Something,I was never fond of. . .

By Sana Batool Naqvi.

Lead,five 'Ws and H',Inverted pyramid ,newsworthiness,news values,elements of news,Byline,Date line etc.I never was aware of these words before I got admission in the Department of mass communication.Now when I read newspapers I can figure out many things in a single piece of news, can talk about them,enjoy reading it and can understand it in a much better way than before.

Two years back,newspapers for me,were just a waste of time and I always preferred watching the news on t.v rather than reading it in a printed form which sounds boring for majurity of people.

My parents kept telling me the benefits one can get by reading a newspaper and the most emphasized one by them was the 'increaes in vocablury' but they failed  to generate my interest for reading a newspaper.

But the Department I got admitted to,compelled me to do this boring job daily and became successful in it.

Now the situation is quite different.I read 2 to 3 newspapers daily and don't find this job a waste of time or anything.

I get two newspapers daily at the doorstep of my home early in the morning and it cost me a considerable amount of money that I pay by myself.When at first I had little interest in reading them,this whole process( including the money  that I give by myself out of my pocket money)compels me to take  even more interest in it..Other than those two,I read online newspapers as well.

Now the whole of my store room is dumped with newspapers .It seems as if a truck comes every month and throw piles of newspapers there.

If I am not wrong, I haven't read as much course books as newspapers since the day I got admission in this Department.

To conclude the story I would say that I am now surrounded by something that I was never fond of but at the same time this task has contributed a lot to my vocabulary and off course its helping me out in my major classes but this process needs so much effort and hard work as I have figured out that I am still very bad at writing news stories and have to put a lot of my efforts for this particular thing.

Beside this,another important task in my 'To do' list is to call a 'Raddi paper wala'(the task which is highly embarrassing according to my mom) at my place,earn some money by selling out the huge amount of newspapers and clean my store room.

“Bara ho kar truck banoonga”

By Kanwal Naz

Karachi University has many unique features, some of which have been discussed earlier on Sahafionline. I have always felt proud of this fact, seriously, tell me which university has places like P.G., Arts Lobby, and a ‘dhaaba’ where you can enjoy the traditional milk beverage “lassi”?  These are the exclusive features of our beloved K.U. where education along with entertainment is guaranteed. But in today’s post I would like to tell all the non-K.U. students about our system of Rickshaws inside the university.

It sounds funny and shocking at the same time to have rickshaws at your campus. At least to the students from DUHS, SSUET, and Agha Khan and for all the college students who come to visit KU before applying to any department, it is surprising to see rickshaws zooming from one place to another. But the presence of this noisy vehicle confirms the long distances any KU student has to cover everyday. Also, our inefficient shuttles (which are supposed to do the job these rickshaws do) encourage the rickshaw drivers to ask for ‘unfair fares’. They know that at KU, if a student is asking for a ride in a rickshaw, he is helpless and desperate. They take full advantage of the absence of our shuttles.

These rickshaws are running a good business. Especially when there is a clash, they double the fares and drive away if you try to strike a bargain with them. Then you are left at the mercy of lifts, which by the way is not a safe option.

A student of mass communication who has a subsidiary, say psychology, has to walk a long distance of about 1 km everyday…everyday!!! With no shuttles to be sighted and too scared to take a lift, that poor student is forced to stop a rickshaw. The driver gives you a devilish smile and you reluctantly agree to his desired fare.

Sometimes, it so happens, that five or six girls jump into a single rickshaw. This a common practice at KU. Often you would see a rickshaw with seven girls over-loaded inside. This is quite hilarious and dangerous since the vehicle is not designed to carry loads that of a bus. Students, please be careful.

We also have a reservation system of these rickshaws. Students often call some drivers they know, to pick them up at a certain time. No one else, other than the student who has reserved the vehicle, is allowed to use it. If anyone dares to bid a higher amount, a conflict over this tiny vehicle, is likely to emerge. Believe me!

In the end, I would like to mention that these rickshaws prove to be an asset during Ramadan. Seriously, you save a lot of time and energy. I will not say money since these drivers ask for double fares, knowing that the students have no choice but to opt for them only. Some business it is.

Attendance saga. . .

By Nadia Zarif

I still remember the orientation day when our chairman, with so many other things, announced that our daily presence is required in the class or at least we should have a 75% attendance or else we would have to pay a fine to sit in the examination and if the attendance is below 50% we will not be able to attempt the paper at all.

But like so many other rules of our prestigious university this rule is also ignored or it would be right to say that our chairman at that time forgot to mention that those who have affiliation with any of the political parties and those who have good PRs with varsity officials are exempted from this rule.

We all who tried to make our presence sure in every class, in any circumstances had a great shock to see all those people taking exams who didn’t even attend a single class throughout semester. That day we came to know that these students bunked classes the whole semester and in the end they come to the teachers, very sweetly offer ‘salaam’ to them, inform them about their connections with some officials and very bravely attempt the paper without any hesitation. WOW! What a benefit of having friends in high places.

Also, if you are a bunker and unfortunately you neither are a political worker nor have any of the officials as your ‘chacha’ and ‘mama’,  then don’t worry, you just need to make good links with the above mention students, they will definitely help you in your bad times...for sure.

Then the most interesting part of the story is that those who are not blessed with such status and their names are in the short attendance list then they should prepare themselves for total BHEJA FRY in the process of the submission of fine (several long walks for several times), and don’t dare to expect any kindness from the teachers because you might get this answer: “We can’t do  injustice to those who are regular (as one of our subsidiary teacher said to us) but no one told her that she did HALF JUSTICE by not charging fine to those who came up with a “parchee” (source).

In the end I just want to say that although it is the prime duty of our administration to make the students follow the rules still they prove to be a failure since the growing influence of political parties in the varsity does not let any rule to do well. They not only stand against every regulation but also encourage others to do so.     

Mid terms (are/our) appetizers. . .

By Summya Khan

The situation of mid terms at Karachi University could be well-expressed in Shakespeare’s famous quote: to be or not be…that is the question. It sounds funny but it’s the truth. We have a very interesting system of mid term papers. Let us take a look at it.

Normally an examination schedule is always issued by the chairperson. But when it comes to our mid term examination a.k.a. MIDS, the concept of a schedule fades away somewhere in the dark. DEMOCRACY rules. The students get to decide when, where, at what time, what topics and sometimes even the classroom is decided by the students. The teacher absolutely has nothing to do with the MIDS except for the grading of course.

The most interesting part is the choice of topics that are to be given in the examination paper. It seems as if the students are deciding a theme for a welcome party instead of topics for an examination paper. Everybody who is anybody takes part in the discussion. Even the ones who rarely bother to show up in class suggest, “Sir! Please conduct the test on Monday; I have a lot of preparation to do”.

Its funny to hear this since people who never take lectures and demand time for preparations are the ones who never bother about grades be it the MIDS or the finals. Because of these “CHARACTERS”, sometimes serious students face problems in their timetable.

Now coming to the part where MIDS, metaphorically, become appetizers. Taking the MIDS or not mostly is a choice that is left upon the students, as I mentioned earlier. Although most of the time students never take their mid terms seriously, they are, anyhow an important part of our final exams and our GPA. The real purpose of our MIDS is to provide an understanding of how the ‘real deal’ i.e. the final paper would be like. They are meant to stimulate our neurons before we take the actual paper. Teachers never mention this point and mostly never force the students to take their MIDS. It is a sort of trick they play on us I guess, because the students who tend to ignore the MIDS often fail in their finals too. The reason is simple: they never have any idea about what questions could be asked in the paper.

I suggest students ought to take their mid term examinations. It provides us a good understanding of our syllabus. Even if we fail, there is a choice of a ‘make-up test’. But we all know that this article is only beneficial for those who care what their GPA looks like on their mark sheets and not for the ‘CHARACTERS’ I mentioned. Isn't it?

Some points regarding 'Points'. .

By Sehar Azhar.

University of Karachi is one of the largest institutes of Pakistan.It offers the most attractive opportunities such as courses and degree programs.Along with many appealing facilities provided by Campus ,transport facility is also one of its own kind.

A large number of students of UoK have no personal means of transport and travel by the University points.Students prefer travelling in points rather than public transports ,one reason of which are the reasonable charges of the University point service.These points provides pick and drop services.This transport service is provided all over the city.

In spite of so much 'hujoom' in the points ,students find it safe and affordable to use points rather than public or private transports.But there are issues regarding the service that should be resolved.
The points are very less in number as compared to the number of passengers using the service on daily basis.Students who get the opportunity of being seated are considered lucky.

This transport service is unavailable at the time of strikes and bad city conditions and due to their unavailability,students face problems.Sometimes there is a strike call by these 'points' ,this usually happens when they have issues with the administration. Every year increases their budget and announce new programs but no improvement can be witnessed even after announcements of new budgets for this service. If Administration  resolve these problems ,students can safely travel in these points as its one of the best facilities provided by the Campus.

A Paradigm Shift

BY ZUBIA NOOR

Third-year (Previous) and Honors Program: both courses are like two different rivers which flow together but never meet. Same is the case with the students of Honors and Previous who study together in the same class but find it difficult to connect with each other. A reason could be that the students of Honors already adapt themselves to the university life whereas the students of Previous have to face a very different and a new environment.

For a student, who has just joined a two-year old lot, it takes approximately half a year to settle down. There are several situations this student has to confront like coping with the syllabus and getting accustomed to the daily attendance routine (since at colleges there is no such thing called regularity). Making friends is a major issue. Somehow, the Honors students also take advantage of their ‘slight’ seniority too.

Moreover, the Honors students are familiar with their courses, examinations, classes, assignments etc and develop a good know how with their teachers. We all know that acquaintance with teachers is very important , it not only affects our grades but also helps in several other matters such as getting letters of reference if a student applies for a scholarship etc. Unfortunately, some of these ‘new admissions’ find it difficult to understand the nature of their teachers, therefore face issues.

It would be sufficient to say that the Third Year (previous) students experience a paradigm shift. The university life brings a lot of challenges for them be it social or academic. The key to deal with this paradigm shift is to be proactive and determined. It’s a ‘survival of the fittest’ situation for all the new entries especially for the ones who compete with the ‘all-ready’ Honors students. Beware!

Maybe. . .Never the twain shall meet. . .

By Fatimah Mazhar

Ever since I joined this department, I was hopeful that I would learn new things and meet new people, and I did, you know. But one thing that always has bothered me is that despite the numerous attempts to associate with my classmates, I have always felt a gap (rather a “vacuum”) between them and my GROUP (as a fellow BLOG, which uncovers truth, mentioned).

‘Sahafionline’ isn’t trying to get away with anything. Yes, one of the group members did copy material from a particular website, a well-revealed, shouted-out-on-the-loudspeaker issue this has been. But I would again, through this platform, want to make it clear that the issue (as the administrator of the ‘truth uncovering’ blog has propagated to be an intended attempt of plagiarism) has been discussed with our major teacher Ma’am Sadia Mehmood and solved. She was immediately notified. Repeat, immediately notified.

It’s a pitiable sight to read harsh articles relating to the incident that has been solved for good. It seems like a “LOBBY” has started working against Sahafionline. All those classmates, who share a vacuum with us…are now executing a behavior that was just a part of my imagination. I only used to think that we will never be able to connect with each other, and now I am being forced to think that both of us, our honorable classmates and Sahafionline, would never reach to any agreement.

About the post in which various “qaseeday”, (Urdu for admiration), were written for Ma’am Sadia Mehmood, I would like to clear: it’s quite obvious that Ma’am will certainly not grade us higher even if we write a 786 pages book in her admiration and then write a sequel to it. After all, she a university teacher, and knows how to grade students. That article was just an expression of joy over our blog’s “tareef” just like our class fellow from the ‘truth uncovered’ blog published his viewpoint.

My request to my class fellows is to calm down. It certainly does not reflect a good image of them by creating propaganda against this blog. We apologized as soon as we found out that the post was copied.  The interesting part is that some of my class fellows from the ‘truth uncovered’ blog notified us of the incident. We are and will be, thankful to them indeed. When the problem was pointed out, it was looked into and solved. The end. Finished. No one got hurt people!!!

And if it is a retraction you want, please raise the issue in front of the concerned teacher. It would be more…what’s the word… ‘Professional’.

In the end, I would also like to mention that the members of Sahafionline are regular visitors of the two “FELLOW BLOGS”. But somehow Sahafionline is not frequently visited by them. I wonder why. Ma’am Sadia, you asked us to pin point the problems at the university, and trust me, this is a BIG problem.

When we are a class, we are supposed to act like one; I am really disappointed with the kind of reactions our blog is receiving and that too for no reason at all. I again remind our ‘truth uncovering’ blog administrator to investigate the matter and then play the blame game. In fact, in my post, I have reacted to an “Individual’s” action, and not criticized the entire blog. Think about it Mr. Administrator. Think about it.

Smoke-Kings. . !

By Kanwal Naz.

I wonder why there are no 'no smoking boards' in our University for alerting the smoke-kings of our Campus who are not only unfaithful to their own health but are also dangerous for others around them ..

In educational institutes these kind of warnings and boards should be used.

The favourite places of students for smoking at UoK is the PG canteen,backyards of Departments and several other places..

Almost 99% of the people of our country suffers from asthma(condition that affects the air passages of lungs).The biggest cause of this disease is inhalation of smoke which ultimately results in damaging of lungs and several other allergies..Smokers are the people who alongwith shortening their own life span,becomes a source of creating problems for others as well who unconciously inhale the smoke generated by the smokers around them.
.

Its very unfortunate that at present time,smokers mostly are youngsters less than 20 years of age..The reasons are unawareness,bad companies and depression..Among all these reasons the most common is depression..Researches have shown that highly depressed youngsters including male and female both, becomes drug addicts in no time,as soon as thier depression starts but if they get proper councelling ,or if given proper attention and awareness they can prevent themselves from drug addiction and other bad habbits..

Beside this if parents keep a check on their children regularly ,they can very easily save their children with this terrible world of 'DRUGS' but the unconcerned nature of the people of our society is the major source of all these problems..
The University students are addicted to smoking not after they get admiited in Universities and start considering themselves as adults but they become habbitual of such things at the very start of their teenage i.e from schools.

Once I was buying my luch from the canteen and a person passes by with a cigarette in his hand,polluting the atmosphere around me,I went to him and said 'sir,can you please do me favour and move away from here as I cannot tolerate the smoke coming out of the poisonous stick you are holding.' oh I am so sorry for the inconvienience ,he replied and threw his ciagrette on the floor .


By this incident you can figure out the positivity and the humble nature of our youngsters that the guy not only moved away from that place but also threw his ciagrette.This was just an example of an indivisual concern and issue but if we start giving awareness to such people on a large scale, that how they create problems for others around them,they will definitely realise the sitaution and would probably think of giving up..

University alongwith doing so much for the youth should also look upon the issue of giving awareness to them about the harmfulness of these addictions.Beside this, 'Smoking' inside the University should be strictly prohibbited and 'No Smoking boards' should be used for such purposes..But inspite of making possible efforts to stop this thing,cigarettes are being sold at every canteen inside the Campus and students are not at all worried about the strictness for such things as there is no such rule regarding this issue

..

The smokers should realize the fact that their life is on its way to become an ash just like the ciagrete becomes as the time passes..
At the same time I think the addicted people needs a helping hand and our support and guidance.If only, we start giving them a bit knowlegde and try to help them out in giving up this addiction,the problems can surely be reduced and educational institues should also play their part in this regard.

I will surely do my bit,..will you???