The revival of societies in IBA and how it is a good thing

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Part 1: The Revival of societies in IBA

With the management team (MT) and host team (HT) interviews out of the way… another formality that led to the society’s wheels turning was the Whatsapp groups (aka phase 1 of the revival). These are the infamous groups with “MT” in their names.

Phase 2 aka “events brainstorming” started shortly after. Spirits started to soar as the society EC (Executive Council) started brainstorming event ideas with the management team. Some asked for posters to be made, while others asked the MT to look out for potential sponsors for their events. Furthermore, to coordinate these tasks, the EC would gather their MT for meetings.

Oh, and the entertaining arguments between the EC and the MT when the latter were unable to make it to the meeting. The most entertaining response from the EC would be, “even we are missing a few classes so that is not an excuse”. Yes, squadron EC, I appreciate your “sacrifice my own life for my society” mentality. However, if I miss Sir Furqan’s class one more time, my GPA would be at risk of being martyred and no soldier will be able to save that.

This takes me to another interesting aspect of society’s WhatsApp texts that really gets me every time. I like to call them the earthquake-aftershock-recovery messages (ehem, ehem).

*The Earthquake

This text pops up in our notification. Those who like to stay in the society (or more like impress the EC) diligently share the Facebook post right away. It is the kind that comes from a general who commands his soldiers to attack. 

*The Aftershock

This one’s meant to hurt the ego’s of those who dared to downright ignore the text.

*The recovery

Finally, there comes a flood of “done” and “acknowledged” on the group. 

Personally, I have had a rather fun time dealing with these messages. Since I decided it was cool to join more than 2 societies, I was asked to share a myriad of different posts on the same event. Bruh, what would Manju aunty – my neighbor from 2 blocks away- think of me if she sees 10 Ramadan Kareem posts on my timeline?!

Part 2: How is it a good thing?

All jokes aside, it has been a tough time for IBA societies as they were unable to hold many physical events. Many of the freshmen missed out on the real flavor of the IBA social life. Nonetheless, the societies made an active effort to keep the candle burning by providing many useful information sessions. These webinars have been special since they were able to connect IBA students directly to professionals from across the globe. Hence, we can say that they do get a 10/10 in adapting to the pandemic.

Overall, there is a big chunk of campus life missing with everything going online from time to time. However, we can only hope for a better future.