Posted on

Pink Watergate

LUMS has never been far from controversy. The epitome of Eurocentric education in Pakistan, it has been hailed a liberal hub, a bubble of naivete, the antithesis of Pakistani Islamic values. We are no stranger to our share of ill handled sexual harassment cases, declining financial aid as LUMS continues to admit more students at a higher tuition and a rise in authoritarian administration. But those are issues for another article. Of course these controversies pale in comparison to the true evil that plagues us… girls dancing! Read your Astagfirullahs and shake your heads in shame. We have let down our culture.

 

A video was widely circulated, originated by a fake twitter account under the name of Irshad Bhatti, a journalist, I assume to give it a modicum of authority. It showcased our senior batch donning pink clothes and dancing (if you can really call it that because let’s face it, yall cant dance to save your lives). The primary practical attack against this video was that the sanctity of Ramadan was being violated by this display of music and dance. This was immediately countered with the fact that Pink Day was celebrated well before Ramadan but do you think that helped? Of course not. The rumor mill had started churning and Pakistani Twitter and other social media was outraged. LUMS was attacked for being a playground for the Western whims of the upper class (not entirely untrue but I’m getting off topic) and this as an example of why coeducation should be struck down. Zaid Hamid even somehow brought the army into it. How dare we “party” while they work so hard to “defend this land”. How do we always come back to that?

 

When words like “ghairat”, “morality” and “values” are thrown about, there emerges a pattern. When LUMS has had a long-standing tradition of Attan on Fridays but that never makes the rounds on Twitter because that is a primarily male dominated activity, there emerges a pattern. When Hamza Ali Abbasi can belittle a girl for dancing to a Pakistani item song when he has engaged in similar “immoral acts” on television, there emerges a pattern. It is not so much about respecting Ramadan as it is about the outrage that LUMS can be a safe haven for women to exercise their agency without the judgmental eyes of society and family.

 

Ironically, this moral policing also exists in a vacuum. It only extends to calling the women in LUMS anti state agents and the corrupters of our innocent men. The fact that a creep made a video of these women without their permission and uploaded it to the internet is casually ignored. It is also deeply disappointing, although not surprising, that websites like Mangobaaz cash in on these incidents. Having no regard for the privacy of these women, they continue to plaster their articles with screenshots of the video clearly showing the identities of the students, blissfully ignorant of the possible repercussions this might hold for them. We really need to hold our media to a higher standard of journalistic ethics and integrity.

 

What is needed now is a stricter filtering of who LUMS allows inside its premises. People like those who uploaded this video need to be kept out of the campus. This does not represent fear or us being in the wrong. It is simply the acceptance that the cards are stacked against our women and we need to do whatever we can to give them a safe space, even if it is in a bubble.

Posted on

Pakistan: A Censored Democracy

*Disclaimer: The views expressed in articles are entirely that of the writer. PLUMS does not necessarily mirror these views.

Censorship and democracy are in their truest selves incompatible. Article 16 and 19 of the constitution of Pakistan unequivocally confer respectively, the freedom of assembly and of speech upon the Pakistani population. One institution that these provisions however, have failed to exert their authority upon is the military. For the entirety of this nation’s 71 years of existence, the venerated, almost holy status of the armed forces has allowed it to dictate, both overtly and covertly, how the country is run.

 

Manzoor Pashteen is a Pashtun man in his late 20s who commands the confidence of thousands that form part of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM). The PTM is a very explicitly peaceful organization of protests and rallies against the extra-judicial killings and abductions that the army has become famous for in FATA and Balochistan. Pashteen and his protestors’ fame was short-lived due to a total media blackout of the movement. However, the real crackdown on these demonstrations took place just prior to the PTM’s plan to stage a rally at Mochi Gate in Lahore, when several leaders of the PTM and the Awami Workers’ Party were arrested.

 

Cyril Almeida, a Lahore University of Management Sciences alumnus, has also been targeted for straying away from this narrative of censorship. On the 6th of October 2016, Dawn published the infamous piece that landed him in the trickiest of situations. His article not only implied that the military was in bed with Jihadi Groups, but also intensified tensions between the civilian government and the military. Regardless of what it implies however, the story infuriated the army, which resulted in Almeida being placed on the Exit Control List, barring him from leaving the country.

 

An exciting angle to this discussion may be to analyze what one has to lose in the political arena by being a staunch adversary of the army. Enter the notorious, not sadiq and not ameen, Nawaz Sharif. By trying to claim control over foreign and defense policies, the army’s strongholds, Sharif put one foot out of the door early on. Trying to improve ties with our infamous neighbors and allegedly accusing the army of sheltering terrorist groups obviously didn’t work in his favor either. Come election time and marching comes the army. Rana Iqbal Siraj, a candidate for the legislature in the Punjab Province, running on a Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz ticket claims that the military raided his warehouse, robbing him of his wealth and security. Imran Khan on the contrary, our flamboyant new Prime Minister, being a consistent proponent of the armed forces, won a 114 more seats than he managed to 5 years ago. Well, one may also attribute that to his flowery speeches.

 

The question that lingers still is, how does the military push this narrative of moral untouchability. One explanation for the insidious appeal that militarism carries is the depiction of those who lose their lives in the service of the nation. The commemorative ceremonies where the families of the deceased affirm their support for the military and hence construct themselves and the martyr as driven by a sense of nationalistic duty allow the army to perpetually extract emotions of loyalty and sympathy from the public. The Youm-e-Shuhada (Martyrs’ Day) ceremonies may serve this ulterior purpose. However, as a deliberate consequence of this, a false interchangeability is created between criticizing the military’s interference in the political sphere with disrespecting the foot soldiers that gave their lives in the army’s service. Also in relevance to this, gender is an important tool that the military can exploit to assert its paternalistic governance. In these orchestrated spectacles of grief, the helpless wives and mothers of the deceased are depicted as needing protection from the masculine institution that is the army. Moreover, families that lose their members in war also tend to maintain their friendly relationship with the military and promote the narrative of national sacrifice. This may be explained through a need to justify and attach value to the death that has occurred which transcends the guilt that comes with sending one’s child into the military out of economic desperation.

 

Although the non-coercive instruments of censorship represent only half the picture, they are important to consider in that they are often internalized by the larger part of the population, and hence not recognized. We should hence commit to memory the words of the recently departed, outspoken lawyer and activist, Asma Jahangir who once said; “If the army gets itself involved in politics, fingers will be raised. We will continue to stand against their weapons with pens in our hands and we will not stop raising our voice for the rights of people”.

 

 

 

Posted on

In Conversation with Kamil Ahsan, ex-President PLUMS and Assistant Editor at Barrelhouse

Meet Kamil Ahsan, an alumnus of LUMS, from the batch of 2012, and ex-President of PLUMS. He graduated with a PhD in Biology from the University of Chicago, and is currently pursuing another in History at Yale. He is also an independent journalist, writer, and assistant editor at Barrelhouse. His writing has appeared in Dissent, Jacobin, The Nation, L.A. Review of Books, A.V Club, Tanqeed, Salon, Aeon, and others. You can find him at kamilahsan.com, or on Twitter @kamuleosaurus.

Hi Kamil, It’s good to hear from our ex-President, the whole PLUMS team is delighted to hear about your project.

Hi Saif. That’s so delightful to hear! Yeah, it’s a little strange to think about how it’s actually been 7 years since I graduated, because on some level I remember it like it was yesterday, but also, I feel very old, hah! PLUMS was so foundational for me as a writer and editor. I’m so excited to reconnect with the people in it right now.

Could you tell us something about your experience as the President of PLUMS?

Oh man. It was nuts, in so many ways. I think PLUMS is a really good experience in some pretty key ways. I was in the first SSE batch so I was over the moon to be President but it’s a steep learning curve, organizationally. I remember my senior year was when we launched The Box Move which was huge, and I stepped away from being a writer and was just editing a lot, liaising between people, sending lots of emails, and learning InDesign! Which was all incredibly helpful later on to be honest so I’m very happy that I learned all that. But at the same time, I do think the way LUMS under-budgets its publications society is…disillusioning. I felt a little defeated, as a writer specifically. That took a bit to come back from.

Let’s talk about Barrelhouse. Could you walk us through what it is and what it plans on achieving?

Ah. Well, Barrelhouse is an institution. I think the US literary scene is so vibrant and exciting, there’s so many literary magazines, both print and online, that it can be daunting and also hard to see from outside the US, apart from the big-wigs, say the Paris Review or the New Yorker. Barrelhouse is very much a healthy institution, it’s both in print and online and I’d been in awe of their pop culture-adjacent work for quite some time before I joined the team! I think it has incredibly ambitious plans. Apart from the magazine, we have conferences, workshops and even a Barrelhouse Books division, so it’s very much a community too. The wonderful thing about Barrelhouse is that in the US, starting out as a writer is very hard. Despite that, in just over the past year, we’ve had a print issue devoted to people who had never published before! We had a special issue for Latinx contributors. And now we have the desi issue!

I’m very proud that we’re really trying to fold people in, instead of keeping them out. And the work we receive (and we get so much) is just incredible. I have a question for you though before you ask another, hah. How daunting is it for you and other writers to be at LUMS and see the writing landscape that you hope to contribute to? I know the scene in Lahore has improved massively since I was there, with The Aleph Review and others. But I’m curious about your perspective.

I feel the opportunities are limited to start off with. By that I mean two things. First there has been a commercialization of writing. Most writing is not for the sake of evoking a sense of learning in the reader but for the sheer desire of earning.  My reference is towards freelance content writing etc.  Second, I feel there aren’t many institutions in Pakistan (like Barrelhouse) that would encourage writers to exhibit their creativity. Lastly, I feel Urdu creative writing has largely remain otherized from the realm of literature (particularly among our generation).

Yeah, 100% Bohat mushkil hai. I think this is true of everywhere but in Pakistan especially, newspapers rule the roost, nai? So LUMS students, if they’re prepared at all, are much more prepared to write non-fiction, or become journalists. Which is great! Even in the US, I got my start as a journalist. Laikin that lack of options, it’s sad. And non-English languages tou door ki baat hai! That’s even sadder. By the way, as a quick recommendation, if anyone hasn’t heard of or read Qurratulain Hyder’s Aag Ka Durya (or the English translation River of Fire) you must. I wish that was part of my education, but sadly it wasn’t.

Thank you.  I will look into that and ask others to do the same. Having said that could you explain to us a little about the collaboration? What’s the purpose of the project?  What exactly is Barrelhouse looking for?

So the reality is that Barrelhouse is a US-based magazine. Even people like me are based in the US. One day hopefully we can start crossing state lines better, but given that even India and Pakistan often don’t receive each others’ works, US is a whole other story. At the same time, this issue is the first collection of both native and diasporic South Asians. Shockingly, it hasn’t been done before! So yes, plenty of our contributors live in South Asia currently. I think with this issue we’re looking to show people that there’s a lot more to desi literature than the barray naam, Mohsin Hamid, Kamila Shamsie, Arundhati Roy etc. And God love their political views, I am a ride-or-die Arundhati Roy and Mohammad Hanif fan. So really it’s about desi writers kar kya rahein hain? And hopefully, with this issue where we have so many different genres and styles and aesthetics, some young desi writers will recognize themselves in it and feel a little less alone?

For example, one of our writers, Ahsan Butt, a Canadian-American writer wrote a really beautiful story called “The Installation”, sort of a noir essentially about a woman’s journey into a space where she experiences…death, perhaps? And I remember throughout the editing process I understood what he was doing only partially. And it’s only recently that I told him: “Ahsan, this is…philosophical fiction! And it’s keenly Muslim philosophy, perhaps a bit Sufi.” But it doesn’t immediately come off that way, it’s not on-the-nose, there’s nothing obvious about it. Aur hum “secular” log, we’ve become very used to “secular” fiction from our big-name authors, no? Or if not secular, they explore Islamophobia and other major political issues, but without really digging into issues of faith because let’s be honest, they’re all as secular as secular writers can be. I’m not much of a believer myself, but Ahsan’s story really did shock me. It made me think of all the religious people in my life and it made me understand and empathize with them. And koi terrorism sherrorism ki baat nai hai, you know?

Well, tell us about the literary usage of the word “Desi?” Do you think the issue is still a contentious one to date? By that I mean can you talk about negative connotation we have with the word when we have to refer to South Asian Brown writers.

That’s a great question. It’s, I think, the central question for this issue, for all our contributors.  See, now, I don’t know if this is true for you, but it’s definitely true for me and all the people I grew up with and the Indian friends I made in Chicago who had just moved from India, that we had never really questioned the word “desi.” I’ve always loved it, it seems like it includes all of us, all these people who are separated by borders and wars and violence and occupation, whether they’re in South Asia or abroad.

But that’s just not the experience of a lot of South Asians who grew up here! I remember being very surprised that “desi” was contentious actually, because in the US, the Kashmiri writer Feroz Rather told me, it’s sort of used to describe mostly North Indians and Pakistanis. So it’s used in very exclusionary ways and it’s become contentious. That said, can we reclaim that word? Itna barra sawaal hai, so all we can do is publish the conversations our contributors are having and leave it to readers to decide! We have completely different backgrounds and experiences, might as well show it!

What do you think, was desi ever contentious for you?

To be completely honest I have never heard South Asian writers being referred to as Desi. You know them mostly by their names, or their work is categorized as Brown (non white)  literature. I think this has more to do with the image the word evokes? What is the first thing that comes to my mind? A Pakistani writer (perhaps writing in Urdu)  for an audience based in the native country. A cohesive example in that regard: Manto or Patras Bukhari.  It’s difficult to associate the terminology Desi with say Mohan Hamid or Kamila Shamsie.

That’s interesting. I feel like I always unconsciously heard it used as anyone who was born in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, though I do think people excluded Sri Lanka and Nepal, and unfortunately, for obvious reasons, Kashmir. Or even anyone whose parents were born here but immigrated. Like hummaray cousins jo England gaye the, wo desi nai hain?

Half desi. Even Lumunites aren’t pure desis. I dont know who qualifies as desi anymore. Perhaps we should wait for the barrelhouse edition to tell us that!

Ah, so you mean privilege is a way to think about someone who is desi.

Upper middle class and rich people are less desi than everybody else. Like I said there is a negative connotation so yes desi is someone I would envisage as less privileged. But at the same time for me what it takes to be desi also constitutes your likes and dislikes. Listening to Bollywood songs makes you desi. On the contrary, listening to Tame Impala or sasta Edm doesn’t.

Ah, acha acha. Matlab, the opposite of burger. That’s interesting. I don’t think I ever grew up with that idea, but these things shift a lot! In this issue, some of the older writers have completely different perspectives to the others. For me, it’s a political imperative. Vijay Prashad has talked about this, but I don’t want to buy into nationalisms and country names and bureaucratic terms. Let’s open it all up. After all, we don’t deny Barack Obama’s “Blackness” because he’s wealthy.

I think privilege is very important, just not so much in the term desi for me. I hate words like paindu where they’re pejorative but a lot of my friends who are leftists like me just proudly call themselves paindu if they do come from lower income background. So…you know it’s tricky, but interesting. I can tell you, I feel like the creators of LOST: the issue will show conversations like this one. But it would be hard to find answers.

Do you think writers working for (or contributing to) Barrelhouse face some sort of backlash from the society at large. Considering from the documents you sent, some of the short stories revolve around controversial themes like homosexuality, human trafficking.

Well, yes. Of course! I talked about a story that’s very Muslim and it’s sitting right beside horror stories, queer narratives, we even have a really wonderful erotica story in the issue. I think that privilege plays a part in the fact that many if not all of the writers are somewhat insulated from backlash, either because they’re wealthy or live abroad. But it’s also something we shouldn’t necessarily be thinking about. After all, somehow, Mohammad Hanif’s A Case of Exploding Mangoes, which had very risque gay sex scenes, did very well critically!

I think when the day comes for a writer to face backlash on things like this, we need to reckon with state censorship. That’s our job making art. And art that isn’t provocative in some way or form isn’t pushing the needle forward.

Though, it’s fun to note that it’s not the first time desi writers are doing this. Ismat Chughtai, Manto, Faiz, Qurratulain Hyder were all extremely bold and provocative.

I’m so proud of our artists and the way they collaborated with the writers. Just all very radical artists doing great things with such intellect.

Acknowledging the fact that English literary work in Pakistan reaches just a small proportion of the total Pakistani population, do you think the creative work will be less impactful?

So, that’s an interesting question for two reasons. First, there actually are queer traditions in Punjabi, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, what have you. They’ve often been shoved under the rug but our lack of awareness about them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. I know people doing PhDs on exactly this. It does exist, and this idea that South Asian society is this homogenous monolith is obviously wrong.

Doosri baat yeh hai that interestingly in this issue we have writers who are very interested in having their work translated, and though it’s an English-language issue, there is actually some interplay with Urdu. “Barri Ammi” by Palvashay Sethi is one of those. It is an incredible story that I’m formatting right now that has Urdu script in it.I love that we’re not translating it. We’re not pandering to people who don’t read that language. If they want they can copy-paste it into Google Translate.

Impact tou mushkil sawaal hai. There are so many things that don’t have impact. Journalism from Indian-occupied Kashmir is so sparse, for example, for the most part we have no idea what it’s like for people in essentially the world’s biggest open-air prison. Feroz Rather who I mentioned earlier has a story that he’s really keen on writing for Kashmiri readers. So, it’s tricky, because scale is always tricky! But having the sort of institutional backing at Barrelhouse that we do helps us reach a lot of people. But even if it didn’t, I’d do it for the worth of even one person reading it and thinking “yaar, that feels like me/my family/my life!” Interestingly, Palvashay is a writer who is very keen on having all her work translated. Which is true for many of our contributors who’ve published books too.

Interesting. So my last question for you is: What are your expectations from the project? Are you keeping your hopes high *fingers crossed*?

Hah! I don’t know what my expectations are to be honest. I’ve been pouring myself into this for so long, and this is really a lifelong dream for me. I’ve wanted to do it ever since I can remember so right now, I just want to deliver. And then sleep!!! I do want to mention just in closing that I’m really excited to reconnect with PLUMS people for many reasons. And one of those reasons is very simply this sort of defeatist attitude that I think, when we are writers in LUMS, it’s such a natural thing to feel! Get a few likes on a post we’ve spent ages writing and it feels like no one’s reading and no one cares! That kind of environment is really stifling, so it’s not that I want to “give back” to be honest, it’s more that I wish writers who are coming into their own realize…it’s not hopeless! Haan, it’s hard work, crazy hard work.

I remember one time I was in Lahore right after the Youhanabad attacks and I was writing a story on it for Tanqeed. I remember feeling like the whole air around me changed when I brought it up with people. They just…didn’t want to talk about it! Or if they did, the Uncles we all have hahaha, they would be very nationalistic. The best conversation I had was actually with the maid who worked in our house at the time, who was Christian, and I just remember having this lovely conversation about how deeply the word “choora” hit as a pejorative, you know?

I think LUMS main we’re so used to self-criticizing ourselves as being in a bubble that we also…forget to leave it. Like, go to Youhanabad! Report on it! Talk to people. In Chicago some of the most life-changing experiences I’ve had was just me taking the subway all the way down south to the Black segregated neighborhoods and talking to them!

Now whether it’s journalism or fiction that comes out of it, does it matter? We can make art that matters. We probably have to get better at listening first. But it’s definitely not hopeless. The minute we buy into that, that’s when we’ve been censored. And especially with the Aurat March recently, we know what that censorship does over the long run! I’m so happy to see all of that, and disgusted by the response, but it’s a movement! Fiction has movements too! One of our artists quite literally was one of the most prominent activists in the Aurat March. And you can tell in her art!

Posted on

LUMS STREETSTYLE- AN INTERVIEW WITH ANQA KHAN

If you are an avid Instagram user, chances are that you might have at some point come across the page @lumsstreetstyle. With followers nearing 2000 in just a span of 5 months, the blog is a must-follow for all fashion enthusiasts out there. It doesn’t matter if you are into traditional wear or find yourself more presentable in Western clothing, LUMS Streetstyle has something for everyone!

Meet Anqa Khan, the person behind the blog! Although, she is originally an Econ-Pol major, her interests for fashion sees no boundaries at all.

PLUMS asked Anqa about her 5-month journey into fashion blogging, her inspirations/motivations and what at the end of the day keeps her going!

Tell us about LUMS streetstyle

“LUMS streetstyle is basically a fashion blog where I post anything related to “streetstyle fashion.” As the name suggests, I look for people here at LUMS and whosoever fits the requirements I have in mind gets featured on the page. Additionally, while the purpose of the blog is to highlight fashion trends, I also use it as a platform to give tips to general audience on how to dress and better etc. More importantly, I would say the page is about appreciation, validation and complementing people.”

How did you come up with this idea?

“Well to be completely honest, I never knew I would be doing all of this fashion blog thing. But a lot of people (mainly my friends) asked me start one and that’s how I got all my motivation. Also, for a very long time I had been following the hashtag #parisstreetsyle on Instagram, which I would say was an immediate reason for creating the LUMS streetstyle page.”

Have your friends been any supportive?

“A lot. I always make it a point to take advice from my friends before featuring anyone on the page. Funnily enough, there have also been times when my friend would literally force me to come downstairs from my dorm because they found someone well-dressed.”

 

Why Instagram? Why not Facebook or Snapchat? Do you plan on extending your idea further?

“Instagram is all about pictures! That is what my blog is about and that is what fashion is about. Regarding any extension plans? I don’t plan on shifting to either Facebook or Snapchat but I do want to personalize some aspects of my page.”

How do you decide what gets published on the page? In other words, is selecting a “well-dressed” individual something very spontaneous or you really have to try and look around?

“Its definitely not spontaneous, definitely not. I really have to try and look around people who would fit the requirements I have in mind. A lot of things matter, from shirts to shoes (no chappals, mind you!). But above all I also have to consider the quality of the picture.”

What are the three essential fashion elements you look for in a person?

  1. Formal dressing
  2. Contrasting colour
  3. Wearing something different but carrying it in a casual way

Speaking for the LUMS community, do you think people here do not value traditional wear as much as they do Western clothing? Are you tackling this notion somehow?

“I don’t think there is a biasness against traditional clothing. I have been giving equal importance to both the trends and on the other hand, I have seen people putting in a lot of effort in traditional clothing.   Honestly, weather has a big role to play in that regard. People prefer wearing Western because it keeps you warm in Winters while on the contrary, Shalwar Kameez are pretty comfortable to wear during summers. However, I do have one concern or rather a suggestion to make. I would advise guys to wear more Shalwar Kameez or Kurtas. It looks so good on them but more often than not you will only see them wearing on Fridays. “

Talk us through your collaboration with RGB and other clothing brands?

“I have collaborated with two clothing brands so far: RGB and Perfect Tee Company. I think that’s a big success considering it has just been one semester since I first started the blog.
So, these two brands wanted to target the LUMS community and they reached out to me for help. I have enjoyed and liked the collaboration a lot. It gave me control over my creative space where I knew my opinion was being validated and given weightage.”

Who is your fashion inspiration?

“Don’t get me started on that! It’s a long and a very exhaustive list but I will try cutting it down short. First and foremost, as I mentioned earlier, I am a lot into Paris Streetstyle and I try following different pages on social media that reflect on Parisian fashion vibes. Its very minimalistic yet sophisticated at the same time.
I religiously follow Nicole Kidman’s Instagram. Just love her fashion sense. Closer to home, Amrita Thakur is one of my favorite fashion bloggers/style curator. In Pakistan, Khadija Shah, the owner of Elan also has inspired me all along this way.”

 

What is the future outlook like for your fashion blog? Do you plan on pursuing your passion in some other ways?

“My dream job is to be a style curator following the footsteps of Amrita Thakur and start my own fashion company. I realize this plan seems quite farfetched at this point. However, I hope my Econ-Pol degree lands me a job in fashion retail business where I can be a corporate cool along with enjoying my passion.
As far as my blog is concerned, I realize the page will not be restricted to LUMS and inevitably has to spread out. However, my short-term goal at the moment is to focus more on personalizing the account.”

Posted on

Student Council Elections 2019

I have had the unique displeasure of being involved in the Student Council elections since my Freshman year in the loosest sense of the word. My involvement was limited to talking to the few friends I had and maybe providing emotional support (or so I like to think). Ah the delight of being friends with extracurricular overachievers when you’re an anti-social wallflower. This article will probably not be a scathing expose of the underbelly of LUMS’ elections. It’s more likely to be the rantings of a coward too afraid to say anything directly to their friends so they hide behind hollow words and digital code.

 

I do not wish to suggest that the elections are irredeemably bad. In their best form, they are a necessary endeavor that give students a taste of real world responsibility and even a window into politics. It is a chance to stimulate conversation about issues that are relevant on campus such as the smoking policy, excessive PDA, rise of campus surveillance. Ideally, we would see intellectually engaging debates between candidates on these issues and be privy to long and comprehensive manifestos that reflect the thought and effort that went into it. The reality is much different.

 

Come every Spring Semester, like clockwork, the cycle begins again. The batch lists come out, the Khoka chillings increase, and every action becomes shrouded with a veil of “are they doing that with an ulterior motive?”.

 

One key characteristic of election season is secrecy. Ironically, a system of elected representation that is supposedly built on the tenets of accountability, is one that is surrounded by the most whispers, huddles and midnight rendezvous in the male dorms. What makes this process the most nefarious is that elections are a continuum. They do not end with one semester worth of campaigning. With the prevalence of lobbies based on cities (cough Karachi cough) and A level schools, (cough LGS cough) elections are a system of deals cut to secure present votes for future support. You get us *insert number here* votes now, and we will support your candidate next year. But next year comes, someone from your lobby wants to run, and those promises become “we never said that”. What is left, is bad blood and dents in your credibility which further cements the alliance system. A real life application of Realpolitik, no doubt! Bismarck would be proud.

 

Elections also seem to dominate your entire life. Even if you are seemingly disconnected from the political process, it will find a way to haunt you in some manner. Even playing rung at the khoka becomes the LUMS equivalent of middle aged uncles and their dining room conversation surrounding politics. LDF is not spared either. It is a close race between those posting soliloquies about the qualities of their candidates and those who are penning diatribes of being ambushed by candidates who are responsible for their tardiness to class.

 

You have to give credit where its due, however. LUMS students are nothing if not extremely resourceful. Being millennials, how can anything be divorced from technology? We have learned to introduce campaigning to the digital age. Extensive excel sheets of the batch list are drawn up and progress reports are updated after talking to each person. It is all very Black Mirror. Personal privacy in LUMS? What’s that? You might think no one has ever thought of you like that, you’re so far removed from all this. No, you are not. As long as you are a person who can vote, you are on the list. You will be getting a message to meet, or a friendly Jehovah’s Witness-esque knock on your door.

 

Student Council elections have become about a stick measuring contest (you know what I actually wanted to say) more than anything else. I know I am far from neutral and am being a hypocrite by saying this but…. Ignore all of these noxious aspects of the elections. Keep your head down and just go to the debates. Listen to the candidate’s speeches, ask for their manifestos, question them about their beliefs. Use your critical thinking, make an informed decision and sideline all these alliances and associations. Maybe you will not revolutionize the election process in LUMS, but you will have done your part.

 

(P.S. the author realizes that the context for this article has passed but hey! I don’t mind talking smack about SC any time. This was supposed to come out in the edition of the PLUMS dispatch before the elections. But I’m sure it’ll all apply to next year’s elections as well. Ah thank goodness for the unchanging nature of this awful institution.)

Posted on

GETTING THROUGH THE SUMMERS SEMESTER @LUMS: 10 TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND!

The Spring Semester always has a bitter-sweet ending. On one hand, you have the graduating batch, with their sleeves rolled up, ready to step out of the LUMS bubble into the practical world. Arguably it’s not always a very pleasing sight to witness. Scroll down any of your social media accounts, for instance, flooded with utterly sad posts reminiscing on the wonderful yet nostalgic time at the Khoka, regretting every missed Khoka-chilling opportunity available. LUMS is(was) like a home for the graduating seniors and it seems as if the wounds of nostalgia might never heal.

On the contrary, you have another group of people who seem somewhat displeased with spending some additional time at the university! There might not be one single reason to belong to this particular group but usually, individuals enrolling for summer semester make up the largest proportion. As if watching all of their friends leave off for vacations wasn’t enough, the scorching heat of Lahore did much to fester their grievances further.

Talk about walking from the free parking to the classroom amidst 40 degrees mid-day temperature! Perhaps that the time when these individuals feel the guiltiest wondering why they had to force themselves through this misery. Life would have been much easier had they thoroughly followed the handbook guidelines (or not failed a course…….ooops!)

From what seems to be the case: summers at LUMS doesn’t sound much appealing. Blazing Lahori heat coupled with no friends to hang out with is not what most LUMINITES would approve of. But understandable at the same time, when enrolling in a summer semester is the only viable option available for timely graduating.

Having said all of that, there are fortunately ways you can go about to overcome your Summertime Sadness at LUMS. Following these tips perhaps may not make your stay an utterly enjoyable memory, but they will definitely get you through the season.

Here are some essential tips I came up with:

  • Try enrolling in morning courses: Yes, by that I mean 8 AMs! It might seem very arduous to get yourself out of bed but trust me you avoid the unbearable scorching afternoon heat. Early summer mornings are reasonably pleasant, and you can easily walk your way to class.
  • Take a swim at the aquatic center: There can possibly be no better way to beat the summer heat than taking a dip in the swimming pool. Added advantage? You burn an extra number of calories without your clothes drenched in sweat! Try utilizing the morning or afternoon slots to avoid the rush evening hours. Fortunately for your cause, the pool temperature is set around 25C which is perfect for a summer swim.

  • Get to know your peers: The summer semester offers you a great opportunity to interact with other people around you mainly because most are pretty much in the same boat as you are in.
  • Say NO to daytime Khoka chillings: Khoka chillings seem very tempting irrespective of the season, but you have to learn to say NO to your chiller friends (particularly during daytime).
  • Sit somewhere cold: If you really have a compulsive urge to chill with your new friends then look out for a place better than the Khoka. You have student lounge as one viable option, Jammin as another. Or if you are someone like me who loves experiencing the tranquility of the library, then that place too has its doors open.

  • The Summer Essentials: By Summer Essentials, I mean a whole lot of things! Let’s start with your attire. Wear anything as long as you feel comfortable in them. I would personally prefer and recommend Shalwar Kameez, not just because the dress evokes patriotism, but it keeps your body a whole lot cooler. Buy a sunscreen with the right SPF to avoid burns and skin damage. Sunglasses and cap are always a plus!
  • Sleep in the common room: The dorms do not have a personal air conditioner for every room. You can have the air diffusing out of the huge central chiller into your room only if you keep the door open. For a number of reasons, that’s a No! Lock your stuff up, take your mattress and lay down in the common room. There are two air-conditioners installed on the parallel sides of the wall and funnily enough, at times, it gets unbearably chilly
  • Keep yourself hydrated: I can recall numerous instances at LUMS where people have passed out due to severe dehydration. While, it’s hot right now, in a matter of a few months, the weather is going to get utterly humid. Consequently, the humidity will make you sweat a lot. Therefore to replenish your body’s water requirements, it is imperative that you keep yourself hydrated at all times.
  • Schedule a summer trip: If you have been able to successfully fit in with the other summer semester peers, plan out a summer trip to strengthen the friendship bond. Over the course of the season, you will notice numerous trips being arranged to the northern areas of Pakistan. The temperature in these places tends to remain well below 20C. This coupled with splendid natural scenery is a perfect way to relax on the weekend.

And finally

  • Do not forget about the monsoon season: The monsoon rain in Lahore can come out as pretty harsh! The roads often get flooded which becomes a hassle if you are a day-scholar. Additionally, be mindful of any power outage that might result and lead to a complete blackout. Keep an emergency light in your room along with a rechargeable fan. It’s good to have weather updates on your phone so you know exactly when you need to carry an umbrella.
Posted on

PAKISTAN IN WORLD CUP 2019- A HOPE AGAINST ALL ODDS?

The 4-year long wait is over! The eagerly awaited ICC Cricket World Cup is just around the corner with top 10 teams ready to clash with one another. The hosts England, possibly enjoying the best form in their cricketing history, are being attributed as favourites for the tournament. But teams like Australia and India, are not going to easily let their hands off the world cup. The Aussies have become a stronger unit with the inclusion of Captain Steve Smith and David Warner after both completed their one-year ban on charges of match-fixing. India enters the world cup with arguably the best batting lineup of the tournament, led by their fearful captain: Virat Kohli. On the other hand, underdogs like Afghanistan and Bangladesh are all charged up to cause major upsets.

Sarfaraz and his boys landed in the UK about a month earlier before the commencement of the tournament, to play a 5-match ODI series against the world cup hosts. The first match was subjected to the cold showers of London, but in the ODIs to follow the Pakistan XI could not achieve much against mighty England. To what turned out to be a 4-match series ended with the Shaheens whitewashed 4-nil subsequently registering their 11th consecutive ODI defeat. This was also the very first time in history that a team had conceded the greatest number of 300+ scores in an ODI series.

 

The Myth & Reality

So, where do I see Pakistan in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019?

Well, let me start off by refuting some common myths circulating around the social media, most pointing towards the sheer assertion that history might just repeat itself this time around too.

  1. “We won the last edition of the champions trophy in 2017 and our players are well suited for pitches in England”

Sure, Pakistan’s track record in the UK may be better than other teams but it’s not phenomenal to say at the very least. The Champions Trophy was a culmination of unpredictability with odds luckily landing in the favor of Sarfaraz. I do not believe that we can actually draw an equivalent comparison with this year’s world cup for two main reasons. The latter, promises to be much more competitive this time, with Pakistan having to face all participating teams (unlike the case in CT’17). Second and more importantly, we can see a drastic change in the way pitches in UK have behaved recently. Opponents with a stronger batting line-up have certainly gained an advantage over those with a weaker batting department. Additionally, the pitches offer little or nothing for the bowlers which is itself a big cause of worry for Pakistan.

  1. “We have a feeling this world cup is going to bring back memories of ‘92”

Simple answer: A lot has changed since then! Perhaps, if we had bowlers who could match the likes of Waqar Younis and Wasim Akram or consistent middle-order batsmen like Javed Miandad and Inzamam-ul-Haq then we could possibly draw a better comparison between ’92 and 2019

Optimism in Times of Despair

From all that appears, there seems to be no room for optimism with respect to Pakistan’s prospect in the world cup. But having said that let us not forget that Sarfaraz and his boys have the tendency to turn the tables in no time. With high spirits coupled with prayers from the homeland, there is still a flicker of hope……

The Amir-Kohli Clash

Kohli in an interview said that Mohammad Amir is the only bowler in the world who had given him a tough time batting. But its hard to forget the final of the Champions Trophy when the world’s best batsman fell prey to the fast in-swinging delivery of Amir. Fans from both sides of the borders will be glued to their television, anticipating yet again a tough competition between the two.

Brilliance of Babar Azam

Babar’s presence in the team is a breath of fresh air for his teammates and coach Mikey Arthur. Currently ranked 7th in the ICC ODI Batsmen Ranking, he averages above 50 and has 9 centuries to his name. Fans are hopeful that Babar will carry the tremendous form he has exhibited into the World Cup. There all the more reasons to be optimistic when you have a master-class player like him.

Fakhar-Imam Duo

Imam-ul-Haq, for long, has been criticized for failing to justify his position in the team. However, the much-needed score of 150 against England came at just the right time and selectors had finally something to cheer about. Fakhar Zaman, on the other hand, known for his hard-hitting ability can provide with the early momentum in the first few overs of the innings. Fans are hopeful that the Fakhar-Imam duo is the opening pair, the team was desperately in need of.

A Strong Pace Attack

If the batting lineup was subjected to collapses, the bowling department was there to provide with some sort of support. Chief Selector Inzamam-ul-Haq made the final call of including 3 left-arm and 2 right arm pacers for the world cup. Amidst the controversy sparked by the non-inclusion of Junaid Khan, fans seem adequately satisfied with a right arm-left arm combination balance. Wahab Riaz returns back after a gap of 2 years and his three quick wickets against Afghanistan in the warm-up game has certainly bolstered his confidence. But it’s the 18-year-old Mohammad Hasnain who has surprised everyone with his astonishingly fast pace. There is simply no denying that when Pakistani bowling is at its best, nothing can stop the Shaheens from winning!

Hope Against All Odds

Pakistan will  officially start their world cup proceedings on 31st May against the out-of-form West Indies. Every game cannot be considered anything less than a do-or-die situation. A win against the Windies will do much to raise the team morale when they next face the favourites for the tournament: England. 16th June marks the day when the ultimate rivalry between India and Pakistan takes place at Old Trafford, Manchester.

It is definitely hard to predict how Pakistan will end up performing in the world cup because the unpredictability factor can possibly never be ruled out. This team over the course of its cricketing history has at various points chased down mammoth totals. But numerous instances can be recalled where a meagre total of 150 seemed a task too arduous in its undertaking.

That being said, there is room for optimism as long as both the batting and the bowling departments are able to excel in their respective areas. The fans back home will be praying for the team’s success in the holy month of Ramzan. It’s about time Sarfaraz and his boys give in their best atleast for the well-wishes of their beloved fans.

Here is to hoping!

Posted on

Godspeed, PLUMS! A Farewell Note by the Vice President

Like you, I also feel a social pressure to write something cool, but for a moment, let’s be ourselves. Let’s bravely face our humble, real selves and leave our cool masks on the shelf. We, millennials, associate our identity with  plenty of artefacts; social media, pop culture, Netflix and the stories they tell. We know these distant, detached stories told to us; those that we can only see or hear through a device, but not touch or smell. We know less of our own selves and the immediate surroundings which can be seen, heard, touched, smelt and felt – realities that are more certain than the former. We all carry an urge to be “cosmopolitan middle class individuals through indulging in transnational consumerism of things, ideas, ideologies and cultures”. But imagine that internet or cable networks cease to exist today; then what are you? Who are we? How will we have conversations? The consequences will be horrendous: our Johnny self will become Jamshéd and will fall short of “pickup lines”.

“World will always look for unstable, impulsive, hormone-imbalanced youth to further its propaganda on one hand, and grumpy, old, arrogant lot on the other.”

Our identities depend on these distant stories so much that if they cease to exist, we would be nothing. This is our weakness. We have built the world around us, but there is nothing inside.

پڑھ پڑھ علم  ہزار کتاباں،  کدی اپنے آپ  نوں  پڑھیا  نئیں

جا جا وڑھدا اے مندر مسیتی، کدی من اپنے وچ وڑھیا نئیں

We must link the immediate with the distant. As our sense of reality is dislodged from our immediate surroundings, we are pushed to a conundrum of expectations that inculcate a façade of a “certain” future. But that “future” never happens. You’ll be asked to connect the dots, but the expectations will align them in a way that the line goes in a direction that the “expectors” wish. When we pursue life with a detached sense of reality, we deceive and lie to ourselves about the “is” through “ought”. The world disappoints us each time; and unlike our numb “reality”, these contradictions are felt bitterly through all our senses! As what is, exists independent of what we think is, and we do not run over the bus when we have our arms crossed, the bus still runs over us.

I’ve been believing in something so distant,
as  if  I  was human!

I’ve been denying this feeling of hopelessness,
in  me;  in  me!

So much in this world, ultimately, tends to move from instability to stability. Perhaps that explains our need for certainty and meaning. But to reach the highest level of certainty, we need to conjoin all our senses to know, than relying on only seeing and hearing through devices. We are only exposed to the ‘distant’; detached from the ‘immediate’. We are an unstable generation plagued with a weaker sense of certainty than our ancestors. Perhaps this is the “instability” that reflects as mental illnesses, among other reasons?

I have built this as a foundation to encourage you towards “originality”, and “being yourself” in your creative projects, which you must understand in terms of eliminating the problem I have  put  forth.  We  are  a society, a community that has a common goal: writing. All our departments work together to produce this end, learning manifold skills in the process. As I see a promising future of this newspaper, it is imperative  that we preclude this ‘millennial problem’ of detached reality, disconnected from our immediate surroundings, in our writings. Let’s link the distant to the immediate. Right now, for instance, we are students at a university. What being a “student at LUMS” means, is for us to define; not just the administration or faculty; not Google; not Instagram, not JSTOR and certainly not Netflix.

کوئ  دور  رہ  کے  قریب  ہے

کوئ قریب رہ کے بھی دور ہے

Should we be “critical”? A popular concern found in the students’ culture these days, is of “thinking out of the box”. What we don’t realise is that when we go out of the box, we jump into another box and stay there. Should we, then, keep jumping through the boxes persistently to facilitate inquiry? I never really understood that. If you wish to “deconstruct”, you find yourself in Jacques Derrida’s box—you may choose to stay there, perhaps because it’s a “French” box.  But following the earlier logic, no matter how much we jump, we are tempted to make a box around us; of certainty; of stability; and stay there even when it starts corrupting with contradictions. And do you see, we have the audacity to see this world in a “horse shoe”? If we realise our surprising abilities, no horse shoe will be able to theorise us.

If we believe that there are no absolute right or wrong – or no “box” – we will still be tempted to generalize our personal right and wrong to the world. Maintaining a façade of acceptance of others’ values counts to nothing if, by practice, we still move towards the absolute in many respects. Just because we say or believe that we are not, does not change the practical reality and its consequences. Isn’t that we are tolerant in being, tolerant in sayings, but intolerant in doings? Though we have grown apparently elastic in it, we still compete to be the demagogue.

As this society is relieved from resource dependencies, you will witness this newspaper leaning towards such direction, which will be an existential threat. I already see certain factions running after it like wild hounds. There is apparently a consensus among the academics that being completely value neutral is impossible. For a person, I find it true to a vast extent, but not for the institutions. For a newspaper that hosts a constellation of persons, using this consensus to justify propaganda is precarious; it can compromise free speech, result in compelled speech and a lack of diversity. You will see dominance of one narrative and exclusion of others. The contrarians will be discouraged to write or enter the society altogether. The newspaper will attract a label and facilitate cult formations on either sides, which is a catastrophe. We don’t want to see an “Intellectual Dark Web”, do we? Cults are, by definition, exclusive; when you make one cult, four more cults will be formed around you. Would you wish such a campus?

I declare this society open for all kinds of students—Northerners and Southerners alike, brand schoolers and non-brand schoolers alike—if they can think originally and be themselves. For how long can we hide behind an arbitrary grandiose of city, or a brand name of a social engineering factory? We are someone else too, without association to these jewels; someone more than a market niche. We must not be eager to replicate the tyranny of the world inside the campus. The world outside is, but a huge ego-sizing contest. In reality, their ego is the same; it is the gazing of the shadows that misguides them. Thus, those who are farther from the light, see  bigger shadows of their egos, and those who are closer, know their place and that of humanity very well. I encourage you to be the latter, and not the former.

The media in the world too, is accused of showing a distorted reality to facilitate narratives. They have to, but we dont. As I depart, I recommend the Editorial Board of PLUMS to maintain as much value neutrality in the editorial policies as it is possible, and to avoid implicit and explicit association with any ideology or narrative that must govern all writers. As I stated earlier, we will be tempted to turn populist, towards any side of the spectrum. But the highest level of maturity is when we strictly observe that what we are tempted to do is not always what we should do. Though it generally happens in the world outside, it is not best for us students. We are here to learn acceptance of differences, not activism and propaganda; the former is harder to learn; the latter is, or soon will be, instilled in us by the logic of the world anyway; as we let it.

Another reason why I deplore propaganda through the newspaper and its unapologetic affiliation with a narrative is to keep us students from being used. We get used by the things we don’t know how to use. We don’t control the narratives that we are a mouthpiece of, someone else does; who doesn’t love us as much as we begin to. How does religious fundamentalism use us, tapping into our beliefs, which they don’t themselves respect? How does right capitalism use us, taking advantage of our greed, avarice and vanity; feeding us theories of individual agents, then treating us as collective? And how does neo-Marxism and postmodernism use us, capitalizing on the “millennial weaknesses” these days? Karl Marx or Karl Mask? Taking a moral high-ground in the comfort of the blanket about the complicated world (immediate reality) that we never interacted with! Have we read a book called the world? What we say, remains in our throat, as we say so to be sublime characters, online or otherwise. It was all a meaningless hashtagging and posting, until they said it can change the world, and we adopted it impulsively to get meaning, stability and certainty in what we were habitual of doing meaninglessly. Can it really change the world? We were never critical of its premises, as what the world is and which direction of “change” it must follow, are not questions devoid of narratives, shortcomings and interests. The list above is not exhaustive or literal, be imaginative! We are in a world of defenseless lawyers and diseased doctors. All in all, we are not the end for them all, but a means to an end unknown to us.

Some cover their propaganda under cunning “rationality”, others facilitate demagoguery by a façade of compassion and piety. Serving humanity in saying, could be feeding our vanity in doing. They are a “public consent” away from a vulgar dictatorship that they had been hiding all along. Seemingly benign, inherently sinister!

Faking compassion for politics, rather; harms the very regime of it, by making the public skeptical of its discourse whenever it is signaled—failing to distinguish the fake from the genuine. Let the postmodernists disagree.

ہے علم جسے ہو حاجتِ  اندازِ بیان، محض رعب
پاک علم ہو گرچہ سادہ، کرے شعلہ بیان زدوکوب

Yet another choice is edginess, but that too is meaninglessly endless. You get edgy, edgier, edgiest and then what? You “walk over the edge”?

Though I am a big fan of feminists, as they say “men are trash”, I rather contend; why are they so lenient? How about the whole world is trash? Why is there a food-chain? We complain about the game theory, but why are the
resources scarce? Isn’t water running out, in our immediate reality? What will we do? If the world is this trash, does that imply we must adjust and be trashy ourselves? Or that we must manage to make it less trashy? How do we do it? Resource allocation? Modernization? Eliminating grand narratives? Revivalism? Hedonism? World abnegation? Self-purification? Which is the best answer? No one is sure. Façade of certainty! We are all internally scared and insecure; and we hide this behind the veil of vanity. Some get to shout and hurl through a pedestal; others get to sit with a European leg-cross at an NGO’s event. Their sayings are not doings, and doings are not what they speak of; their thinkings are not feelings, and feelings are not for what they think; their beings are not what they are, and what they are, they don’t want to be! They are distant, and all alike. They will bring us nothing, but make us become like them. You’ll be swimming through life somewhere, but your heart will float elsewhere; the heaviest of its pieces will be drowned, others will go here and there.

حق نوں آکھ کہ ہک کرے

ترا    ٹوٹا    پھوٹا     دل 

But the world will always look for unstable, impulsive, hormone-imbalanced youth to further its propaganda on one hand, and grumpy, old, arrogant lot on the other. We must spare ourselves from this game, at least as long as we are in the university or in the learning stage – or in a hormonal imbalance, for that matter.

Growing up is not a choice, but a necessity, for if we act like a pre-pubescent kid, the world will treat us like one; that treatment will less resemble that of our parents and more so of pedophiles. We would never know when, where and how were we ripped off.

Yet I’m militantly against pessimism, though I know that my words reek of it. But it only reeks to those who have learned to be governed by it; I have conjured all optimism in my Urdu poetry; those who cannot read it, missed out on it.

ٹھانی تھی دل میں اس نے اک آرزوۓ عروج

کہ  کردار   باکمال   ہو ،  شجاع   خوب  خوب

کروں  میں کچھ ایسا  کہ عالم حیراں   ہوجاۓ

ٹالوں  میں  وہ  بلا،   کسے  ٹالی  نہیں  کبھو

ملے  اسے    جلال  و  اضطراب  و  استطاع

مگر    بلا   نہ   آئ ،   بلا    ٹالتا    وہ   کیا

جب  کام  ہی  نہ  تھا    تو  کامیاب   کیا  ہوتا

نہ  تھا کوئ  فرعون  تو  موسیٰ وہ  کیا  ہوتا

جانا، کہ   مصیبت  بھی   ہے  اک نعمت  خدا

مانا،  کہ  اہم ہیں   یہ  فتن ، فِسق  اور زبوں

نہیں  ہے  دنیاۓ عفریت و عزازیل بلا  مقصد

دجال   نہ    فضول،   نہ   یاجوج  وَ ماجوج

The only acceptable activism is one that originates from yourself; from your immediate reality, that is: you are a student at a university—which is just one shallow instance. What concerns do you face being a student? Ask yourself! Would you not speak of non-profits shifting from social service provision to a mere donation collection; from “altruism” to “greed”? Do you see your peers implicitly excluding NOP scholars and then rant on LDF about mutual acceptance? Do you  recognize imposters amongst you, who talk of feminism, tolerance and piety, but do the opposite? But first sweap your own house, as the most immediate is, yourself. For us, it is less terrible, as this is our age of making mistakes; though it’s over for those who sit in offices. It is when you are aware of the immediate reality first, you are good to talk about the distant matters, while maintaining a link. And for that, you do not need to follow an ideology or a school of thought. No PhD knows more than you, what being a student at this university today feels like. You own this domain. You have the right and legitimacy to speak out through the platforms that PLUMS provides. Lastly, be critical, but not in the manner described earlier.

Words never erupt out of a newspaper to grab anyone’s collars. I have no right to obligate you to listen, nor have you, to constrain me to explain. As through this, I do not seek the limelight; I never wanted to be noticed. But I humbly put these words out, so the consequences that are not consistent with them, are off my shoulders. Mera Ranjhan hun Koi Hor!

If Harvard Crimson can last more than a century, this newspaper can last as long as LUMS itself, and it will (IA). With this hope, I bid farewell, both, as the Vice President of PLUMS (EC’19) and as a student at LUMS. Khuda Hafiz!

 

 

 

Posted on

What is it about Khoka Chillings?

“This is a satire piece, learn to laugh, you will definitely live longer”

What makes LUMS, LUMS at the end of the day?

When I pause to ponder over this question, my mind reverts back to Oweek’17. I had the privilege of being coached by someone who till this very day abides strongly with what he said on Day 1.

Agar LUMS mei kabhi chill krna ho toh friends kay sath Khoka(y) pr beth jao

In fact, that is how I first picked up on the term Khoka chillings. No matter what part of the semester is, the green benches adjacent to the drive lane, right outside the Khoka Shop are the way out. Be it flunking a quiz to expressing your valuable take on the PDA issue, Khoka is the place that allows you to illustrate on your LUMS (and life) experience(s).

But what is all the hype about?

This spring semester provided me with the opportunity to explore the university (and myself) in a very non-conventional and nuanced way. Simply put, quite different from what & how your Oweek coaches would describe. Thankfully to my cause, I had a friend alongside who was ready to contribute her input into the matter.

The other day both of us sat down to grab a cup of chai. From what was initially a normal friends conversation went on a tangent of dissecting the place in front of us: the Khoka!

We were not surprised to see the place crowded with people because that is usually how Friday afternoons appear to be. Although you would expect some of them to return back home.

Making full use of the spare time we had, the two of us embarked on a mission to understand Khoka. What is it about the place? Who are these people you get to see every day? And finally (and most importantly), Is the Khoka hype really worth it?

Dissecting Khoka

You are mistaken if you thought Khoka was a term that originated in LUMS. Sure, the word is used more frequently than it would possibly be used outside the vicinity of the institution. But Yes, there are Khokas outside LUMS as well

In the literal sense of the word, Khoka is primarily a shop on the corner of a street where people would sit down, have a tea coupled with some ‘gup-shup’.

Well, in one way or the other, the literal meaning does relate to what actually happens at LUMS. Yet, there are some particularities which I have observed and found worth mentioning here.

It’s about the same type of people you get to witness on a daily basis, and possibly wearing the same type of outfit over and over again. Mind you I mean the guys in jogger pants with an Adidas jacket and Nike shoes (without socks) above all to complement the combination.

Let’s dissect the Khoka starting from the drive lane.

You exit your car at this location possibly because you want to mingle in with the Khoka chillers. The first thing you notice? There are people everywhere, literally everywhere. Finding a spare bench might be impossible at this point so all you have to do now is find anyone you know and try fixing in. That anyone could be someone from your Oweek group, society or an individual you asked notes from and they were nice enough to share them with you.  Which in a way explains how LUMS freshies actually begin their friendships. 

All you need to do is force yourself in with a group that wouldn’t possibly mind your presence. They probably do but unfortunately, are too shallow to exhibit their concerns out front. 

If you manage to look around, each bench has a group although appearing to be the same but doing somewhat a different activity. The conversation centres around LUMS life, quizzes, gossips etc. Not that, you, as an individual find the conversation(s) meaningful, but there is no other choice.  You have to fix yourself in because you need validation from the group members.

But what about the time when all the conversations seem meaningless and no one has any contribution to make? In that case, start playing Rung! There is no reason why you should even get up from that bench.

Manage to look closely at the Poondi Benches!  You come across a bunch of seniors, not in any way appearing to be worried about their future prospects. At that point, all that matters: a cigarette and some Tame Impala music to make most of the situation.

If you ever have to sit at a Khoka Bench, the one adjacent to the shop window is a straightforward NO! Mainly for two reasons: a) Ijaz bhai has an exhaust installed at that location which essentially means you expose yourself to unbearably hot air. b) There is always some society thing happening on that bench.

Not going to point out which society, in particular, occupies the bench the most, but you know who you are.

Perhaps the environment of the Khoka wasn’t lit enough for these society people and the only way to overcome that is to make everyone listen to Faded by Alan Walker in the loudest possible volume. If people disapprove of the song (which normally should be the case) then you have some NFAK qawalis as a viable alternative.

Not going to mention the windows, they are always reserved for certain kinds of people.

Move a bit ahead to land yourself in the extended part of the Khoka. LUMS literally had to make an extension to accommodate more Chillers.

The story is a bit different here. You possibly won’t come across people playing rung or listening to EDM rather the benches have supposedly a different purpose altogether. If you don’t run into some faculty members, then mind you there will be some birthday celebration happening. Long story short, the Extended Khoka, on a comparative, happens to be much more peaceful and calmer. Although who knows, it probably won’t be long before the Chillers take over this part as well

Conclusion?

There is no conclusion. Try being a little nerd and experience the tranquillity of the LUMS library.

 

Why miss out on Khoka Chillings when you can keep office hours at the Khoka!

 

 

 

Posted on

Sonder and Mokita: In conversation with Haider Ilahi

“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge”- Stephen Hawking

There is something to be said about a person who draws knowledge from the world, the people and the events surrounding him, the good and the bad; and turning it into a symphony of words that speaks to the soul. Like a tree with its roots firmly in the ground with the world spinning quickly by, as years turning into aeons; people into a kaleidoscope of colours whirling into a spectacular illustration; time burdening it with its age-old secret and the dawning truth ageing it further every day.

There is nothing more radical than to learn, unlearn and relearn oneself from the knowledge that one is provided with and it was by chance that I stumbled upon somebody quite similar to that. From the batch of 2019, Mr Haider Ilahi tells us about what he learnt so far from his experience as a member of the LUMS community and how it shaped him as a person.

Sleepless due to reading Songs of Blood and Sword the whole night, downing a cup of coffee and making our way towards Khoka in the chilly November morning, I and my two friends went to meet Mr.Ilahi as he greeted us with a polite smile.

We started off by asking him about his routine.

Q: How do you usually spend your day?

 A: Previously, I would sleep and wake up very late. I wanted to adjust my routine since it was messing my day up. Directing my biological clock to wake up at 6 am, I started rising to a clean, empty and quiet campus giving me a clear head to think. I have my breakfast and then do my readings outside with the music always playing in the background. Then my friends begin to wake up and I start wasting time (smiles!). By the end of the day, I go to bed early usually around 10 or 11 pm and even though it’s really hard, I still try to maintain this routine.

Q: What kind of literature do you like?

A: I used to read a lot of fiction but I am lucky in the respect that I really like the courses that I take. So, primarily, having just started my senior year, this is the first semester that I am really involved with my course packs. Usually, it would be me opening my books only during a mid or a final, but now it’s constant. So, whenever I am free and have to read something, I’ll do a reading of the course that legitimately interests me like philosophy or sociology. When I do have the time, I try to find novels and books suggested by friends. But I hardly have the time right now, so it seems to be just course packs.

Q: What about your childhood book-preferences?

A: It would be novels, crime stories, and detective stories. Even now, some of the favourite books that I go back to are fiction; which I used to read when I was really young. So, uh, it wouldn’t be surprising that I go back to those Famous Five books (we all laugh) that usually send me back to my childhood. But other than that, philosophy would be my preferred genre.

Q: What made you decide upon your current major?

A: I had an understanding that I would do Political Sciences but my father wanted me to have an open mind about choosing another major if it appealed to me. He personally wanted me to take Economics but, ultimately, he left the choice on me saying that I should analyze my penchant as well as my strengths and weaknesses. When I came as a freshman, I took a month or two to contemplate and then decided on doing Pol Sci and stuck with it. Despite that, even though I am a Pol major and its requirements aren’t very stringent, I promised myself that I’ll take up courses from other disciplines as well except for SDSB, which I had to take eventually as an out-group (the word ‘unfortunately’ was left unsaid). This really broadened my perspective as a whole.

Q: Apart from studying, what hobbies do you indulge in like sports etc?

A: I used to play a lot of football before I came to LUMS. For some personal reasons, I gave that up. It was hard because at that point football was the only thing I was really passionate about. So when I gave it up, I had to sort of find a replacement for it; something to keep me active in a way. Then by the end of my sophomore year and the beginning of my junior year, I found that spark in a specific branch of academics. Met with a couple of teachers who really inspired me to align my goals and ambitions. So if I had to choose now in retrospect, I’ll always choose this over football as it is something much more fulfilling and gratifying.

Since he mentioned music previously,

Q: What about your taste in music and did it develop over time?

A: Yeah, it did develop over time. If I had to go and pick one genre, it would be Blues. I have discovered some of the most incredible blues artists from the 60s and even early 30s. Other than that, since it’s in my blood probably, I have recently started to get really deep into Sufi qawwalis since almost all qawwalis do use spiritual and Sufi takes. As my Punjabi isn’t really good, I have sort of become a student of that. So, 50% it’s qawwali and 50% it’s blues.

Q: What are your thoughts on Iqbal since you mentioned that you respect his philosophy?

A: Well, I can’t talk about Iqbal without talking about society because even my own opinion is formed partly due to society. So when I was growing up, I understood Iqbal as how he was taught: “Qoumi Shayar hain” and “Unko Pakistan ka khwaab aya tha”; that’s all very nice and cute but in my junior year I heard about a course being offered called ‘Philosophy and Poetry of Iqbal’. This course was being taught by the only person I call my teacher, Sir Koshul. Since it required the consent of the instructor, the professor took my interview. I remember when he asked me why I wanted to take this course up, my reply was that one of the things my father used to talk about was my generation; that the most unfortunate aspect of our generation is that we haven’t studied Iqbal well and even if we have, we didn’t try to understand him. That really stuck with me. At that time I was trying to study Kant and Nietzsche on my own and, although it was fun, there was a thirst and a void inside me as if I was missing something. So, ultimately, I stumbled upon Iqbal and truth be told, that course changed my life. It was primarily the philosophy of Iqbal but the poetry of it cannot be separated as they complement each other.

Q: Why did Iqbal impact you so?

A: This course and Iqbal’s ‘Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam’, it struck me really deeply and my whole life was turned upside down.  Those questions that plagued my mind, Iqbal answered them.  Culturally specific and contextual, Iqbal is not just for Muslims only. He is beyond that; he is universal. Iqbal understood the fact that the need of the current day and age, and I hate using this word since it has an extensive debate behind it, is for us to reconcile things ‘rationally’. For instance, and I speak personally, growing up in a Sunni Muslim not-so-extremist family I would have questions about my religion and somewhat related aspects.  When I would look for the answers, religion would always say this is where you take a leap of faith.  Kind of like religious schooling in subtext. Whilst from my school to my university, the exact opposite coaching’s been done: to perceive everything rationally and build reasonable, sound arguments so it could all make sense. So you can imagine the conflict inside me and I notice this about a lot of people in my generation as well. The disparity has expanded so much that both of our domains do not even see eye to eye most of the time. It has thus created a perception-gap throughout because we have failed to understand the needs of our time. And Iqbal talks about this in the preface that the need of the time requires a method that is physiologically sound and mentally adequate or something along these lines. That is why Iqbal is so exceptional and made so much sense to me. Where religion told me to take a leap of faith and I couldn’t uncover any empirical or sort of logical reason for that, Iqbal resolved my conflict through his philosophy and I started seeing patterns in things as my observational sense got acute. I feel like he is truly misunderstood whenever I have this conversation, even with my friends. I apologize if this is getting lengthy (we didn’t mind at all), but Iqbal is a teacher of mine and I think everyone could learn from Iqbal regardless of what their personal inclinations are towards everything. Religion, faith, science, whatever belief you hold; I think if you respect the text and go to it as a student, you’ll take a lot from it in the end.

Q: How did these texts change your perception?

A: For that, I’ll talk about the point where I started to understand things or rather, I thought I started to understand things and that came from the fact that if I had a text in front of me, whether it be of Allama’s or any other’s, I had to treat it with respect. More than knowledge, it is the self-discipline that is necessary to understand something. My favourite movie of all time ‘Good Will Hunting’ has this powerful scene between Will and his therapist Sean where the therapist says: “You think I know the first thing about how hard your life has been, how you feel, who you are because I read Oliver Twist? Does that encapsulate you?” So whatever surface idea you garner, that’s probably the worst interpretation you can attain from a text. The text Sir Koshal is teaching us, he is still working on it and even now he goes back to his very beginnings. And it’s only due to self-discipline that you start forming your own conclusions which are very sound, probably by not endorsing anyone else’s opinion. When we come to the Quran, the stipulation in which the country is right now is most likely because people have reduced the text. They have reduced God. Had they grappled with the text, had they had the self-discipline; this country wouldn’t be suffering from the current repercussions. Not saying that I have that sort of self-discipline and this is perhaps the reason I haven’t picked up Quran’s translation till now. The other end of the spectrum is that you start understanding it and you begin discovering things that are fascinatingly tangible for your inner world. Then yes, your life changes, your company changes, your friends change and your relationship with the world changes. It’s because your understanding of the world has changed and if it is worth something, you will definitely change.

Q: You talked about having some questions growing up. What were those?

A: There were a lot of questions that plagued me. I’ll talk about three of the most primary ones here. One of them was the biggest contradiction that I and most people find in religion: predestination and free will. If everything is pre-decided by God then where is this supposed free will? It bothered me a lot not being able to comprehend why I can’t understand my religious conviction. The second thing that troubled me was the nature of time. There are a lot of ways to understand time but how I perceived it was through observation. The earliest memory I have is of my mother picking me up as she prepared breakfast for me and my siblings when I was very little. Now, it’s the same mother and it’s the same Haider but when I am climbing stairs with my mum, she asks for my hand to help her ascend. This is how I understand time: seeing parents age, seeing myself grow and watching myself as I change. Thirdly, I started questioning death. I have seen death very closely and well everyone is subject to it; this developed a curiosity inside me to discern the nature of death in its truest form. So, these were the queries that I had growing up and the most intriguing thing is that many philosophers have presented these questions with answers of their own but none of them really stuck with me. That’s where Sir Basit Koshul came into the picture; he taught me about 150-200 pages of Iqbal thoroughly and that sort of lead to a mental progression for myself.

Q: The way you perceive different aspects of your life probably vary from that of your peers. Did you ever feel the need to make them understand your point of view?

A: The beauty of life is that every person lives his life in a unique way. Again Allama when he talks about human ego, call it a soul, a spirit or whatever, he says that every individual is a unique ego and everybody is looking at life with a different intellect. Doesn’t mean that somebody’s way of perceiving it is better than any other’s or only one way is the True way. These are just general rules for surviving on this Earth; a necessity if you may. It’s essential even to look at things in your own way and be respectful of how others are looking at them and then exchange ideas among yourselves. So when I am with my friends, this is the only sort of conversation that I have. Better to understand another than to gossip about someone else. Be respectful, be kind and you will start to realize that even though you might be looking at things through a different lens, you will be able to see the beauty in it. It’s really exciting if you and your friend perceive the same thing completely differently. And nothing is more beautiful than when this difference allows you to achieve the essence of that very thing.

Q: Did it change your perception of the institute that we study in?

A: I don’t want to scare you guys but I am sure that you all must have heard a lot when you first started studying here like there is freedom of inquiry, free objectivity and well the very best of education you could get in the entire country. After three and a half years, I would say it’s been probably the exact opposite. Because if LUMS is claiming this, then there sure are some conflicts within this claim. And for that, I will have to talk about rationality, something I am very cautious to talk about since we have understood it in a very restricted way. Weber gives four modes of rationality: theoretical (computative and analytical), formal (cause and benefits), practical (actions and reactions) and value (judgment mostly). What the university does and what science and each of its discipline do is endorse only formal rationality. This is the only form of rationality that they accentuate and consider to be ‘true’. According to them, the other three modes never existed. This approach is nothing but similar to a donkey whose eyes are blindfolded and is told to tread the path (this cracked me up since it was primarily apt).

“Never reduce your texts, your approach or your vision.”

And make no mistake about it; religion does the exact same thing with value rationality. So you need to reconcile the conflicts within by broadening your spectrum as these assertions make you question your courses, your chosen discipline, your degree and even the very claims that lead you to spend giant amounts of money in these four years. It is my right as well as my duty to question what this has given me in the long run. The point is that there is always more to a picture than someone would tell you. The university is, in my opinion, swindling you. That is why you need to be critical in your approach and question things. But they never address these issues because if they did, they are most likely screwed.

Q: How can we overcome such dishonest ways in your opinion?

A: Primarily by starting talking about it as it can’t go on forever. This has to change. So, talk about it and hopefully, someone with courage will stand up against it. This is all about progression. You play your part and hope that the next person plays their part for there will always be a next person. There shouldn’t be any despondency regarding this. Just keep playing your part and imparting something from it onto someone else so they can make their own choice by looking at the evidence and thus furthering the process. The change is sure to transpire. One thing I would say is that there is too much deception in this world; a lot of mirrors around creating an illusion of reality. So travel, it cleanses your mind. Take some time to yourself; take a step back to sort of escape that tornado of life. Breathe. Think. Analyze what is happening around you and to you. This is very necessary and I am kind of becoming an extremist in this (chuckles). This is how I start and end my day and I wouldn’t want it any other way since it is innately very enjoyable. If it’s chaotic inside, it will be chaotic outside and if it’s peaceful inside then it will be peaceful outside. Write if you need to. Because writing has given me a channel to express my inner-self through words and resolve the inner workings of my mind which, to be honest, has been a lot of help in bettering my life.

Quoting one of his favourite verses of Iqbal;

نوا پیرا ہو اے بُلبل کہ ہو تیرے ترنّم سے
کبوتر کے تنِ نازک میں شاہیں کا جگر پیدا