On 29th January, 2012, Textile Institute of Pakistan [TIP] said farewell to yet another vibrant and extremely competent batch of students. It was the Convocation 2012, probably the last time the entire batch crowded the fields on TIP collectively as a single cohesive unit.

The basketball court was utilized to host this grand event, just like it had been so the previous year. A dairy white marquee, a bright glistening sun and a pleasant breeze set the perfect tone for the occasion. The proceedings began, the event being hosted by me, Asad Jafri of AMM2 and Komal Mustafa of TDT2. In synchronization with a classical Sitar tune being played through the speakers, the procession led by the Academic Coordinator Mr. Umair Saeed entered the arena, followed by the graduating students, faculty members, Board of Governors, President TIP Dr. Zubair Bandukda, Chancellor TIP Mr. Arif Hasan and the keynote speaker for the day, Mrs. Noorjehan Bilgirami.

After recitation of verses from the Holy Quran and their translation, Dr. Zubair Bandukda, or ZB as the new class schedule for 2012 denotes him as [which honestly speaking seems kinda cool], approached the podium for is welcome address. This was then followed by speeches made by the Chancellor and then of course, the keynote speaker. Time passed on smoothly and soon enough, students started arriving on stage to receive their degrees from Mr. Arif Hasan. The looks on the parents’ faces were simply priceless, each one of them proud to see their son/daughter covered in a Royal Blue gown and graduation cap finally receiving the degrees for which their children had strived so hard.

The distribution of degrees was followed by the distribution of the honour medals. It was time for the bright minds, or geeks, to get awarded for their wrote-learning, asking-endless-questions, attending-all- classes and “hardworking” skills. Those students were about to approach the stage at which parents of regular kids would point and ask, “Why couldn’t you study as hard as him/her?!” In other words, the Cum Laude awards were being given out. Zainab Naeem was the sole recipient of the Suma Cum Laude award, graduating with a brain-wrecking, mind- blowing, making-others-jealous CGPA of 3.92! And how can one forget the much awaited Eqbal Ahmed Achievement Award? It was unanimously decided to present the humungous gold medal to the ever so ecstatic, Amna Khan of Textile Design Technology [TDT].

Zainab was also kind enough to deliver the valedictory speech, which was both sentimental and encouraging. Mrs. Noorjehan Bilgirami was awarded with a memento, which was part of Fizza Naqvi’s final year project. The proceedings were drawn to an end and up in the air went the caps of the graduating students! Propelled by over excitement, some even took two turns at it.

The efforts of Ms. Rakshanda Shah and Mr. Mazhar Jameel have to be applauded as they were the ones who were responsible for selecting the qualified volunteers with whom they made the Convocation 2012 an unforgettable memory for the graduating students and their parents.

Asad Jafri! Yes. That’s the person you badger from now on when you want your writing published on Quack! Online, or in case you’re not too happy with your faculty, management, or the geese. Trust Asad to get on the case and put his journalistic and editing talents to good use.

Welcome aboard as editor, Asad.

“You will find, as you look back on your life, that the moments that stand out are the moments when you have done things for others.” - Henry Drummond

A group of Students for their management assignment at TIP, did a fundraiser and the money collected was used to get swings and stuff for the kids of the employees living 24/7 at TIP, Bin Qasim campus.

• Syed Khawaja Hashiruddin
• Rabeea Faheem Syed
• Nausheen Rabbani
• Sahar Saeed Mohsini

Hats off to these students for giving those kids such a wonderful gift for the coming year.

Sidrah Nadeem, innovative entrepreneur extraordinaire, has all men in Pakistan by the neck, literally. With her tie boutique All Tied Up, Sidrah’s hand-woven and hand-stitched silk ties have shaken up the Pakistani male fashion sense.

The video above shows Sidrah in CNBC Pakistan’s International show Pakistan This Week.

Previously, she has been written about in The Express Tribune, and just this week she was interviewed again by The Express Tribune for a story on women entrepreneurs. She has this to say regarding the initial challenges to setting up your own business:

“I held three successful exhibitions, built a strong case and then made a formal presentation. But those bankers didn’t take me seriously. They refused to lend me any money,” Nadeem said.

Not only bankers, she adds, but also some of her professors with whom she had discussed her business plan simply laughed it off.

“They thought that one, I was a girl with little business experience, and two, I was thinking about selling a niche-market product. Banks are highly cautious when it comes to financing niche-market products.”

Another video interview of Sidrah can be seen here.

A designer who engineers fashion from daydreams, has come up with textiles inspired by nature (biomimetic structure), by science (Fibonacci number pattern knitting), and one with a clever application of dyestuff that changes colour dependent on temperature.

Have TIP design students done something similar?