THE Karachi chapter of the Arts Council of Pakistan has earned a reasonable reputation as a place where arts and culture are allowed to flourish and thrive.
This is definitely good for society at large, and those running the show deserve due acknowledgment. However, the job is apparently so hectic, time-consuming and stressful that the administration is unable to find the time or the focus to keep its washrooms clean.
I recently had the misfortune of visiting the place after several years in connection with a fund-raising event for a charity hospital in Karachi`s Koohi Goth area.
The programme, which also featured an Urdu theater play, lasted a few hours.
Visiting the washrooms, as such, was an inevitability that could not be put on hold beyond a limit.
To call the smell merely `foul` would be a rank understatement. All sorts of adjectives hit my senses the moment I stepped in. Pungent, acrid, putrid, acerbic, stinking and many more; all blended into one `Arts Councilish` odour. It was noxious to the point of being obnoxious.
I am sure the cause of arts and culture can still be served with clean and fragrant washrooms. All that the administration has to do is to at least try. Once it does, it will be surprised to know that the two targets are not mutually exclusive. Just try.
