Quack! Online

By Rimsha Mehmood

It Sung, It sang and will sing…a bird. For a world of elation and contentment but not tears. For a world of colors but not blood shed. For a world of emancipation but not slavery.

Crouching beside the bars of the vicious cage…the bird sits…we sit and view the horrendous sight. Thousands of people, innocents, die everyday, due to the audacious and insolent bombing episodes. A mother separated from a child, a brother separated from a sister, a loved one from a lover. The blame thrown off at the “so- called” terrorists, our leaders shut our mouths, forcing us to operate as puppets. Our hearts cry for integrity and justice, however our lips stay sealed. But the bird hopes, hopes for even-handedness of the precious lives of these creatures and sings.

Living in this cage of abhorrence, our eyes catch sight of further catastrophe and adversity. While a girl pays the price of being a woman in front of our eyes, we run to save our own nobility, ignorant to the agony of the poor, wretched creature. The world “help” seems to fly away to some far off part of our tender heart. Even so, the incarcerated bird articulates its empathy, and sings with its beautiful and melodious voice, the song of impartiality.

I demand an answer to the question: How can a man, a creature with a pounding heart, kill his fellow being? Read the rest of this entry »

Textile and polymer materials share quite a few characteristics with biological skin. The fact that textiles may get absorbed in biological tissues is advantageous for us in many ways. But what if at some stage we discover a textile/polymer that in its process of assimilation with body tissues does not lose its characteristics? What if the implanted polymer and the skin ‘react’ to produce a new material? For instance, a cell’s atoms that can go on to ‘polymerize’ like a plastic producing an ever continuous chain similar to a streptococci until ‘termination’ occurs. Is living polymer a possibility?

I had a bad dream last night- I saw I was losing a tooth. Now, I know this since childhood that it means that I’ll be harmed in some way. My experience pushes me to believe in this absurdity religiously. But that’s funny, what does teeth falling out has to do with a mishap?? Who has set this symbolized standard? And if you are a Darwinist, even then isn’t it strangely interesting that our subconscious brain adopted a ‘falling tooth’ as a warning signal of a future that even our conscious brain isn’t aware of??

Can we ‘technically’ classify human hair as textile fiber? Read the rest of this entry »

Hum a song with sounds of ma-pa-ba ; of h and j ; of a-e-i-o.
Focus on how a slight pressure of your tiny tongue muscle here or there, the indiscernible twitch of lips like this or that produce such a variety of phonemes.

Our subconscious intelligence meticulously manages these tiny details of our larynx and orals, and they do it all the time; their instances of errors abysmally low!

When I think about it – the degree of sophisticated design that comes into play even when I say the simple word ‘koe-a-ck’- it’s kingly.

.. I feel haughtily satisfied .

I
ana
ego..its all about me.

Oh dear inanimate world,
its all about me!

There is this general perception among people of our society and also throughout the globe that the male associated with textile or fashion designing careers tend to go femme in nature.

Is this true?

I know this fashion giant from Pakistan who conducts ‘No Reservation’ at Dawn, sometimes goes off the tangent in exhibiting certain collected hand gestures, and I cant help but associate him with Begum Nawazish.

But other than that I don’t think pink ties or pierced ears or long hair makes a guy look like a girl. In fact, I believe it’s a test of your masculinity. If you can still throw out a gent’s aura with all that fashion involved, there is absolutely no insecurity you should have with regards to you being a gentleman inside.

Back to the point, why do change in mannerisms happen? Men have been associated with aesthetics and designing clothes and interiors and even objects and cuisines for ages, but never before has this trend of feminism among males emerged as such a distinct characteristic.

Is that bad because guys are supposed to be tall, dark and handsome; and also crude, undisciplined and rowdy?

Or is it good because ‘neatness’ should apply to all irrespective of the genders. And well, what exactly is wrong with being a metrosexual?

Btw are there any metrosexuals at TIP?

Ode to the rectangular-bricked curve
To the pond that’s niched in the wet-green lush
To second floor view of seven patterned plants
That umbrellas calmly in assorted parasols
Ode to the flow of varnished wood strip
Depressed midway in the interior of the walls

Ode to the sound of water gushing
From a kingly intrusion of a pathway fountain
And one at the centre with a women’s pride.
The alcove set apart for wild palette mix
Juxtaposed and contrasted with polished tiles
Softness with concrete; colors with white!

What is the first thing that you get to hear when you tell someone that you are a grad or an undergrad from TIP?

Is it “ Uhm..can you tell me exactly where this is located?

Or, “Oh wow! Beautiful campus, hun! Wonderful lake that you have got there!”

Or,  “ Okay. I have heard Texperts are kindov spoilt; they aren’t as hardworking as NEDians you know”

Or, ” That’s nice, you know their designers are so much better than Indus.”

Or something else. Read the rest of this entry »

There is a legend, call it a campus legend or hostel myth, that once upon a time TIP was a fair place. The grass was greener, the tower taller, the blackboards green. Around campus everywhere there were foxes and squirrels and geese, oh my! The lake brimmed with fresh clear water, and in that water roosted many geese, cackling and crowing all day and all night. The students were, of course, smitten by this captivating environment, this enchanting campus, and spent many a listless hour by the lake, listening to the geese cackle and crow, while cackling and crowing, and dare I say, quacking, amongst themselves. The geese depended on the students to be fed. The students would procure bread specially from the canteen, making sure the geese only got the highest quality. They would then sit on the bridge and by the lake and the geese would come to them and get their daily bread while the students were captivated by the lights of UFO’s landing nearby and blazing red sunsets.

One day, in the midst of this serenity, disaster struck! The Read the rest of this entry »