I went to this “PSA” night last night. I’ll keep it brief. The president said that we have gathered here to promote our culture and connect to our roots - good intention - However, she said that in English. I mean hello? You are speaking to a group of Pakistani people and trying to promote the culture, isn’t Urdu the national language and shouldn’t you be using that to promote the culture. Forget her, NO ONE in the team spoke in Urdu. They did only one play in Urdu and the other one was in English.
Keeping it brief, here are my likes and dislikes.
**Liked
**
The idea of holding such event to raise awareness about Pakistan
Performances were fairly good - you got what you paid for
Disliked
Like any desi event, although most people were there at 7, the event started 1+ hour late after 8
The management team spoke no Urdu
Some of the audiences were cheap - shouting nonsense at performers
There was no concept of a “LINE” when entering in the auditorium or getting food. People were standing in a group and shoving each other to go in.
They did not tell where the food was being sold - had to find it in the basement myself
Assigned seating but not enforced - people sat wherever they felt like sitting and held many seats for people that weren’t even there yet!
Dance performances were done by boys only (which is good as no girls were dancing) but were unorganized
*]Dance was performed on Indian songs
Share your experiences if you’ve ever been to any PSA event or any International event at your college/university.
I went to a PSA show twice in the past with my sister. It wasn't that good. The PSA at UMD is known to be very unproductive and unorganized. It's run by relatively uncultured ABCDs that spend a lot of their time partying/socializing, meaning nothing ever gets done. There are lots of Indians that have joined PSA. Basically, it's turned into desi college kids flirting session. They didn't even raise any money for the earthquake a few years back.
I wish there was something I could do to fix all this. But I don't think just one person can fix it. There are others that don't like the way PSA is, but nobody is offering to do anything about it. I plan to try to help out to improve the shows and just the organization in general when I get to college but I'll only be a freshman next year so I can't do much. Also, I don't know if it will be a good move to try to get on to the PSA board because people will start making premature assumptions about me (that I party and date and stuff like the PSA board members in the past usually have).
Anyways, I hope I can do something to help. I've organized a few big events at my school so hopefully I can put my OCD and event-planning skills to work and maybe improve the shows atleast. And maybe lobby for more fundraisers..I dunno.
Shikra, weren't you the PSA president @ you university?
Oh and also.. i don't think speaking in English is a big problem. The majority of the people there are Americans (Pakistani-Americans) and there might even be some non-Pakistanis attending so I think it's best to stick to English. However, I do think they should add more culture to the show. They had a group of Indian students performing from other college and then some Chinese kids did some dance.. like wth does that have to do with Pakistan? Also they should try to cut down on the Indian (bollywood) music. And maybe the show should have a purpose other than to entertain.. like maybe raise awareness for education in pakistan or the profit made from the event should go to some organization to help pakistan.
**Yes, I was a president of PSA at my university for 3 years. I made sure that we had bake sales to raise money for ourself (we did not get funding from the student government because I didn’t know you could get it as my friend and I were the ones that came up with the idea of starting the PSA). I was very strict when it came to holding meetings and I always spoke in Urdu. The only time I held a meeting in English was when a member brought a Hispanic friend and requested me to hold the meeting in English so that she can also understand.
Your post reminded me that the dance performances were done on Indian songs. There was this little drama that we did one year We basically showed a typical mehndi and shaadi etc. Some Indian song was suggested for the background music and I stuck to my guns, got a lot of criticism, but still played Jawad Ahmad’s shaadi song
My advice to you: You should try to make a difference. If everyone keeps thinking “I don’t know if I’ll make a difference or not”, then no one will make a difference. You should know better as an ex-mod that no matter what you do, people will always assume stuff about you. You can’t stop others from establishing their opinions about you. What matters is that you are honest with yourself and with what you do. Who cares what others think, as long as you are a good person with clear conscience, you will succeed. You may not get a position while you are a freshman but you can still participate as a member, and then eventually run for a position.
Yea I think I may do that.
I can't speak Urdu crystal-clear and I'm sure the other kids in the PSA are way worse than me so I think I'll stick to English, though it's still important to know Urdu.
There aren't that many people in the PSA at UMD (about 150 students) which is not much compared to other universities.. but still it is a lot and they could do so much but they just don't!!
Oh and also.. i don't think speaking in English is a big problem. The majority of the people there are Americans (Pakistani-Americans) and there might even be some non-Pakistanis attending so I think it's best to stick to English. However, I do think they should add more culture to the show. They had a group of Indian students performing from other college and then some Chinese kids did some dance.. like wth does that have to do with Pakistan? Also they should try to cut down on the Indian (bollywood) music. And maybe the show should have a purpose other than to entertain.. like maybe raise awareness for education in pakistan or the profit made from the event should go to some organization to help pakistan.
It's not really a problem to speak English to "connect to culture" but only when you really absolutely have to. When they have internal meetings, sure, speak English all you want because most of the kids are students and they feel comfortable speaking English. However, when you have families attending, as the representative of PAKISTANI organization, especially when you claim that this night is to connect to our country, our culture, it makes sense to speak Urdu. I am not saying it should be perfect, no, speak the little that you can. Also, if not all board members, at least the president should be able to speak it. I am sticking to my opinion as I strongly feel about it.
Yea I think I may do that.
I can't speak Urdu crystal-clear and I'm sure the other kids in the PSA are way worse than me so I think I'll stick to English, though it's still important to know Urdu.
There aren't that many people in the PSA at UMD (about 150 students) which is not much compared to other universities.. but still it is a lot and they could do so much but they just don't!!
I keep answering what you will say in your next post :D i.e. not being able to speak clear Urdu. Well as I said, that should also be one of the motives of the PSA to raise awareness of the language and no one should fun of anyone just because their Urdu is not perfect. Again, pick the language according to the audience.
**I just don’t get it when are Pakistani’s going to learn that each one of us represent our country out side of Pakistan and then when something is wrong they say oh its not us its the politicians or the way ppl from different culture look at us ……. what they don’t realise that ……..
QATRA QATRA SAMANDAR BANTA HAI ……..God! these ppl make me so mad:kursi:…… in summer last yr we had this big azadi concert in Trafalgar square it was organised by GEO and Pakistan welfare association same thing happened we had no idea what was going on…… families were in from row and youngsters and some cheep ppl were pushing to get to front it was to the point that police had to come to make them go back coz they were crashing little kids and ladies at front…… they had to concert few times
Swee2 I agree. Desi people are just not organized. I used to think it's people in Pakistan only, and those too the ones that are not that educated but I was wrong. People at the airports also are very rude when it comes to simple curteous manners. i.e. no one makes a line, people would cut you off when you are talking to someone. So it's not limited to people in Pakistan, no matter where they are (London, New York, or Paris), desis will be desis.
Back in the day when I was like 8, they used to have a August 14th show in DC. I'm not sure who it was hosted by, but basically I think in like 1999 the DC local gov't. decided that they wouldn't allow the Aug. 14th celebration anymore because it was so unorganized and the place was left such a mess (it was outdoor). It's shameful. And very discouraging.. but just remember that we're not the only ones that don't like things the way they are. It's mainly just mismanagement.
**I know tell me about it! you know my argument with my huby was about similar thing …when we went down pk and there where loads of terrific and rubbish on road it was my 1st real visit to Karachi so I was kind of like OMG what’s going on and he told me you pp who not educated they don’t drive according law and they throw rubbish on roads but after 2,3 days we go out again and what I see is my huby is not only taking all these wrong turns and driving fast but also was throwing rubbish on road and when i asked what u doing he goes to me …COME ON YAAR KHALI MERE EK K THEEK SE GARI CHALNE YA KORA BIN MAIN PHEKNE SE KIYA HO GA AUR WESE BHI AB MAIN KORA HATH MAIN LIYE BIN KAHAAN DHONDOUN YOUR NEW HERE PPL WILL LAUGH AT ME FOR THAT and i was what the hell!
per Allah ka shukar hai now he behaves
bas Allah karay her Pakistani ko yeh baat samajh main aa ja-a to kitna acha ho hai na bhai jani
That's the problem with Pakistani people. Everyone thinks "Sirf merey karney sey kia hoga" and then no one ends up doing it. My uncle (mamoo) used to throw chicken bones on the floor while I used to get a plate to put them in and then dump them into the trash can. He used to tell me to do the same and say don't worry, bhabi will clean it. I used to tell him that BHABI will have to clean it, NOT YOU. That's why you can throw bones on the floor. Then I used to force him to put bones in the plate and he did - while I was eating with him.
Shikra .... She was speaking to a crowd of American-Pakistani's and possibly people of other cultures as well...... I am sure many of them dont understand or speak urdu. If she spoke in urdu to that kind of crowd then she wouldnt really be promoting the culture now would she?
What I am trying to say is that in a cultural event such as this... one shouldnt just reach out to their own culture but they should teach others about their culture as well and you can't do that by speaking in a foreign language.
……. what they don’t realise that ……..
