One of the consequences of Karachi’s turmoil, I feel, is one that is experienced daily but seldom addressed by the state, its citizens, or the empowered land developers in the country: the lack of pedestrian-friendly activities in the city.

City-walking in Karachi has been reduced to beaches, parks, malls and residential enclaves, walled high to segregate the insecurities of the bourgeoisie from the rest of the ‘open city’.

The argument that ‘a city is best discovered on foot’ may be lauded when we travel outside the country; within, it triggers the ultimate discussion of the naazuk surat-e-haal. As a result, the average Karachiite experiences their city with some restrictions, and its history with even more.

That is why, stumbling upon a recent initiative undertaken by Karachi-based youngsters and riddled with curiosity to walk the streets and ride atop a colourful minibus, I had to resist the urge to doubt.

Look through: Karachi’s bedecked buses

Within a week, I had booked myself a seat on the Super Karachi Express, not knowing what to expect, primarily because the tour guides purposefully remain vague about the locations they cover on a given tour. They like to maintain an element of surprise. I gather it is also a clever security strategy.

The price of the tour, which includes breakfast of chai-paratha or halwa puriat a local dhaba, is equivalent to the price of a movie ticket at a luxury cinema in the city, but certainly more valuable.

Early one Sunday morning, we dismount the Super Karachi Express (SKE) to walk down Zaibunnisa Street in Saddar. The street, yawning itself awake given the hour, is the second in Karachi to be named after a woman – the other being Fatima Ali Jinnah Road.

Mohammed Ali Building on Zaibunnisa Street in Saddar

Formerly known as Elphinstone Street and once considered to be the Piccadilly Circus of Karachi, it is named after Zaibunissa Hamidullah.