on the main Shahrah e Faisal. It is a huge cemetery with entrances on the main Shahrah e Faisal as well as the Korangi Road. If I am not wrong in guesstimating it should be more than 10 acres in area. The purpose of my visit was to see the old graves which to my amazement were really old. Some dating to 1858 and even 1840’s. I am not very fond of visiting cemeteries, but going there and looking at the graves makes me realize that value of life. I like to imagine how the person might have died, how might have been buried, how the relatives must have mourned, how they were consoled by friends. It is a very different feeling.

Before you see the pics, I must inform you for what you are going to see is nothing very pleasant for the eyes. Decades upon decades of neglect has given the cemetery a ghostly look. There’s the issue of rain water which stands for days after a downpour (specially in monsoons), the excessive wild growth, the decaying graves, fallen tombstones, stray dogs and the saddest of them being its turning in to a playground by the locality living nearby. What a way to dishonor the departed, for how can someone rest in peace if you use tombstones for wickets while playing Cricket, and even as goal posts for football.