AoA!

What prompted me to write this letter is the recent case of suicide of a student in one of the renowned schools of Abbottabad. I would not go into whatever the reasons were. I want to talk about the role of parents regarding their children. Parents want the best for their children and they can go to any extent to give them that. In pursuit of this desire, they send their little ones to hostels in prestigious institutions, thinking that by studying from some XYZ School ‘bachay ki zindagi ban jae gi’. But what they fail to realise is that at this point of the child’s life he/she needs their parents love and affection rather than the scolding and abuse from the seniors and teachers in hostels. Dear parents, ‘Apkay bachay ki zindagi ghar bethay bhi ban sakti hai lekin thori si mehnat ki zarurat paray gi’.

Please, don’t send your children to hostels because it is hell in there!

Osama R Qazi

Dekh magar…

Dear Editor,

The issue of June 8 was awesome. Each item was indeed a treat to read. The reason why I am writing to you is that you published a letter in that issue due to which I was surprised to know that I was criticised by a person belonging to the same gender, who might be facing the same problems I mentioned in my letter (Initially, I thought it was written by a guy). It was indeed surprising for me to find out how, in a ‘light mood’ she can take all the content of the article and give a conclusion in the end by simply writing ‘If girls respect themselves and maintain their grace, they will certainly be respected’. Did you ever think for a while, or for that matter, did anyone notice the title of the article i.e. ‘Dekh magar pyar se’? I mean, what sort of a first impression is this title depicting to the male youngsters out there? Publishing media equally plays a vital role in teaching about various issues to the readers out there. No doubt it is doing its best to resolve such social issues in our societies, but I’m surprised that articles with such titles are welcomed in the publishing media and the worst is that this affects boys out there who just skim over the issue. In short, what was the writer trying to convey? That women are respected by each and every man out there and their complaints about gender harassment are all in vain? Is it safe for women to go out without any man with them? Is there no longer any danger for a girl to walk on foot? Instead, it has become dangerous for a man to go alone! Is he trying to convey this to all men reading this that they should grab the autos leaving ladies behind?

Fiza Zia ul Hannan, Islamabad

Feedback

Ed,

Yesterday, as I went through Us magazine, I thought I really needed to point out some little problems that readers – like myself – usually confront. It’s a really good magazine, but you really need to improve the paper’s quality and I think you should reply to the contributors. I sent three of my articles some days ago. They didn’t get printed (that’s okay if you didn’t like them) and I didn’t even get a reply. Now, this is what I really wanted to talk about, and I mean no offense: if you don’t like the contributions, you should at least tell me, you know, so I can try elsewhere. I don’t have time and    I think it’d be extremely nice of you to at least tell me. But, otherwise, the magazine’s good, except for its thickness: please try to do something about the number of pages it has, they’re so less. Some things are really nice but I think you should take my advice into consideration. PLEASE.

Khaula Nazir Chauhdry, Lahore

This is life!

Hi Ed,

This is to appreciate the story ‘Life before her eyes’ (May 11) by Tarbia Hamid. She wrote beautifully! It is true that we dream big, we dream of greater good but all our dreams do not necessarily come true. This is life; you do not know what’s going to happen the very next moment. We are completely helpless and we have to accept what life throws at us. The way to fulfil our dreams and the way to success is not certain, but it can be paved through determination.

Bariyah Faisal, Rawalpindi

Hey everyone,

We know you guys are desperately waiting for the results of poetry competition, so here’s a good news for all the poetry lovers out there. We will announce the results next week. So, stay tuned for the poetry special issue of Us magazine.

Till then, take care.

Bye