NadTalk

Some of the moments and events are such that they stick in the mind like a glue – you close your eyes and you can view them like a movie. In this section, I intend to share some great memories of my life.

Drama Workshop

After finishing exams, I was looking to join some activity and I saw an advertisement in the newspaper that Pakistan National of the Arts would hold a drama workshop under the supervision of Sarmad Shabai from Pakistan Television. I applied and got a call for interview. After the interview, I was accepted in the workshop, which duration was 6 months.

The most interesting part was at the end where everyone had to perform on the stage in front of a large audience. The coach did not find me suitable for any skit to perform, which was quite upsetting for me. If I am not wrong, only 10 days were left to perform on the stage. I was just sitting in my room and thinking of what to do and I got an idea to do a skit as ‘One Man Show’. So I wrote dialogues for my skit and directed it myself. After rehearsing, I performed it and I was very delighted that Sarmad Shabai and other colleagues highly appreciated and allowed to perform it on the stage.

The theme of the Skit was to portray implicit hypocrisy of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq and quite a few at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts got scared to watch the script; anyway they could not stop it because it was already staged.

Take Home Exam

This was also a very interesting incident when I was experiencing first time to write the take-home exam while studying at the Institute of Administration and Organization, University of Bergen.

Frankly speaking, I had no clue how to address the exam question. I went to an informal group of students who was supposed to discuss possible answers of the questions but I left the group in frustration because I didn’t understand how to complete the assignment in 14 days. So I decided to concentrate on the question and the suggested reading material. After 4-5 days, I managed to draw the outline of my answer. At this point, I thought to discuss the outline of my answer with my Norwegian friend to get her feedback. She completely disagreed with my answer as she thought I was not answering the question. Though, I got scared but could not find a better answer to the question even giving after a second thought.

I completed the assignment and submitted on time. It was a pleasant surprise that the 3 examiners found my answer pretty good and I was among the student who scored good marks. Yes, it was disappointing to know that my friend barely passed the exam; however, I still think that without her criticism I might not be able to pass the exam. Thank you Marriane Anderw.

Update the page as soon as I find the time.

Nadeem Yousaf