Before you wonder if I’m dissing my own Club, hold your horses!
The IBA Adventure Club is a young club that was founded a few years back. It should be noted that our Club has been completely revamped with 99% new members for our tenure 2021-2022 – this makes it a fresh start that can be likened to a ‘rebirth’.
Our Motto – “GLI” personified!
We are still establishing ourselves in a terrain full of smashing societies that seem to be way ahead of us in the game to make the student body happy. But hold on – would a Club like ours want to compete with others? No, not when we’re too busy planning adventures and embracing GLI!
Our Club goes by the slogan of ‘Growth, Love and Inclusivity’ that can be shortened to ‘GLI’, which is not just a mere slogan but in fact our core values. Adventure is a club where all IBAians are welcome irrespective of any affiliation they may have be it political membership, religion, gender, ethnicity, degree program, or year of the degree.
This is not some political correctness stunt when we say our Club does its best to live up to its own values; in 2021 we invited all 200 membership applicants for panel interviews and facilitated them in person and on Zoom. In an attempt to remain neutral, we even maintained a scoring sheet for soft and hard skills, and mostly considered a ‘vibe check’ which was about the applicant’s enthusiasm, energy & willingness to learn. We ended up narrowing it down to a total membership of 37 Crew Members including Office Bearers. In 2021, we conducted 2 of our projects: ‘Let’s Cruise’ and ‘Winter Adventure ‘22’. The former was a cruise organized at Marina Club that served as our launch event while the latter was a collaborative 10-day tour to Swat & Kashmir by our Adventure and Commuovere Tours.
Our Adventures!
The projects were fun, relaxing, and chaotic – our Club ran into some issues on the cruise day due to a miscommunication with our university administration that caused a delay in departure; one coaster from Gulshan Campus reached in the nick of time whereas the Saddar Campus coaster reached an hour late. One of the stereos we rented also malfunctioned. Similarly, our winter tour went from a Biryani mood to a Kado mood at the beginning – our arrival in Islamabad was a breeze but in both Kalam and Bahrain we ran into an underdelivery on promises of standard hotel amenities. Talk about luck.
But guess what? All our hardships were eased with the support and help of our collaborative team and fellow Adventurers who trusted us and worked with us to pull through! At our launch, the late guests enjoyed a ride to the cruise ship on a speedboat and a guest amped up his personal boom box to help with the busted stereo situation. On our northern tour, we were blessed with cooperative guests and used our wits to renegotiate with hotels and switch to better ones. So basically, we got back on track quickly and ended in a sweet mood comparable to Gulab Jaman.
Closing Thoughts…
Yes, we had a handful of frustrating and laughable moments; however, each time we triumphed and delivered on our promises – the cruise had a BBQ, dance, sea breeze, and solid views during golden hours and the lighted night while on the tour we enjoyed jeep rides to Ushu Forest, a bonfire night in Mingora, a dance night in Malam Jabba, snowfall in Keran and the ultimate beauty of Neelam Valley. Ups and downs are a part of the package when you are a Club that takes risks and has many firsts. Not only do we know how to end on a high note but with each adventure, we bounce back stronger!
We look forward to welcoming IBAians to our fun, crazy and budget-friendly plans for 2022 – we currently are working to explore interior Sindh, Kund Malir, Ormara, Gilgit Baltistan, Karachi and bring a surprise to IBA grounds.
Let’s see what all the universe wills.
We look forward to welcoming IBAians to our fun, crazy and budget-friendly plans for 2022 – we currently are working to explore interior Sindh, Kund Malir, Ormara, Gilgit Baltistan, Karachi and bring a surprise to IBA grounds.
Let’s see what all the universe wills.
Till then Ciao Ciao.
Basima Sameer Dodhy
Manager
IBA Adventure Club
