TAJDEED-E-EHD-E-WAFA ~REVITALIZING LITERATURE!

Written by : Ayesha Rehan
PC: Ahad Photography

One thing is for certain. After the turnout at the Tajdeed-e-Ehd-e-Wafa event yesterday, no one is likely to say that the affair wasn't a huge success. Organized by the IBA Literary Society, this event like all its others was directed towards reinstating the love for literature in the hearts of the youth and inviting them to celebrate the masterpieces of prose by making good use of their creativity and skills. And there is no doubting the fact that all of those who participated did just that. Even before the event began, the auditorium was jam packed with people already starting to sit on the floor because there was nowhere else to watch from.

The event kicked off in the evening with students performing one of the famous plays by Ashfaq Ahmed, 'Quratulain'. Everyone watching was enchanted by the colorful display and the array of characters drifting in and out with every scene. Each and every one of them was dressed to suit the classical age, and their dialogues sparked even more interest amongst the crowd, which did its own job well too, laughing and applauding at the rights places! Parents that decided to come and watch their children perform live on stage could be seen discussing the play and how well their own looked and acted. Everywhere one turned, there were cameras clicking and movies being made, because some moments were surely worth recording and replaying. Saud Shahid performed a Sufi dance, to a huge round of applause from the spectators.

The guests of honor were Shamoon Abbasi, the man who wowed everyone with his role in the movie Waar, Ghazala Humayun, the fashion designer who also owns her very own magazine, along with Umar Sultan, Faraz and Hamza Farooqui and Emraan Rajput, all of them successful in their own fields of talent. All of them could be seen recording their favorite moments of the evening, no doubt to be uploaded on Facebook and other social networks later!

After the play and the Sufi act, one of IBA's singing talents Ram Mandhan gave a lively and melodious performance which brought the house down. The instruments he used, along with his choice of songs added just the right conventional touch that was needed to bring forth the purpose of the event into sharp focus. Some of the songs he sang were Daman Lagiyan, Lal Meri and Nara-e-Mastana. Everyone loved the ten minutes performance he gave. The chief guests enjoyed themselves tremendously and later could be heard telling people that it was an outstanding piece of art, and promised great talent in the future.

Then followed the reenactment of 'Taleem-e-Balighan', which is one of the best comedy dramas written in the history of Urdu literature. Written by Khwaja Moinuddin the play was performed by IBA students who added a little spice of modernity to the original work to grasp the attention of their audience even more. And they were successful in achieving their goal. Throughout the skit they had the whole auditorium echoing with laughter and applause at the great show that was put up.

The last act on the program was 'Behuda Mushaira'. Written by one of the talents of IBA, Ali Raj, it was the most awaited by the crowd. Its successful marketing had roused the curiosity of the whole university. Thus by the time the cast had settled down on the stage, the audience was already hyped up, ready to laugh their heads off. True to their word, the act was a tremendous success, and really lived up to its name. The guests could be seen laughing and recording the whole skit, and later said that the evening had done them a lot of good by giving them a chance to relax and have fun without any restrictions or pressures! The event closed afterwards with speeches from the organizers and by introducing the cast of all the shows.

There is no doubting the fact that the event was a huge accomplishment by the Literary Society. Though the auditorium has around 300 seats, there were almost 400 people under one roof by the time the event began. This is no doubt the result of all the hard work put in by the whole of the Management Team, which worked diligently to spread the word about Tajdeed as far as possible and hence make the event actually happen. Hats off to Rishi Kumar, who was the calm one behind all the hidden commotion and made sure everything went smoothly as planned. Having been a part of it all, I know the amount of effort that was put in. Being able to bring in the celebrities who came was no easy deed to get done. They went home happy and relaxed after the evening's entertainment, along with their bouquets and souvenirs. So did the rest of the crowd, after devouring the snacks that were put out for them after the event ended. Congratulations to the whole team for pulling off this feat and making sure it remained an event marked in the history of IBA!

I-MARC'14

Written by: I-MARC'14 Newsletter team
Edited by: Bakhtawar Ali
PC: Uzair Riaz Photography,studio 92

The inaugural event of I-MARC 2014 Day 1 and the harbinger of the I-MARC three-day legacy…the activity ‘Ba-Ikhtiyar Mukalim’ truly did justice to the name marked by sheer energy, enthusiasm and creativity. The activity commenced with peaking anticipations and enormous vigor of 9 teams, 108 participants who were dying to ink out their linguistic artistry and passion for their national language. A short video was shown at the beginning which was the crux of the activity based upon the imaginary country of ‘Rustaministan’. Elections in ‘Rustaministan’ were right around the corner and the two main rival parties, ‘Aam Awami Party’ (AAP) and ‘Majlis-e-Rustamin’ collided against each other.

During the activity, short simulations were conducted where a success rally was done by members of the victorious party with their flag in hand and clamorous voices echoing through the overcrowded auditorium. Then, all of a sudden the auditorium was raided by “party jiyale” who kidnapped the team captains leaving a tense and awestruck atmosphere behind.The participants were given 40 minutes to showcase their linguistic skills and draft their final Urdu newspapers. All the teams were determined to fight against censorship and all odds so prevalent during this era in order to unlock and display their hidden potential; hence they presented exceptional and original masterpieces.

Tamseel Ghar was the second milestone down the lane of activity on the first day of I-MARC 2014. The theme ‘Breaking the shackles of yesterday’, was met to its fullest by the participants as they delved into the pages of history, with their seven-minute-long enactments. The teams had been provided with collages of 4 pictures each prior to the main event. These collages depicted the social atrocities of yesteryears, such as ‘Suttee’, plight of immigrants to Pakistan, black magic and religious disparity. Teams moulded their performances around these themes. They did a commendable job and presented a plethora of emotions.

The judges included Faisal Qureshi, Aijaz Aslam, Nadia Hussain, Tipu Sharif and Naveed Raza. The judges not only commented on the positive areas of the performances but also offered suggestions and advice for further enhancement of the participants. The activity concluded on a constructive note, with the judges providing great feedback and opportunities for improvement.

The Guests' Verdict about the Event:

Hira Siddiqui: “I am impressed with the kind of activity the management team has conducted. It’s a great initiative.”
Tipu Sharif: “The performances in the theatre activity were better than last time. The event is more disciplined, the venue is decorated well and I can see the enormous effort the management team has put in. It’s evident. Great work.”
Faisal Qureshi: “Once you’re on the stage, you’re the king. Baki sab ki aisi taisi.”

The second day of I-MARC 2014 dawned with an air of mystery, suspense and speculation. The theme brought to light was ‘transforming the present’ and the participants proved their mettle, as they set about their job unraveling the crime with zest, thinking caps on.

The first activity was ‘live reporting’, based on a simulation witnessed by all the teams. The scene presented revolved around a stalwart - a talk-show host Naveed Shah, who while interviewing the captain of the cricket team and a cricket analyst regarding involvement of the former in match-fixing deals, took a break promising to return with a bang got shot. Pandemonium and mayhem ensued as a fatally wounded Naveed Shah was whisked away into an ambulance, while the police jostled with the overwhelming crowd thronging the spot.The participants had 50 minutes to prepare a video showcasing the live report of this event. They were judged on their objective stance, their eye for detail and the quality of the video which they recorded.

The second activity for the day, ‘investigative journalism’, followed suit. The big question to be answered was why a person as important as Naveed Shah was murdered. The first segment of this activity was given 1.5 hours where clues where placed at 9 designated locations. The participants had to put two and two together, be Sherlock Holmes and use the clues and documents to envisage and envision whether the murderer was a co-host, a political party, an agency or someone else. Later, 40 minutes were given to solve and prepare to present the case as a live anchor.The teams breathed in moments of stress, pressure, pure tension and insecurity, till they emerged victorious as successful media anchors.

The day concluded with participants commendably transcended to the present and met every challenge that came their way.

The third day of IMARC’14 began with the theme of future that offers unrestricted tools of media. Mr. Javed Jabbar gave an enlightening session on the future of media and the 5 paradoxes of mass media followed by Q&A session. Thereafter the event activities began where teams had to envision the future through photography activity and research-based activity. In photography activity, themes were designated to teams and they were required to make a digital poster by taking camera clicks on the spot. Ultimately, the team proved their talent by showcasing some creative e-posters that was much appreciated by none other than Tapu Javeri. Afterwards, in research-based activity, teams were assigned themes like fashion, entertainment, music, etc and had to come up with presentation based on issues surrounding the theme at present, international benchmark and solutions with regard to the issues highlighted to improve in future.

All in all, the Program Design and the overall event were unanimously appreciated from all the participants as they find dearth of such media conventions in the country.Well,it’s time to take it international!!

The Politik'14

Written By: Maida Ajmal
PC: Impressions Photography

IBA Social Sciences Club organized a mega event Politik’14 which took place from 27th to 30th March 2014 at student activity centre, IBA Main Campus.It aimed to impart deep philosophical knowledge on the various aspects of political science. The central objective of this event was to promote the sense of responsibility within the students towards their nation and to make them better citizens so it was a very good opportunity for all participants.

Day 1 started with participants reaching the venue in the morning with full enthusiasm. Mustafa Ilyas a brilliant student of IBA BBA-6 as well as an amazing photographer was selected as the day champ for this day. He welcomed all the participants and divided them in clusters with Cluster Facilitators or Legal Advisors appointed for each group. Some of the CFs who stood out were Babar Mobeen, Sidra Ajmal, Maria Wadiwala, Zeeshan Chaudhry and Taqi Rizvi. The event kicked off with the outstanding session of Jibran Nasir. Then there was a referendum activity done. In the meanwhile to refresh the participants there was a performance by Ali Gul Pir sponsored by Candy land with free Chilli Milli giveaways which surely rejuvenated all of them. Afterwards there was a session by PML-N president Karachi Nehal Hashmi from whom participants asked many controversial questions. In the end there was an activity to select slogans for different parties that were formed along with posters.

Day 2 was even better! Jemima khan’s video was shown sponsored by Pak Sar Zameen ngo. Abdullah khan came as a guest speaker who was a member of PTI and the relative of Imran Khan; he also spoke a few words of wisdom and along with him came Naz Baloch of PTI. Wahid Ali Shah once again an outstanding student of IBA was chosen as the day champ who carried out a very informative and interesting activity with the host Waseem Badami and the person who was invited as the guest was Faisal Sabzwari of MQM, also Moiz Khan who is part of IBA faculty was chosen as the moderator and Dr. Huma Baqai also made this activity better by her presence. End of day couldn’t have been better than the comedy and jashan night in which there were amazing performances by Ali Raj, Faraz Nafees and Moiz Khan.

Moving on to day 3! It was the elections day, the day when participants came all ready to get the taste of real elections in Pakistan. Firstly the groups were asked to send forward a representative to speak for their party and then there was a panel discussion. Mustafa Ilyas again acted as the day champ and hosted this activity. Terrorist group with their amazing slogans and aim to establish a country called Tharkistan surely gave everyone a good laugh and an idea of how the minds of terrorists work. Finally there were elections by all participants and when the votes were counted and terrorist group won with a majority even though they were not even a party. This was a simple demonstration of rigging. Afterwards there was a guest speaker session by Khawaja Izhar of MQM. Day ended with a social at dream world resort where there were numerous enjoyment activities for everyone in a secure environment.

Finally and smoothly team Politik managed to reach the final day of the event. Saud Shahid, a student of IBA and part of terrorist group (in the event) gave a speech and the surprise element was disclosed as he himself was made the day champ which was surely a twist to the game. VP chamber of commerce Muhammad Idrees made his presence and also Farooq Sattar(MQM) spoke a few words which surely impressed many people. Also Zubair Umar and Nehal Hashmi from PML-N came as guest speakers. Finally a student of IBA Tabish Hashmi arrived and spoke a little. Afterwards there was a closing ceremony in which the winners were announced and the management team was introduced and thanked.

Nabeel Shafique(Treasurer), Abdul Rehman(VP) , Omar Tariq(Advisor) and all other management team of Politik worked tirelessly day and night to make this event one of a kind and to leave a mark in the minds of people. And it surely turned out that way.

INFER 2014

Written by:Maryam Tajalli& Syeda Zehra Abbas
Photo Credits:Red Core Photography

Day 1

INFER 2014 commenced with two rounds being played simultaneously: Invesdecide and Stock Trading.In Invesdecide participants were given information about Engro Corporation and they had to judge the company’s position and market demand to decide whether to expand by introducing a frozen food line, a ready to eat line or hold the expansion and work on their own financial position .For this round each team had eight minutes to present their position and they were judged by Akmal Jameel, Faisal Abdullah, Tanveer Hussain, Muhammad Ali Khan, Dr Manzoor A. Khalidi and Arsalan Aqeeq. Meanwhile in Gani and Tayub auditorium,a stock market was being played out. The participants were given a budget of a 100,000 and they had to play brokers in a simulated stock market. Buying and selling of shares was done every 15 minutes when the virtual stock market was updated.

The second event on day was the buzzer round where the participants took the stage and had to answer MCQs on a buzzer basis in which participants were awarded a score of 10 on each correct answer and negatively awarded a score of 5 on each wrong answer. With this round INFER at this date came to an end leaving curiosity for teams for their scores to be updated on Facebook page by Day 2.


Day 2

The second day commenced once again with two rounds being played simultaneously: Balance Factor round and Stock Trading (Continued from Day 1). In Balance Factor round participants were provided details for five virtual companies and they had to decide for investment in three of them with minimum investment of 150K and maximum of 500K. Three members per team had to present their investment decisions to our prestigious judges; Muhammad Asim, Khurram Shahid, Mustafa Jaffir, Owais Saleem Dada and Ali Hemani.

The second event of the day was the case study round, where each team was provided with data for a hypothetical bank and they had to perform calculations for the given statistics. With that, second day for INFER came to an end leaving behind announcement for the top six teams, which were updated on their Facebook page.

Day 3

INFER 2014 was wrapping up on February 9th, 2014. Infer received 55 registrations out of which 35 were shortlisted. Through knockout, only 7 teams made it to the final day. These finalists were promised a surprise at the end of the second day. The surprise was emailed to them at midnight which contained details about a hypothetical Coffee Monopoly in Pakistan. The participants were required to study all the details about the hypothetical Coffee Company, and decide whether or not they wanted to invest in its stock; accordingly the fifth round was known as Bull or Bear. Once a decision was made, they had to present in front of the judges, declaring their position and justifying why they chose it.

The sixth and the last round of INFER 2014 was “Every News is a Breaking News”. Teams were required to analyse and interpret the impact that different variables in the macro-economy will have on their particular industry, so that they make sound arguments in favour or against such changes. The last round enticed a lot of enthusiasm out of the participants as they indulged in a battle of financial wits to dominate the argument.

After head to head competitions, the judges had to decide who took the crown. The champions of INFER 2014 were Team KSBL. The award for Best Trader went to Team Credit Crunchers. With this INFER 2014 came to an end, creating a landmark in the history of academic economic and financial events of Pakistan.

Enigma 3.0- RUN, JUMP AAAND…SPLASH!

Written by :Ayesha Rehan
Photo Credits: AM Productions

Who doesn’t love visiting the beach? It's a place where one can finally unravel after taking continuous stress and really have fun. That's what the beach outings planned by Enigma are always about. Letting all the pressure out and simply having a magnificent time. It's a place for all the participants to let loose the anxiety of proving themselves in Enigma and a chance for the whole Enigma management team to release the strain of the past few months.

The morning of the trip dawned bright and sunny, with everyone clearly hyped up for the journey. Students could be seen strolling here and there in the university; some impatient about starting off; several frantic about things they forgot to bring and some already taking pictures and making memories. A total of ten coasters were lined up ready to be off, but it was quite a while later that they actually started being occupied, after security checks and names being ticked off on lists. One would have thought that ten coasters would be too many, but surprisingly some people still fell short of seating places due to the large turnout. Several cars were also filled and accompanied the coasters to Hawksbay. The long expedition finally started off around 3.30 pm, with all the curtains completely drawn on the windows and loud music banned for the safety of the students. Everyone still managed to have a lot of fun, many showing off their skills at singing, rap and what not and keeping their friends entertained. The train of buses and cars stopped several times along the way so as to not lose anyone and was also accompanied by the IBA guards and the police because hey, enough can't be done to ensure that one is completely secure, can it?

By the time the beach came into sight,most of the people were ready to jump off the buses and race off into the waters due to the long journey and the stuffiness inside. When finally the all clear signal was given,everyone hurried off the buses and into the hut that had been booked, putting away their belongings and then rushing down the cliff straight into the icy cold sea shrieking with excitement and glee all the way.

It was an enjoyable chaos after that, with everyone running here and there on the shore escaping from friends intent on throwing them into the sea and dunking them, capturing tons of pictures, taking rides on the horses and camels or simply going out into the water and running back to the shore at full speed when a huge wave loomed over them! The slowly setting sun was a striking backdrop to the whole scene;the cameras clicking away nonstop. Along with the dark came the cold and students soon started off back to the hut to change into something warm and then continue partying.

As the last of the sun rays faded, the lights switched on and music started blaring out from the speakers, starting with everyone's new favorite; 'sunny sunny' by Yo Yo Honey Singh, which had everyone rushing out onto the dance floors and releasing the last of the pent up stress by dancing it away. Soon everyone was out doing extremely random moves with their friends and reveling in the successful end of Enigma, the smoke machine blowing out smoke into the crowd making it go even crazier and do the most inventive moves possible! Even after the announcement about dinner being ready was made many preferred to continue having fun rather than waste time eating, though some hungry peeps were seen to rush towards the tables at once. The menu was an all time favorite of everyone; BBQ and the fact that it was yummy made many take second (and in some cases third) helpings as well.

Though it was starting to get a little late, no one seemed really worried about going back. Many I'm sure would have loved to stay the night and party the night away, but all good things must come to an end, and an announcement was made that the journey back would begin soon. People started drifting out of the hut back to the coasters, drinking coffee to keep warm and still chattering nineteen to the dozen. The expedition started soon afterwards, with some dozing in their seats although most of them continued to socialize and have fun (it was a surprise they hadn't worn themselves out by that time!), playing dumb charades (a difficult feat considering no one could stand up) or singing away into the night. The train of buses and cars reached IBA around 11 pm, and it was clear that majority had a fantastic time.

Thus Enigma 3.0 ended with everyone having a blast till the very last minute. Hats off to the core team for pulling off such a great success, to all the event heads, management team and teamsters for hanging in there and holding everything together. The three days Enigma was held were a perfect start of the New Year for many and the trip to Hawksbay a definite climax. Enigma will be back with an even greater hit next year, and there is certainly no doubting the fact that even more people will chip in, eager to be part of the thrill that many experienced this year.

Enigma 3.0-Taking Fun to an Entirely New Level

Written by: Ayesha Rehan & Wardaa Imran Sheikh
Photo Credits: Fahad Rana Creations,Paradigm Shoot & Ayesha Rehan

Even though the third and final day of Enigma was a Sunday, and everyone would have loved to stay in bed till afternoon, the competition level was still way up, the main reason being the Grand Finales of all the events that Enigma had organized. Thus participants started trickling in as early as 9am, practicing their parts, or in the case of sports practicing their game. Even the numerous photographers could be seen scurrying here and there trying to capture every moment. Results of various events started trickling into the offices of the Enigma teamsters responsible for the participation certificates and shields for the winners.

All the finales held were exciting, but the ones that drew the largest crowds were the ones of Vignette and Step Up.The organizers welcomed Tipu Shareef for the finale of Vignette, and he judged the 4 teams and gave them great advice on voice throw, expressions and foot work on stage, since he is such a prominent theater figure, his advice was carefully listened and noted down by the participants. The Vignette event had a surprise for its participants and the audience they had acquired that morning which was a special screening of "Ek Do Dhaai", a short film directed by Ashar Khalid, starring IBA's very own treasured talent Moiz Khan, which left the crowd in awe. Mr. Tipu was so impressed that he even asked Ashar Khalid to make such a film for him too! Mr. Tipu then signed off, and the auditorium welcomed the Vibes singing competition's finale where the participants battled for the first position.

Both the events were held in the auditorium and by the time the events started all the seats were completely filled, with many people even sitting on the ground or standing at the entrances eager to witness what the participants had prepared to win over the judges. The Vibes final was held first, with some of the most talented stars of IBA like Ali Raj and Shahwali Shayan joining in to sing the opera and ghazal to the utmost delight of the spectators. It was apparent by the end of the event that the judges had some serious thinking to do deciding the winner amongst some of the participants. The final round of the Step Up had everyone shout out in delight and amazement as one participant after another performed some superb pieces to different medleys. A couple of them were good enough to have qualified for participation in professional dance (which is high praise indeed) and had almost the whole auditorium give them a standing ovation, judges included. The final of Step Up concluded the events, and everyone was then asked to go out into the gardens where the closing ceremony was to be held.

The ceremony began a little after 6pm, after the arrival of the much awaited chief guests Mr.Farhan Ali Agha and Ms.Nadia hussain, who were greeted by tremendous applause from the assembled party. The faces behind Enigma were called out onto the stage to be commended for the success. These included the CEO Hina Nagi,Convener Nausherwan Khan,Managing Director Muzammil Hashmi,ED Osama Dogar and VP Contingency Talha Farooqui.Above them all holding everything and everyone together was the president, Mr.Sohaib Siddiqui. How much Enigma meant to these people could be seen clearly on their faces, and while they were delivering their speeches. The video that was played for the crowd revealing the faces of the Enigma Core Team made the moment even more emotional because it was a reminder that the original founders and people responsible for Enigma would be graduating this year, and thus would not be present as the mentors they had previously been. The ceremony continued with the chief guests handing out shield to the winners of the various events and to some special Enigma teamsters who worked tirelessly. The winner and runner up of Vibes performed again for the crowd and were given a huge round of applause for their success. Even the winner of Step Up performed a couple of steps on stage. The ceremony concluded successfully with dinner being served for everyone.

There is no doubt that Enigma 3.0 was a huge success. The whole team worked resolutely and there was no other way it could have been. The MT must be given a standing ovation for organizing everything a day earlier and doing it right! Enigma 3.0 - a beautiful journey, crazy experience. Hats off to Hina, Nausherwan, Muzammil and the ENTIRE board of directors, assistant directors, and the important teamsters who worked day and night along with these people. The ceremony may have concluded Enigma officially, but the main highlight of the event was still to come; the beach trip the next day. No doubt people would be talking about it for days and many would be eager to revisit IBA again next year when Enigma would be back with an even greater bang!

Enigma 3.0-Day 2

Written by: Wardaa Imran Sheikh
Photo Credits: Saifoo Khan Studios & Jaffris Photography

When the management team and participants went to sleep on 23rd January, they had no idea they would be waking up to an unplanned,

unpredictable, and potentially dangerous city conditions, where several groups had called for a strike and with every educational institution shut off in the city, the organizers had to, agonizingly, call the second day off. There was a lot of chaos as the organizing team fought to plan a program flow that would enable them to do the impossible- pulling off a four day event in just three days! It was a nightmare for any event to be squeezed and crushed into 3 days instead of 4, but when you have an amazing program designer like Tayyaba Naksh, the impossible is possible! With a thousand revisions of the plan, the event was finally tailored to 3 days and the second day(25th January) started off with a bang, with events running at the speed of lightening, rounds being simultaneously held, with everyone trying to pull their events off in the shortened time, with badminton, FIFA'14 and basketball starting off at 9 in the morning along with step up participants displaying their tremendous talent to the blaring music, the auditorium was more alive than ever! Enigma was kicking off the second day with a lot of style and the participants felt the energy in the very air at IBA. The second pool of events included the dramatic musicals that were the main theme of Vignette that day, the incredible short films of Cinemania, the heated parliamentary debates, along with cricket and throw ball. The participants were exhausted by 6PM and were all ready for the second social event: the event with music and refreshment formally known as "Nocturnal Wonderland"; doesn't that sound gooood!

So, with the participants and management team all set in the 8 buses that took off from IBA that evening, they arrived in style to Royal Rodale where they were taken to the rooftop and the dance party was officially in full swing. A ginormous dance floor flooded with colored neon lights, a well-renowned DJ with the unbearable habit of using curse words in an attempt to showcase his "DJ-ness" the crowd was hooting to the music and moving their bodies to the beat. The whole hotel echoed with the music of the rooftop dance party and the scrams of delights of the crowd at the songs of their choice. The party went on till late;even Pakistan's very own Asim Azhar was seen partying in the Enigma crowd with his official photographer Ifrah Humayun but they wrapped it up in good time and had everyone back in the buses. The bus ride back to IBA was not less of a party for the participants and teamsters;they sang songs, and screamed the lyrics out loud all the way to IBA. The dance party is Enigma's own tradition and the management team managed to keep the legacy intact by having one of the best dance parties of Enigma to date, according to one of the participants.

All in all, they managed to pull off Day 2 beautifully despite the fact that the much-awaited Zoe Viccaji concert was cancelled due to the hostile city conditions and now the participants had one last social to look forward to.. The beach trip, which will be insightfully covered by Inside IBA.

Enigma 3.0-Day 1

Written by:Wardaa Imran Sheikh & Ayesha Rehan
Photo Credits:Ayesha Rehan & Graphic Content

What do you do when you wake up to find that all roads to IBA have been blocked and there is no way to reach there? You FIGHT! You fight against the city conditions, the inconvenience, the security threats and the eternal possibility of getting lost in Karachi and you reach IBA at 8:30 in the morning to set up and prepare for IBA's dynamic event. It was preposterously delayed and opening ceremony commenced around 11:15 am. The extravagant IBA auditorium was far too small for the enthusiastic participants, one could see them crammed in every nook and cranny, some even sharing one seat!

The event hit it off with speeches from the CEO Hina Naz Nagi and Manager of IBA Arts Society- Convener of Enigma,Nausherwan Khan, who shared their anecdotes of past Enigma events.There was a dynamic performance by Ramsha Aslam and her crews (including moi) which had the audience yell their throats out and sing along to each song. Arbal Nadeem, Talha Ahmed and Ali Raj were shining among others as they sang and beat box -ed their hearts out, plus with a mind blowing performance by Step Up Judge Sheikh Hamid Ali, the ceremony was wrapped up.

The sessions commenced at around 1pm with pool 1 events and the participants were seeing hurrying in to the field and in different rooms allocated. The highlight of the event was Asim Azhar, who is a judge for Vibes, singing his heart out for his participants along with his fellow judge who was a terrific Opera singer. The basketball team had the participants worn out as they played in the huge IBA fields, and the badminton events that were being held at the new Student Center gave participants and teamsters alike enough time to roam around this new beautiful addition.The table tennis girls was a very appealing piece of event to watch, because as it turned out, the only players who had registered were from St.Patrick's and IBA itself. At first it seemed both the teams were evenly matched, but soon the St.Pat's girls showed the upper hand and took away the victory in the table tennis. Two of the opponents interestingly turned out to be cousins, and one was seen to be happily congratulating the other on her win.

Pool 2 events began late afternoon.Throwball is an event exclusively for girls (well guys think it's too easy to be manly thus the reason why they don’t play).Two teams face each other in the court standing opposite sides of the net. It is a game in which they have to catch and throw the ball, but with many rules that take away the easiness of the game. The total teams registered were five. Three of them were able to show up due to aforementioned city conditions. Even then the event took place successfully and round one was partly completed and the results noted. The Director refereed the matches with help from her Co-Director and it must be said that she made a really good referee (a possible job for the future maybe?).There were many discoveries made during the event, one being that the IBA throwball team that was put together after a lot of hardships was actually really good (wonder where everyone disappears when people are being recruited).Another occurrence was the continued appearances of students participating in an activity that required them to find an event taking place for girls only, interview some people there and take photographs. So all those who were worrying that they wouldn’t show up in any photos need not fret, they will certainly be showing up in articles about throwball very soon!

Then came the Dramatics event in the auditorium where the audience was captivated by the first day performances along with heated parliamentary debates in CED amongst many other events. The first day was quite brief, one round of each event and the participants seemed rather unpleased with the lack of entertainment available to them after both the Pool of events were over. A bonfire was planned to relieve them of their stress and to relax and blend in the IBA people and the Enigma culture.

The bonfire's theme was treasure hunt which demanded all participants to look for clues hidden in IBA.The bonfire proved to be true to Enigma's essence, with all the participants showcasing their talents while snuggling up to the warm bonfire amidst Karachi's surprisingly chilly Winters, the temperature being a little below 16 degrees, the participants sang and danced their hearts in to the night. Asim Azhar also honored the team by attending the social joining in the feasts. Ofcourse, the event was incomplete without the traditional confession boxes which the participants and teamsters alike used to their own niche entertainment, even though the idea of a confession box seems appalling to me, as long as the participants are happy, the show must go on! A special thanks to Saud Shahid, who not only acted as the blog's eyes and ears for the bonfire, but also was one of the many reasons the participants had fun.

All in all, it was a great start to an event despite the unpredictable city conditions.Most participants were present and the social event was greatly enjoyed. Let's see what Enigma has planned for the next 4 days.

IBLC Aatish-e-Duroon – The Social Event

Written by: Sidra Ajmal
Photo Credits: Countryside Chalet Resort Karachi

This time around IBLC had a full day social event planned for the participants. The Social event took place at the Countryside Chalet Resort which is a farmhouse near Malir Cantt. The buses left early morning from Main Campus towards the venue. Throughout the one hour journey, music was played and the management team along with the participants danced their heart out. The solo performances in the bus by the guys on songs such as Sheela and Balma left everyone shocked and in fits of laughter. It is needless to say that the rides to and fro from the venues were one of the most enjoyable parts of the day.

Once the buses arrived at the venue, nobody exactly knew what had been planned for the day. The participants started getting bored and thought they would have to just roam around and waste their day. However they were pleasantly surprised when they got to know that there were many activities available for them. There was boating, ATV buggies, Tonga rides, indoor games (foosball, carom, table tennis etc) and a pool party arranged. That was when the whole mood of the party changed. From being bored, everyone went on to being ecstatic. Everybody started enjoying their day.

At around 2 pm the whole management team and the participants were treated to a meal of Pulao. After the lunch the party again moved towards the outdoor activities. The people there, especially the boys went crazy. The boys were seen enjoying the pool party, some were chillaxing in the pool while others who were not interested in it were literally dragged inside the pool and some were even thrown inside. The poor victims had no option but to enjoy the water.

After all this was done, the buses again headed back to the Main Campus with everyone. There were again songs played and random dances seen in the bus, the most noticeable performers being Saud, Ashbal, Zain and a guy nicknamed noodles due to his Afro hairdo. At the end of the trip when management team member like Tania Shah and Omair Jalil said that they hoped the participants had a great time and that they would forgive them for any mistake on their part, the whole of the participants replied with ‘ Jaaaaaan, Itsss okayyyy!!!’. Furthermore the participants said that they had a great time and were glad that they came. In the end participation certificates were distributed and with that the proceedings of IBLC 6 came to an end. All the participants were seen hugging each other and telling goodbyes with the hope of remaining in contact with every new friend that IBLC has brought into their life.

IBLC Aatish-e-Duroon – Day 4

Written by: Sidra Ajmal

The final conference day of IBLC 6 held a lot in store for the eager participants. The proceedings started with the introduction of the day champ, Mr. Saadi Makhdoom, who is a certified trainer by profession. He indulged the participants in warm up exercises and afterwards everyone played an interesting game of Antakshari, with all the girls one side and all the boys on the other. After the clusters were energized there was a session by IBA’s very own Mr.Mustafa Ilyas who is a junior in the BBA program. Every single audience member was enticed by his story. Furthermore some of the quirky lines used by him like ‘Jaaaaan what’s this’ fetched roars of laughter.

Other important highlights of the day are as follows:

• A panel discussion on ‘Pakistan’s sorry state of affairs’ by Mr. Faisal Qureshi, Mr. Leon, Mr. Shahjahan and Mr. AB Shahid Jafferi. The session was moderated by Mr. Tabish Hashmi.
• An interesting session by Mr. Saadi Makhdoom which divided clusters into groups and sent them to different activities. These included Video showing, touring IBA with reflecting on each and everything, skimming through a book and reflecting on it and lastly a story telling by himself. The last of these highlighted the dilemmas involved in decision making.
• A session on ‘Going Against the Odds’, an interactive lecture on how to successfully face the odds and turn them in your favor, by Mr. Sohail Zandani.
• Finally a lecture by Mr. Umar sultan on the topic ‘Making the Impossible Possible’. This lecture inspired everyone to believe in their own will and to believe that they too can make the impossible possible.
Another acme of the day was the funky titles given by the publications team to the IBLC participants and the CFs in the official IBLC 6 newsletter. Some of these titles were:

Titles for the CFs

Disco Deewani Ariba Farrukh
Dheeli Dhakkan Mushk Kaleem
Garam Masala Mustafa Ilyas
Chammak Challo Musaab Bin Umair

Titles for Participants

Bholay-Nath Firza (Mohammad Hamza’s Cluster)
Next Level Boy Adil (Musaab’s Cluster)
Chulbuli Kashmala (Ashad’s Cluster)
Dukkhi Atma Sameed (Hania’s Cluster)

Mr. Aftab Hussain Changi and Mr. Zain Goplani again graced the final day of the conference with their presence. The day was ended on a high note by none other than the day champ Mr. Saadi Makhdoom himself, whose session marked the end of IBLC 6. The participants now await the much hyped social event of the conference at The Country Side Chalet to be held on Wednesday 22nd January 2014.

IBLC Aatish-e-Duroon enters into Day 3

Written by: Nida Yasin
Photography by: Arshmaan Alee

IBLC 6 fever entered into the third day with fun, thrill and excitement at its peak. Today, Zain Goplani, the most influential and awaited personalities here at IBLC, was the day champ. The theme of the day was “Justuju” (Quest). He, with his decent yet crazy style, caught attention of all the participants.

The day was energized with crazy activities planned by Zain Goplani and IBLC team. The Activity theme “Inqilab” was based on a society of protestant, government and public where they had to negotiate and come up with a resolution. The lunch time was even special with masters and slaves getting a different meal, which showed the discrimination in the classes.

Zain Goplani talked about Conflict resolution and revealed some dynamic skills and abilities required to overcome a challenge.

There were some inspirational speakers who shared light on various dimensions of leadership and quest for satisfaction, passion and goals. The speakers for today included:

1.Dr. Framji Minwalla, whose charismatic thoughts and communication are interesting and deeply significant.

2.Ms. Amber Zuberi, Acting CEO of Teach for Pakistan. Ms. Zuberi discussed how passion turns into reality. Her determination and motivation were quite evident.

3.Mr. Ishtiaq Baig, founding president of Make a Wish Foundation.

4. Ms. Bindia Rana, President at Gender Interactive Alliance. She presented her views as representative of the transgender class, of how to face challenges and lead the way.

5.Ms. Tania Shah, an IBA student, also added value and thoughts to the discussion in her session.

Zain Goplani presented Ehsaas Nama, whereby he shared four videos to make people realize that it’s time to act. Furthermore, he focused on Say No to Eve-teasing; Name Calling is not cool etc. The theme was “Batein na banao, kuch kr ke dikhao”. It was a thought provoking and deep insight created especially for the aggressive and competent youth, which was appreciated by many.

Finally, before the day was called off, Gossip box reappeared, which excited some and held nerves of others. It once again had interesting compliments and appreciations sent out by anonymous participants.

With the end of this amazing day, participants awaits for the fourth day of this fun filled and exciting journey. The day ended with lots of in-depth thoughts to ponder over, energetic activities and memories that would remain forever.

IBLC Aatish-e-Duroon – Day 2

Written By: Sidra Ajmal
Photo credits: Faraz Jaffery Clicks

The second day of IBLC 6 brought with itself excitement and anticipation among the participants as to what will this day hold for them. The day champ for this day was Mr. Hussain Aftab Changi who soon had the crowd clapping to his signature clapping style. He also had an interesting set of activities in store for the participants which he had named gangnam time. These included games like tug of war and racing.

Furthermore, another interesting activity was that he gave the participants supplies which included cardboard, rope and cutter, with which they were supposed to make a car. What he wanted to teach teams was resource utilization. In addition to this, he showed them a video which made everyone in the crowd very sentimental. Other speakers which also graced the conference with their presence and the key learnings which were taken from their sessions are:

• Nadia Hussain (Actor, Model, Designer)
‘There is no one formula for success. It is only how you deal with a particular situation and also how confidently you deal with it’

• Mirza Bilal (Comedian, Model)
‘If you want to achieve something, you will find a way and if not you will find an excuse’

• Shallum Asher Xavier (Guitarist)
‘Value you time!’

• Faizan A Laghari (Entrepreneur)
‘Go ahead! Have the courage to live your dreams’

Another highlight of the day apart from these brilliant speakers were the 1 minute skits performed by each one of the clusters on the theme which was given to them. The theme was ‘Dil Walay IBLC Lay Jayeingay’. This brought out a wide array of performances with some being hilarious while others hardly bearable.

After all of this, in came the gossip box in which participants had placed anonymous chits with secret messages for many people. One of the messages which kept on reappearing was how hot or "HAWT" a CF Mohammad Hamza was. I Guess, he will eventually turn out to be the most popular CF in the conference. Other interesting messages included anonymous proposals and appreciations.

The blockbuster end to this day were two amazing social events which included Bonfire and BBQ night with sparkling lights and splendid décor.

IBLC Aatish-e-Duroon – Day 1

Written by: Sidra Ajmal
Photo credits: Faraz Jaffery Clicks

IBLC is one of the major events of IBA and has been very popular among the youth of Karachi in the past. The 6th edition of this conference began today at the IBA Main Campus. This time the conference saw around 120 young people from different colleges and universities coming as participants.

The day was officially kick started with a warm up session, whereby all the cluster facilitators gave a peppy performance and got all the participants energized. Soon afterwards, the teams which were randomly made were announced and allotted to each of the CF’s. It was interesting to see the nervousness and excitement among the people as they finally found out who would be in their team for the next five days of the conference. Some rejoiced at finding that a person they knew was in their group while others were a bit shaky at the thought of being among so many strangers.
To ease the apprehension and anxiety of the participants, all the CFs were directed to take their team outside where a number of stimulating ice-breaking exercises had been planned. Firstly, all of them were supposed to give their introduction during which some of them gave a formal account of their studies and colleges while others were more creative with their approach. While this got the conversations started and the ice broken, the next set of activities brought out the competitive edge among them. Each team had a face off with one of the other teams. These face offs included the following:

• A modified form of kabbadi in which each person from opposing teams was to come one at a time and try to get a bottle placed in the center before the person from the other team.

• A game in which one team made a circle by joining hands while the participants of other group were inside the circle and had to try to break the circle.

• An activity whereby participants made a bridge with their hands and their one team mate was supposed to cross it by walking on hand-made bridge.

What the above activities did was that they created a bond amongst the team members immediately and also helped to break the ice further. The CFs played a huge part in motivating and cheering their team throughout.

After this each of the team was given the task to come up an innovative name for their groups and also a slogan. This is the point where the creativity of participants really came out. The names of some of the cluster and their slogans that were really catchy are given bellow:

• Team Name: Chichori Jawani
Slogan: Thumak thumak k ayi hai kon? Chichori Jawani, Chichori Jawani
• Team Name: Chokary Jawan
Slogan: Chokaray cha gaye tha kar k
• Team Name: Atish-e-Chingari
Slogan: Aag laga deingay
• Team Name: Garam anday
Slogan: Garam anday le lo
• Team Name: Bindas Youth
Slogan: Halla Bol, Ankhain Khol

After all these activities were done, the name of the Day Champ (trainer for the day) was announced and it was Mr. Arsalan Larik who is a certified trainer and has trained over 20,000 people till today. He seemed to really hit it off with the audience and got them filled with enthusiasm in just a few minutes. He had also come prepared with his own set of activities. Some of the activities which he gave were:

• Scavenger Hunt
• To act out a crazy catfight
• To perform a group Kawali
• To spell out IBLC with your body

When the activities were done, the participants as well as the MT members were given the much needed lunch break and were treated to a scrumptious meal of Kababs, Halwa and puri.

With the adjournment of the lunch break, the second half of the day started with mostly speakers, coming up on the stage and giving motivations talks and advices on how to become a better individual. The participants listened eagerly to these individuals and took away a great deal of learnings and lessons from them.

With the end of the 1st day of IBLC drawing close, many were sad that it was already ending but were excited at the thought that only a few hours were left until the start of the next day. They were eager to find out what the next day had in store for them. Needless to say that the office bearers of ILC and the team members of IBLC did a splendid job in pulling of the first day of IBLC 6. Cheers to Team IBLC!