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What Sanctity!

By Aasim Ahmed TS3

The article consists of excerpts from what was witnessed being said by various invigilators and teachers during the recent class tests.

Here’s what one of the invigilators said when he saw some students cheating.

Allah Allah! Tauba Tauba! In donon ko ainda kabhi saath nahee baithnay doon ga! Iss baar kar lo ainda dekho kya ho ga!

Here’s another scenario. Half an hour into the paper a faint murmur erupts in the class. The invigilator, noticing it quietly walks out of the classroom, leaving the students unattended. We know all too well what happens next. On another occasion a teacher spots a couple of students discussing answers and the following conversation takes place.

Teacher: Yes you! What are you doing?
Student: Sir, no sir, I was just mumble, jumble, blabla!
Teacher: No, I saw that! You will lose marks
Student: Sir please, my GPA. My scholarship!
Teacher: Ok don’t do it next time.

When confronted by peers, here’s how the students justify their act!

Hum cheating thoree kartay hain. Hum to sirf answers tally kartay hain!

Such incidents are a part of the norms. It is unjust by any means. Let alone the students who refrain from such activity, it is also unjust to those who happen to get a fair invigilator while their peers appearing for the same paper get one who is morally unsound.

I leave you with the words of one of our teachers. A statement accompanied by one of the most flustered expressions I’ve ever seen, a statement that goes unheeded every time it is heard during an examination.

Dekhein beta please, cheating to mat karein!

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Earthquakes, dead lizards and more

By Hira Saiyed TDT1

Ramadan’s in full swing here. It’s currently 3:30 pm and I’ve come to the point that even the sludge in the lake seems extremely appetizing… I hope I get over this stage very quickly, because the last thing I plan to do is die of cholera.

Anyway, life in TIP is moving on by fits and starts. The beginning of Ramadan saw one of the worst natural disasters in world history. The earthquake that rocked half the nation causing the death of thousands came as a completely unforeseen tragedy, and it is to the credit of the Pakistani nation that we are coping with it as maturely as we possibly can. Many of our students took the time to go to the PAF museum and lend a hand in anyway possible. Those who couldn’t go contributed as much as they could…needless to say, everyone did all that was in their power to make a difference and though it obviously isn’t enough, at least we can say we tried.

In fact, the entire world, it seems, is getting a proper beating from Mother Nature. Hurricanes hit the United States of America, Earthquakes rocked South Asia and floods drowned areas of China and Bangladesh. I remember watching a movie (” the Day After Tomorrow,” I think), and getting pretty freaked out by the hurricanes, floods and ice storms hitting the earth. Well, it seems that for once, Hollywood actually is foreseeing the future; too bad it couldn’t have foreseen something cheerful.

But all that is beside the point. What I was planning to get at eventually was that it’s events like these that bring out the best, and the worst, in people. The best saw thousands of people going to the PAF museum to contribute their time, money and effort; and the worst saw people giving away expired medicine, torn and damaged clothing or simply being indifferent to the cause. You see, there are a lot of people in this world, and not all of them are particularly good.
Continue reading “Earthquakes, dead lizards and more”

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The State of our Education

By Abid Omar TS4

It’s wonderful to be a final year science student. The semester had been going very smoothly with a nearly non-existent course load. Due to someone’s goof up, we ended up with only 3 courses (rather than the prescribed four) at the start of the semester, resulting in a very happy and relaxed beginning to our final academic year. But then, when some students realized that they would have insufficient credit hours to graduate with this course load, TIP’s administrative machinery swung into action in their usual glacial pace, and a month later a compulsory course called “Industry and Environment 409” was pulled out of thin air and thrust upon the students.

And with no formal announcement, some students learnt about this new compulsory course after the first class was already over. Anyway, it’s a very pressing concern, this environmental business; to quote from our prospectus, “a major focus of public concern.” And thus a teacher was assigned to teach this course of ‘major concern.’ We’ve had three classes so far, and all I’ve learnt is that to do well in this course, I must throw all my concerns about the environment out the proverbial window and focus on rote-learning the prescribed reading material (which I should be able to pick up from the reprographer a good 24 hours before the first hourly, which happens to be in the next class).

So what my issue with this course? Well, I’m sure our teacher can’t offer anything more substantial than what is contained in the textbook – no personal experiences, no real world examples. And if you happen across one of the textbooks (which would be difficult because there is only one copy of it in the library), you would wonder how it was ever approved for publication.

What about assigning an equally important teacher to this important subject? Someone knowledgeable?

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The State of our Cafetaria

Exactly a month back, the university was in uproar about the state of the cafeteria. And this was when things weren’t too bad, when we the students thought this was a good time to make things better. We talked about better food in “An Open Letter to the Country Club Management,” about better hygiene in “Filth Affairs,” and about a better system in “Is the Cafeteria to Serve the Students or the Clock?” And we weren’t even complaining. We were looking for improvement.
Continue reading “The State of our Cafetaria”

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Heads up!

Cricket Hungama

Wednesday, 26th October, all night at the TIP cricket ground. Come watch the wickets fall.

TIP Photo Society

Interested in improving your photo skills? A revolution in photography, coming soon to your campus. Ask Fakeha Naeem or Abid Omar for details. Its photography, baby.

Stud or Dud Fall 2005!

Will the real stud or dud please stand up! On notice boards all over campus. Vote for your man of the semester on the Quack website at quack.offroadpakistan.com. Contact Abid Omar for details.

Publications Deadline

The deadline for submitting your work for Talking Textures 2006 is 30th November, so please contact Arsalan Ahmed or Adil Marvi to learn who’s the man.

TIP Book Club

Bored during your Eid break? Make good use of your time. Read some of our listed books and participate in discussions. Look out for a readers’ list by Thursday, October 27, 2005. For more, contact: Abid Omar, Kamran Mohsin, Farrukh Sham or Aasim Ahmed.

The TISF is cooking!

The TISF entertainment people are cooking up plans to bring you something exciting immediately after Eid. Don’t try finding out what it is. It’s a surprise!

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Helping the Earthquake Victims

The successive round of earthquakes that has struck various areas in Pakistan, (Azad Kashmir, N.W.F.P and Punjab being most badly affected) has caused immense turmoil, loss, and deprivation. As I pen down this article, some 18,000 people have been reported dead, several are homeless, and of those that have survived an innumerable amount of people are homeless, hungry and severely injured.

It is at times like these that we as a community should come forward and help those that lay helpless. True, the aftermath of the earthquakes is unimaginable for most of us, but the little that each of us can do in the form of donations must be done as soon as possible to provide immediate relief to the affected people.

The Rotaract Club of T.I.P requests you to please bring packed food items, medicines, clothes, quilts etc with you to university tomorrow. Monetary donations too are welcome, although food items, milk, water, and medicines are preferable. Please do make sure that the donations you give away are properly packed and taped least they be damaged along the lengthy route. The donations will be properly sorted out at the end of the day, loaded onto the four buses that go past the P.A.F museum, and sent directly to the areas that most require them.

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First Impressions of Hostel Life (A freshmen’s tale)

By Hira Saiyed TDT1

It’s been a month now since I found myself boarding a yellow bus that would take me out of Karachi to a place I’d only read about, and it’s been a pretty interesting month. Firstly, it’s nice being able to breathe without taking in a lung full of diesel smoke (on the other hand you can’t breathe here without taking in a lung full of cigarette smoke, so there’s not much difference), and secondly, I got to experience life in a hostel (yes, the freedom went to my head)

Certain things about hostel life I had trouble getting used to, for example, I realized that I was a grasshopper magnet. That all the grasshoppers of the locality would fall over themselves when I walked past, and make lines to enter my room. I also still haven’t gotten used to having the filter right besides the bathroom (I’m not sure, but I think that’s unhygienic) and sharing the shower stall with a colony of ants. But there are moments I wouldn’t trade for a truck full of chocolate. It’s unbelievable how the Fauji fertilizer plant changes at night (It’s popularly known as the Titanic) and the Ahmed Habib walkway seems straight out of a calendar shot. And to tell you the truth, it’s great being around people who, if not exactly your soul mates, share the same feeling of excitement at newfound independence. Right, I’m being over dramatic, so I’ll stop.

You learn a lot here. For example, the first night I had an unfortunate encounter with a giant grass insect which helped me realize that I HATE insects. Sadly I had told a friend that I loved all animals and thus made a complete fool of myself. Also throughout the first week I stayed I was afraid of walking to the designing studio at night. Who wouldn’t be? I’d nearly stepped on three frogs, I honestly had no idea what was lurking in the grass (which, by the way, wasn’t cut then) and the cafeteria man wasn’t giving me any food (“khatam ho gaya hai.” Convenient). But now, thanks to the lessons learnt and a much stronger immune system, I can live without worrying about.

A) Giant grass insects

B) Frogs

C) Serial killers

D) Cafeteria ka khaana

This basically proves that every weak-hearted person should spend at least one week in the TIP hostels. If not to build yourself up, then to learn things, perhaps about yourself, that you didn’t know. For example, I got to learn that you can never tell what lurks on the cafeteria counter, it could be remains of spilt Miranda or a dead ant’s funeral or worse still, the cafeteria waala sprawled over it; and I also learned that the best sleep comes on the library couch (I’d suggest holding a large hard-covered book, just in case). Hmm…and I guess you also learn how to rhyme. So that’s about it. When do you plan to move in?

A reminder though, smoking causes cancer but it seems that nobody here really cares. Your lungs are your own responsibility, beware.