HOODIE WARS!

Written by: Daniyal Rafat A1S5
Edited by: Romesa Hassan

 Winter’ you know it’s coming when the cool air hits and at PAF Chapter its' arrival usually means that a major war is about to begin. All ears perked up when a controversial question arose, “What should the hoodie be like for the batch of 2015?” While most schools prefer sweaters and blazers our A2’s have a tradition to don a hoodie and turn up their (well I wouldn’t call it that, *editor here just by the way*) level of swag!

All the A2’s were free to submit their own or preferred designs for the hoodies. Finally when the creative power of almost every A2 got exhausted, four designs were shortlisted with combinations of red and black, black and white, navy blue and white and blue and white.

  These four designs were posted for the A2’s to choose amongst. The AS were just drooling over them. (Its’ okay peeps your turn shall come next year and I can assure you that frustration levels will be high because it requires God’s intervention to finally come to a decision on this issue)  With every blink off an eye new comments could be seen on the post. Now whenever there is a vote in any part of the world a few individuals always try to use their tactics to get an unfair advantage. How could our fellow Pafians take the back bench? Some of the A2’s started to vote twice or thrice for the hoodie they preferred clinging to the hope that they won’t get caught. Thanks to our patroller Mehak Saleem there craftiness was dismantled. *Sorry guys but she has an eagle’s eye* One comment that caught almost everyone’s attention was that of Ameen Ahmed’s, he said and I quote “I hope that the one with the most votes gets selected and the same thing does not occur like it did for the welcome party”. As you all remember thatour poll for the welcome was leading towards a glow night but was switched to Desi Tarka. *Sigh* Whao Ameen’s cursed because that’s exactly what happened! The hoodies that were the most preferred weren’t the ones that were winning according to the poll! The hoodie that qualified was *drum roll* ..Wait for it..Wait for it…*Man I really miss Barney Stinson ;)* keep waiting.. a little more… Okay ready? Are you Okay here it goes…   black with “EXTRA” red (Editor here: Okay seriously ‘EXTRA’ what is that? Are we deciding toppings for pizza?”) Yes’ you read it right. I bet the A2’s weren’t as shocked about the poll as much as they were about Khurram Kamran referring a hoodie color by “Extra” red. Now I don’t really feel like I need to stress about this more! 

If everyone was confused enough already IBA and SZABIST posted their Letter Man jackets online and Asim (bless him) shared it on the blog. This led to Rajaa Moini’s and Rushna Burney’s prayers, who were working tirelessly to convince Ms Naureen about the Letterman jackets to finally be heard.(There were quite a few more people but I don’t really remember their names) Moving on! However a new dilemma rose, whether there should be a hoodie or a letterman jacket?  This caused a slight delay in the finalization of the jacket for this year. Ms Naureen then decided to step in and stamp out this issue once and for all. In the assembly the A2’s were asked rather threatened to finally make a decision. Unfortunately there was a lot of cheering for God knows what so it was to actually challenging figure out what they really wanted.

The ultimate decision was finally reached on Friday, November 21, 2014! (Thank the Lord because I was beginning to doubt whether the A2s will actually be getting something this year)

Hear ye, hear ye!

I would like to announce that the final design that is unanimously decided upon is...*drum roll please*

THE LETTERMEN JACKET!!!

"TADAAAAAAA!! Behold, the hoodie for the Batch of 2015!"

Bilal Bhatti Memorial Interschool Cricket Tournament

Written by: Inshirah Tahir.

Well, carrying on the proud Red Bricks’ tradition of valiant determination and working our best in whatever task we take up, it is once again time to exhibit pride and support for the ever so hardworking players of the school cricket team, who with their unwavering determination managed to return home, once again victorious. (Surely you all have seen them practice tirelessly, in the small space they can find and have interrupted their match by walking in the middle and causing them to cease their batting or bowling.)

Stand up for the Champions.

Our players went up against teams from various schools in the second Bilal Bhatti Interschool T-20 cricket tournament organized; in the memory of Bilal Bhatti who himself had once been the captain of the PAF Chapter’s school cricket team, at the Moin Khan Academy on the 9^th of November, 2014. Playing gallantly thrice through the tournament, our team came out smashing with a thrilling overall performance when they went up against Foundation Public School and won with a margin of six-runs.

Our team players showed tremendous effort with both their batting and bowling, throughout the match, and the scores testify to this.

The Pafians went batting first and established a target of 139-3, contributed by Siraj Arif scoring an impressive 70 run unbeaten; including three sixes and four fours, while Sumair Verani scoring 20 run; once again unbeaten and Asad Abassi scoring 17 runs.

The players of Foundation Public School, however well they performed, were hindered by the excellent performance of the Pafians and their performance was restricted to 133-6.

Sumair Verani, Siraj Arif and Muneeb once again exhibited their skills and with their off spinners managed to take out two wickets each, and as expected Siraj Arif came out not only guiding our team to victory but also bagging the ‘man of the match trophy’ with his outstanding performance.

Well, surely as we cheer them on; our Pafians will manage to secure many more trophies and victories with their awesome team spirit, determination and fortitude and will continue to make us proud.

P.S: Don’t forget to congratulate these guys when you see them around campus.

PSDC '15: PAF Chapter's School-Style Debating Championship

Written by: Hamna Fatima.

The official PAF Chapter Debating Competition started on the 7th of November, 2014 and lasted a total of 3 days; till 10th November, 2014. The competition started well enough; a few delays here and there, obviously, but delays are quite common when it comes to social conventions. Many reputable schools of Karachi participated in this event; for example, we had students participating from institutes like Nixor College, the Karachi Grammar School, Indus college, Beaconhouse college campus, and most primarily, the well known famous IBA University. The Agha Khan Univerisity Secondary School students were also expected at the event, but due to untold reasons, they bailed at the last moment. Guess going against PAF Chapter takes a hint bit of more nerves than they've got.
 The PAF Chapter students themselves, who were participating in the competition, were divided into 2 groups: Team A and Team B. In the first round of the competition, the PAF Chapter Team A unfortunately lost. However, they showed their nerves and kept going brilliantly and ended the 2014 PSDC Event as the winning team. The leading team consisted of the head of the PAF Chapter PSS himself, Muhammad Rohan, Shaheer Masud, Maarij Rehman, Waleed Bin Khalid, and Ali Mohsin(from the O Levels section, enthusiastic about learning the parliamentary type debating). Special congratulations should particularly be presented to the participant Waleed Bin Khalid, as he truly outdid himself in the competition. The other team of our school, which would be Team B, did a really applauding job themselves, too. They stayed in the competition till the second last, the semi-finals itself.

some people I don't know. (editor)

The overall event was considered a huge success, but more than that, a very enjoyable experience for most. Food, friends, debating, and getting emotional during the process; well, who wouldn’t enjoy it? Fun fact: the total consumption of water bottles in PSDC was around 300-400 bottles. Another fun fact: they had apparently really good food in that event. Like I-don’t-want-to-live-unless-I-have-had-it kind of food. The A Levels section headmistress Ma’am Tazeen and Ma’am Seema honoured the finals with the section Head Boy, Salman Saeed and Head Girl, Injila Bilaal present, as well as the room president and the time keepers. Students Shajeeh Rashid, Shayan Riyaz, and Alishba Waseem are to be credited with extraordinary handling regarding the logistics and such, and handling the program flow very, very well. Volunteers from the school greatly helped out during the event, handling everything from major crisis to the minor matters. The school staff was, as always, a great help but perhaps the greatest achievement is of the PSS society itself; for the net handling and carrying out of such an event successfully and gracefully and adding it to the list of accomplishments for our school.

The beautifully illuminated corridors of the red-brick building while PSDC was in order.

Hopefully we’ll have more competitions like this in the school, in the near future; providing students with opportunities to do what they’re ambitious about (which is just, you know, debating).
I would like to thank Rohan, the Public Speaking Society head for spending his time, telling me the finer, or else, things that took place in PSDC.

One-Oh-One Unsaid Words

By: Ramsha Ekhlaque 

The darkness of the night was deceptive, still, almost unforgiving. It was thick and heavy, interlaced with the stench of death and broken by the screaming silence of sorrow. But she did not complain, she did not say a word.

There was absolute stillness. No air stirred the grass or leaves. No clouds drifted in the sea of blue above. No water dripped or flowed. No sound could be heard, either close at hand or in the far-off-distance. It was an eerie sort of tranquillity, so instead of being soothed, her senses became heightened. She felt like a prey, even though no predator could be detected. It was as if the world was encased in a cocoon, a bubble and there was no way out.

Silence gnawed at her insides. Silence hung in the air like the suspended moment before the falling glass shatters on the ground. It was like a gaping void, needed to be filled with sounds, words, anything. It was eerily unnatural, like a dawn devoid of birdsong. Silence clung to her, seeping into her every pore, like a poison slowly paralysing her from either speech or movement.

With every passing moment, the pain from the poison grew, but she did not complain, she did not say a word.

Dustbowl of the soul, melting into soundless oblivion, falling into a bottomless pit, nothing to grab on, tumbling, swirling into blackness. Despair, gloom, hopelessness, welled up from the bellow, engulfed in nothingness. Struggling with every last bit of strength left in her, she was clawing at the wall of the pit, but she was dragged down, swamped with negative emotions, as steady and merciless as sinking sand and suddenly, everything around her faded into an abyss.

But she did not scream, she did not complain, she did not say a word.

Past the rickety iron gates, a legion of stone, stronger than any army marched their way across the soft soil and tendrils of rusty weeds, withstanding centuries of brutal and harsh disasters of mother-nature itself. An oozing fog, dense from the still waters of the swamp, curled around each man who triumphantly drew out of the ground and stood to attention, their identification engraved into each chest. Some with curling dates and others with memories left behind their loved ones, mourning at home in the dark inkling corners. Among them, lied her broken, empty bones, buried six feet below the dead roots, alongside those one-oh-one words she never spoke.