When one thinks of Karachi as a city, the violence and choking congestion comes instantly to mind. One wonders how people in that city survive, and live when they are totally drowned in issues that seem to compound with every passing day.

But then this can be true of most cities of the country - because, seen from the outside, Pakistan is saddled with issues like terrorism and other centrifugal forces that make living not that palatable. But still people have learnt to survive and live because they have to eat, drink, marry, bury their dead, work for a living and partake of joys and sorrows that come there way. The spirit or the will to live overrides all the problems and issues confronted on a daily basis.

This spirit is what Rumana Husain sets out to capture in the bedevilled city of Karachi, the biggest in the country and one of the fastest growing in the world.  Karachi has been both a provider of jobs and home to people not only from all parts of the country but also the adjoining regions. At partition, because it was the capital and the port city, refugees streamed in from all parts of the subcontinent, hoping for a better future. Since then it has absorbed a vaulting population complaining but little.

And this spirit of resilience is what she sets out to unfold and record.

The end result is both refreshing and uplifting because it shows people going about their daily work, as they would do in any other part of the world.

What she chose and rightly so was the common people of the city of Karachi, who have to bear the brunt of the ups and downs the city in thrall to uncertainty and still they wake up in the morning and return home at night after putting in a days work. These common peoples’ story has not always been told with fairness and, if told, it is a mixture of being dismissive and exhilarated. Their objective narrative has not been unfolded upon readers and viewers alike.

Instead of words, photographs are probably a more direct and candid manner of telling a story and this is exactly what Rumana Husain has chosen to do. She has focused on the ordinary people involved in their various professions and these are many. The photographs tell a story of people more bothered about eking out a living rather than in the larger issues or other problems that have been thrust on them for which they ultimately have to pay a price.

It is the variety of professions that is amazing. People with their skills or semi-skills tell the story of the social and economic make-up of this society. Especially in a society, where most people learn on the job without going through the luxury of a formal technical training or education makes them battle hardened and pragmatically prepared for a tough life ahead. This is also a snapshot on culture.

Benoit Florencon, the photographer who besides original photographs also chose to select and edit ones already existing, has done a good job and makes the book easy on the eye.  It is also accompanied with a short write-up on about 60 professions and the professionals by some of the famous writers of the country.

‘I Am Karachi’, which provided the financial support, is a campaign that inculcates hope, pride and ownership in the citizens of Karachi to collectively strive for a peaceful city. Its objectives like reclaiming public spaces, bringing civil society together, enhancing public awareness and advocacy is placed within the larger context of The Karachi Conference Foundation, a group of professionals, scholars, and activists working together to make Karachi a better place. It lent its support as publishers.

The author Rumana Husain, who has many such causes close to her heart, is a founder member of ‘I Am Karachi’ and has authored Karachiwala -- A Subcontinent Within A City. She also co-founded Bookgroup for children and NuktaArt magazine, the former winning many plaudits for the illustrated book on Dr Akhter Hameed Khan.