IMAGINE a person who has a soul but no body. Or worse still, imagine a person who has shards of his soul, and some parts of body, left in him. How would he look? Bizarre. Hairraising. A slim chance it is that anyone would look at him with affection. That?s precisely the kind of treatment meted out to a few buildings at the Bunder RoadGarden Road intersection.
Bambino Cinema is one of the more familiar sights on Garden Road. For long, people have been coming here to see films, mostly of the Pakistani kind ? loud, garish, vapid. It?s not just Bambino that runs the movies; a couple of other neighbouring cinema houses do the same. Since the concentration is on the film stars many don?t give a hoot about the two buildings that stand next to these cinemas. They are an entirely different sight compared to what you see in this zone. Despite being inanimate objects, if you look at them they?ll stare back at you with their ghostly eyes. They seem to be hurt.Wounded perhaps. They need help.
Alas, it might be too late for that.
Standing in front of the two structures that are now as hollow as a pauper?s pocket, you go through a feeling of sadness and helplessness. These are just facades, with gaping holes in what may have been balconies or windows of these buildings. Strangely, they have tremendous charm. The interior of one of these buildings has totally vanished, and yet whatever remains in front looks solid and resilient.
Peeping through a slender door will reveal that it?s not an abandoned work of mauled art. No matter how much you control yourself, you will eventually enter the building through that opening.Work is on, some kind of work. It?s an auto shop. A good one at that. Obviously they don?t expect someone without a car on him to barge in and inquire about the building they?ve set up shop in. It?s a natural reaction. No one knows the name of the structure. They identify it with the auto store and call it thus. Then a gentleman with decent disposition shows up and recommends going back to Garden Road to have a closer look at the fa?ade. Yes, bingo! After hopping and jumping for a few moments, the faded letters make it clear. It?s Naraindas M. P. Building. You don?t know whether M. P. is part of Mr Naraindas?s name or he was a member of parliament. The former seems likely.
Naraindas M. P. building needs to be revisited which may be a very difficult undertaking.This cannot be said about its next-door neighbour. The structure is different in the sense that its upper floor has not been hollowed out. It is, as some locals would say, in ?one piece?. The restaurant on its ground storey is a pretty known one. Its advertising board claims it was established in 1942 and has Iranian origins. On the whole this building, too, has suffered neglect because of which there are visible signs of deterioration, tainting its beauty. Name? Again, no easy task.
You have to walk along the outer wall, facing M. A. Jinnah Road, where some hawkers assiduously try and keep people abreast of the daily bits of news. One of them will tell you that the name is written somewhere and he doesn?t exactly know where. You move back and get off the pavement, stand on your toes a la Michael Jackson and are barely able to see over one of the restaurant entrances Ojha Building 1913 written in nearly washed-out letters.
Going with the theme of buildings with just facades, turn right from Garden Road to hit Bunder Road (M. A. Jinnah Road). Ignore Godrej Kandawalla Building (though it?s also an oldie that doesn?t look one) and walk some 50 yards. Lo and behold! Another fa?ade with invisible interior. There?s no doubt that at night, even when load-shedding isn?t happening, this building will creep you out. It, for sure, wasn?t an apartment block or a commercial project. It?s definitely a residencetype structure. Could be something else. It is quite unusual the way the remains of this structure stand tall surrounded by shrubbery and garbage dumps, like Prometheus bound.
Then a little ahead, where a couple of more prominent cinemas are situated, another lovely stone-made house makes its presence felt. It appears it?s partially occupied.
Architect Arif Hasan says, ?I don?t know the details of these building, what I do know is that the building next to Lyric Cinema was Karachi?s first car showroom. It was made in 1912. It remained a showroom for long. In the 1990s these buildings began to hollow out; but no one could raze them to the ground because they?re declared heritage sites. These structures have classical features and are made of lime, stone and mortar. There were Irani restaurants as well. There was a beautiful bungalow opposite Bambino Cinema and another residence housed a Radio Pakistan office. They?re all gone. A building near Capri Cinema used to be a hall which later became the income tax office.? The definitions of the word fa?ade: (1) the principal face of a building (2) A deceptive front. In the context of the above-mentioned examples of stonemasonry, take your pick.
mohammad.salman@dawn.com
