The Telegram (Vol 2)

CEDAR COLLEGE

Editor: Amna Chaudhry Photo Credits: Asad Hashamali, Abdul Hadi Khatri.

the

Friday, 12 February 2016

telegram

D OI N G OU R PART Yousuf Zeeshan In a country such as Pakistan, people always look to the much awaited future.

The upcoming generations hold the key to this future and it is imperative that they acquire every ounce of knowledge provided to them.

Schools are an integral part of society and until about two years ago, not a single person imagined that they would be the focus of terrorism. On 16th December 2014, people all over Pakistan received a massive blow as over 150 lives were lost in a devastating terrorist attack on the Army Public School (APS)

in Peshawar. There were approximately 1100 people present when seven terrorist attacked the school, and while Pakistani armed forces were able to save over 900 lives, the pride and joy of many households were lost and dubbed as martyrs.

A year later the people of Pakistan dealt another blow. On 20th January 2016, several militants attacked the Bacha Khan University resulting the loss of over 30 lives. The APS attack scarred our nation’s psyche and and by targeting the Bacha Khan University the terrorists have reopened these half-healed wounds.

Children are not just hollow walking vessels. They are the future of the nation and in order to secure this nation’s

Volume 2

future, schools all around Pakistan must improve their security measures. The Cedar community is lucky because our school allows us to study in a safe environment. Perhaps this is also why many of us take this safety for granted.

In order to ensure that schools and students take the right step forward, we should do our part by holding seminars and visiting schools to make students aware of the current situation. The aim of this is to provide a stage to these students so they may question the lack of security and raise their voices for this right. This will hopefully result in schools making an effort to improve their position in terms of security. Students need to start seeing themselves as citizens who can initiate change as well.

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end of the day

Cleanliness is KEY !

We meant what comes in your way while you're working?

What gives you immense satisfaction?

Oh! *laughs* Managing my team members is tough and one of the biggest obstacles I face.

How would you describe yourself?

I'm a common man!

What do you think makes you an ideal person for this job?

Maham Kamran and Rehmat Sheikh sit down for a one-on-two with our canteen supervisor.

Do you have any experience elsewhere , except for Cedar?

Yes, I worked at Burger Shack before and I still do . I work at Cedar in the mornings and afternoons and then I go to Burger Shack directly

How are you successful in this task?.

For me equality is very important , whether big or small, they are all my equals What motivates you?

My independence motivates me.

I believe in hard work and determination.

The motto you live by?

What was the last movie you saw?

Izzat se kaam nae hai , Kaam de izzat hai !

Bahubali . I loved it ! It was very emotional. I can't wait for the sequel.

What made you believe in this motto?

What type of movies do you prefer watching?

AZ E EM B HA I

Dealing with all the kids professionally and satisfying all their needs.

All Vivek Oberoy and Amir Khan movies.

When I started out , my salary was Rs. 150 per day. Today, I work for Rs.1500 per day. This is all because of my hard work and I'm very proud of where I am now .

What makes a good team?

A good team should always take care of sanitation and should be able to handle pressure , well.

What do you think is the most important aspect of a canteen?

Would you like to give a message to all the students here at Cedar?

Humanity should never be forgotten , one should live with empathy , my brother once told me , "Rishta ehsaas se hota hai , ehsaan se nahi". 

What is the most challenging aspect of your entire day?

During break hours when all the students pile outside the canteen it becomes very difficult to control.

How do you manage this?

Compromises have to be made on both sides (the students and my team) .It takes time to get used to the rush.

What is your biggest weakness?

I feel weak at the

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Minha Khan

OP EN HOUSE 2016

All your life you’ve been taught formulas and equations, manners and social rules but what’s never discussed is what you believe in, the changes you want to make in the world or who you want to be.

Ramsha Yaqoob

W HO AM I ?

decisions on.

Minha Khan

It’s funny when all your life you’ve been taught formulas and equations, manners and social rules but what’s never discussed is what you believe in, the changes you want to make in the world or who you want to be. And at this crossroads in our lives, when we’re making life altering decisions, I’d say knowing what your values and your passions are is of somewhat importance, if not the most important factor in the decision-making process.

A couple weeks back, I found myself in a classroom having to write about my ‘passions, personal values, life goals and ambitions.’ As soon as the assignment was written on the board, I thought to myself ‘Easy! This won’t take longer than 15 minutes.’Needless to say I was very, very wrong.

Passions, values, goals, ambitions all seem like simple words. They’re used casually in everyday conversation. But when you’re sitting in class staring at a blank piece of paper thinking about what your passions are when the truth of the matter sets in.

Most of us don’t really know.

In a class of roughly 15 students it was astonishing to see how small the percentage was of people who actually knew what they loved doing and what they believed in.

These are important questions to ask yourself, especially when you’re 18 and it seems as if everyone expects you to make up your mind about who you want to be and where you want to go in life.

But silence prevailed within those 4 white walls and less than a handful of people could even give a general answer about what fuelled their passions and what core values they based their

It is not just our education system which has failed to assist us in the process of figuring out who we are but society in general. Where we’re more willing to talk about clothes and sports rather than dreams and ambitions. In the sea of consumerism we don’t realise that everything we stand for and everything we value is drowning and we’re not doing a single thing about it. We go through our lives without stopping to think: Is this really where I want to be? Is this really who I want to be? Am I becoming the person I want to become?

Or am I just mindlessly going where the tide takes me?

things. No one’s got it all figured out but it doesn't hurt to try.As teenagers we can’t depend on the education system to spell out the right answer for us. We have to embrace the continuous journey from cradle to grave of learning, self-discovery and self-awareness. Maybe there is no one answer to who we are but until we know what we’re passionate about and what we stand for we’re just another face in the crowd.

I don’t expect that I’ll ever be able to truly do justice to an essay about my passions, values, life goals and ambitions because these aren’t just words, they’re the essence of who I am. But I hope one day when I find myself sitting down to re-do the essay I know at least a few of my strengths, my weaknesses, my passions, my values, my dreams, my hopes, my beliefs, myself. In the end, that’s what matters most anyway.

There was a mixture of excitement and tension in the air. At the Beach Luxury hotel, Parents and students crowded around the lounge. As volunteers, we had enough time to observe what was going on so it became easy for us to guide our guests. Soon enough the previous session ended and people swarmed out of the hall. At that point in time Ms. Fatima Khurshid guided us to our respective area of work. A steady stream of visitors started pouring in the hall and we worked efficiently in order to get them seated in the least possible time. Once the second session started, we too settled down with the guests.

In around 2 hours the presentation came to an end and we had to get to work again and guide people towards the exit in an orderly manner. It was a moment of joy when parents asked me what my experience has been like at Cedar and with extreme pride I would reply,"I've never had the slightest regret for the decision I made a year ago".

Dealing with such huge crowds had not been an easy task but volunteering on such a scale can be rewarding as well. It may sound like drudgery but sometimes, the very smallest of things can make an experience worth a great deal.

I think it’s important to step back every now and then and think about these

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TH E A RT OF IN STAG RA MMI NG Hafsa Ashfaque They said I could be anything in life, so I became a hobbyist instagrammer.

I joined Instagram almost three years ago when people, mostly kids like me in their early teens, were still trying to get used to the concept of selfies, the new Miley Cyrus and Instagram, itself. I assumed it was something similar to Facebook (except you could only post photos and videos) and you had ‘followers’ But I was okay with that since all the ‘cool’ kids used it. For almost a year and a half I used my Instagram to post pictures of myself (I am not ashamed to say how much I used to love taking selfies), pictures of me out with my friends, screenshots of funny conversations and sometimes good food.

I would use the normal Instagram filters while posting since I was hardly interested in making my feed aesthetically pleasing.

kept my account public for a while only to realise that the followers I was getting were people from my school and people who listed down everything in their Instagram bio from their birth date to their relationship status and would unfollow me an hour after because of their “follow for follow” policy. I removed everyone and made my account private.

It took me months to get back on track and to find out what kind of people I wanted to follow me, what kind of pictures people liked and what kind of pictures I wanted to post. Things became easier after that. I went from grayscale photography to white background pictures to black pictures and then finally, a mixture of both black and white.

Being a hobbyist instagrammer is sometimes hard, especially when you have a specific theme for your account, because then it means you have to stick to your choice of feed and take pictures accordingly. In my case, it was black and white pictures, which was challenging, because I would then try taking pictures

They said I could be anything in life, so I became a hobbyist instagrammer. hardly even focus on these and just put a filter on the picture and post it. But trust me, these things make a difference!)

Being a hobbyist instagrammer also means that you get judged by people every day for taking pictures of the weirdest things, in the weirdest positions at the weirdest places. Whether it is standing on a chair at a coffee shop to get the perfect flat-lay photograph or standing in the middle of the road with my little moleskin notebook in my hand and taking pictures of it OR telling my 11 year old sister to try out poses in ‘tumblr’ and ‘aesthetic’ ways so I can capture them. Sometimes I find really cool walls while going somewhere and I stop the car, get out and take pictures. I broke my phone almost seven months ago and never got it replaced, considering the fact that I didn’t need Whatsapp or Facebook to keep me entertained, so for the last 4-5 months, I’ve been using my iPad to capture the photographs for my Instagram and I now also am judged for roaming around everywhere with the iPad given to me by my college.

Its been an year sinceI started this and honestly, I love it. I love every single thing about it and I love when people comment and tell me that they love my account, especially people who haven’t even met me in real life.

By this time almost everyone was on Instagram and I started to notice some really cool accounts that had organised feeds with a proper theme. It was back in January 2015 that I decided to delete everything off my account and making an entirely new one. Of course the real struggle came when I had to choose a theme for my Instagram and actually get people to follow me. My friends supported me a lot through this and I

of random things and turning them black and white. At times I would get annoyed with myself because I wouldn’t be able to shoot pretty and colourful sunsets for my Instagram or if the picture didn’t come out well enough to be turned black and white. There are a lot of things you have to keep in mind such as the exposure, the structure, the highlights and especially the brightness and contrast of the picture (and I know most of you

Having an Instagram that isn’t about posting selfies or pictures of yourself makes you see things differently every time you capture something. It also makes people look at things from different perspectives and makes you appreciate the little things in life that you photograph.

Check out my Instagram for more: @hafsaashfaqq and you can come up to me anytime you want for tips on starting your own Instagram feed or if you want to ask anything about Instagram, in general.

Cheers. x

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