Here we are with our blog reactivated to continue sharing writings from our budding writers. The foremost episode carries an attempt by a very good student from our Cambridge Section. 'A difficult decision that I had to make' is a short piece of writing by Uzair Bhatti, a promising scholar of class O' Levels 2nd years here at Cambridge Section of PakTurk Chak Shahzad Campus.

A difficult decision that I had to make

Turbulent times are part of life. They come and go leaving irremovable marks behind, and a great deal of learning for us to feel mature than before. However, what’s more important is the decision we make in such tight situations.

It was the year 2015 when I got promoted to grade 9. Immediately after, I felt extremely perplexed when faced with a dual situation demanding what version of the syllabus I should opt for:

Should I go for GCE O’ Levels or our local Federal Board syllabus, that is, simple matriculation?

I asked my parents first, but their reply was of no help as they left it entirely up to me to decide by saying: “You can go for whatever you feel like.”

I made up my mind for choosing GCE O’ Levels, but to my dismay, my uncles and aunties came out as strong opposition to that. They rejected the idea pretty severely – saying they were in favour of matric system. “GCE O’ Levels is just a show-off, and has no scope, in fact,” they opined, discouraging me to a considerable extent. Though they might be very sincere in their approach, I wasn’t convinced of their outlook. Deep down, I believed I knew better what was good for me and on what grounds.

I now was in a terrible fix as their sweeping remark had further muddled the issue.

As I consulted with my cousins aboard, they all strongly voted in favour of O’ Levels as they all had gone through this phase. 

Anyways, I mustered up enough courage and confidence to stand by my decision no matter what! I, therefore, stuck to my own vision and since then I’ve never looked back or lamented whatever I chose for myself. Though I admit it was a very difficult decision, but by God’s grace, I’ve continued with CCE O’ Levels with my head high, working hard day and night.

I have gradually come to believe that my decision was right as I’m happy with it. Others too have got convinced by seeing the grades I scored in the three subjects I appeared in. My result has become a strong evidence of the accuracy of my decision. Yes, I can certainly do it. I won’t quit at all!

Uzair Bhatti

Of Class O-II

Uzair Bhatti

See the improved version of a story by Wasiullah Khan of class O' Levels at PakTurk School Islamabad. Not just comments, I've made up my mind to rewrite some of the stories so to show my students improved versions of their writings which will soon be published in book form. Wasi is intelligent and respectful; smiles beautifully that makes you like him immediately. Currently, he's working hard to improve his grades before he appears in his Cambridge Exams which are around the corner.

But before I could pick up the phone, it stopped ringing…

I peered out the window and saw that the whole neighborhood was covered in a blanket of snow. Snow flakes fell slowly from the sky and childrens were seen gathering the snowballs in an arsenal which indicated that they were getting ready for battle as this was now a battlefield. I had a severe headache for which I took some painkillers to ease the pain. I slowly approached the kitchen to make myself some hot chocolate when I got a call from my friend Jenna. Before I could pick up the phone the call had ended. I kept trying to reach her through the phone but no luck as the reception was really bad. My devils' workshop was indicting that something might have happened to her. As her only friend, it was my job to make sure she was safe.

When I peered out the window, I saw that the whole neighborhood was covered in a blanket of snow. White flakes fell slowly from the sky and children gathered snowballs in a great arsenal—they were getting ready for battle.

I didn't stay at the window long; I had a severe headache and the painkillers I’d taken earlier weren't kicking in. I slowly approached the kitchen to make myself some hot chocolate when I heard the phone ringing. The caller ID showed me it was from my friend Jenna. But before I could pick up the phone, it stopped ringing. I called back, but had no luck reaching her, since the reception was really bad. I feared something might have happened to her. As her only friend, it was my job to make sure she was safe.

Jenna lived 2 blocks from my home. I took my car keys and headed towards the car but to my luck the car's battery had died. Walking was the only option. As soon as I took one step out of the house, the little rascals who were snow fighting now showered snowballs at me. Struggling through the showers of snowballs I managed to escape.

Jenna lived two blocks from my home. Fetching my car keys, I headed towards the car in the garage, but when I tried to start it, I found the car's battery had died. This day just couldn’t get any worse!

Walking was the only option now. As soon as I took one step out of the house, the little rascals who were fighting in the snow began to shower me with snowballs. Struggling through their projectiles, I managed to escape.

I was at Jenna's doorstep and rang the bell. "Oh hi John, what brings you to my humble abode?" She said after opening the door "You called me, remember?" Replying her in a surprising manner. "I accidentally dialed your number instead of my sister Jane"

I finally arrived at Jenna's doorstep and rang the bell.

She answered the door, looking surprised. "Oh, hi John, what brings you to my humble abode?"

"You called me, remember?" I replied.

"Oh. I accidentally dialed your number instead of my sister Jane. Everything is fine."

At that moment, the thought crossed my mind to gather snow and throw a snowball at her. Instead, I smiled a very wide smile, then went home to have my hot chocolate. It turned out that the fresh air was exactly the remedy I needed: my headache was now gone.

Wasiullah Khan
O' levels Final Year
PakTurk International School Islamabad

An excellent response from hard working, well-behaved, brilliant Armughan Aslam of class O’ Levels to a question on letter writing

Letter to a friend inviting him to be in your team to represent your school in a general knowledge competition

Points to be incorporated:

• When and where the competition will take place
• A request to your friend to join you in the team
• Why you think your friend is the best choice for your team
• What preparation you should both do
• Details of the prizes in the competition

Dear Umar

I hope you are in the best of health. As I was sitting on my couch yesterday, my mind was engulfed in deep thoughts. My thoughts were revolving around PakTurk’s first Inter-school General Knowledge Competition to be held next week at the Convention Centre. As the competition can be entered both as an individual and as a team, I decided to invite you to be my comrade.

Yours was the first name that struck my mind while choosing a partner, since I’ve always seen you reading and researching on a wide variety of topics. In addition, I have always seen you as a confident young chap throughout the 3 years we’ve been together with whom a nervous guy like me would be more comfortable when contesting. And more, we even have the school library to our convenience, where we can consult a wide range of informative books. Search for information is now a just click away with the addition of a computer and internet facility in the library, so we can meet up on the weekend and cope with our deficiencies there. I have also acquired my brother’s CSS books which will greatly help to boost our mental precocity.

The winners of this competition will be generously rewarded. Feast your eyes on the first prize: the winners will be awarded a sum of USD 500 along with a full expense paid trip to majestic Turkey! I know how much you have craved to venture there, so why not enroll ourselves and avail this chance to grab the cherry?

Please do pay heed to my words, and possibly try to avail this chance of a lifetime. I’m hopeful of a positive response from your side.

Yours very lovingly,

Armughan Aslam

Armughan Aslam

Our intelligent Muhammad Arshiyan Khan's debut story on the blog. A fairly impressive description of the situation his characters are into.

Just as we flipped our backs we were breathless to see…

Hurry up Kevin or else you will be taken in by the swirling tornado. We did not have much time to talk as the tornado was gaining on us. Kevin a lad of mine was lacking behind and the two of us were in front waiting for him to catch up. The sky was getting darker and darker and with the clock ticking, the sight was becoming unbearable to keep facing at. ’’Can’t the two of you just take me by your arms? I can’t go any further.” Kevin exclaimed. “It’s not the time to ask such bizarre favors; don’t give way so easily.”

The tornado was so vigorous that we could feel its intensity below our feet. It seemed as if it was rumbling for something to feed on. The three of us tried to make way to our boats which were on the sea shore. It was hard to budge through the woods but eventually we were relieved to catch sight of our boats.’’ Come on guys just a little more and we will be cruising’’. James shrieked in a reassured manner. ‘’Guys, guys……..Would you want to peek back for a few seconds’’? Kevin politely said giving us a shrug.

Just as we flipped our backs we were breathless and hallucinating to see hell up in front of us. This was just lunatic. Chills were sent up my spine. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the churning tornado in an uncanny way. Our feet were wedged and no one could dare utter even a single word. The wind that screeched the sand off the earth’s surface was piercing through and now our body was oozing abundantly from numerous parts. We all had given in. My body was getting incompatible and the sand that was infected prevented the blood flow. I was losing sense and getting numb. Suddenly, I fell to the ground and simultaneously the other two fell too.

I guess these are my last words, they are a few but it’s all I have left to say.  You guys meant everything to me and I’ll be expecting you in the other world. I was being sucked in sliding on the ground towards the wicked claws of death. My eyes were getting heavier and the only thing I saw was them both smiling in return.

Muhammad Arshiyan Khan

O’ Levels Final Year

PakTurk International School

Islaabad

Last week, boys of O’ Level Class attempted a comprehension passage by responding to a pack of short questions set on that. Alongside, to help them boost up their vocabulary, they were given the task of sorting out vocabulary words and then by involving them, develop a story. Muhammad Abubakar Mian has taken the lead by managing to drop his story into my mail box earliest of all others. I’d like to call it a massively successful attempt because all vocabulary words incorporated seem to have been employed as if there was no deliberate insertion of these words into the text. However, I’m not very pleased with where he left his story i.e. ending. In the capacity of being a reader, I feel unsatiated. Still, I find it a job well done. (humayun)

The White Knight had an important announcement to make........

Sir Edward, a public figure who was loved by his people and had a reputation of being one of the leading knights in the kingdom, had lost his sword. A knight losing his sword was an unthinkable thing and a cause for great embarrassment. If anyone found out about his predicament, he would be the laughing stock of the entire city. Sir Edward knew that he needed an imitation of his old sword, fashioned out of the finest metal, as soon as possible – but there was one problem: the unfortunate knight did not have enough money to cover the expenses.

Sir Edward, thankfully, had an old friend by the name of Marth who was a blacksmith. Marth’s blacksmithing business had flourished in the last few years thanks to many things, but principally due to growing demand for metallic goods. Marth was the only person Sir Edward could turn to, and so the knight made his way to the shop. On his way there, Sir Edward realized how much easier it was to move around without a sword. The swords Knights had, were quite cumbersome and carrying them was a laborious task.

The knight emerged in Marth’s shop at around four in the afternoon. The shop was conveniently empty as Sir Edward slowly took off his heavy cloak.

“Edward, my old friend, it’s so nice to see you!” Marth shouted from across the room.

Skipping all pleasantries, Edward drew Marth close and explained the situation.

“Is that why you’re wearing that heavy cloak… to hide from the people? How is it possible for a knight of your caliber to be so afraid of what other people might say or think of him? You are Sir Edward the White Knight, yes, but you are also human. And humans make mistakes – like losing things once in a while.” Marth exclaimed.

It was with these words that Sir Edward made an important realization: Knights shouldn’t have to be afraid of coming out about losing their swords. After all, Knights were the prime target for thieves and other criminals. Without another word, Edward made his way to the city square. The White Knight had an important announcement to make, an announcement that would free other knights from permanent embarrassment and ridicule.

Vocab

Principally

Fashioned

Flourish

Permanent

Turn to

Lead

Reputation

Cover

Laborious

Emerged

Cumbersome

Convenient

Imitation

Muhammad Abubakar Mian

O’ Level Final Year

‘Natural Disasters’ is a thought-provoking piece of writing by Sohaib Zahir Sayed of class O’ levels final year! See, he’s given an attention-grabbing opening to his essay; has successfully provided information in the form of statistics, facts and figures, and has discussed the factors involved behind such ravaging natural calamities humans keep getting hit from time to time. Let’s laud our dear Sohaib’s attempt!

Natural Disasters

It was a frosty morning of December with a flurry of snow falling, covering the whole ground with a white soft sheet.

The temperature was around -2 when I, reluctantly, got out of my warm bed. After having taken a delightful warm shower, I changed my sleeping dress and came out of my room. Next, I rushed to my father’s room to wake him up because we both were to pay a visit to Aunt Saima who had had a small accident last evening, and was consequently hospitalized. Once having made sure father was wide awake, I dashed to my own room upstairs to put my mobile phone onto the charger. As I was about to pick up the charger, the wooden floor of my room started trembling raucously. I bawled” Mama, it’s an earthquake.” And spurt down to the ground floor to see whether she was safe enough.

----------------------------------------------------

“At around 9:00 in the morning, northern areas of Pakistan were hit by a devastating earthquake of destructive magnitude of 8.3. It has wrecked havoc. Houses were dismantled in many areas, roads lying fractured, and numerous tall buildings were collapsed. The intricate communication system has been enormously interrupted as a result of which some of mountainous cities have got cut off from the rest of Pakistan” News anchors were busy blurting out shocking details.

In total 25,000 houses were eradicated from the face of earth; 33km of road was fractured, 8750 people died and a total financial loss of 3.7 billion dollars was estimated by the ministry of information a month later after the earthquake.

Ever since that tragic moment of my life, I have been doing some research on natural disasters and I have got quite a few answers to questions like why natural disasters occur, how they can be prevented etc.

A natural disaster is a major adverse event resulted in earth’s natural processes. There are many types of natural disasters. To list a few are earthquake, tsunami, volcanic eruptions, avalanches, floods, etcetera.

When we have a look at the history, it comes out natural calamities have been hitting humans’ puny settlements and destroying them effortlessly since time immemorial. Man has been curious to know about the reasons behind such occurrences and which is why science along with religion have been giving their answers.

Science explains that natural disasters occur due to disorder in nature’s cycle, like floods are triggered due to heavy rain showers, and heavy rain is caused by increased heat caused by man’s caustic activities like deforestation, pollution etc. that lead to furthering the damage to already injured ozone layer.

On the other hand, religions answer that natural calamities are from God’s side at regular intervals just to warn man and test his resilience, patience, and obligatory abilities. Moreover, these disasters occur when society is inclined towards sinful and evil activities that attract God’s wrath.

Although, science and religion have proved that natural disasters cannot be stopped from happening, but what one can do is to curtail its holocausts effects to some extent by reducing pollution, stopping deforestation etc. Man has developed such technology that can detect disastrous weathers and signs to help evacuate such areas in advance from humans, animals and other assets so as to save lives and avoid other losses.

We also need to rectify our manners to help us avert God’s wrath. Big powers, this day, are mostly busy suppressing those around in a race to establish their monopoly. Moreover, interest-based economy too is a form cruelty. These and other kinds of cruelty on earth, I believe, need to be mitigated sooner than later. If so happens, we will obviously be safe from being faced with such seismic disorders that result in ravaging natural calamities, and will start enjoying much peaceful a time on earth, or else such brutal earthquakes will go on hitting us even harder in future.

This world runs in an ostentatious order and we are to keep it same or be ready to face the ravaging natural calamities?

May those rest in eternal peace, who lost their lives in 2005 and in such other natural disasters. Amen!

Written by: Sohaib Zahir

Where would an intelligent boy's imagination end up, you can't say for sure. They truly say: 'Sky is the limit', and here we have an evidence of that.You would relish Ahmed Ali's flight of imagination in this story. Do give this a read if you aspire to give your mind a little stretch. A beautiful short story with lots of APPEAL!

‘It was the same bus I got onto every day, but that day as I sat down I sensed something was different.’

That night too, like every other night for the past two years, I was sitting in front of the computer screen, tapping on the keyboard at a speed of 50 words per minute. But then I sensed I needed more caffeine in my system to go on with the project I was trying to accomplish. I prepared coffee, gulped it down and resumed my work. As the clock chimed 4 a.m, I reached the milestone. Eureka!

“Yeeeessss! Huhu!”, I let out a triumphant squeal, hushing it in the nick of time, not to wake everybody up.

Yes, I am a hacker, an amateur one though. I am just sixteen but already I have decided what I am going to do. Hacking is my passion and I ultimately aim to contribute my expertise to Pakistan’s cyber defense. As they say, World War III will be a war of computers. That night, I pulled down the website of one of USA’s sensitive departments, which I noticed was being used to spy on Pakistan’s web users. This irritated me too much, and I decided I had to teach the bloody Americans a lesson. I was ecstatic when I finally did it.

The next day at school was a boring one; I slept most of the time along with my fellow backbenchers. At last, the bell rang announcing the pack-up time. I sultrily walked to the bus stop. It took unusually long, but it did come in the end. I climbed it and scurried towards the last seat.

It was the same bus I got onto every day, but that day as I sat down I sensed something was different. Firstly, it wasn’t the same, aged driver. This one was bald and dressed in English dress unlike ours. Secondly, I noticed others were not present either. Then an alarm went off in my head. “Men in black! Men in black!” it clanged. There were three of them with black glasses and matching shoes. I remembered that secret-service men dressed like that. At that moment, one of them galloped towards me; he took hold of my neck and made me inhale chloroform from a handkerchief. I fainted immediately. The last thing I remembered was being hurled into a Mercedes.

I returned to the world in an interrogation cell. The strange men around me had sinister looks. I feared the consequences. Then one of them spoke:

“Boy, your life was under threat. You teased the Americans by hacking their sensitive website, and they are after you now.”

I froze hearing those words.

He continued speaking,” But you have done something that we couldn’t, in spite of endeavouring painstakingly. You seem to be very good at this stuff.”

Another man continued, “Therefore, we offer you the position of chief hacker in ISI. I am sure you won’t complain of the salary package. We undertake the responsibility of convincing your parents”, he smiled.

I couldn’t believe my ears. My dream had materialised quite fabulously. My vision had come true in a way I had never expected in my wildest dreams.

So here I am, one year later, working for my country, loving every moment. I have already strengthened Pakistan’s cyber fortresses to the extent that they are unable to be infiltrated by even the toughest of hackers.

Written by:

Ahmed Ali

O’ Level Final year

PakTurk Schools, Islamaba