FAST a blessing in disguise (A Learning Ground)

I am the survivor. I have faced many storms, I have lived through many disasters, I have seen many monsters… and I survived them all… this was only possible because of FAST-a blessing in disguise. I’ve realized through hardcore analysis that all this had made me tougher and FAST which I curse a lot has in fact made me a man I am today. We take a look at a freshman. He has just entered the university and he has high hopes and ambitions in his heart. Let’s take this person’s example and understand all the blessings that we don’t see as gifts from God but as dark realities of our ill-fated lives.

A common student has an issue with the parking being available so far out, everyone has to walk the distance to get there; plus there’s always a chance that you might not get any parking space and will have to take refuge in the smelly trashy plot. But look at it like this, when the freshman enters in, he takes a look at the whole area and is not depressed at the littleness of our campus (as compared to some other biggies), but is impressed  because his sight is overwhelmed by the sea of cars that are parked everywhere. He absorbs the image and take the view that this is all part of the deal, my university is BIG… so next time you park outside, just notice that without all that, any outsider (like the people who ask “engineering university main parhtay ho?” whenever you tell that you are an engineering student) will think of us as students of the “midget” university.

Then when the freshman enters the class and the first roll call is taking place, its like 08…, 08…, 08…, 05…!!! And then there’s pin drop silence… as all the faces turn to face the outcast, the repeater, the failure. All the students who have just entered don’t know what they have signed for and see the senior as a ‘nalaiq admi’ as they are used to the trades of their schools… so the senior is given cold degrading stares for the first two weeks but then…..then the Pandora’s box is opened and the students realize that the FAST administration has given them a student counselor who solves all their issues without attitude. So he knows when to withdraw, which teachers are cool and all the whos and whats of the subjects and teachers of the campus. So whenever you fail a course, just think… by sacrificing your life, you will save a million!!! And always learn to take as much as you can from the seniors!

Carl young once said “a healthy man never tortures others…it’s the tortured who torture.”

(I think you all will get my point).

The administration of FAST consists of the most ‘generous’, ‘understanding’ and ‘caring’ people in the whole world (emphasis on the single quotes). So the tortured souls torture us and we succumb to the horrors of their actions but hey… they are also providing us balance and arming us for practical life. There are many cases in which the administration plays a vital role in keeping us on track and on the “raah-e-raast”. For example,

1        They have given us BCR; it’s a great place for dozing off and relieving some pressure. But when we try to get extra-comfy and too many people start napping in there, you find a cycle lock on the door…so the administration is trying to make us less lethargic and more active… then there is another issue. Boys are usually united in the university. Different groups living happily and spending some good time. But twos a company threes a crowd, so administration, trying to lessen the rowdy crowds gives away the BCR for one event and for another all the time so that exhaustive plotting against the university can’t take place. We have never seen GCR occupied except on SOFTEC but hey… the administration people are smart, they want the girls united as they have a better chance of survival in the midst of all the ruffians if they have a common safe house to take refuge in.

2        Then the administration gave us sports facilities, we get rackets, we get bats. All our needs are fulfilled by the sports office… but when there are papers or even in common days when the sports activity is on its high side… the sports office is locked and abandoned until further notice just to stop the people from wasting time and making them input their abilities to more fruitful things. Plus inter-gender games are not allowed (I never get this)…so we’ll all stay pure in our hearts and our ‘imans’ stay intact.

3         Then we get the pool table, but when the boys really get a grip on the game and when pool really hits it… we find out that no chalks are ever available, no sticks are ever replaced when broken and the room is gradually getting naked as broken windows are not getting replaced… but all this has a very genuine reason, the administration gave us the pool table so we couldn’t complain about absence of activities, but they took away the smoothness and fun of the game so that it wouldn’t ruin our lives.

So the administration, which is always cursed at, is also a blessing in disguise.

Fast gives a student ,life- long knowledge and the experience at inter-personal interactions. Not long ago, I heard a person standing in the parking say to the token collector “aithay lashan dig jaan giyan!!!”… so any person who is watching that takes in the fact, that even a small midgety character, with no sense of respect or wisdom can also kill another man for a Rs.10 piece of paper and a 50 paisas worth of pride. Then I was witnessing a ‘phadda’ that day and a guy was constantly getting smacked and cursed at. His friends were standing next to him and they were all trying to stop that mighty hero (still leaving a path open for the other guy to smack him repeatedly, exceptional saviors they were), and then we all witnessed a true scene of bravery… he got a 100 meter distance between him and the other party guys and said “ainna nu dus main kaun aan”… so we all had a lesson to learn, even a guy who is getting “izzat ki dhajjian urna” treatment can come up with such strong reaction and make a statement that can shake the foundations of the earth. Whew! We all learned a lesson of bravery and heroism.

Last but not the least comes the inter-gender interaction. A common guy in fast usually enters with 20% experience in that domain and 80% courage to excel in the field…so there is a lot of potential for a 100% success. But when he tries to narrow down the list of choices, and is ready to make a move…he gets a huge amount of pseudo-‘attitude’ and fake non-interest. He is a mighty warrior who takes the courage and tries to connect to a counter-part but he faces nothing but false air of superiority and a ridiculous take on his actions. But what did he do wrong… is it wrong to like someone and approaching them with only good in your heart… isn’t approaching someone better than X-ray stares, car chasing, mind-numbing stalking, mind boggling notes… then why does a common man face such absurd behavior, what’s the counter-part trying to prove…it should be no big deal, we are in university, so there’s a need for people to grow up, broaden their horizons and leave the stupid ideas of ‘attempted pervert-ism’ and phony ‘dil ke rishtay’. It should be plain and simple friendship (not ‘fraandship’) and… contention-less bliss. But all this makes a fastian boy strong willed and he becomes capable of facing all troubles with a smile on his face as he gets to experience all that life has to offer in his 4 years stay here.

According to a hadith “Insan ke nasib main jitna rizq likha hai, usko utna mil he jana hai”… so if we get a broader perspective, FAST often limits our fun. If we exhaust all our fun-filled “rizq” in FAST, then we’ll end up bored and depressed in later parts of our lives. So we are spending our depressions and saving our fun, so that we can live a happy fun-filled disappointment-free life. FAST and the experiences it has to offer ARE really blessings in disguise. When someone is going through that phase, he is really angry and depressed, but in reality these experiences are making him stronger and finer so that he can lead a better, smoother and exciting life.