The Pinnacle by Asim Ahmed

POLITICS PNEC!

TEDxPNEC

HAMZA SHAMS

DHANAK

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER May 2013

Editor’s Note Dear Readers, Welcome to the best edition of The Pinnacle, yet. And well, I’m going to keep saying that for every edition, so you’d rather not believe this. What you should believe is that PNEC is starting to make waves. And some major ones of those too. This month, for the first time in her history, the college hosted a mega -event in which most of the city’s major universities participated. It took fifty years and an Executive Dictator (oh, I mean Director!) for us to do that, but hey, who’s complaining? The PNEC Olympiad went smoother than the Pinnacle could have hoped, with the social events providing just the right blend of fun and competition. And as if the grand performance that Strings gave that Monday night (Best night ever at PNEC, right? Me too) was not enough, Usman Riaz graced us with his presence at our very own TEDx event. Three celebrities coming to PNEC in the same semester? Alright, technically two. But still; Unbelievable! Teams from the college are also carrying on PNEC’s legacy at various competitions around the globe. We took part and won accolades in various local competitions again this semester and will be returning to race at Silverstone and exhibit eco-friendly cars in Manila in the summer. Not all of the waves that PNECians are making are entirely pleasant though. At least, not for the admin. The freshmen seem to have a knack of getting on the admin’s nerves, with regular dress code infringements and other ‘unusual’ incidents that have been frowned upon by the college. In this edition, we talk about some of these incidents, all of the major events and other places PNEC went to. We cover all the ‘healthy’ politics behind several society elections held last month and we discuss how the ‘creepy-nation’ at PNEC has a new platform to express their affection for their college-mates. We will also look at the legacy left behind by our ex-editor for the new one (that’d be me) to uphold as the reins at Pinnacle change hands. A word of advice for the freshmen: go easy on the naughty stuff there, guys and gals. Or you’re going to make life at PNEC a lot harder for yourself, your new editor, and your seniors too! And you don’t want that, do you? You know how grumpy we can get if that happens. Au Revoir, and Happy Reading!

The Pinnacle - May 2013

News POLITICS AT PNEC? OH YES!

he start of the spring semester is the bearer of bad news for different society officials at our college. Spring means election season at PNEC, and this year, as many as three societies dusted their ballot boxes and put them out for the members to cast their precious votes and change the office-bearers of these student bodies. The most hyped of these elections was ofcourse IEEE’s, as holding an office in this prestigious society is an honor for any engineer-in-making. The AIR and ASHRAE elections were, however, contested equally fiercely. Once the nominations had been finalized and the dates for election-days announced, the contestants begin their campaigns with enthusiastic dexterity. The infamous hostelite lobby was called for by some as others used social media to appeal for votes. The campaigns even continued on to election-day, as nominees hung outside the election cells to encourage approaching voters to cast in their favor. What was good to see about the whole process was that there was minimal negative promotion against political opponents. The Pinnacle hopes that this trend of healthy politics continues at PNEC.

CEMENTING THE HERITAGE

sizable contingent of thirteen teams from PNEC returned to FAST’s PROCOM this year, with high expectations and lofty ambitions. Being an event held annually without a break for the past fourteen years, competing and winning at PROCOM holds much more meaning than at other events around the city, and so PNECians competing at the event meant all business when it came down to the event day. Competing in some of the major event categories, our diligent to-be engineers managed to bag first positions in two categories. The Urdu Creative Writing competition was aced by our IEEE chair, Iqra Sajid, a junior-year student from the EE department. The sophomores from the same department also secured the first position in the Circuit Designing category of the event, proving that we are the best at what we do. Other teams also did well in various categories. The Pinnacle is proud of the lot who carried on PNEC’s legacy at the event and hopes that our dazzling scholars will continue this worthy tradition the next year and after.

LEST WE NOT KILL OURSELVES

ith a relentless set of rules, and an overly-competitive academic atmosphere, PNEC is one of those places that can drive a very sane mind to the verge of lunacy. The visit of the Counseling and Career Advisory team (also known as C3A) from H-12 was a welcome news for the tightly wound students here. An encouraging number of students registered for the counseling, and the team had their work cut out when the counseling sessions begun. The aim of Team C3A was to offer the students ways to gain a new perspective on their behavior and emotions so as to alleviate anxiety and depression which they usually accumulate due to the stress-inducing environment at an engineering institute. The team suggested, to the students, means of addressing stress and anger in a way that would not be detrimental to them or anyone else. Although some students found the sessions ‘absolutely useless’, others reflected on the counseling and gained a lot of insight from it, which will surely help them get through the rest of their journey at PNEC with a more positive attitude.

ACO; ASSIGNMENT COMPLETION OPERATION

onsidering the amount of workload PNECians usually have on their shoulders, it is not surprising that when assignment submission-dates are due, most of them usually try and get their hands on one of the theetas from the class. And well, everyone knows what to do after that. Copy. Paste. Submit. However, have you ever gone through a practice of a truly disciplined, purely indigenous and totally methodical assignment completion operation? No? Well, around 25 students from the batch of ’16 went through this unique experience this February when they sat down and religiously copied the assignment from the whiteboard where it had to be written, in its entirety in three goes, by one generous classmate of theirs who had done it already. Seeing the discipline that the students maintained, a teacher decided to overlook the practice despite being a witness. Unfortunately, there was one mistake in the generous classmate’s, and hence, the whole class’ assignment which led to a deduction in everybody’s scores. But then, we do have the relative system; which is swell, right?

The Pinnacle - May 2013

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GETTING ON THE WRONG NERVES

NEC’s admin does not need a reason to tighten the knot around its ‘subjects’, so it is highly stupid of the said subjects if they start giving the admin definite reasons to do so. Within the last couple of months, PNECians in general, and IME students in particular, have been getting under the admin’s skin with a troublesome regularity. From climbing the long ladder near the café to take pictures atop the IME Department’s roof to hitting shuttlecocks into inappropriate places while playing badminton, we have been practically begging the admin to reinstate the hellish morning muster on our miserable souls again. The continuous blatant uniform infringements from the freshmen have not helped at all either. Even the normally boring hostelites have been at it, smuggling people into the dorms twice. Better watch it, my friends. We dare not cross the line. Or maybe, we already have.

HIDE-N-SEEK CONFESSIONS

lick! Edit! Post it on facebook. Get likes. And comments. Count your followers and feel like a celebrity. Still not satisfied? Make a ‘Confessions and Crushes’ page. PNEC-Confessions came into existence with similar purposes, one should think. Because it provided an opportunity for the ones waiting for their inner romantic to be heard, a part of PNEC’s population welcomed it. Seeing that the new trend brought in an environment of overwhelming disgust with it, other heads however, shook in disapproval. Moving on from its reception, it would be factual to state that the page, unsurprisingly, soon became a platform to stealthily target fellow students, enjoy open gossip sessions and take pleasure in insulting other people on the forum. Some confessions ended up being so forward that they did all but name the crusher and the crushee. Things got out of hand when the identity of the page -admin was leaked out, and the page had to be shut down. Even though it is back up now returning with all the scandal, it is still good to see that there is plenty of opposition to something so unhealthy and creepy at our college.

THE TEA-BAR THAT WAS!

he Pinnacle is sad (or glad, whatever applies to you) to report that trekkers to the KK no longer have to endure the enticing wafts of fries, cheese samosas and what-not as the source of those heavenly smells, the IME Tea Bar, killed its engine this March. The bar, although not as lavish as KK, had its own charisma and was an adequate fuelling station for the IMEians, if they did not feel like making the long journey to the café. It was, to them, a tidy corner filled with chatter, laughter and giggles, being a center of merriment for all. Be it the diverse snacks or the amazing Mocha Latte, every IMEian had a reason to be hooked to it. There were even students from other departments who preferred to visit the Tea Bar rather than KK, when they wanted to snack. Mostly, however, the closure of the Bar was received positively by non-IMEians, with one point being struck off the list of ‘departmental discrimination in favor of IME’. But the fact that there will be no more fries, cheese samosas or lattes to either consume or smell, is to be grieved by one at PNEC, and all.

The Pinnacle - May 2013

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DISCOVER NUST. DISCOVER PNEC.

UST’s premier entrepreneurship challenge, Discover NUST, came to PNEC last November, where the battle between various elevator pitches’ was held and numerous mind-boggling ideas were thrown up. The event comprised of three days and the team from H-12 did not expect any of the volunteers to show up on the days. It was to their surprise, then, that every single cataloged volunteer not only showed up but also rendered their services wholeheartedly to making the event a successful venture. Even though the event in itself was serious stuff, and the organization team had some moments of panic to go through, but the jovial freshmen who were part of the Registrations Team had a Dunkins’ breakfast to drown it all. Other organizers had to remain contented with the event menu, which wasn’t bad itself. The fine food was an adequate reward for the hard work of the coordinators who were also acknowledged by the Discover team as the ‘most awesome organizers ever’!

NOT JUST ENGINEERS, BUT ENTREPRENEURS TOO

ne of the more diverse competitions our aspiring engineers took part in this year was the IBA Global Start-up Weekend, Karachi – a three -day entrepreneurial business plan competition held at IBA, Karachi last year in November. The multi-disciplinary delegation from PNEC pitched multiple ideas, on the first day, of which a couple were shortlisted: a socialentrepreneurship idea of online tutoring (a project called Fravel) by Sarim Haq and his team from ME and an appalling idea of a foldable, motorized skateboard called GFURS by the techno-geek trio of IME ‘freshies’ and their team –with Ali Mujtaba as a mentor. The next day was spent fine-tuning the ideas, making a business plan, and establishing an internet and social media presence for the proposed product. On Day 3, the teams gave presentations on their ideas. ‘Fravel’ was appreciated thoroughly as an excellent social entrepreneurship venture, but failed to secure a winning position. GFURS fared much better though, and the seemingly impossible idea of a foldable skateboard scored third place at SW Karachi. Rumor has it that the team has already been approached by independent investors, making them PNEC’s youngest entrepreneurs.

PNEC HOSTELITES: LIVING ON THE EDGE

here is no arguing the fact that PNEC Boys Hostel is the breeding ground of many unusual incidents and scandals. Most of these usually happen when the hostelites step over the line drawn by our beloved warden, which he, ofcourse, doesn’t like. Recently, two seniors were thrown out of the hostel, for bringing a girl into the hostel. Yes, you read that right. A girl! The poor souls thought that they had done a good job sneaking this lady into the premises but they did not think of the ever-watchful surveillance cameras. That was a critical mistake and, caught red-handed, they were issued immediate suspension letters by the warden. Another story which had a happier ending is from the earlier days of the semester. Apparently, a freshmen hostelite filed a complaint with the warden that he was being persistently bothered by seniors. The warden took immediate notice and sent his ‘team’ on the hunt to look for any suspicious activities going on in the hostel. In the resulting vigil, a few seniors were caught and one was suspended but he fortunately managed to regain his room after a few days. Keep it coming, you naughty mongrels! The Pinnacle - May 2013

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PNECIAN DIPLOMATS

was the Season of the MUNs in PNEC this semester, as the students here took to the market their mathematical minds, to test their oratory and diplomatic skills. Attuned with the tradition set by our MUNers who took part in SZABMUN last semester, the two delegations, participating in MUN IBA Karachi (MUNIK) and NUST Int. MUN (NIMUN), were mostly sophomores. The MUNIK delegation comprising of Daim Ali, Danish Haider, Sarah Zafar, Aftab Ali Hassan, Arsalan Jawed, Saadi Aziz, Abdullah Khalid and Wasiq Ghani represented South Korea and Austria, and succeeded to score the Best Position Paper Award. And, if monologue and legislature weren’t hectic enough, a few of them managed to debut their startup business even at MUNIK’s beach party –which sadly got relocated to a club on Sea View instead of the intended French Beach. A thousand miles northwards, meanwhile, Azfar Wasim and Alamdar Raza represented PNEC at NUST International MUN. They fared better (in terms of awards that is) as both the contenders managed to get an award each with Azfar getting an Outstanding Diplomacy Award and Alamdar, an honorary mention. The Pinnacle extends a hearty congratulation to them all, and wish them best of luck with their future endeavors.

WHAT HAPPENS IN IME BLOCK...

t is not a coincidence that the acronym for our college’s name, PNEC, is sometimes read as Party Never Ending College, and The Pinnacle holds this image to be true. You want proof? We will show you the photos from a Dholki (yes, a Dholki) that was held in the IME block in the build -up to the approaching wedding of a senior student from the IME batch of ’13. This Dholki was a long time in the pipeline and that was evident in the extravagant attire of most present at the occasion. With a dholak and a list of songs specially suited to the moment, the merry-makers let free, the singers and dancers within them. After the ladies could not think of any more songs along the lines of ‘lathay di chadar’, the lads plugged in a desi playlist and took center stage with all the bhangra and dance moves they could muster. If the occasion needed any more of the wedding feel, it was lent to it by the pleasurably long photo-session that followed the singing and the dancing. Another follow-up Dholki was in the plans but unfortunately, The Pinnacle is still waiting for it to happen.

The Pinnacle - Feb 2013

News MOCK INTERVIEW

IR organized an event this April in which they held mock interviews. Alumni , now working at different multinational companies were invited as interviewers, including popular names such as Hassan Idrees (British Petroleum Ltd), Syed Talib Haider (Suzuki Motors) and Hammad Khalid (Procter & Gamble). The interviewees were judged on the basis of poise, enthusiasm, intelligence, analytical skills, time management, self -confidence, work ethics, creativity, interpersonal skills, teamwork, organizational skills and their command over their education and training. One of the more popular questions asked by the interviewers was ‘a scheme to kill someone’, which may sound absurd but it evaluated the creative side to an individual’s personality. The candidates were given individual assessment reports and afterwards, a session was conducted by the alumni, in which they highlighted the weaknesses and presented important guidelines for giving interviews, sharing their valuable experience. AIR must be heartily commended for the event.

IEEE AGM ‘13

he Annual General Meeting of IEEE-PNEC was held this February in the Jauhar Auditorium. The AGM is held every year to facilitate the transfer of power to the new ex-com and appreciate the efforts of diligent society members. After Zohaib’s recitation of the Holy Quran, the new IEEE mentor Mr. Umer Amir made his appearance on stage. He spoke about how instrumental IEEE was throughout the last year, as an autonomous society. Next up, IEEE’s engagements were illustrated in a video followed by the ex-chair Onib Nasir’s speech. Dr. Atta Ullah Memon then paid tribute to IEEE’s dedication and consistent efforts, followed by the distribution of awards to outstanding members of the society. The transfer of power then began as financial accounts and legal documents were exchanged, which preceded a formal oath taking ceremony conducted by Dr. Faisal Amir. From IEEE junior officer to the new Chair – Iqra’s triumphant journey was delivered in a speech of her own. The evening ended with the commandant’s encouraging remarks before hi-tea (free food!) was served for all guests. The Pinnacle - May 2013

NUST PNEC OLYMPIAD 2013

ell, folks. It had been a long time coming; but boy, was it worth the wait! This April, Pakistan Navy Engineering College hosted, for the first and hopefully not the last time, the NUST -PNEC Olympiad. The idea had been in the pipeline for quite some time, with the initiative taken by Herr Direcktor, Mr. Azfar Wasim. After the approval for the event was finally granted by the admin, the road to establishing a legacy at PNEC began. Slowly, and with a lot of bumps along the way: including dilemmas as huge as the state of sponsorships (or rather, the lack of them) to others as trivial as the fact that ‘Roshan kaam nahi karta’, the Olympiad’s massive Organization Committee worked its way towards its goal under the guidance of Lt. Qaiser, the SPORTO. From making the official logo and the website to inviting all the major universities in the Karachi area; almost every department was catered for by the OC members divided adequately into the teams required. Registrations predictably poured in, and were supervised by the Registrations Team. The response was so overwhelming that the deadline for registrations had to be extended. The Marketing Team also worked round the clock to ensure a stable cash flow for the event’s budget. Through the course of preparations, there were, predictably, many conflicts of opinions about how things should be arranged, scheduled or set up. Fortunately, however, no one ended up with lasting sentiments, realizing that all anybody was trying to do was contribute to the mega -event; except possibly Roshan, although he remained adamant that ‘sara kaam me kar raha hun!’.

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Gags apart, The Pinnacle is proud to report that remarkably prestigious institutes, such as AKU, IBA, Sindh Medical University, Iqra, FAST and SZABIST were amongst the lot that sent delegations to participate in the different sporting categories held over the three days of the event. These categories included Futsal, Cricket, Basketball, Chess, Volleyball, Tennis, Badminton, Table Tennis and Throwball. Experienced Match Officials were hired from Karsaz so as to ensure that the sanctity of the event was not violated and that no team would raise the issue of bias towards the host teams. When the day arrived, and the teams started showing up for the events, they were given a short tour of the campus and after a little ado, taken straight to action. Different matches took place over several venues which lay over the entire university. From Volleyball outside the Annexe building to Throwball in the Tennis Court, all matches continued simultaneously without any notable hitches, all thanks to the remarkable scheduling. The matches even managed to attract audiences with ample supply of exciting events. In Futsal, AKU came from two goals down at half time to win 5-3 against Textile Institute of Pakistan. The IBA Throwball team showed they were above the competition by going through the entire tourney undefeated! The biggest highlight, however, was none other than the Basketball tourney’s final between Iqra and PNEC itself. With seconds to go on the clock and Iqra leading by a point, a moment of pure magic from Shehryar (IV -WE) bagged the winning points for Team PNEC. With the ball in his own D, and three opponent players bearing down on him, Shehryar let loose with an absolute stunner: a full-court shot which went swishing through the bucket, leaving the players shellshocked, and the crowd in awe! While the days of the Olympiad were full of sporting thrill and competitive buzz, night -time was where the party was at. The PNEC-NUST Olympiad featured three social events: a laugh-riot Comedy Night, a springwelcoming Basant, and a Strings concert (don’t really need adjectives there now, do we?) On the sixth, LOL Waalay, a troupe of improvisational comedians, performed in the Jauhar Auditorium, coming up with jokes that were both raunchy and classy at the same time. Featuring our very own PNEC passouts, Akbar and Kumail, the performers also made a lot of inside jokes, to which the PNECian segment of the audience responded with roars of laughter that could be heard all the way from the gate. Some of the more memorable jokes included a song that made fun of a certain hostelite known as barfi, or the ‘things that you can say about PNEC but not about your girlfriend’. Next up was Basant, which was another memorable event with the black night -sky lit up with an array of lights and full of dozens of paper-sharks looking for prey. Seasoned kite-flyers took to the field and dueled with a flurry of sweeps, feeding the strings and then loosening them with lethal effect for their opponents. The playlist for the event was also tailored for the occasion as the pilots now turned their attention to dancing, with the focus remaining on bhangra and other desi moves.

The Pinnacle - May 2013

The NUST-PNEC Olympiad ’13 closed up shop with a bang on the 8th: the Strings Concert. Thanks to the star power of Bilal and Kapadia, a substantial crowd turned up for the concert even though it was a Monday night. The band had the crowd jumping, dancing and waving their neon-banded wrists to their greatest hits from the beginning. A filler drumming session raised the roof, and a cover of Pat Lal Meri sent the crowd into a frenzy. Strings performed into the night and finally wrapped things up with their iconic number ‘Hai Koi Hum Jaisa’. It would not be erroneous to say that the Olympiad was a huge success and The Pinnacle hopes that the event has paved the way for future events to take place at our own PNEC NUST. The Pinnacle would like to extend its heartiest congratulations to both the OC and the admin on conducting an event of this magnitude and pulling it off with aplomb! Bravo!

The Pinnacle - May 2013

PHOTO SPECIAL

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Page of Fame NUST-PNEC OLYMPIAD â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;13

CATEGORY WINNER(S) RUNNER-UP Futsal Iqra University AgaKhan Cricket AgaKhan Altamash Throwball Institute of Business SZABIST (G) Administration Badminton Institute of Business SZABIST (G) Administration BasketBall PNEC Iqra University (B) Basketball Sindh Medical UniAgaKhan Univesity (G) versity TableIqra University PNEC Tennis (B) Table- Baqai Medical UniverAltamash Tennis (G) sity *Volleyball, Tennis and Chess results not submitted by Team Olympiad.

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Page of Fame PNECIANS AT INTER-UNIVERSITY EVENTS EVENT

CATEGORY Urdu Creative Writing

PROCOM (FASTNU)

Circuit-Design

FASTTECH

iQuiz

Startup Weekend

Business Plan

NIMUN

Outstanding Diplomacy Honorary Mention

MUNIK

Best Position Paper

TEAM MEMBERS Iqra Sajid Mansoor Alam Shehryar Rahim Mohammad Zubair Hajra Khan Kiran Mehmood Farah Akram Farrukh Haider Bayan Mashrequi Daim Ali Shaikh Danish Haider Azfar Wasim Alamdar Raza Saadi Aziz Salman Tahir

POSITION 1st

1st 2nd

3rd -

INTER-DEPARTMENTAL DEBATE COMPETITION CATEGORY English (Favor)

English (Against)

Urdu

POSITION 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd

WINNER Ayesha Farooq (II-IME) Marium Waris (II-EE) S/Lt Usman Qamar (IV-EL) Ammarah Tanveer (IV-EL) Ayesha Tariq (II-IME) Muhammad Uzair (IV-ME) Jawad Ali (IV-IME) S/Lt Bashar Ilyas (IV-El) S/Lt Azhar Khan (IV-MIS) The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features THE ENGINEER WHO TOOK THE INITIATIVE

amza Shams is, probably, the only name that will be recognized by every student in PNEC regardless of their semester, department or residence. Why? Because this guy is leaving behind, a legacy for PNECians. Or rather, legacies. Be it MACS, FNR or the Entrepreneurship Club, there is no pie around, which Hamza Shams doesn’t have a finger in. It will indeed be a sad day when Hamza departs PNEC and so, our reporter, Faizan Azhar, caught up with him to extract all his secrets that he could. Faizan: Hello Hamza. How are you doing. Hamza: I’m doing good. What about you? Faizan: I’me fine too, thank you. First and foremost, the MACS question! What were the reasons behind establishing PNEC’s best and most active society? Hamza: Boredom. Boredom. Boredom. I still remember my first semester: sitting alone on a table at the back listening to songs and contemplating on the idea as to why did I choose to come here. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? MACS was not just a result of that. It was a lifetime of experience. A year and a half actually, but hell, I love to brag. So while sitting and complaining as to how mean can IEEE PNEC actually get, me and Hammad [M. Abid] discussed the awesome idea k ‘boy kuch kartay hain’. Let's make something that brings fun -fairness back to this place. And that was the reason! Faizan: How much help and opposition did you get or face from your seniors in this endeavor of yours? Hamza: I have never paid heed to the ‘fear-your-seniors' idea because I feel it restricts people’s creativity and limits them as individuals. However, being as inexperienced as I was, I tri ed seeking help from my seniors and asked them to help me start something fun here. That, however, was pretty much to no avail, until the day I came across Hammad Shahid, courtesy of my school friend, Umair Wasim. Hammad appreciated my idea and decided to take it forth. After six months of rigorous paperwork, we finally managed something effective and fun. The objective was to come up with something that would be constitutionally powerful, structurally sound and something that slides into the system of PNEC instead of challenging it. And well I still remember 22nd September 2010, when we gave our presentation to Capt. Imran and got his approval to go ahead. Celebrations dawned as we had created a work of art, PNEC's most powerful society to date. Faizan: What role did you envisage for MACS inside and outside PNEC? What would you say about the accomplishments of those goals during your time with the society? Hamza: In one simple word: Outreach. The plans I had for MACS were way beyond the models of regular student societies. I

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features envisioned it to take the stature of AIESEC in the future; something that has chapters, followers, a diverse cultural influx and that pretty much controls the flow of things in every University out there. Hence we started making collaborations with other societies during my tenure. A plan I'd like my future teams to look into. MACS gives you powers, use them well. Faizan:You’ll be graduating in a few weeks leaving behind your legacy – what standards do you expect MACS to uphold? Hamza: I would personally like it to affect every individual’s life at PNEC. See, before MACS, people here had a totally different meaning of the word ‘entertaining events’ and mind you, you'd hate those events. MACS promised a standard that we reached and upheld during our time: in events, publications, communications and formation of teams. I'd like the future teams to foll ow that legacy since that serves as the foundation of improvement in the PNEC’s atmosphere that you have seen in recent times. Faizan: Do you think you are leaving MACS in worthy hands? Hamza: It depends, actually. You can't control everything out there. My ideologies were different, and the people succeeding me might view things differently. Hence, the question of the right hands stands ambiguous. My only wish is for people to appreciate the idea we worked for and take it forward. And for the love of God, read the constitution once! It'll tell you what you can actually accomplish in your one-year tenure. Faizan: I’ll tell them to, Hamza. Now, something besides MACS: you were involved in a multitude of other activities too. What was your motivation behind taking up all of those in the face of the rigorous academic requirements at PNEC? Hamza: Call it misleading and highly inappropriate, but my initial motivation has always revolved around something that I would not like to disclose here. Now though, it is only self-actualization. I decided on taking a new leap after understanding my potential, and realized that self-fulfillment was a much better reason to motivate yourself than the former. I would implore you people to keep the same in mind and set goals with this very same perspective. Faizan: Tell us a little about some of the interesting activities you’ve been involved in. What have you learnt from these ex periences? Hamza: Okay. I, personally, can never find a starting point to this question. Ever since I got involved in things, there was always something more that I wanted to put my hands in. However, if I were asked for my most endearing projects, I suppose Youth Correspondent and Ramp Affair Castings have given me a new identity to live with and be proud of. Faizan: Lastly some words of wisdom you would offer to your juniors regarding how to excel in the PNEC environment. Hamza: My 5 points of ultimate success. 1. Never challenge the system. Learn it and then use it against itself. 2. Don't act like retards and start fantasizing about your lame school life getting better. You're a NUSTian only if you work for it. 3. We know larkiyan nain hain, but don't make your life revolve around that issue. If you have been to as many internships as I've been, I'd say you won't meet better girls anywhere. You get home -made lunch boxes if you go with a girl. *chuckles* 4. Get involved in things as soon as you can. It'll help you get over the depressing phases. 5. Hostel ki awaam is amazing and fashionably generous, once you get to know them.

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features FORMULA NUST RACING: The Legacy continues

Adeel Ali Khan

here is just something about seeing sleek cars zooming at eccentric speeds that gets everyone all worked up and excited. It is therefore understandable that Formula racing tracks are one of the most thrilling sights in the world. The educational version of this renowned motorsport competition is held annually under the name of ‘Formula Student’ by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (ImechE) in collaboration with Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). Many of you must already be familiar with the name ‘Formula NUST Racing’ (referred to as FNR in shorthand). For those of you who haven’t heard about it yet, FNR is a team from NUST-PNEC that will be representing NUST in this year’s Formula Student at the Silverstone Circuit, UK. Team FNR and their Formula style race car will be competing against the creations of the greatest engineering minds from some of the best universities around the world. At the Silverstone, Team FNR will be carrying on the legacy of PNEC’s alumnae, who were a part of ‘Formula NUST’, the first team ever to represent Pakistan in an FSAE event. Even though the team could not make it into the dynamic events due to some technical glitches but what that little group of people accomplished was nothing less than extraordinary. Even qualifying to compete at the event was an achievement in itself. Normal Formula Student teams can be of up to two dozen members divided into specialized teams that look after different aspects of the project. So for a Pakistani team with only 7 members, building a race car and taking it all the way to England seemed a feat unattainable. That team fought against all odds though, and made it possible. Presently, Formula NUST has evolved into Formula NUST Racing, a larger team with different divisions handling marketing, finances, management and technical issues. These teams are spending countless hours to ensure that everything goes according to plan and schedule. From developing ideas and designs, to building the machine and gathering sponsors to ensure a stable cash flow, the team is making sure that nothing goes wrong. What is astonishing is that FNR is the only student team from Paki-

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features stan participating in the prestigious event. The team has a couple of successful road-shows and a decent-looking list of sponsors to show for their hard work. With just a few months remaining, the pace and intensity of work has increased, and as the Race Day draws closer, team FNR is gearing up to hit the ground running at the Silverstone. The Pinnacle wishes them all the best!

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features Changing Reigns: The Dawn Of A New Era

Ali Qamber

obody ever dislikes getting good news. And if this news comes as a surprise, that is an absolute bonus. Your editor knows tha t because it was just a normal winter (or what we call winter in Karachi) day, when Rida Shazli, the Pinnacle editor -in-chief then, texted him asking if he would like to be her successor. It was unbelievable. It literally was. Ms. Shazli had to emphasize he r offer a couple of times more before this ungrateful soul could stop taking it to be a sick attempt at humor. The Pinnacle started out as an idea of course, like all good things do. An idea brought into action by a small group of peopl e. With Rida’s and Aqsa’s initiative, Zohaib’s diligence and Asim’s techskills*, the first e-issue of the Pinnacle was uploaded to a generally positive reception by students and faculty alike. Since its humble beginnings, The Pinnacle has gone through a lot of changes but what has remained invariable is the passionate team behind the newsletter. Faces and names may have changed, but the passion to portray the bright and healthy side of PNEC to its inhabitants and to create a more congenial image of the college among the masses remains the same. This issue is a bearer of the unseen transition that Team Pinnacle is going through this semester. With the experienced sopho mores already present to guide them, enthusiastic freshmen have joined the cause, and together, the two have managed to present som ething bigger and better than anything Team Pinnacle has brought to the scene before. With a new web -presence, The Pinnacle will also be much more accessible to its readers. This is also Pinnacle’s longest issue in its short history (thanks to the huge number of awesome events that we had this semester), and this editor-in-chief is indeed thankful that he had a whole team of willing workers to sh are his workload with. In our reporters and authors, our designers and promoters, every person has contributed to bring this edition about. And as t he reins at Pinnacle change hands, the new Team hopes that that you, the readers, find our work as entertaining to read it as the team -before’s, as we hope to build on the good work of Rida and Co.

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features TEDxPNEC: Bringing The Creative Spark To PNEC

Ali Qamber EEE PNEC has always prided itself on being the most professional student society at the college. They did not do their image any harm when they came up with an event that brought PNEC shoulder-to-shoulder with the best institutes in Pakistan. Even though listening is not an activity this nation generally likes to do, the trend of TED conferences has gained a lot of momentum in our country.

It was therefore, with a lot of enthusiasm that IEEE members started preparations for TEDxPNEC. Calls were made, emails and texts were sent, and after a lot of inclusions and omissions, the prestigious speaker list for the event was finalized. The OC also laid a lot of importance on the adornment of the venue with the stage and the outer-area of the Jauhar Auditorium given special attention. When the OC shifted the event two days forward due to some organizational glitches, they made the event coincide with the CNS’s visit to PNS Jauhar. That was just the start of the tribulations the OC had to face that day. From Usman Riaz’s MacBook’s rejection of the auditorium’s VGA cable, to the last -minute back-outs of the fashion designer YBQ and Kachee Goliyan’s Nofal Khan because of the blast at Maskan, nothing seemed to be going the organizers’ way. The show, nonetheless, had to begin. And so it did. Usman Riaz, the young musical sensation who is also a TED fellow, was first up. His presentation turned out fine eventually and his blockbuster performance with the strings set the tone for the rest of the event. Dr. Aziz Rab was next and he spoke on how a compass-driven career could prove pivotal to a man’s life and his achievements. Irfan Sayani followed that up with an atypical but remarkable talk on social media interactions. If the event needed a spark, it got one in the form of Saadi Makhdoom’s closing talk who weaved his usual magic through a brilliant use of words and pictures, advising the attendees to live silly, dream big and play wise. If the drama that the OC experienced behind the backdrop can be ignored, TEDxPNEC went through smoothly enough for the people attending and speaking at it, who went home with full stomachs and in high spirits. The Pinnacle would like to applaud IEEE on bringing something so big to PNEC.

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features Shell Eco Marathon: Making Every Drop Count Ayesha Tariq

new year has arrived and the Shell Eco team is back at it again: Bolt and Ballista, the engineering marvels par ticipating in this year’s Shell Eco Marathon, are having their screws tightened to grace this summer the tracks at Sepang, Malaysia; to let a-flutter there –once more –the Green and White of Pakistan.

Shell Eco Marathon (SEM) provides a platform to the engineering students to design, build and run their own fuel efficient vehicles to participate in different categories depending on their fuel and design. At its core, it’s pretty straight forward: the vehicle that covers the greatest distance in one litre of fuel stands out as a winner. For Team PNEC, it all started back in 2009, when owing to the relentless labours of the pioneering SEM Team PNEC and Group Captain Shoaib Ahmed, the team participated in SEM Germany. And again in 2010, when an automated prototype, musingly named ‘BOLT’, first revved engines in SEM Asia. After a respite in 2011, Team PNEC was at it again in 2012, as they challenged the Fates by deciding to participate in two categories: the traditional ‘Bolt’, in Urban Concept (Gasoline) and a new Prototype called ‘Ballista’, to participate in Prototype (Gasoline). It took a year and a multi-disciplinary team of passionate PNECians, to fabricate these and actually take the cars to Sepang F1 International Circuit, Malaysia! But their strife paid off when the Crescent Flag finally waved in Malaysian skies on the 4th of July. It wasn’t always ‘strife and struggle’, though; well, not on day two at least, when the traditional Pakistan v/s India rivalry perforated into the SEM Quiz competition: heart in throat, and eardrums ringing with Nur Jehan’s ‘Wattan key Sajeeley Jawano’, Team Pakistan answered every question as if a correct answer meant firing bullets into the enemy’s heart! And finally when they did win, it was as if nothing else had mattered! And the luck continued when all eyes were on Bolt and Ballista to complete the track runs: Bolt finished on the final attempt. It was an absolute delight for the team to hear that Bolt secured the 10th position and was chosen for the official Flag-off ceremony from Pakistan. The cherry on the cake, and a funny moment for the team was when Ali Akram Bhalli got a free IPad and had it taken away as he wasn’t an official part of the team. All in all, Team PNEC’s SEM odyssey is not only about engineering: it is about our passion, creativity and our patriotism! Godspeed to the team for their daring endeavour this summer. Make PNEC proud!

The Pinnacle - May 2013

Features DHANAK: A Sprinkle Of Color Among The Special Ayesha Farooq

he Educational and Community Service Society (ECSS-PNEC) is one of the younger societies in running at PNEC. They are, as their motto says, ‘a group of ordinary aspiring engineers who follow an ordinary track, with ordinary people around, to achieve milestones extra-ordinary’. With immaterial goals and self-giving aims, they hope to bring smiles on the faces of those who are seldom remembered by us. The society launched its first project of the year, titled ‘Dhanak’, this April, which was a show put on by the physically and mentally handicapped children from the Rangoonwala Special Children School, Karsaz. It was a beautiful morning when the lovely children were received at the Bahria Auditorium by ECSSPNEC members. The event was initiated with the recitation of Holy Quran by a child, who you could not guess to be unsighted, in his soulful voice. A group of hearing-impaired children then performed wonderfully on a welcome song depicting a scene of rainfall. A glimpse of the difficulties that are faced by handicapped people in our society and the measures that can be taken to eradicate them using technological advancements, was given by means of a play named ‘Roshni ka Safar’ while the issue of social segregation was raised in the form of a skit called ‘Zindagi’. Another batch of disadvantaged children then mesmerized the audience with some melodious songs. The audience, spellbound by the perseverance and the evident hard work that had been put into the performances by these very special children, clapped whole-heartedly as everyone gave a spectacular performance on stage. ECSS -PNEC also inaugurated the issuance of a ‘Health-Card’ which would help the underprivileged kids living in the slums to get free treatment and medicine once ECSS authorizes them. The event was graced by the presence of prominent Pakistani writer, advertising executive, politician, intellectual and former information minister Mr. Javed Jabbar as the Chief Guest. The list of the guests of honor also included PNEC’s Commandant, Deputy Director of the National Special Education Centre and other government and NGO representatives. The guests expressed their immense gratitude upon being a part of the event and appreciated the efforts of the ECSS members in bringing awareness among the people about a forgotten social cause. Dhanak was indeed, a very unique experience for everyone who was a part of it, and the Pinnacle hopes that ECCS continues to spread joy and colors among the under-privileged. The Pinnacle - May 2013

Photo of the month

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the number of moments that take our breath away. - Hilary Cooper

Team Pinnacle Director Publications: M Akmal Attaullah Editor-in-chief: Syed Ali Qamber Design and Layout: Asim Ahmed, Daim Ali Shaikh, Yusra Shah Content: Aadil Khan, Adeel Ali, Ayesha farooq, Ayesha Tariq, Faizan Azhar Editors: Zohaib Shahid, Umair Asif Photo Credits: Ablazed Studios - Adnan Shabbir, Ayesha Farooq Special Thanks: Hamza Shams, Kiran Mehmood

Your contributions, originalities and suggestions are more than welcome at macs.infodesk@gmail.com

The Pinnacle - May 2013