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Ramchandra Mandir, Karachi

Getting into the temple is not possible, since its main door is padlocked and no one knows who has the key to it. Step back a little and try and look at the temple from wherever its top can be viewed. It is not large in size, but big enough to bring in many worshippers at a time. This is not the case anymore, has not been in decades.

A salesman in a shop across the mandir says, “It has been here for centuries, but I have never seen it functional. There used to be a chowkidar keeping guard, even he went away some 25 years back. Ever since it has been locked and remained unused.”

What was it known as when things were not as difficult to unearth? “Ramchandra Mandir,” he says.

With your back to the temple, look straight. The narrow that touches M. A. Jinnah Road is called Rattan Talao Street. It covers an area of less than 200 yards - a fascinating place. On its both sides there are some fine pre-independence buildings, in a pretty tattered condition. These structures can barely hold their ground.

However, you can sense they want you to know about the time when this area looked a million dollar. It is hard to know their original names, which does not actually matter, because they are (those that still stand) good enough to look at with keenness. Right at the end of the street where it joins the main road there are China Amarsi Building and Lahori Building. A certain part of one of the structures is semi-demolished. There is a dome that sits atop the semi-knocked-down piece and cuts a strange picture.

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman]