Share Our Heritage with the World

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This might read like a Hitchcockian screenplay, in a pleasant way. The sun has just risen. The sky is cloudless blue. Birds skim over the greenish, mossy water that flows, rather sluggishly, under the bridge. It is an ornithologist's delight. You may spot a few kinds of feathery creatures here - mainly kites (of the hawk family), pigeons and crows. They are headed nowhere, and are flying in a concentric fashion. Some swoop down on the walkway (call it footpath) on an overpass to hold in their beaks balls of dough and pieces of meat that are placed on plastic plates by young boys and girls. You can buy these plates from them, if you want to feed the birds or witness the sight. It is a daily ritual in an area which is famously known as the Native Jetty (aka Netty Jetty) Bridge.

By the latter half of the 19th century, Karachi had burgeoned into an established city with a flourishing overseas trade. In 1854 a modern port started to become a worthwhile service provider, and a main channel was dredged with the construction of a mole (causeway) to connect the city to the harbour. Afterwards Keamari Groyne, Manora Breakwater, the Napier Mole Bridge and the Native Jetty Bridge were built. In 1882 work on the construction of the wharves began and in 1914 the Napier Mole Boat and East wharves came into being. As the name suggests, the Napier Mole had to do with Charles Napier, and for a long time there used to be an obelisk that reminded you of the famous governor of the Bombay presidency. It no longer exists. You wonder what Napier would have thought about the stench that these days fills the air under the overpass? It's more of a garbage dump along the sea, and not too far from it is the temple.

“Another worth mentioning aspect of the link is that it connected the island to the mainland. Back then Manora was the old fortified island, from where the British would be bombarded during conflicts. Manora is also important because it denotes the beginning of harbour development.

A boat has just zipped through the seawater under the bridge, disturbing the concentric flight of the birds. The birds are now sailing over the heavy traffic plying the bridge in different formations. But they will return to their daily ritual once the water gets back to its usual, sluggish self.

[Source: Karachi Legacies of Empires by Peerzada Salman]

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