Chuss (UET Taxila Special)

'Aik thi larki. Who thi Roots sai…'

Man, are we sick of listening to this prologue every day since last week!

It so happened that one of our friends aka Dhoabi and ZombieHunter carved out an elaborate story last week in the cafeteria: and fell into the trap himself!

Some people are born with the gift of philosophising, some with talking all professional. But some like my friend Bilal Shafiq are endowed with the special gift of letting off a 'chuss' every now and then and turning all red in the face afterward!

He is also endowed with the ability to sometimes say the most embarrassing things in front of just the wrong people and has a soft spot for all things (and people) French. Sometimes he gets so involved in this chain that a thread of totally random sentences (chusses) is strewn and we can't help but laugh our heads off.

We love to stand guard at the department entrance and talk manically. And often get caught by just the wrong teachers (and sometimes fall off chairs in a classroom, case in point). Sometimes we go to take classes that aren't actually happening when we make another friend Danish the teacher at the podium. And sit to listen to the fake-lecture (need I repeat what about? ;)  ) all giggle-y and jolly.

So to commemorate his heroic endeavors (and chusses), we have officially anointed him as our 'Universal Chussar' today.

We heartily hope that every new day brings a dawn of the brand-new-est chusses to your mind!

And may you actually find the 'Roots ki bandi' for yourself one day! (She can be an K/S, both are equally well!)

Chuss: Urdu-speak for a totally random and usually silly remark made

Roots: a British syllabus chain of schools in Pakistan

Information Attitude

'We live in the digital age, the age of information'. Such a cliché; not a day goes by when we don't read this sentence in a blog post, a newspaper article, or a simple Tweet.

But really, attitudes toward information sharing differ from a place to another. While all of us may want access to information, or in it's more raw form, data, we are not always prepared to be the ones to share it. Institutions in some countries are willing to reach out to a global audience and communicate the knowledge they have gathered over their lifespan: the most famous perhaps being the edX initiative launched by the joint effort of MIT and Harvard University. The Khan Academy is another such online initiative wherein you can, as their website says, 'learn anything for free'.

This is 'real' information sharing: sharing lectures, having discussions and even getting your queries clarified all in real-time is a mind boggling concept. And to me, nothing short of a science fiction projection-turned-reality.

But in countries like mine, the situation is totally complementary.

Simple things like discussing a university assignment is apt to get you raised eyebrows and a pretend-I-didn't-hear-you look. Ask for a little help in completing the lecture since you missed part of it for some reason (usually outdoor-sy) and people change attitudes like they never knew you.

But come the exams and things are totally different: open your textbook and a whole swarm of people come to check up on what you are reading, what if it's something they missed? Just a hint that you've got some extra points jotted down for memory's sake and they come like bees on a flower with puppy-dog faces, 'can I please please please see what you have written too? You KNOW my preparation is nil!'

Just be seen talking to a teacher and hey, watch out! All eyes and ears are on you!

It all makes me think: if you are so loathed to talking about studies in everyday life and just so busy pretending you were sleeping in class/don't open you books at all/haven't understood a single topic and what-not, why such poking during the exams then?

It is perhaps the fact that we have a third-world status that we are so possessive about the things we know. Always the fear that what we have is not really 'ours' and we don't really 'own' it, and that someday someone can easily take it all away from us. And make it their own.

What I want to say is that we seriously need to change this kind of negative attitude toward 'sharing'.

MIT and Harvard are just two examples from the large swath of international universities and institutions involved in creating a 'web of knowledge' . They have been none-the-worse for creating such a network of shared resources and in fact have prospered even more so.

There will be no harm if you help out someone with work. Everything in life is really not about getting 'returns' or 'benefits'. Sometimes you have to keep the base instincts aside and just be free to work with anyone in anyway you can. You never know how much your little time may have meant to the other person. Everything is not necessarily about securing good grades.

There is something we all know about but have to be kept being reminded of: the simple good.

edX: https://www.edx.org/

Khan Academy: https://www.khanacademy.org/

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall!

'Mirror, mirror on the wall, whose the fairest of all?'

I'm sure all of your remember this from Snow White. Maybe even ask yourself the same question every morning. And answer it with 'I'.

But have you ever felt like you didn't know the person you were looking at in the mirror even when it was just you in front of it? That uncanny feeling of looking at a shadow version of yourself, an alter ego? Like as if you were staring right into the eyes of someone else you didn't remotely know?

And it's always the eyes.

Zoom in and you begin to read thoughts in the head of the 'person' looking into the mirror, not quite you. Ideas, thoughts, feelings, anger, sorrow and all those things you had locked away in that secret box in your mind meant to store things to be untouched come up. All of a sudden they pounce on you all together and leave you breathless. Is this me, really? What have I become? This is surely the unME, isn't it? How can this mean selfish self be ME?

Then you begin to notice the contour of the eyes, the color of your irises. You lean closer and stare into the retina. And begin to think subjectively like an external observer. Forgetting it's 'you' you're looking at. The 'me'.

Then comes the mouth. You begin to notice the laugh lines around it. How the creases form when you smile. How your teeth show just a little as if playing hide-and-seek. How your mouth dulls in unison with your eyes when you feel sad. And yes, you are feeling sad, you realize all of a sudden. And you know the reason for that pretty well.

You look into the mirror again and the force of the reason hits you hard, real hard. You are thrown off balance. No, brain, how can you do this to me? Just when I was stowing away the reason into that secret box, how can you open its very lid? Reflection, why are you doing this to me?

But the mirror-you just stares back and you hear it laughing in your mind.

Then you collapse onto your knees. The genie is out of the box. There is no hiding now.
And then you weep some.

Changes: Internship

My 6th semester is almost mid-way done and the issue of internship selection is upon us. Is this place better or that one? Should we go in for multiple organizations or stick to unitary? Private or government? Defense? I'm Electronics, you're Power: can we work in the same company? These and many more such questions are the common lines of conversation in university nowadays.

I was recently applying for an ESI in a company and filling up their form. Almost toward the end I realized there were no fields to fill in related to parents. I mean, back at school we're so used to being asked parent's names, phone number, working place etc. But that has changed with coming to university. In my 2.5yrs of university life I've filled countless forms, serious and non-serious and none of them asked for parental info. But it was only today that I 'realized' this missing part!

All of a sudden it began to feel strange. So grown up. The dawn of new responsibilities. The feeling that we are moving away from what our parents have made us to this day toward an 'individual identity'. Like I'm in control of my own life, my interests. My career. My life.

It was a mixed feeling. There was the fact that it began to feel like I was finally stepping into the 'real' world but right there in parallel was a certain fear: cut-off from the always-sheltering arms of mama; mama asking you to eat and sleep on time, dress up for school proper, brush your hair neatly, don’t worry everything will be okey, had your vitamin tablets? Have a good time with friends, keep your prayers in check, don't forget Allah he's always there for you, sleep on time, want a new dress?; baba ruffling your hair and smiling proudly, talking to his friends about your achievements, telling you about his university experiences and taking everyone out to a midnight dinner in the rain.

The things will remain but the essence changes somewhere deep down, everything becomes different. All of a sudden parents talk you as an 'equal' instead of as a child in constant need of reminders on eating habits, sleeping times etc.

I had a sinking feeling, it was too soon to grow up!

The brooding continued for 5mins. Then the skies of my mind cleared.

I'm the same person, and always will be. The same girl who laughs totally carelessly with friends and siblings. So what if the forms no longer ask for parental info?  I will always be mama's and baba's girl. Always the kid to my parents, Aani and Chachoo.

I finished filling up the form. And started doing what afterward? Watching 'Courage the Cowardly Dog' on Cartoon Network with my li'll cousins and laughing ourselves crazy. Who cares about growing up? That can wait till another day deep into the future!