The not so cool Food Festival – Karachi Eat Festival 2015

So the city of lights was buzzing with hype regarding the food festival. The festival was organized at Frere Hall. I attended on Sunday 25^th January around 7:30pm so maybe my review would be biased.

First thing the food available there is easily accessible to everyone on this side of the bridge. I did not see anything from Burns road, Ghaffar ki Nihari or Zameer Ansari's chatakh boti. I did not see innovative food, something different from the usual cuisine that we have here in Karachi. I was expecting more of things like Dhood Jalabi, Lassi from the streets of Lahore and street food from around the globe.

The other thing that I hated was that when you are organizing an event which is being marketed heavily across the city it should be able to manage the turnover of people as well. The festival was extremely crowded and mismanaged. Although every food kiosk was giving away food in wraps and paper plates there were no rubbish bins to dispose wrappers. The ground was extremely uneven making me confused between the choice of either tripping on uneven surface or running into someone standing nearby (Seriously the place was super crowded I wasn't even able to breath). 

Forget all that, did Karachi seriously ran out of open ground spaces that the organizers had to select an important heritage sight such as Frere Hall to ruin it?

There was no system to handle the traffic. Now you are organizing an event on weekend in a city like Karachi where you already have crazy traffic problems. And then you chose a venue which honestly has zero parking capacity. Chaos is what all you will get in the end.

I was not able to enjoy food or anything else. Brand activations were super weak and did not grab my attention at all. Although a huge number of people might have attended the festival but it was a complete failure for me in terms of management and creativity.  

#EatKarachi #FoodFestival #Karachi

The Hipster Traveler

After two days of extensive traveling and work when you reach airport to catch a flight back home and you get to know your flight has been canceled till the next day. A normal person would have gotten angry, a girl in an unknown city alone would have panicked. I on other hand is a total different case.

After almost 16 hours of traveling and 4 hours work in 2 days when I reach airport and get to know my flight is next day I started to laugh. I laughed so hard that people nearby must thought we need to take this girl to mental hospital. The laughter was of relief, the laughter was because one more day in a different city was a very exciting thought.

I have always wanted to be that adventures traveler who packs her bag and goes off to faraway places without any concrete plan. Unfortunately our culture restricts my gender on many levels. One of them is traveling alone. Any ways there is a way around. I have finally accepted and embraced the fact that I am a hipster traveler. 

 

By my definition a hipster traveler is the one who enjoys the luxury of airports and

comfortable hotels but nevertheless enjoys all the sights and experiences the new place has to offer. I am the one who recognizes each city by its scent, who talks to local people and tries to absorb the surroundings. I am the one who lusts for new places and roads unknown.

I am also the one who is taking 100 million pictures of every tree and pebble because it's from that unique exotic place. When I get back home I talk about that place for weeks till my friends want me to shut up about it.

Traveling should be part of life. Be it the lone lost wander, the hip wannabe traveler or the person who takes their entire neighborhood along for a family vacation. It not only refreshes your mind but introduces one to so many beautiful experiences which are far better than any other materialistic possession. 

 

I get a lot of people have so many commitments. Studies to finish, a job to start and a family to support but among all these chores find some time to travel. It doesn't really matter even if you are going somewhere just 100kms away just go. You will love it.