An introductory session followed by interviews for new inductees will be done on Thursday, October 14, 2010 in 4th  slot (at 1:15 pm) at LR1.

Students interested are requested to please attend the session.

For further details:
Hafza Azhar (tmm-3)
Mir Jawad (amm-3)
Shumaila Rajput (tmm-4)

Literary Society, considering this declining trend of Urdu speaking and it’s diminishing vocabulary is organizing an event called “40 Sawaal” in which the Urdu meaning of 40 English words and textile terminologies will be asked from the ever-intellectual audience of TIP People with the correct answers will be given prize money on hand as well to encourage the use of Urdu.

Please be a part of the event. Participation is open for all the currently enrolled students, permanent and visiting faculty members, admin staff, peons and lab staff.

Date: 24th September (TISF slot)
Venue: Auditorium

Looking forward for your participation…

Literary Society of TIP
(A Step Towards Evolution)

For Further Details Contact;
Rameez Ahmed Khan, Head, 03323419170
Muhammad Furqan Khan, Member, 03333908140

Define a hero.

I’ve spent all of last month reading old Louis L’Amour western novels, and my head is full of nothing but horses, shoot outs, brand loyalty and cattle rustling. And cowboys… never forget the cowboys. In every good western, there’s a hero; a troupe of bad guys (usually cattle rustlers) and a girl worth rescuing. It’s escapism; we know it, we love it, and by God do we wish that it happened.

So who’s a hero? Does he have to be strong, and have to be fast and have to be fresh from the fight? Is he a street-wise Hercules, or a white knight upon a fiery steed? Heck, I’ve been holding out for a hero for all my life and I still haven’t found one yet. Maybe I’ve been looking in the wrong places.

So let’s find one. But first, let’s define a hero. According to wikipedia, a hero is a character that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, displays courage and the will for self-sacrifice, that is, heroism, for some greater good, originally of martial courage or excellence but extended to more general moral excellence. What a lot of blah.

What is a hero? I asked this question to a lot of people, and some of the more prominent replies I’ve given at the end of the article, but they all boiled down to putting others before oneself, great bravery, and good looks (a priority with girls, I noticed); and the need to make a difference, no matter how small. To the average person like me and you, heroes are people who defy all odds; who aren’t afraid to rise against society’s norms if necessary. They’re willing to stand for their ideals, and die for them, and who don’t stop pursuing their beliefs.

But to my criminally intelligent 10 year old niece, a hero is just a creation. He’s something we make out of an ordinary person who probably did the right thing in extraordinary circumstances. A lot of us aren’t heroes because we never had to be, or let’s just say we’re potential heroes, every one of us. We just need to rise to the opportunity.

So maybe the Hero, the god-like being that we read about and wish to find in some lonely alley when we’re surrounded by drunken louts, does exist, but only for a little while, when absolutely necessary, and then disappears again to mediocrity. Heroism is a spark within anybody that just shines, out of the blue, when you least expect it but need it the most. A hero isn’t a permanent state; and neither is villainy. Sigh, I wish life was more black and white.

So where do we find him? You tell me. In Ayn Rand’s novels, tales of the Round Table, old western movies or Greek mythology; you can get them a dime a dozen. But let’s look for heroes in newspapers, the streets, campus and daily life. And real living heroes please, because the trouble with us as a nation, is that we find heroes after they’re dead; because then they cease to be human. And they cease to make mistakes, and we cease to remember the mistakes that they actually had made in their lifetimes. We worship the dead, and ignore the living. Our heroes are figments of our imagination. They’re not real; they may have been alive once, but they were never what we make them out to be now.

Now then, who’s looking?

Here’s what actual people said about heroes:

According to Aliya Ansari, a hero has a hot body, green eyes, jet black hair and can fly. So with you there, girl….

Furhan Hussain said, and I quote, that a he’s “someone you feel is so superior to you that you want to be like him…you almost have a weird attraction towards them. Having a hero is just a lame excuse to stop working on having an identity of your own”

Hariss Amin defines a hero as “somebody who wins his life from his ownself”.

According to Haris Jafri: “there are two types of heroes; recognized and unrecognized. Recognized heroes are those that help you when you most need it. Unrecognized ones help you when you don’t realize that you actually needed them.

Ali Hakeem says a hero gets girls and is famous for it as well.

But for Haris Hanif, a hero is someone who has a whole lot of powers, but still wants to use them to help others, he’s somebody who doesn’t need to be recognized, because whatever he does, it’s not for himself. That’s why superheroes wear masks.

Shazia’s married her’s. How’s that for luck?

A lot of people (Ali Haroon and Hassan Essani, for example) just named themselves, and they’re probably not wrong either.

Add your definition. What do you think makes a hero? And who in your opinion is a real life hero?

Saiq, I will thank you if in future you realize while writing that other peoples’ time is also precious as it is extremely annoying to correct your English and typing mistakes! Which I have been kind enough to sift through so atleast my readers don’t have to go through the same torment twice.

Anyway, here’s what I have to say about your claims.

1, It seems as though it’s just to fill the articles count up …. Be it trash or any thing …. Sorry to say but there r certain other good ways 2 b famous

No, you seem to think quite wrong, it is not just there to fill up the article count; it speaks a popular opinion about the annual Day. You have the choice to bury your head in sand and pretend it wasn’t that bad for all I care.

And as for wanting to be famous, by gods grace I am known to people I want to be known to. I am well versed in ways which could be employed to become famous and can choose between good and bad ones. No need for you to advise me. Thank you very much!

2, For TDT 4 who were much more important considering it was as 4th years Annual “Day” …. Evening, night or what ever in your view :P

What so funny? You seem to have a weird sense of humor.

3, They came up to me …obviously people would have enough respect that they would stay around for TDT 4 dedications but how wrong we were proven

Who stopped the air conditioning? Wasn’t TIP administration informed of the estimated time span of the event?

4, Yet again ….. These are split second decisions which we have to take

Yea! Was termination of the ‘battle of the bands’ a result of such split second decision? Do clarify your position on that. What is your side of the story?

5, You tell me being the so-called member of the book club

I founded this book club; I run it along with my friends who have been part of it from the very start.

6, what have you done in the whole year ….. One or two documentary films watched by 20 or so people … was this basic aim for the formation of Book Club … And that Ghazi Salahuddin thing …

Don’t brag as if you know why book club was formed who we cater to. In this semester alone, we put up two small events; one being the screening of the documentary “Loose Change” and other the book discussion on ‘In the Line of fire’. Both events met our estimated response from the student body. Referring to your figure of 20 or so, we don’t plan out events for the majority of TIP, they are targeted events for a small number of interested audiences, and anybody else is pleasantly welcome to attend. At least we don’t try to bore everyone to death!

7, Remember we the TISF had to step in to get you problems sorted as you guys were not even being able to agree on a date let alone organizing or participating in a big event ……

No I don’t remember any such thing. Remind me.. Do you have any proof to back up your claim, that you helped out ‘hapless’ book club. TISF has never been asked for any kind of help, no correspondence has been done through any TISF members. I have always coordinated with Mr Ali Hafeez and President TIP for book club events, and I don’t remember any of the TISF members ever did any running around for my book club event. Yes there was some confusion regarding because Ghazi saab was unavailable in those dates, so we had to adjust. I hope you are not referring towards quick words exchanged in the corridors( u don’t have to be a TISF member to give suggestions—merely giving suggestions is not sorting out our problems ) or moving chairs to empty lecture rooms, I must have missed out on that. So don’t go about trying to take credit for other peoples work. Organizing a big event? …small is beautiful. And I am good at it.

8, You have a habit of making a meal out of nothing …a storm in a tea cup …. Don’t u?

Meal out of nothing? Have you ever heard of the big bird called ‘ostrich’ she’s famous for some reason… by the way, one should appreciate nice things by and by, Storm in the tea cup, or tempest in the tea pot… I like the phrase.

9, Remember arranging a so called hi fi sound system in the cafeteria if u become a member of TISF… y looking for posts … if students’ welfare is what you really want

What s wrong if I were looking for a post? Were you not looking for a post as well? That hi fi system thing I said, you heard me over so much din? See that’s the whole point, I made myself heard, I convinced 60 people to vote for me, obviously an abysmally small number compared to my competitors. But whose care is it? I wasn’t the chosen one, fine with me. What ever the reasons, but one thing is for sure that I could never have broken away from my political ideals, had I not done that. So I have never regretted doing it.

10, I know the mistakes have been made and there have been events which participation of students …… we seem to have forgotten the basic aim of formation of TISF any how thats for another time to throw light on

We are sick of such foul, meaning less and wrote learnt statements of admitting failure. Yes we have forgotten the basic aim of formation of TISF. Remind us, that’s the best time to throw the lights on and let us see what against we should judge you. We seem to have lost the track of it.

11, ok accepted that the sum of you didn’t enjoy the Annual Day but I think you cannot fault people for the effort that was put into it by the people who C.A.R.E. 4 the leaving 4th years

Doesn’t it sounds like “Jo bhi tha, bura he sahi, pur na honay sey to behtar hai!” was it really?

12, At least much better than people who just hide in their shells moaning over things n term all the crap as criticism…… to show their mettle rather than moaning over what might have been (v might have dun sum thing that book club n dramatics thing) cause action really speaks louder than words do.

You know you can’t complain about lack of participation after what TISF has done in case of ‘the battle of the bands’. Or tell us what had really happened? Don’t tell us you ran out of money, because if that were the reason battle of the bands should never have been thought of in the first place. Leave the book club alone, will you!

Read the sign and gimme your comments.