Ramadan Reruns

By Fatimah Mazhar

Bonjour!




This is it! Our first topic! Cool isn’t it! Well cool for ‘sahafionline’ it is…Anyways, today we are going to talk about Karachi University blooming in the Ramadan season. Some of my folks would beg to differ on the ‘blooming’ metaphor because fasting while attending K.U. in the scorching month of August is not much of a pleasant experience. Don’t get me wrong people; I am certainly not blaming Ramadan but something else that gets changed during this holy month. As to what it is I am referring to…you will soon come to know about it. For now, let’s just enlighten you with ‘Ramadan: the KUrian way’.

This post is going to be quite interesting to almost all of the KUrians out there. At least the stuff mentioned, will be. For example, the most common sight at KU is our university bus a.k.a. ‘point’. The point saga to some might be boring and a not-so-much-of-an-issue-thing but to the point travelers, the mango people i.e. ‘the aam awaam’ or as I like to call them ‘point waasi’ (people of the point), the problems pertaining to this vehicle is one issue that is a must to be discussed. For instance, the points are never late…aha! That’s nice, what is so wrong about not being late??? What is the problem here? Well…please let me complete my sentence pals. I said that the points are never late not because they are early…no, it is so because they never show up in the first place. Exiting isn’t it folks? Frown. What is it with these drivers and punctuality?? And especially during Ramadan they neglect their duties more than ever (Allah knows better whether they do it on purpose or not). Now one can only imagine the state of a person who is from Roza (is fasting), has to miss his point and travel by the public transport. It’s not pleasant. Take it from someone who knows…



On arriving late, the panting and gasping student is confronted with yet another situation: the-teacher-coming-or-not-coming-guessing game. The game gets even ‘more’ interesting when only one class is scheduled for the day. Devil’s laugh! You stand there stunned; thinking you never deserved it and vow to sue the teacher in American court! Ha! In your dreams fella! Note: these reactions are solely of those students who are academically bright and look forward to regular classes (alias ‘nerds’).



The Ramadan fun has only begun; it has much more to offer! Apart from the points and teacher dilemma we have some other features of Ramadan in KU: an intriguing ‘chain of rickshaw transport’ and the ‘Mujh ko bhi toh lift karaade’ system of lifts (for those who are too lazy to spend pennies on rickshaws). These are, as far as I know, exclusive features of KU that get even more popular during Ramadan.



The main problem of the whole Ramadan: ‘the KUrian way’ (the one I mentioned in the first paragraph), that causes fracas during this month, is the constantly changing classes’ schedule issued by the registrar. We have early classes and the points leave almost half an hour later than they do in regular days. It really is frustrating since varsities in our vicinity get an hour early off form their classes… What luck! But then our bona fide genius authorities have plans that change and you find yourself in a perplexed situation inside the point, with no seat, no air and soon with no clue as to why the points have been asked to leave an hour later than the normal schedule. Yet again you ask yourself whether you deserve this or not. Pity yourself, that’s the best you can do.



The Ramadan features mentioned above are exclusively experienced at KU by the ‘common man’ and it really is not that much of a ‘blooming’ experience. But we should keep in mind that it is Ramadan and we should not let our patience be lost.



One word of advice that I will use as a signature in my posts specifically is “CONSTANT VIGILANCE” inspired by Mad-Eye Moody (a character from the Harry Potter movie). It does not only apply to all ‘sahafis’ (journalists) out there but to hoi polloi. One should be alert and watchful of one’s society and the people in it. This helps to understand the world we are living in. So, this goes out there to all the folks who are reading ‘sahafionline’… “Constant vigilance!”