HUMAY BHI YAAD HAI-- EXAM PREPERATIONS

Ramzan men Parhai!
Hai Allah Duhai !
By Aamir Ali Chaudhry
This was the Slogan in hostel in those days.
In Hostel "ALL OR NONE LAW" applies as far as studies are concerned.
When the exam date was announced, all of us got very tense. We realized, or were made to realize that we cannot study in such state of mind. Therefore, we (Asim Rehra, Alvi, Nasir Shah, and Ahmed Raza) decided to spend 4/5 days in murree before the start of studies. Alvi declared that his Uncle had a house in Ayubia; he would get the keys from Uncle (in Faisalabad) and would get back in evening. All of us packed our luggage and I accompanied Alvi to Faisalabad to get the keys. It was extremely hot when we were going on GTS but imagination of relaxing in cool breeze of Ayubia was soothing. We went to his Uncles home. I waited outside and he went inside with a smiling face. When he came out, he was no more smiling. Uncle was in angry mood(mode) and he could not gather courage to ask for the house. We had a cup of tea from nearby Khokha. He went in again and came out , then we had Pepsi from the same Khokha. This episode was repeated again and again and our Khokha bill rose higher and higher, until after sunset we abandoned the project of asking for the keys.
We went back to Lahore on some late night bus. The friends were anxiously waiting, outside the hostel with their luggage, ready for Ayubia, .We never told them about our lack of courage and narrated fake story, that the roof of house had fallen in a storm and the house is destroyed etc. etc. .Once their anger subsided (after three years), we told them the whole story.
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Once again a great narration. A good reflection of old golden days. I don't mind sitting the exams again if those days could be brought back. But things don't bundle that way we know.

Love,
Yahya
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Thanks Nauman taking me back to the days that I still cherish,,,,,,whole life was ahead of us at that time and worries were nonexistent. I also belong to the US group and me Shazib and Naveed used to study mostly in the last 2-3 months. I was one of the lucky ones as was living in my own home with lots of people catering to my all desires and still would be studying only as if I was doing my parents and family a great favour. How unthankful and naive I was! Nice to be in touch with the old friends and I don’t remember going on the Mangla trip and now realize that missed a chance of great outing.
Asaad

First Professionals: The Exam Preparation

First Professionals: The Exam Preparation

The news hit us like a ton of bricks. Punjab University had announced the date for the first professional exam. This was not a good news for most of us. Sure, there were a few ‘overachievers’ like Mannan Babar and Aamir Ali and others, who studied regularly and could take the exam tomorrow and pass easily.

However, the rest of us studied for exams like an old car with engine trouble. We lurched forward on all four cylinders for a day or two for the sub-stage and about a week or so for the Stage. The rest of the time, we simply stalled.

Therefore, for most of us the news meant that the party was over. We would have to drastically change our lifestyle for a couple of months, if we had any hopes of passing the professionals. I realize I am applying the term 'us' rather loosely and that some of my readers would be exception to this generalization. Please let me know via your comments if you would like to be excluded from this group I call 'us'.

Since we were no longer going to college, some of us formed small study groups to study. My study group was with Saroosh and Afzal Saeed. Saroosh’s dad had passed away at a young age recently and the whole class felt the pain. When he asked Afzal and me to form a study group, we agreed.

We decided that Afzal Saeed’s house would be our place of study. I was living without my parents at my grandfather’s house on Temple Road. I drove everyday from Temple Road to Model Town Block A to study with Afzal Saeed and Saroosh. Altogether, it was about two hours round trip for me each day but I did not mind. That was two hours less I had to study. Another big attraction was the home cooked meal I got at Afzal Saeed’s house and his mom was a great cook and a gracious host.
To take a break from studies we watched ‘Mind Your Language’ on TV or played Chess or Carom with Afzal’s younger brother Jami.

Sometimes after studying at Afzal’s house, I would go to Saroosh’s house. Understandably, Saroosh was deeply affected by his Dad’s passing away. I did observe a few changes in him. For one, he had greatly increased his smoking to a level where he was chain-smoking. Secondly, Saroosh would play the song ‘Dufli waalay dufli Baja' repeatedly. The song seemed to soothe him. This song is forever etched in my brain along with memories of our preparations for first professional.

On my way home, sometimes I would stop by at Shahid Bashir’s house. Not to study, but to chat. Another attraction at Shahid’s house was of course the home-cooked meal. It was a very big deal for someone such as myself, who was neither at a hostel nor at parent’s home.
Thus, the next two months went painfully slow. My mind felt like a pail of water with hole in the bottom. The more I filled it with knowledge, the more seem to leak out from the bottom. Mercifully, the preparation time was over and it was time to take the exams.

I realize that mine is just on many different stories on how we prepared for the exams. I hope you will share your stories. How did the people in boys and girls hostels prepared for the exams? What about the day scholars?