Starz Pakistan Blog

Fresh popcorns, cold pepsi and a good movie. That’s a perfect Saturday night for me. If that movie is on a cinema , then that’s a bonus!

Karachi has its share of cinemas and cinema-goers. Even though, the movies are generally not A-one; infact not even A grade. However, once in a while, you get lucky and something interesting is seen.

The four main cinema with the last one being the most recent are:

Nishat Cinema retty decent, even from a Pakistani’s point of view.The parking, the popcorns, the gentry, are pretty much like us and you can enjoy a good movie in the coolness of a working AC.

Capri Cinema: Welllll, if the movie is good, then you wont notice the bad points of this place. The bathrooms are pretty clean and so is the waiting area. I will give it a 7 out of 10 score, with 10 being the highest.

Prince Cinema: Pretty bad condition. The air conditioning is also in a poor state, the rows of seat are so close together, that it is difficult to walk normally. Movie watching can be done only in one position, as the seat is not capable of accommodating a moving person.

Universal Cineplex : This was created in September 2003. It is a modern state of the art cineplex, with five full screens and an expansive lobby catering  especially  to families & couples.

The location is also very ideal.It is located on the prestigious beach avenue, right across the Arabian ocean in Defence Society.

Just like common sense is not very common, natural beauty is not natural anymore. Its take a good 1 hour before the mirror to get that ‘natural’ look for all the females.

And assisting us females in this natural looking race are a number of beauty spots and salons, who are doing a great job. Some are mentioned below, but perhaps several, which are  not mentioned here , are  doing an equally good job.

Tucked away in the last lane before Jheel Park , on Tariq Road, Queen’s Beauty Parlor has been in business for  more than 25 years. They are famous for the excellent waxing and facials and are average on their haircuts. Their prices are pretty reasonable as you need to climb 3 stories before entering the parlor.

Queen’s and its competitor Bhabi’s Beauty Clinic are serving women of Karachi. One very outstanding point of Bhabi’s is , that the owner, Mrs.Rohana, gives free consultation to the women in need. Be it a marriage issue, or the never going pimples on the face, she has time for her clients and that too, free.

And how can you not mention Depilex Beauty Clinic? The pioneer in creating perfect actors for the Television, Depilex,initially handled actors only. It was later that they opened their doors to regular clients and what a wonderful job they are doing!!! Their bridal and party makeup is worth the price and the end results are superb!

Now lets talk about the other gender.

Male clothing and style have really picked up pace in Karachi in the last half of the decade. There is no denying it. The cuts, the colors, the trends have certainly changed and are still changing. Mentioned below are some the outlets providing men with fabrics for a long time and still going strong.

Top of the line is the MoosaJee. Established few decades ago, it is still providing men and women with excellent cloth and material, that you can buy with you eyes closed. No problem of cheating. They have woolen cloth available all year round and same goes for sumer fabrics, available in the bitter winters also.

Another trend setter shop is The Cambridge Shop. Not even half as old as MoosaJee, they are responsible for introducing and maintaining new fabrics and designs in the market in areas pertaining to pants and shirts.Ties of good quality are also available. The outlets are in Clifton, Tariq Road and Bahadurabad

And lets not forgot the man, who for the past 18 years has been stitching clothes for men. Situated in Saddar and also in Defence, Bari & Sons includes pants, shirts, sherwani, coats and suits and that also in superb quality. Till recently, they only had stitching facility, but since 2007, they have been providing fabric, imported and local for their customers. A must visit for all the Mr. Perfectionist out there

Now if we focus on the unstitched types of dresses, who tops the list?

I guess its based on the priority for the shopper.Should it be the price, the quality or the trendy look in the cloth?Sometimes, for foreign shoppers, the place of the shopping is also important.

Staying still in Tariq Road and Bahadurabad, as in ‘Empress’s new clothes- I’, lets start with the biggest shop on the block – literally, Portia Fabrics. A shop renovated in 2001, its just goes forward without stopping.Huge variety in all prices, colors, quality and taste. Difficult to enter and leave without purchasing something.

There is a discount section, where stuff is for 11% less. Ho, how can I forget the free drink they serve?

A very new shop is Threads and Motifs. It maybe new, but its probably leading the market. Its copies are available in Rabi Center and the likes.But copy being a copy, is no where close to the original stuff.

Buy them and don’t be disappointed.

And now for my personal favorite, Junaid Jamshad. Their prices are better, their colors are better, atleast that’s what I think. More over, they create for men women and child. Visit their factory outlet and chose a dress at yoru liking and at a good price.

If wishes were horses, beggars would ride…

I truly believe in this one!  And in case of wishes, sky’s the limit.Which female wouldn’t love to have a wardrobe full of new, trendy , up to date fashionable clothes.  With the tailor charging a suit stitching equivalent to a primary class fees, its a better idea to just buy stitched suits from some of the trendy shops.

Keeping in mind, that the most popular shopping area of Karachi is Tariq Road, lets start from the boutiques present in this zone.

A very old , yet up to date shop ,Exclusive , is a must visit for all the right reasons. Be it a wedding ceremony, a simple party or a flashy saree that you are looking for, you will find one to your need. The shop underwent a makeover some 2 years back and the stuff available was on sale. A very attractive offer for those who were able to visit it then.

Then as the name suggests, Cotton Collection has cotton stuff, embroidered, block print, regular printed or mix and matching suits. Their variety is average, with similar stuff available elsewhere. No great options here.

Next is Shades, which has good, different, and an eye catching variety. They have office wearing cotton, evening dresses and wedding wear and the colors used are awesome. Their best baat is that they will give you a discount, which makes it all the more attractive

Is there financial institute in this great country of ours that won’t cheat you? That wont try to extract extra money from your hard earned salary. Who will think like a human being and will have some compassion?

I think not.

Try RBS. Supposedly the Royal Bank of  Scotland, their customer service is close to none. Their promises are made to be broken and what ever happens, don’t issue a bank loan from them.  Their motto is ” Why walk to the Bank,  when you can talk to the Bank.” However, forgot the walking and talking.

Then comes Habib Bank Limited. Their services… ohh my God!!! Their main branch will be offline most of the time and you will not be able to cash your cheque, if God forbid, your account is not in that branch.

A not so bad bank is Bank AlHabib, or maybe we get good service because we know the Branch Manager…

The aroma of freshly baked bread is always welcomed. Fresh cakes, crispy chips, mouth watering chicken patties, spicy samosas…you can get all this at any good bakery. The oldest I can think of is United Bakery.
Estalished in mid 1950s, this was renowed for its excellent chicken patties.The first branch was opened in Saddar and is still going strong.Another branch recently opened in Clifton, on main 26th Street. Both offer the same excellent service and quality products that made initially made it famous.

Moving away from Saddar, we go towards the city center of PECHS.An superb bakery plus everything else is United King

I call it other thing also, because it serves all items under the sun. Excellent service , excellent food and quick delivery. If you visit them in Ramazan, especially a little before the Iftari time, there is so much rush, one can think they are giving away food for free!It is difficult you will not find something that you will not like. The cakes are oven fresh and of competitive price.They also have picture cakes which are very attractive.

A third bakery also in an ideal location is Ambala Bakery.This location is on a very busy traffic way and on a hot summer day, will provide a cold glass of lassi with badam, on a very low price. Apart from this, the chips that this bakery makes are very very crisp. Catch them earlier and you wont regret it.

Yup, I admit. I am all for gold and precious stones jewelry. I admit when I hear any wedding is close by, I go the locker and get all my stuff out.

On going to Saddar, I do window shopping on gold items and plan how to spend my next salary.
Lets start off with Shuja Jewelers. Located on the main road in Saddar,their setting of stones, their description, their color combination is excellent. Even the shop is made by a very tasteful person. It appears that one is entering in a Haveli.However, their prices are exhorbitant.A average person can not buy jewelry from this shop

Very close to it, infact its next door neighbor is Mushtaq Jewelers. Initially functioned only by its owner only, their sons have also joined in and made the business grow.Their sets are unique and the workmanship is excellent. Never has a stone escaped the jaws of the jewelry setting . plus they have some margin for discount and can come down to some extent.

Last and not the least is a relatively new shop, opened some 4 years back near the area of Sindhi Muslim . The entire shop of ARY Jeweler is underground with separate counters for each item, such as rings,bali, sets, etc. The counter staff is extremely polite and helpful, but very slow. Negociations are possible and generally done.
And the best part is, it is in the city center,where parking is easy, unlike saddar when the trip can easily take 3-4 hours

Now, if only my significant other would read this blog and take a hint!

We had recently shifted homes and were going back and forth between the new home and the old one.So to keep in touch with the cyberworld, we got  Worldcall Telecom USB internet connection, which is fiber optic independant, in other words, portable. The delivery and setup was done in 2 hours after the first call and after that started the maslays.
First few hours, it worked on a minimal level, very low speed and high disturbance.We called the helpline and were told to unplug the device, replug it or try restarting the application and the system.
We tried all options, no help. Then we called again with not-so-soft voice and informed the service agents, that we had problem connecting. no help…and worse no solution.
After repeated calls over several days and using not so subtle language, I informed them that we demand a full refund for the horrible services they have provided us. On this, we finally good hold of a fairly decent techi guy, who told us that if the issue persists, we should use a usb cable.
This help came after several days of hair pulling and cursing the WorldCall people. We followed Atif’s advice and finally, things got moving along. But too bad for Worldcall, we had already transferred our connection of Maxcomfrom the old home to the new one and were properly connected to the cyberworld without any hitch.

Lets talk about medical services in Karachi- not the spontaneous ones, but the planned , elective ones.

To start of with, the mention of  AgaKhan is a must. Very ideally situated in the middle of the city, the very expensive hospital can be compared to any international hospital of the world, in terms of speed, staff manners, cleaniness, capable doctors… you name it and we can compare it!

Its next door neighbour is Liaquat National Hospital. Bigger in size than AKU, the hospital is not far behind with regards to the above mentioned features.Also, the cost factor is favourable for the patients and the services are nearly as good as AKU.

Another old hospital is Ziauddin, it initially started off in Nazimabad on a very huge area, back in 1977.It now has a branch that can cater to many more patients and has created a feeling for patients to be happy and satisfied, when leaving.

Ofcourse, there are many more hospitals in Karachi, but to read about them, you need to login to www.Starz.pk

Happy Reading