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.
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