The Press Pass

I haven't been blogging very regularly for the past weeks and I'm past the midterm stage now - pat yourself on the back, will you - and although I'm supposed to be in class, I'm too ill to go. I'll take the next one though. Plus my attendance is OK because i don't miss classes often. I guess what i'm trying to say is: sorry sir, this shouldn't have happened and I'm going to make best use of the time I have while I'm not OK.

Sometime back, we were photographed during class so that our press passes can be made and I had to write a note on that. It was the first experience I have had with being photographed so formally for something I'm looking forward to. Normally, I've gotten photographs taken for my identity card, passport, learners' driving license and none of these - yes not even the experience at the traffic police station - up til now was what comes under a happy memory.

The boys joked around about how the press pass would help them in getting the traffic police to stop bothering them.

Although the press passes haven't been issued to us yet, just thinking about having them is not a daunting prospect at all. It's one more label to attach (literally) onto you and perhaps being of THE PRESS isn't so bad a label. Sure, you're making people more wary of you yet at the same time you're allowing them to be more trusting of you.

That's a nice, comforting thought of course.

Harrowing too.

I'm now off to send letters.

Photographed by Hassan Abbas

in search of: the Room of Requirement

"A revolution that is based on the people exercising their creativity in the midst of devastation is one of the great historical contributions of humankind." ~ Grace Lee Boggs

We're learning how to ask the right questions and how not to invade into others' thoughts or pattern of thoughts.

It is not easy to ask questions when you know what the answer is. If you've watched the Harry Potter movies, there's a line about the Room of Requirement. It goes like:

 "If you have to ask, you'll never know. If you know, you need only ask."

The Room of Requirement. Source: Pottermore

There's not a lot of link between that room - where what you need is waiting for you just as it has for students before you - and the work we are doing in our makeshift newsroom. But there is that need to know what we're asking about. The sources my team of reporters interview are all wary of sharing information which is not something super classified. This is why research on our part is so essential so we can call out the people we're interviewing and have followup questions ready.

Some questions bother me deeply. Just the way they are phrased is sickening and unworthy of being broadcast. But I've noted that journalists ask these questions because they believe it is essential to their work. If they don't, someone else will.

(I'm afraid I'm going to be one lonely journalist)

I guess it also depends on what you're inquiring about. Ahmed's story on non-Muslims that study at NUST bothered a few people even when he was in the process of writing it. Mahnoor S had no such issue in finding a diverse range of sources for her report on NUST making it to the BRICS world ranking. In fact, she filed in her story quite promptly. People at our university are generally good and kind, but when one asks them about really important things - issues that need to be resolved - they get defensive/protective even when the questioner is not intending any harm. If questioning the current way of how things run is equivalent to being intrusive, bothersome and blunt then so be it. Journalists should be able to ask the hard questions.

If they don't, who will?

 From what I've learned about cleaning up the mess that we humans make, there's a really basic need to talk about what happened. If one is afraid of talking and telling the truth, it is unhealthy. We cannot be so secretive as a society that we begin to avoid having the conversations that matter. It is like you're going through a loss and when a friend stops by your home, you let her in (not just into your house but also your life). When you tell her what happened, you share the burden. Your secret - perhaps not as safe but still considerably safe - is now shared. You can breathe easier. You can heal now, because it isn't weighing down upon like you a boulder that can smash your skull.

This is why I won't stop asking questions in class. I'm here to learn. And to contribute to the discussion, which is what my questions - although perhaps naive - (hopefully) do.