- When did you start debating? Is it something that you have always wanted to do as a child?
Taha Iqbal: I started debating when I was in first year of O’levels. I got into it because of my mother and my teachers pushing me to do the activity. Once I started, I actually enjoyed it and hence kept on going. I did various forms of public speaking including declamations, Model UN and parliamentary style debating and ended up preferring the latter because I thought it was more challenging.
Talha Wani: I always enjoyed public speaking, but I did not have a particular penchant for parliamentary debates until my O levels.
- How did you prepare for the championship?
Taha Iqbal: DRUMS conducts biweekly English and Urdu debating camps. The primary form of practice was sparring against other speakers of LUMS. We’re privileged to have not only the highest number of speakers but also some of the best speakers in our country at our English debating camp in particular. This made finding people to practice against easier and also ensured that we faced quality opposition and had good judges. Apart from that, I watch videos of debates and debate tutorials done by some of the best in the world. Reading is also an essential part of practice because motions tend to be specific and require some degree of knowledge about current affairs. My partner and I also spoke various tournaments throughout the calendar year which also exposed us to compete against other domestic teams (we only spoke once together though).
Talha Wani: Sadly, we were a little short of practice. I spoke at one local tournament this semester in Kinnaird College, which I ended up winning. We did, however, do our fair share of individual research, mostly through our routine of following the news well and reading analytical pieces when we could find them.
- What have you learned about yourself while being on this journey?
Talha Iqbal: The biggest lesson one learns when going to international tournaments is humility. There needs to be a recognition of just how good teams and judges from around the world are and how difficult it is to compete against them. There are structural barriers which prevent Pakistani and other ‘English as a Second Language’ and ‘English as a Foreign Language’ teams from doing extremely well. While you have to realize that these barriers exist, you also have to simultaneously take the opportunity to learn as much as you can along the way and maintain morale.
Talha Wani: I don’t think I have learned much. The only difference in my self-perception has been humbling; a consequence of the caliber of speakers I witnessed.
- Is there any world debater or speaker that you look up to as an inspiration?
Taha Iqbal: That is a long list. If you ever want to see how to give an emotionally powerful and logically cogent speech then you need not look beyond Bo Seo (Harvard), Victor Finkel (Monash), Shengwu Li (Oxford) and Will Jones (Oxford). There are many many more but just in terms of Pakistani speakers, Muhammad Asadullah Khan (Cambridge) and our very own Taha Kaihan Masud also continue to inspire me. Both of these speakers have found international success (Asad more than Masud) but continue to be humble (Masud more than Asad). Having known them personally, I am not only in awe of how good they are as speakers but equally of how good they are as human beings. I can only wish to achieve something comparable in both regards.
Talha Wani: I sometimes watch the Prime Minister’s speech of the 2016 World Universities final delivered by Bo Seo as the “model speech”. I guess he, and others like him, are the kind of speakers I want to be like.
- How has LUMS helped you in achieving your success today?
Taha Iqbal: I came to LUMS from SISA. It’s not a well-known school but it gave me the opportunity to debate. I went to countless tournaments and learned a lot, but did not encounter a lot of success. At LUMS, I was suddenly thrown into a camp where I was up against some of the best in the country. In my freshmen year, I learned a lot from speakers like Hafiz Usman, Nawal Tauqeer and Humza Jami who were at that point in time the most successful Pakistani team to have ever competed in the United Asians Debating Championship. The shift in the quality of camp and adjudication meant that I was now speaking with, against and learning from people whom I wouldn’t have dreamed of interacting with had I been at any other place. The fact that DRUMS gets international adjudicators to adjudicate at the LUMS IV and sends teams to international tournaments obviously also increases exposure and therefore the likelihood of us getting better.
Talha Wani: It’s given me both mentors, in many of the speakers who came before me, as well as exposure in the form of my 2 Worlds and 1 Asians experience. I don’t think I’d be as good a speaker if I had not gotten either.
- What do you think needs to be improved here at LUMS in order to produce high achievers like you?
Taha Iqbal: Funding; the lack of financial resources locks out certain people who are just as good or perhaps better. I could only be what I am today because I was privileged enough to come from a family that can pay for tickets, transport, visa fees, and registration fees. While DRUMS tries its best to subsidize people who do not enjoy the same privilege that I do, there is still a huge resource gap. If we could get more money, there would be a lot more successful speakers.
Talha Wani: I don’t consider myself a high-achiever. To produce true high achievers, I think we need to visit even more international Major’s and be exposed to higher quality debating. Of course, financial and logistical restrictions can complicate this, but I hope that is less the case in the future
- How do you plan to use this achievement of yours for your future career?
Taha Iqbal: I don’t. It obviously helps that I have experience in public speaking. I can do tasks like interviews and presentations with relative ease but I really don’t see the activity in that way. While I admit that there are advantages, like thinking on your feet, speaking in front of people, managing time and knowing a lot of stuff, to me it doesn’t matter what the activity gives me, it’s much more about it just being enjoyable.
Talha Wani: I’m an Economics major, I don’t think the achievement counts much towards my career, as opposed to the skills I gain e.g. communication and logic construction/deconstruction.
- Any message for those looking up to you as an inspiration?
Taha Iqbal: Don’t. There are loads of people better than me that you can learn more from.
Talha Wani: Don’t. Find better inspirations.