In loving memory of Goans Club

In loving memory of those playgrounds that were once the cultural identity of Karachi there is need to compose a requiem and console ourselves. The Karachi Goans Club, situated right in the heart of the city, where each evening the hockey lovers - boys and girls - assemble and sharpen their skills is about to die at the hands of people living around it.
This club has a long history, which goes back to the days when British forces had come to set up their colony in Sindh and part of Balochistan. Karachi was Kolachi in those days. Its status was just as that of any other fishing village where the British troops had landed in search of a safe location for their troops.
Karachi, strategically located, was also selected to control and consolidate ongoing land acquisition process by the British soldiers. The city had a salubrious weather as well. Evenings were pleasant and the nights had its own charm. There was plenty of serenity and unending thrill that the coastal quietness brings to those who prefer to live in the close proximity of nature.
The city had minimum rains in monsoon, June and July were slightly hot in the day and evening were pleasant, nights would require a thin bed sheet to protect your body against crispy coolness that sea breeze gathered. Winters had its own charm. One could notice the onset of winter only after seeing flocks of migratory water foul flying low, overheads, towards ponds, lagoons and Clifton Beach.
The other sign of winter onset was the sudden availability of fresh and pure white cauliflower, green cabbage, red and mauve carrot and sweeter than sugar beans from the nearby Malir farms. Around the Goans Hockey Club there were a few small patches of vegetable farm as well. These farms would supply large and thick leaves dark-greenish spinach, and juicy reddish.
At walking distance from the gates of the Goans Club, vegetable vendors would set up their stall and supply fresh fruits and vegetable to the members of the club returning to their homes. These stout-looking members, men and women both, had maintained the old tradition of using the club as an exercise ground as well, for this was the purpose British soldiers had constructed it.
The British soldiers were friendly with the local population and encouraged them to visit the club so that the club could serve the local community as well. They had imposed a nominal fee for the civilians. The money so collected was used to keep the club in proper order. The salary of a chawkidar, for example, was Rs 10 per month. The other maintenance staff received its salary in the near vicinity of Rs 10 per month. The club was a source of recreation for many, and a source of employment for a few. The members of the club and its employees were a family.
The proportion of the Goans in the army was comparatively larger than that of the Anglo-Indian, therefore, the two communities shared its use and decided to raise funds to introduce other facilities. Hockey, cricket and athletics were introduced in a big way. Subsequently, the members decided to raise the club to the status of a tournament ground.
This club remained in the possession of the Anglo-Indians only for a short period. Subsequently, for administrative reasons, the club was given to the Goans for setting up a Goans club. Hockey was given importance by the Goans and they encouraged their boys and girls to play hockey.
The club had a tiny boundary wall all-round it in contrast to the kind of boundary wall it has today. An iron gate was at the center of the ground through which one could see the entire activity taking place inside the club. However, the imposing pavilion in one corner of the ground, in the west, would attract all eyes toward its simple but attractive architectural beauty.
This small pavilion raised on green wooden pillars on which rests the roof with red colored tiles, arranged in symmetrical slopes on all four sides is pleasing to architectural aesthetics. It has a dressing room and a small meeting room for the members. The cemented floor used to be very smooth so that a dancing pair could use it without fear of braking legs.
The ground reserved for the game of hockey was also used for cricket matches. Players attired in whitish trousers, green and red caps to identifying with their teams, and putting on white shoes sitting on the stairs of the pavilion would look as if disciplined gentlemen are in meditation, gazing at each ball coming straight to the batsman.
Girls' hokey teams would give a different impression from a distance. These Goans healthy girls slim, trim and stylish in white short frock swaying around the ground, and chasing the white ball would look like swans in ecstasy. Where they all have disappeared? Was it all dreams, mental images of serenity fused in the beauty of human figures? Or, every image has been gradually erased to make room for the material need of the people living around this ground.
Memories of the past have slowly begun to fade way. Each day there is one encroachment on the Goans Club Ground and each day one cherished moment is lost from the mist of anamnesis. On three sides of the walls of the ground there have sprang up a number of houses of various sizes which have opened windows in the ground and a few have broken the wall and fixed gates of their houses.
The ground where fairies would land in the brightness of moonlight has now become a thoroughfare for demons. Its fringes are strewn with garbage and human waste is littered on the heap of this garbage. Even those who have encroached upon the ground would tread it with care.
The Goans left Pakistan after the Anglo-Indians migrated to Canada, North America and to Bombay. A few those who still live in the city have lost all interest in sports and other cultural activities. Some have joined hotels, as cooking experts and the others whom age has incapacitated, are waiting for respectable funerals. What a pity. The Goans and the Anglo-Indians are now two epitaphs, which would be difficult for the younger Karachiites to interpret. The loss of the Goan Hockey Club would be another loss of a reference point Karachi still has.