A " Good " Student's University Life

By Saman Hashmi

Getting admission in your desired University is like a dream come true, but you never know when this dream transforms into a “nightmare”. Speaking of dreams, I had a dream once, of higher education in the most preferred- University of Karachi. Now I wonder whether I dreamed about studying or not to study at all.

Let us have a peek into lives of apparently ‘good’ students. Being ‘good’ students we will never know the schedule of our classes but you can count on us when it comes to our friends’ birthdays. What else is more important than robbing our friends of every single dime by forcing them into treating us at Pizza Hut? What else is more compelling than attending late-night Sunday party, ignoring the upcoming test the very next day?

The transition from college to university life is like reallocating from a pond to an ocean. There are no uniforms, no early morning assemblies, (apparently) no homework, no PTMs (Parent Teacher Meetings). Or you can simply put it as: your imprisonment is over! You don’t have to wake up at 6am sharp, anymore. Your new sun rises at 8 am. There are no teachers, but elderly, qualified, hard-working (don’t remember anymore adjectives) professors. Well, that’s something else that when they come and scribbles something on the blackboard and utter some unfamiliar words, you doze off, snoring unaware of the world around you. Similarly, purpose of notebooks changes; they are for playing tic-tac-toe or chatting with your mates rather than writing. Libraries are considered to be haunted houses. ‘Good’ students like us don’t even dare to think entering into such forbidden places.

A ‘good’ student kills time bunking classes, sitting in cafeteria, or simply goggling around if nothing hits. The principal is a ‘dude’, whom you have never seen. You imagine him to be an old, bald-headed guy with spectacles. Of course, while some students never get to meet this man in question, there are other unlucky ones who meet him often, more often than they desire! Believe me, it’s not a very good experience.

Do you know simile of graveyard? I know, it’s lecture halls and classrooms. But soon ring tones from every corner can be heard, or paper planes start flying over your head. A chalk will land on your book and that haunted graveyard has been converted to a disco-of-sorts. University hours end, and the mob goes for lunch, after that to the shopping malls, parks, etc. and finally home. Then you always have time to watch movies and talk to friends on cell.  What about sleep? Well, that is managed in the class the next day. But later comes an announcement that it’s an off tomorrow for some boycott, or simply because it’s K.U. So you now have entire day to doze off at home.

Jokes apart, university is about doing something useful while enjoying it. I believe university life is the time, when one can learn a lot of things apart from academic education. As it is said that we live and we learn. So here we not only live but live to the fullest, adding experience to our lives and employing them whenever needed. This is when you can be of maximum help to your friends, your society, and your country. Because you are the future, the tomorrow, the revolution that can change the world. Each day at university is an experiment, and the result of each such experiment is experience. Use this experience to move ahead in life. In this way we truly educate ourselves.