Dear IBA, your policy-makers need a heart
I am a student of Institute of Business Administration (IBA). For four years I had been grateful towards the institute but now, when I needed it most, IBA bailed on me. During the last few days of my Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) programme, my father fell extremely ill and passed away with an unfulfilled wish – to see me graduate. Coincidentally, my father’s illness and my second set of midterms clashed. I missed three exams because he lay unconscious in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). I needed to talk to the doctors; to do a crash course in medicine to understand my father’s ...
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Our universities are exploiting us
Before enrolling into my university, I was required to sign the usual hosh posh of documents that institutes require to ensure that they’re protected if the students ever decide to ‘act out’. This also included a written oath which demanded that I would abide by the rules and regulations of the institute regardless of what they were and failure to do so would lead to my expulsion from it. The complete sets of rules were compiled in a book and every student was required to go through them before being admitted. The book itself comprised of the usual assortment of ...
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An Indian look at Pakistani cricket
Let me try to do something most Pakistanis would think twice about – make sense of Pakistan cricket, as it stands today. You are justified to ask me as to why someone like me, sitting here in Mumbai is trying his level best to try and see through the muck that people at the PCB’s HQ in Lahore aren’t quite able to. There is a reason. And as a promise, I shall try and keep my nationality aside throughout this post, just to try and put things in much-needed perspective. The mood in India towards Pakistan cricket has somewhat changed, and ...
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American discourse on Pakistan: a double headed-monster
When it comes to Pakistan, there are at least two narratives in the American media; one constructed on the basis of quasi-positive direct quotes of the administration, the other, an acrimonious narrative created by ‘unnamed’ official sources. From stories that raised concerns on the safety of its nuclear assets to exposés that have alleged Pakistan reverse engineered legacy Harpoon missiles; from allegations that ISI engineered attacks on the Indian embassy in Kabul to claims that ISI officials participated in high level Taliban meetings in Quetta; an image of a Pakistan gone wild is well established in the American imagination. After a ...
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College life and the dilemma of red tape
I belong to the 2006 batch of Bahria University. After completing two semesters at BU, one day my mom asked me to show her my interim transcript. Figuring I needed a print copy of my transcript, I went to the examination department, who promptly said, “sorry, we can’t give you the transcript since there is no paper.” I was a bit puzzled over such an unlikely excuse. The next day, I was informed by a couple of friends, “They give this paper excuse to everyone, they don’t want to give transcripts out”. I didn’t give up and went to the Director Academics. He ...
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