The author visited the Chawkandi Tombs and Banbhore Museum in Pakistan and wrote a poem reflecting on the history and lives of the people who once lived in the now-ruined city of Banbhore. The poem describes the author imagining a girl from the past living in the city with her family and dreams, and references historical figures and events from the area. It reflects on how the city may look today if its history had unfolded differently. The ruins and carvings at the sites evoke the lives and social hierarchies of the people buried there. The author finds themselves thinking about the future of Karachi and wanting to see it before their last breath.

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The Life That Was
Sep 21, 2012 By Komal Feroz 1 Comment Posted Under: Ballad
I am a student of Sindh Studies at SZABIST and we went on a trip to visit
the Chawkandi Tombs and Banbhore Museum on Sunday, the 16th of
September.
I wrote this poem that day and I never had the intention of publishing
it until I saw what happened today in Karachi and all around Pakistan. They
are burning my country down.
I thought it important to share the beauty that lies in this country of mine, the history that my
country is full of, and the emotions that lie behind its existence.
The sea before me, standing on the ruins of a city,
I found myself thinking of how there must have lived a girl just like me,
A girl with friends and family, a home just like mine, full of dreams.
In this very city lie Sassi Punnun, a story of divine love they say.
I wonder then, what would have been the history had they lived another day.
How would this city look in today’s day and age,
Had Muhammad Bin Qasim not been on his rampage.
The first mosque, a shopping area, an entire people once lived in Banbhore,
They prayed, they shopped, they lived lives that the winds speak of while standing by
the shore,
Of a sea as vast as the sky, of a land that was once known,
For being more than just the ruins of a castle or of stories that were born.
Carvings on the stones told stories at Chawkandi,
Of women, of men, of kings and queens, of soldiers and peasants it seemed.
“Big money, big tomb; small money, small tomb; no money, no tomb” the guide shared.
The big money, the small money, the no money, are all buried in the same ground,
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There was silence everywhere, silent and sound.
The first Karachiites lay there, my heart raced at the thought of death,
And the Karachi I’d like to see before my very last breath.
The Author
Click to view all posts from Komal Feroz.
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Hamza Shams September 22, 2012 at 8:27 am
This is such a calming read….
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