Paradigm Shift - Aleena Hussain (Batch of '15)

When I was in school the extracurriculars were pathetic. If you were from a regular school like me, not Aitchison or Convent, you' ll know. Extracurriculars were more like a break for teachers rather than any actual talent hunting. There was no drama or literary club. The debates came around once a year. For those of us who picked science in matric, sports was off the time table after eight class. Even library period was canceled. I remember asking my principal that why wouldn't the library issue me books ( I was in tenth grade) and her dismissive answer “ You don't have that kind of time” of course. That makes sense. If you are studying science what would you do in a library?

Anyway, I got over school. School is place wherel you are just taken as a kiddo. Even the competitions at inter-school level are a joke. But its alright because you are all “kids” literally.

Enter college into the scene.

My college was LCWU. The real deal. The big league. So I enter rubbing hands excited to explore the other side. Join all the clubs, explore, stumble upon heated discussions. Even try a hand at the netball team at

which I was good till eighth grade. Lo and behold! Fsc pre-med? No extracurriculars for you. That is if you are brave enough to look, the pressure on students in fsc is ridiculous. Every distant relative and adult you make eye contact with for more than 5 minutes will drop that speech on you. The speech. “Your whole future, your whole life, everything depends on these two years. Just focus on the studies. Keep your grade up. Put a pause on everything and once you get into university you can try anything. Get a sex change operation for all you want. Besides you are in college from 8 to 3 and then off to academy from 5 to 9. Rest of the time spent memorizing the tests or completing the practical notebooks, not to forget the agonizing drawings in biology which must have some grand purpose or meaning that I haven't figured out yet.
Anyway, the arts and drama club was there but in some secret tunnel in the arts department, that I never managed to reach. Sports? They were more open to us. At least we were informed of matches to fill in the seats in the audience. The library was fantastic. I went to get my card issued. The librarian : “Which year are you? Which course?” after hearing my reply. “Oh this section is for arts student. Even in the science section these books are for bsc students”
The only fond memories I have of college extracurriculars is the time I spent in college mosque reading my own literature books. Not of library, God forbid.
 University life. I have arrived, with a manic gleam in my eyes. Although the SIMS building (the old one in which we got admission) didn't promise me any heaven but still. University level. We are adults finally and here for the long haul. We wont be brushed off! In the whirlwind of Anatomy sub-stages I catch words about well established literature and drama clubs. Out of the blue one day a notice appears with the names of the representatives for respective clubs from first year. The “reps” had more literature and drama in them than B. D Charausia. But this isn't the punch line. Soon I got to the activity week or month. On sports day, some pamphlets were distributed. While looking over the pamphlets due to the lack of sport on the ground my eyes popped out. Literally. I had to put them back in. Here are some of the names from the list of the clubs mentioned on the pamphlet with the respective heads :
   1. astronomy club 2. rowing club 3. chess club 4. swimming club 5. badminton club

For those of you who didn't get the joke, all the above mentioned clubs do exist. In my mind and on paper. But thats it.
Back to the point ( trust me there is one) I had these ideas and notions about how things would be. When I thought of dramatics I didn't think a group that came alive for month in a year. My idea was a room for the society, first, most basically... passes to great dramas all year long, visits from acting coaches in NCA? When I thought of literary society the first thing in my mind was a library with literature books. Second, weekly or at least monthly meetings again in a “room”. Book readings, meetings based on literary eras, themed events. We do have a library now but the 100 or so literature books are again off limits and can only be issued by final year because they have the most free time on their hands. And also because when you are in final year you grow an extra set of hands for keeping library books with extra care.

As for sports... we don't have a ground let alone a gym for students to practice these games all year long. As a result you can imagine the quality of sports at the annual sports day or the turn up (not counting that coerced by administration) All of these societies, those that do exist, only become active once a year. The rest of the time is spent in hibernation. Even when they do become active, they just provide a platform( at least in dramatics) but there is no place where the students can hone their talents.. work on them, get that extra shine. Don't even get me started on how the selection of plays works in dramatics or how the reps are selected. But take my word, reasoning is not allowed.. everything is magically finalized by a force up there called “final year” or the professor who is the head of that particular society.
You must be thinking that how would I know how it works its just observation that I haven't really tried, haven't put myself out there. Photography is something I am good with and I had the good fortune to be a part of SIMS photography club which was called S.A.P.S but is now called “Zephyr”
Now this was my big chance to do all the things right. I was there my voice was there but did it make a difference? Nopes. Popularity is the currency in any conversation not reasoning or logic. Now I am gonna let you in on another big secret. In every one of these functional societies there will be a group of
people that are ubiquitous. Their names and faces will come up again and again. But you can't see them doing any of the work, they have the invisibility cloak. I call these kids the poster kids. Now before you start commiserating with me, these kids have a purpose too. They are the extroverts. For every society to kick-start these poster kids are the crowd pullers. You cant rely on talent alone since that was never part of the plan.

Why is a photography club named zephyr or college journal Esculapio (Greek word for : the doctor) is a mystery with a history. Maybe Pakistanis are direct descendents of the Greek and we have a history of learning Greek in school. Too brainy for me! The point is, that extracurriculars in university, in mine at the least are a sham. Should I settle for something rather then nothing? I dont know. For now i have another horizon : post graduation abroad will be the answer to my prayers. As for other prospective future people like me make them read the chapter in our english book “Why boys fail in college”
Whose fault is it? The students? No ways i am the student! I can't wrong. :) The administation? Not quite. Because if things were done in my ideal standardsI don't think, as medical students we would have the time or energy to commit to extracurriculars to that extent. To keep it running all year long you need workers. I guess the fault lies in the fact that we are too much compartmentalized. If SIMS was just the medical wing of a real university like Oxford or Harvard ( feel free to insert the name of some famous public university too) then the art wing would have the arts club running and the students studying drama would keep dramatics running. They would be able to offer the required time and commitment since their degrees would depend on it and the quality as a result would automatically improve. As for medical students like me itching to get a taste, it would be just a walk in though the door.