The 'Differences' . .

By Kanwal Naz.

Karachi University being one of the largest University of Pakistan holds the honour of educating largest number of students and helped them to work for a better future of this country.
K.u has science,arts and commerce faculties.Experienced teachers have been appointed in every department.

All above qualities of the Campus are acceptable and ofcourse should be appreciated but University suffers from many controversial issues that should be solved.

There are many issues such as transports,attendance,clashes and the differences between the departments of the Campus in many ways.

I would like to highlight the issue of the difference that has been made in the standards of the departments.If we take the example of Commerce and IBA (although they are not considered a part of K.u,but are located inside it) we can see excellent management,cleanness and other academic performances that are appreciable unlike the rest of the places.
For e.g..Many guards can be seen at the entrance gate of the IBA but not a single one at the entrance of Commerce department.

Cleanness is appreciable at the IBA department unlike rest of the places.Environment of IBA is pleasant due to greenery and other management reasons.

The academic performances are much different from the other departments of the Campus.
These are only a few examples that shows the differences .But if you observe,you can witness several such examples.

I just wanted to convey a message that there must be an equal system of management and administration throughout the Campus.

Our very own 'MAIN' library.

By Syeda Nadia Zareef.

This is the age of technology.Every bit of information is provided all the time, you just "CLICK" and get what you want. But still with all these advancements the joy that people feel in book reading is indescribable. In fact in my opinion, NATIONS NEED GOOD THINKERS TO PROSPER AND THINKING COULD ONLY BE ENHANCED BY MORE AND MORE READING.

Keeping this in mind "Libraries" are must in every educational institution similarly K.u is also provided with libraries in almost every department and one CENTRAL LIBRARY i.e MEHMOOD HUSSAIN LIBRARY.

Let’s talk something about this enormous structure, it was established in1952 when KU itself came into being, it is a 3 storied building with a staff of 25 library specialists, 10 assistant librarians and 90 to 95 non professional staff and most importantly with the availability of more than 350,000 books used not only for general purposes but for research work as well(as mention in ku’s official website) and nowadays also provided with a beautiful DIGITAL LIBRARY with the availability of all kinds of information.

These are what we can call its characteristics, but there are many things which you find ANNOYING. First of all when you step in to the library you have a feeling of some horror place so much darkness (I wonder how evening students could manage there)with walls being painted perhaps at the time of its creation.

Then layers and layers of dust on every thing.(may be its because of all the time open windows, which let every thing come in, be it scorching beam of sun or lots of dust) if you want to settle down somewhere you have to clean the place by yourself, now the question arises what 90 to 95 people of non professional staff are doing over there.

Now another interesting thing which can only be the characteristic of this particular library is  suddenly during your studies you smell something and look around, you find many busy in SMOKING ACTIVITY in the corridor which is an evidence of poor management of the library.

In the end I just want to say that by mentioning all this I don’t mean that the library is of no use for us but only that as environment has lot of effects on people’s mind so students should not be tortured in the library rather they should be provided with nice n cool environment so that they could more properly concentrate on their studies.

'Technology' is needed at Communication department. . !

By Summya Khan.

As students of Mass communication,proper Internet facilities and most importantly its 'availability' is one of our basic requirements.But unfortunately ,our department has no proper arrangement for this and even if it has this facility ,we are not allowed to make use of it in time of need.

We always have to walk all the way long  to the main library or HEJ for our online work and assignments (as all of them require Internet assessments).

Its quite astonishing and surprising that communication department has no proper Internet availability but that's how it is..

Two days back,in the department when I so wanted to show my assignment and some other online content to my group members ,I had no excess to Internet.
There is only computer in our department which is easily accessible ,but it has no Internet connection.

The poor lazy machine placed at the corner of Photostat shop serves all the people from department as well as from other departments also for printing purposes.

There are so many things that we complain about despite of knowing the fact that there will be no satisfactory outcome.But I had to write something for my blog assignment so once again my poor department is targeted by me..

Sometimes I feel that I should be thankful to the poor arrangements and mismanagement at the campus as it gives us so much content for this assignment.

Career selection OR Mental torture???

By Suleman Saadat Khan.

"Suleman…enough of your pop music, now let me hear some Lata-Rafi collection". And I meekly obeyed my mother’s request. This brief exchange of dialogues reminded me how different our minds can be from our parents due to various reasons, among which generation gap is surely considerable.

Casting my mind back, I still remember what trauma I had to go through exactly two years back when I passed my intermediate exams in commerce. I was ecstatic to see my name in the column of those who had passed exams with A-1 grade but being a swimmer and some international competitions going on I just passed the exam. Everyone around me congratulated me in full spirits because they knew that passing out the exams without even the study as required in commerce is an achievement in itself. After the congratulating part was over, I seriously began to think what professional field I should be choosing. Though I was a commerce student, I still managed to remember how badly I had wanted to be a journalist in future. Reporters, anchors, columnists and gossipy current news stories had always been my favorites. Besides, I was an avid reader and writer of stories and poems since I was very little. So, I broke this piece of news in quite enthusiastic manner... "I want to take admission in Mass Communication dept in KU, I want to be a journalist". Luckily, my friends, including some cousins were there with my parents when I said this. "Are you out of your mind??" a girl-cousin of mine was quick to respond. "Nuts, you should be taking admission in CBM or some other good university , at least not KU…it’s the only place that can do justice to your talent and grades"- another one volunteered and of course. "These days BBA is very much in demand, go into that one"…and it continued…

Finally my parents also spoke up.. "Beta we think it’s best for you to take admission in some good reputable business university. You’ve studied commerce from matriculation till intermediate; do you want to throw all that away just like that??"

Quite reluctantly I started combing the aptitude books for admission in CBM, easily passed the entry test and managed to the BBA session. A month passed, then two and then three, but no teacher succeeded in inculcating the passion of commerce field inside me. It’s not that I hadn’t tried. I took all the classes and lectures and attended seminars, but the sight of badly entwined wires always made me nauseous. We always followed the formula’s , calculations that were predefined and we just have to put the given ones into it and mugging all formula’s that will play an important part in future. We didn’t invent anything on our own. We were never the pioneers. In short, I felt miserable. I always got exceptionally well marks in test by mugging and cheating from my mates, but that didn’t make me feel that I was intellectual in anyway. So finally when I couldn’t take anymore of it, I uttered the following words to my parents with tearful eyes...

"This is not my field, it’s not where my heart is… please let me do journalism"…

I guess my parents were quick to realize that I was not happy. They let me visit KU admin office to get admission details. I got admission and realized how right I was in quitting BBA and joining journalism. I felt like a free bird writing my thoughts and letting the world know them, expressing my views and welcoming the disagreements. Precisely, I was happy to be who I was, not what I was supposed to be.

I know that no guidance in this world can be better than our parents’, but I’m also aware of the fact that world is a colorful place and God has blessed all of us with different capabilities and skills.

So, I, Suleman Saadat Khan can responsibly declare that I refuse to follow the beaten path. I respect my parents’ and peers’ opinions, but I don’t want any innocent life to be ruined in a bid to amuse all the "professional intellectuals" out there

Of prayers and chaos…

By Kanwal Naz

Friday prayers are very important, we all know that, and so in a huge place like KU, a mosque or as we like to call it a ‘Masjid’ is a must for the students to perform their Friday prayers and all the others as well.

There are three Masajid inside the University of Karachi. Each is present at a convenient position for the students coming from different departments. One is near P.G., second is in front of the commerce department and the third one is near Sheikh Zaid Gate.

The advantage of having a Masjid at the university is that students (most of them) tend to perform prayers on time along with their teachers. This does not only ignite spiritual sentiments but also creates a sense of brotherhood and unity. Unfortunately, not many students focus on these benefits and come only to perform a ritual. Believe me, if the students think about these things they could get by performing prayers regularly at KU, there won’t be any ‘reserved benches’ culture here. But then again, it’s a dream yet to be realized.

Sometimes it so happens, that even if a student doesn’t wish to go for or feels too clumsy to perform prayers and his friends organize a ‘jamaat’ (an assembly for prayers) by themselves, he finds it difficult to resist and eventually joins them pleasurably.

I wish these sentiments of unity would some day be expressed outside the Masjid as well.

The situation for girls is somewhat the contrary. There are common rooms for them which are not-a-very-pleasurable sight at all at the time of Friday prayers especially. There is no proper place for ‘wudhu’ (ablution). It’s a state of absolute chaos. Some girls are seen exchanging cold words standing along the queue, waiting for their turn.

I hope someday the girls could themselves create discipline while performing their Namaz. After all, the aim of our prayers is first discipline and then salvation.

The ECONOMICS' crisis

By Sana Batool Naqvi.

Recession and economic crisis are the words that we heard the most since last few years.
The Economists of the world says, that the entire world is going through a recession period and the economies of the countries have nearly collapsed..

But let me tell you that I have been through the worst and most torturous economic crisis.Here I am not talking about that crisis but the crisis of the department of economics in UoK..

I am facing this torture since last two years.Choosing economics as my subsidiary subject was one of the biggest blunders of my life..

Allow me to briefly describe the horrible story of 'Me and economics'.
In the first semester I had a moody teacher who used to have time for everything except for taking our class.Every other day he gave excuses that he had to go somewhere else and had some other important work..He was supposed to teach us micro-economics but honestly speaking ,at the end of semester I had no idea of what I have learned in this branch of economics.

The second semester was even more torturous and annoying when the chairman of the department of economics took the charge himself.He was and is quite famous for his non-professional activities but I don't want to go deep into that .In short the second semester was the worst of all..

In the third semester we were blessed with a female teacher.She was COMPARATIVELY more punctual but very much fond of seminars as well as of the lunch after them.Due to this habit,the poor lady had to miss some classes.She taught us macro-economics but I felt that there is much more to learn in macro-economics than what she taught us.

The fourth semester (in my opinion )is the best of all.Surprisingly we have a punctual teacher..He is teaching us pretty well about Pakistan Economics..I found this course much easy but I think the fact that Pakistan's economy has nothing much to learn about, might be the reason behind it.

The fourth semester of 'Me and economics' was going smooth and interesting when suddenly a thing called 'mid term' came in between us and destroyed everything.

We were asked several difficult (as they appeared to me) questions in the paper that required lengthy calculations in a short span of time that confused the students but the major reason behind the confusions and difficulties was the weak 'base' ,as we never had proper classes in the previous three semesters so we were completely unaware of the basics of Economics.While looking upon this issue ,the only thing that comes into my mind is:

A country with poor economic education cannot prosper economically..
                                                                                                           (Sana Batool Naqvi)

Nose for news…

BY: ZUBIA NOOR

Nose for news, role of a watchdog and sometimes a lapdog…all these are not the facets of a dog but of a journalist. Sir Humair Ishtiaq delivered a lecture on the basic qualities of a journalist in our class last Wednesday and it truly was thoughtful.

He asked us to keep an eye out for any “news” around. According to him even the bushes around us can make news. Interesting isn’t it? This reminded me of a comment from a friend who visited my department on Independence Day. He rightfully noticed that the boys’ washroom was in the worst position possible.

If you ever come to the Mass Communication building you will definitely admire the exterior, but as soon as you will enter things will get filthy. I mean it, literally. The reason is the welcome given by the absurd Boys’ lavatory door shamelessly opened towards the entrance.

I wonder what the architect was thinking when he was designing the building. Was he THINKING at all?? Now I can definitely make some news from this question.

Another problem is the “echo” problem, that not only the students but the teachers, most importantly, face everyday. The subsidiary students, who are way too many in quantity, are the ones who suffer this echo the most.

My question is: if these are the problems here that were not in the previous building, why was this huge department “re-departmented”??

We have no mikes, no proper computers; no cameras…yes no cameras!!! Journalism students without these facilities are like doctors without a stethoscope. My teachers tell that the same were the problems back in the previous building. No technical and LOGICAL improvements have been made.

May be the authorities wanted the Mass Communication students to be in shape cause if the conditions are same and nothing was changed except for the distance from the entrance gate, I guess the reason I just mentioned, was the reason to build this masterpiece. I will definitely investigate and make news out of this. but whenever I look at this building I think

 “kuch toh socha hota banana se pehle”

Psychology as your choice...

 By Sameen Meher

Before applying into any department, my aim was to become a psychologist. But people suggested me to choose a field which had a bigger scope. At that time I was not aware of the scope in psychology therefore I took admission in Mass Communication. But to keep up with my aim I chose psychology as a subsidiary.

Few of our class mates wanted to take psychology as a minor subject, thus we reached to the psychology department. There we met a major’s student who gave us frightening views about the subject. Except me, rest of my classmates got scared and decided to reject psychology.

In these two years only psychology has proved its worth. Rest is just theoretical headaches.

Basically psychology is a study of unconscious behaviors, how we get aware of them and generate them.

It’s a popular myth regarding psychology that it deals with “psychos” especially the ones like Norman Bates. Therefore parents never let their children opt for this subject.

People may also think that students of psychology become AAMIL BABA and will tell your profile by watching your body language. Well its not true.

Humans are very complicated creatures of Allah that show various aspects of their personality in different scenarios. Therefore psychologists never take decisions about anybody without a case history, interview, assessment test or any experiments.    

In our society people avoid to go to the psychologist as they think only the 'nut cases' seek help. I convey a message to you all: please stop this prejudice against psychology. Because of these myths, our society suffers with a number of problems which may never be resolved without an expert behavioural analyst..

I suggest people should study psychology literature under good guidance and I believe that it will help you in further life and you will feel dramatically changed in your present behavior.