The mysterious force in human
beings-curiosity-always force them to explore the unknown world. This spirit
also led me to one of the prestigious university of Pakistan-Quaid-e-Azam University
(QAU) Islamabad. The high seat of learning, inculcating ideals of tolerance and
flourishing councils depicting the diversity of Pakistan, is what I knew about
QAU, before entering to the world of Quadians. Though, there were many things
about which I knew nothing.
The day of my visit to QAU was
2nd May around 7 o'clock in the evening; and I returned back to my sweet home
of hospitality on the night of 6th May. In these four days, I have been exposed
to the following experiences, written underneath in this article.
The first place that I visited
was the Quadian Hut-a beautiful place to be at-surrounded by the green bed of
trees and the jungle point: couple point. While, my beloved cousin-Asif- was
telling or guiding me about the vicinity, my mind was engaged in the gossips of
few students sitting next to us; they were talking about the barriers being
placed all around in the university and planning to counter the efforts of
administration. They were the proponent of barrier free Quaid-e-Azam University.
I inquired about it from Asif, and he shared their views; he tried to convince
about the importance of barrier free QAU, as university was not meant-to be
clinched in the jaws of administrations.
After an hour or two we went to
the football ground but on our way, I observed the QAU night life with immense
curiosity. It was the time for students night walk and on their way, they were clearing
their misconceptions of all day long. Some of them were sitting on footpaths,
along with their cars, as music was on high beats, setting a background music
for them. They were enjoying the view, by smoking what was dear to their
hearts. Either, trying to forget their memories, or seeking an escape from the
reality. They did what they had to, and we did what was in our wider interest,
by doing what was dear to our hearts.
What is the best part of QAU is
the night life with freedom that is only available here, I guess. For me the most
striking feature which is compelling me to become the student QAU, it is the
availability of squash court all night long. This is blessing, I was desperate
to have in my life.
Before the morning clock struck,
we went straight to the Mphill hostel, to get some sleep; as we have to walk a
long way to freedom in the morning. I am thankful to Zarbakht for his kind and
generous offer for staying in his room, which I gladly accepted. We woke up in
the afternoon, and went to the huts for a breakfast. In the huts a strange
feeling came to my heart, either QAU was in Islamabad or somewhere in the
northern hills of Pakistan, as I found myself sitting on traditional
beds-charpai-and waiter offering me tea(chai), just like that of my trip to
Baraghali.
The next thing, I wanted to do
was to visit different places in QAU, obviously, my stamina was an obstacle in
my path; as I found myself hiking on mountains in order to visit a particular
department. I have no doubt, if one constantly visit all the departments of
QAU, will find himself in a month underweight; as my new friend Taimoor was
being labeled as smart or underweight by an another smart or underweight student.
Narrating day to day activities
will become a burdensome scripture, cutting long story short, I will focus on
important observations that touched my heart. The entertaining part of QAU was
the environment of huts or cafeterias. There students were usually found
sitting on benches and making gossips about things that were close to their
hearts. There were also some desperate souls trying to catch the attentions of
fellow students. Some were good enough to be successful, others were as bad as
dejected, frustrated, and ferocious souls usually are. They were good for
nothing but for harassment. There was also a deviation from the standard, set
by GCU Lahore in my mind, was the behavior of male students toward their female
colleagues. Usual chit chat among student follow the same traditional script
but in QAU the Juggats (slang language) of Faisalabad was quite prominent in
their discussions. May be I am wrong to assert that the prime focus of male
students was to befriend female students but that is what I observed.
The female students of QAU were
quite provident and prudent in their preferences. They were mature enough to
calculate what was good for their future. They had a keen observatory skills;
judging the words of the speaker and observing his preferences. The realist
school of thought evidently penetrated their minds which is, indeed, a
praiseworthy behavior. Though, unfortunately, male student lack all of the
above qualities.
In my perception, The Black Hole,
in QAU is the absence of platforms for social grooming. Multiple grooming
societies have the potential to inculcate among students the spiritual values
of virtue, dignity, discipline and decision making. The lack of such platforms
will virtually lead QAU into the Black Hole-with no hope for change. The
ranking of HEC depends upon the production of numbers of PhDs and publications
of numbers of research articles which are quite in abundance in QAU,
resultantly, ranked as the best university of Pakistan. The absence of these
platforms will badly hurt the future of its students, as they will be
incompetent to mark any proficient change in the social sector of society. One
might say that there is a literary society in QAU, but, with an apology, it terribly
fails to fulfill the criteria of any ordinary level society on university
level. The administration need to support the multiple social grooming
platforms, as the bright future of QAU is on stake.
