Op-ed – The LUMS Post

22Feb

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Column, Op-ed, Uncategorized

Unnamed

by Daniya Osamah I feel my memories slipping. They shouldn’t slip away, not like this. Not when it was the house I grew up in, not when it was my home for twelve years. Not when someone says ‘home’ and it’s the place that comes to mind. Not when I’m so desperate to keep them intact. The architecture is blurry, I don’t remember the paths, I forget the rooms, I forget the stairs. I have trouble remembering the kitchen. One cannot claim that this house was home and forget the details of everything, can they? What I do remember comes from fond re-tellings, “remember when you fell down the stairs?” And for a fleeting second, I remember the stairs, and I laugh at the memory, at the collective sadness that seems to always lie within these conversations. The mere mention of ‘Yaad hai?...

10Feb

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Op-ed, Opinion

The Emotional Blueprint Behind Modern Politics

by Muhammad Ali Political campaigns each year remind us of something very important: the winning of the election is not necessarily based on the most realistic policies. It is, oftentimes, about the ability to talk to people and make them feel heard. A good example of this, though not the only one, is the recent electoral success of Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. It cannot be denied that his campaign was a massive hit. However, the question that truly matters is whether the success was brought about by the policies that he brought to the table. Some of his flagship ideas, such as the rent freeze proposal, have been greatly criticized by economists. Assar Lindbeck, a well-known economist, famously said rent control is "the most efficient technique presently known to destroy ...

8Feb

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Arts & Culture, Op-ed

A Deceptively Melancholic Moment in Song; Why Cyndi Lauper is a Marxist.

by Hussain Khalid Feroze Have you listened to the 80’s classic “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper? Well if you say you haven’t you probably just don’t remember it by name because that song plays absolutely everywhere. If after listening to it you still don’t remember ever hearing it then you're welcome, I have just introduced you to one of the biggest songs of all time and one that I think is deceptively melancholic. In “One Last Song” by Mike Ayers, musician Courtney Barnett talks about how the song she would want played at her funeral would be “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”. The reasoning she gives is it sounds like the perfect way to end the night and so it would be her ideal way of ending her life. But it really got me thinking about how it's actually quite a sad song. The...

30Dec

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Op-ed, Opinion

A Lobbyist’s Confessional

Author: Asfand Katchela The writer is from Sargodha. He writes every now and then. He has been a fan of LDS for very long. And as his first submission, he has clearly chosen the most popular take out there. There’s an American political thriller available online that’s far more gripping than the typical binge-watch fare. And no, for those of you who prefer your political dramas with a side of scheming presidents and backstabbing congressmen, this isn’t referring to House of Cards. The film I’m talking about is Miss Sloane, or perhaps more aptly, The Movie About Elizabeth the Lobbyist (cinephile creds destroyed already). The film is a masterpiece of suspense, pulling you into a high-stakes political battle where power, influence, and moral ambiguity c...

Digestible Womanhood Only Exists Digitally

7Oct

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Arts & Culture, Op-ed

Digestible Womanhood Only Exists Digitally

By: Ayatain Ali Identity presentation for women is a paradox, a liberating prison. It is my sisters being puppeteered, unaware of it because the confines of the box are vast and ever-expanding. Who pulls the threads when reality exists in various spaces? Perhaps more pressing is the question of whether awareness is even necessary when the illusion of choice provides enough bliss. As digital spaces have evolved, a widespread yet individualized need to market yourself as an aesthetic class to prove your worth has emerged. "Aesthetic" has changed from an academic term and a tool used by auteurs and artists to a defining characteristic of our identities. It can refer to both individual taste and a nonspecific proxy for beauty. This shift has brought about the development, co-optin...

Rain Check: England and Pakistan’s T20 Preparations Drenched Ahead of World Cup

28May

By Iman AttiqueNo Comments

Opinion, Sports & Travel

Rain Check: England and Pakistan’s T20 Preparations Drenched Ahead of World Cup

By: Iman Attique The much-anticipated T20 series between England and Pakistan has been heavily affected by relentless rain, impacting both teams' preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup. With the third match in Cardiff abandoned without a ball bowled due to persistent rain, England's 1-0 lead in the series remains the only result so far. For England, this series was meant to serve as a final tune-up under the guidance of head coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Butler. England has played only 13 T20s since the last World Cup in 2022, a lack of match practice that could be detrimental, especially for key players like Jofra Archer, who has just returned from a long injury layoff. In contrast, Pakistan has had a decent run of cricket leading up to the tournament, with the Pakista...

16Mar

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Op-ed, Opinion, Uncategorized

A Golden Tragedy

By:Maarij Ali Tarar Cruising on the M2 motorway through the fertile tracts of central Punjab in winter, one is likely to see fields of green wheat stretching to the horizon. Come spring, these young green saplings will have matured into golden stalks, ready to deliver their fat grains into the calloused hands of the farmers. Of courses, it is also in spring, as farmers begin harvesting, that a farce on a grand scale begins to play out. This farce is the Punjab government’s wheat subsidy programme, a series of procurements and releases ostensibly to benefit the small farmer and poor urban consumer. In reality, however, each and every facet of this complex mechanism is designed to benefit large farmers...

13Oct

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Editorial

Reflections on the NOP Summer

By: Iman Attique Over the summer months, as the majority of the LUMS student body took a respite from classes and their busy work schedules, the campus prepared to welcome aspiring high school students from all over the country. The LUMS National Outreach programme (NOP) Summer Coaching Session (SCS) returned to an in-person format after its last online run owing to the pandemic. The Programme was a culmination of a year-long outreach and shortlisting operation. Mr. Ibrahim Abro - a recruiting team member - broke down the process into three tests followed by interviews with the applicants. Comprising three weeks of rigorous academic and co-curricular activities - ranging from sports to drama shows - the Programme offered these students a thorough experience of being a part of the co...

The Productivity Games: The New Summer Olympics

28Sep

By admin1 Comment

Op-ed, Opinion

The Productivity Games: The New Summer Olympics

By Rida ArifThe words ‘summer’ and ‘productivity’ should be oxymoronic, or at least they used to be when I didn’t know what the word ‘productive’ meant.If you close your eyes and think of summer, do you imagine a fluorescently lit office, Excel sheets, and the burning blue light from a work computer? Seemingly, that’s what our student body dreams of — a glowing resume is the ultimate oasis. At the end of my sophomore year, my aspirations for the next few blazing months were very simple: watch movies, go ‘up North’, and read. What I did not anticipate was the guilt that followed.I felt the achievements of my peers creeping up on me like goosebumps in the cold: sneaky and uncomfortable. Every refresh of my Twitter timeline birthed more tweets about new internships, interesting coworkers, and...

The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Women’s Anger

18Sep

By Laiba AhmadNo Comments

Op-ed, Opinion

The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Women’s Anger

By Laiba Ahmad With Illustration from Maha Nauman (@mahnau on Instagram) TW: Mentions of harassment and violence against womenThree days after Noor Mukadam’s case broke out in the media my mother sat me down and said that if a man ever harassed me in public, I was to keep quiet and move on because we never know what men are capable of. What frustrated me was not the statement but how easily I accepted it. Gone was the raging sixteen year old who would have argued: “No. Men like this need to be put in their place.” I don’t know when it started, but my anger was seeping out and fear was crawling in.It was this moment of realisation which compelled me to explore how we, as women, are made to unfairly hold our rage in or abandon it in fear. From this exploration rises th...