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.

IT’S ALL ABOUT MUFTA…

By Sehar Azhar Dar

My life was going on in a very peaceful and safe manner when I was not a part of Karachi University. Once I became a part of KU, all the peace of my life vanished suddenly as it was never there in my life. Apart studying, “Mufta” is another purpose of getting enrolled in KU because we, the youth always wait for a “party”. Mufta is the biggest advantage of being a KUrian.

Mufta is something when you look for a reason to hang out with friends and the most important part is, only one person is targeted to pay the bill. We call that one “bakra of the day”.

Friends are a blessing but when it comes to a treat, the blessing turns into a suffering because the amount of friends and the amount of bill is directly proportional. But all this is a part of our enjoyment, even if one doesn’t have enough money to pay for the treat, it’s taken as a joke and then everybody contributes their share.

KUrians mostly enjoy Mufta at Burger.com, KFC, Pizza Hut, Sufi and Majida Hotel. Hope next time you guys plan a Mufta; you do it the KUrian way. Go find your “bakra of the day” and don’t forget to invite me!

Water issues…

By Summya Khan

Water is life… well we all agree on this one. Without this ‘hydrogen-combined-with-oxygen-in-a-two-is-to-one- ratio’ compound, we are nothing but dust. And when we are at KU, the normal requirement of this liquid is abnormally, doubled and sometimes tripled.

All the readers of Sahafionline must have learnt these facts by heart now: how we travel long distances to get to our Mass Communication department, how we wait on shuttles that arrive late, how we bargain on fares with the rickshaw folk, how we take the risk of lifts and how we sometimes get chased by dogs. After clearing all these levels, one gets tired and when one gets tired one gets thirsty. And one gets insane when one finds out that there are no water coolers inside the department. Yes, nowadays at Mass Communication we have been deprived of this blessing. Reason is still unknown, but my guess is that they have been removed probably because of the unhygienic conditions of the water cooler and the place where it stood.

Whenever I feel thirsty I drink water from my own bottle but a time comes during the day when it gets all empty and I am forced to visit that cooler. On its drain slab, I mostly find betel nuts and “supaari” wrappers. Now, how am I supposed to drink from this thing? It’s disgusting to see the traditional eastern broom a.k.a. ‘jhaaroo’ leaning comfortably against the water cooler (as if they have been good pals). And the filter is there only for ornamental purposes. It doesn’t work I guess. Does it? It’s for me to know and for you to find out. I don’t want to confirm my doubt as many of my friends pleasurably drink from it or used to. There are no coolers for now.

 I would want to request my authorities to at least install hygienic and reliable water coolers instead of removing them. We need them since we can’t buy dozens of Mineral Water Bottles everyday. And please, don’t drink from those installed at the Sociology department especially…their connections come from the washrooms. God knows if they are “REALLY” connected or not. Better safe than sorry people.

SIR FAISAL, THE BACK BONE OF THE I.R DEPARTMENT: BECAUSE OF HIM IS THE STRENGTH OF I.R

BY ZUBIA NOOR

‘INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS’ is my most favorite and preferred subject at KU. There are many reasons for loving this subject but there are a few I would want to share with you guys.

I.R. is a very beautiful department with a calm atmosphere and a lush green garden outside our classroom. The classes are large and airy with big maps of the world; they really come in handy while studying world politics. It really creates an environment that we all are present (and alive) in an ‘international relations’ class. Besides this, I am impressed by many teachers at I.R. Miss Nabiha Gul, Sir Moonis Ahmer, Sir Faheem uddin and Sir Faisal Awan are some prominent names of the capable I.R. teaching faculty. My favorite is Sir Faisal Awan. I can safely label him as the ‘back bone of I.R. dept’. He taught us in our first semester and did it with absolute perfection. He never ignored his purpose: passing on his knowledge to his students. He made us fall in love with I.R. which is, according to some, a really dry subject. The concepts he taught us, are engraved on our minds forever.

I would like to appreciate him since he is a hard working teacher and is well- informed about all the politics, history and all the policies of the world. I know he should know that since he is a world politics professor, but what makes him different is his compassion and perspective and outlook towards the world which is outstanding and better than all the other teachers of I.R. at KU. His examples go nicely with the information and are clearly understood by the students. He gives lectures both in English language and Urdu.

Sir Faisal Awan is a very polite teacher and has never scolded a student in his class, ever. It’s because he believes that if a student is given what he likes, no problems can erupt between the teacher and a student. His words are like tranquilizers that take us deep down where he wants us to be…world politics of course. Yeah, I know I am exaggerating, but once you attend one of his lectures, you will definitely agree.

He also gives us Islamic information while maintaining a balance with his actual subject. He also adjusts timings with the consent of students and help us get rid of the ridiculous time table revealed from ‘his highness’ office. I really enjoyed taking his classes and he has had a good influence on my personality. For all the aspiring I.R. students, watch out for him, you will only benefit from this man. He is truly an inspiration, one that you hardly find at public universities nowadays. hats off to you!