After Higher-Edge ’07 ChampionshipIt’s late November, and we were all drunk with our successful hosting of a major debating championship in a long time. Sadly, with the unholy crusades… err, I mean the Exams… about to begin by mid-December the joyous mood was dampened just all too fast.
Well by the end of January, the club was facing another problem, namely the lack of debaters. Now don’t get me wrong – our club was growing like never before – but problem was that a new member who’d be readymade Pre-Worlds caliber was yet to come…and also came the problem of making the “best” team, FAST…Faria proposed the experienced ‘veterans’ should stay together (blatantly referring to herself, me and Shoeb)…well, problem was that in the debate floor Faria and I would rarely feel “comfy” (PoI: this term refers to our compatibility as teammates only and NOT anything else!!)
So, me and Risalat decided to team up, but a problem was finding a specialist third speaker…that would have to come from our new members, seeing that a sulky Faria now jealously guarded our best third speaker Shoeb…and the solution came one day when me friend Abrar says “Hey I have debated in NDDC Nationals long ago…I think I want to debate again.” After his first speech, all I said was “DAMN you!! – where’ve you been all this time!?”
Finally, the “ESS2” team was formed after enduring many tantrums from Faria and even defying a steely-eyed Mahnaz Apu hell-bent on having the ‘best’ team on paper. Things were finally on a roll, all the teams were finally fixed and the practice sessions with other schools continued…
[Intermission: in this break, we present you with some choice moments from our club:]
A new member: (with a sudden nervous fit) No, I’m sorry I just can’t do IT!!
Alaka: (pushing notes into her hand) alright, just read these out then at least!
New Member: (with a resigning face) Ok – “the Kyoto Protocol is absolutely necessary because…” (with a look of dawning comprehension) Ohhhh! OF COOOUURSE!!!
Everyone else: (slapping their foreheads)
This one’s a classic:
Afrida: *she prods me during a practice session before her speech* Hey! Hey! What the hell is “UN”?!?!
Faria: (frustrated because no one pays attention) Guys, I’M the President…give-me-SOME-RESPECT!!
Everyone in room: Huh...?
Plus how can we ever forget our friends from other debating clubs!...
(On the topic “THW assassinate Vladimir Putin Nafis: We, the House of USA, will assassinate Vladimir Putin, and WE (now trembling with menace) will WIPE Russia (now he’s in right in front of us) OFF-THE-FACE-OF-THE-EARTH!!!...
(On the topic “THW have uniformity Waqar: The opposition has only said that they want Diversity…because Diversity is good, right? Well, (ecstatically) let us ALL have DIVERSITY then, because Diversity IS (waving hands ferociously) the ‘SPICE of LIFE’, isn’t it?!!...NO!! Hon. Speaker, we do NOT want DIVERSITY…(goes on, managing to mention ‘diversity’ five more times…not much diverse, eh?)
(On a frigging long topic) Abdullah: Hon. Speaker, the govt. does not understand what we are proposing – it’s LOVE, hon. Speaker. (clutching his heart) they do not understand the POWER of LOVE, how it forces the hand of fate itself (everyone in tears now, but that of laughter)…LOOOOVE is the key hon. Speaker (…at this point, even he can’t control it, and he grins) hon. Speaker if you are wondering why I’M smiling, it’s because of the stupidity of the govt. who does not realize that there is something called LOOOOOVE!! (……rest = PG!!)
Pre-Worlds: Day one!
D-Day!! Now if waking up dead-early, scrambling with preparation and nearly getting sick on a hasty meal wasn’t enough, we just had to find that one of our scheduled buses met with serious breakdown. Cursing luck and ‘chivalry’ (coz the ‘ladies’ got to get the other bus!) me, Abrar, Risalat and a loyal friend Rafid were left stranded to find a taxi for ourselves - some ten minutes of panicked roaming later, we finally could take our first steady breath of the day…was it supposed to be like this from now on though, we thought…
Yes, it was…but it was breathless for reasons we’d never dream of sitting in that run-down cab on the way to Pre-Worlds ’08…
Round one:
So we (me, Abrar and Risalat) are greeted at Rajuk by the rest of our teams and a Faria already green from motion-sickness *tsk tsk*….here’s our royal cavalry:
ESS1: Faria, Alaka, Shoeb
ESS2: us three
ESS3: Navid, Adiba, Afrida
And oh, we also had a surprise in store – looks like Mahnaz Apu decided to give ESSDC a very late goodbye gift by arranging for Progga, one of our observers, to be in the swing team of the Pre-Worlds…while we were surprised but quite happy too – the same I could not say for Progga – horrified, she found that she had less than an hour to ‘prepare’ for the first prepared motion round!!
As tabs were announced, we saw that it was all familiar opponents: us facing Academia 2, ESS1 facing MM (Mastermind) 2 while ESS3 was up against Rajuk1. But do not think that I noted all these down then – we just raced to our designated floor even before our team was called out…man, weren’t we hyper!!
Being opposition, we got to pick choice seats in the balcony – with a GOOD view of our familiar opponents (whom we enjoyed teasing half the time with ‘expressive’ hand signals!) and though what ensued was supposed to be pre-debate preparation – it was crazy…Abrar and Risalat’s nervous faces, me taking advantage and cracking jokes at their expense, evoking a barrage of curses in return while our completely confounded volunteer from Rajuk looked on…finally it was time, and we paraded in, always chuckling and forgetting any nerves we ever had…
The debate was great (alright, maybe not SO great for Academia *wink*)…and frankly we were plain happy when our victory was announced. Adding to our celebrations was news of wins from both the other ESS teams…3/3 in first round!!
Round two:
Boy it was so late, but that was the least of our problems… after the CA, Mabroor bhai, finished shushing the crowd to silence, he wickedly announced one of the longest motions we could ever have nightmares of! Add to that: we were facing really strong opponents from Mastermind this time. Being govt. we had to define, and the wildest proposals and opinions were heaved – me and Abrar fluently cursing everything all the while under the tension while Risalat was wildly walking about. As time run out fast, I wildly noted stuff down oblivious of the fact that I was stretched all over the stage and that each of us were shouting one thing after the other from far corners of the room!
Our situation when the debate was to start was pretty much summed up by Abrar, who’d then rushed to the toilet with a sudden 100+ degree fever. Things worsened as I gave a crappy first speech and Zubair picked out our flaws one after the other…but our case’s complexity paid off soon as Risalat bluffed brilliantly and we managed to go on the counterattack, baring their mistakes. After the debate though, all our mistakes and missed chances just cascaded down before our eyes and we were sweating bullets as we sat down for the feedback – what we were not at all expecting was to hear the fateful news right at the beginning…after all that hard work and spirited fight, we…
…we WON!!!
Even though we all nodded coolly in sync with the feedback – we were all blank!! But soon afterwards, as we left the room and faced an ecstatic ESS1 squealing in delight, we just ROARED!! – adding to the pandemonium was Navid, Afrida, Adiba bounding towards us, screaming “GUYS, WE WON TOO!”… As the night rolled on and we spilled out onto the main road – As a triumphant ESS squad gathered for one big group picture… our victory roars lost into the endless heavens.
Pre-Worlds: Day Two!!
Well, for today the first problem (besides the inescapable lack of sleep) was that nagging sore at the back of my throat... I recorded a mental note: next time, leave ALL the cheering to our spectators...
At least the ride was smoother today…well, not much for the guys on the other bus, as on reaching Rajuk we found an even greener Faria today… *sigh*
Round 3:
Today, we again got familiar opponents: this time it was Oxford1. Preparation was as good as it could be… and things were still looking good as our friends from Oxford gave us an easy case… until some really BIG loopholes were bared in our own alternative policy. And that’s when things turned really animated – our distraction was such that Risalat nearly marched off the stage while Abrar banged the podium for six times – I clutched my hair in visible disbelief (understatement!) at Abdullah’s smiling bluffs “they completely missed the point!” - me and Abrar muttering “Shame, shame!!” in everyone’s hearing, only to get a hiss just as loud from Risalat – things were chaos in that room this Friday morning!!
Finally it was time for our poor adjudicator to make sense of it all… But a good job he did do, and when he announced ESS the winner it seemed BOTH sides were convinced (at least at that moment *wink*)… More good news awaited as both the other teams registered full clean sheets too; even a cheekily-smiling Progga told us that her swing team registered their first win too! As a small party ensued over lunch, we never thought for a moment that things were just TOO good now…
Round 4:
Strange, mysterious rumors came to our ears – that of an “unchallengeable” team from AKS…I wouldn’t go into details about the rumors, except that after half an hour of such things I wouldn’t be surprised to hear these guys could sprout scales and breathe fire even. We were least bothered, except after tabs were announced…it seems we were facing a team from AKS…none other than THE team from AKS!!!!
We rushed up the stairs once again and prepared feverishly: not because of our opponents, but the fact that we had the tiniest amount of idea on the motion regarding the strife between Taiwan and China (which however was still much better than most other guys: this I realized when Tysir rushed past whispering manically: “Psst! PSST!! Where the hell is Taiwan!?!) As the debate started, we realized it – BOY, these guys were GOOD!! The following sums up our position:
Risalat: (after finishing three points at a stretch) YES, I’ll take your first point of information, sir.
Rishad: Sir, there is not even a SINGLE air route existing between China and Taiwan now, so how can u say confidently that China and Taiwan maintain good economic relations?
Risalat:……(looks at us)……(looks at them)……(gives his brightest smile!)……
Me and Abrar: (muttering) God, he’s so screwed!!
Me: (in my speech) … the many points for disagreeing with you, dear govt., includes nationality too… we have to see that Taiwanese people share a same national background as Chinese people…(I go on)…
Rishad: Dear opposition – what you say is baseless!! (emphatically) Just because a person has TINY noses and SQUINTY eyes just DOESN’T make them CHI-NESE!!!
We three: (put our heads down and just laugh!!)
We tasted our first loss…*sigh*… As for the other teams – the bubble had finally broken too… at least it was confirmed for ESS3… ESS1 was still waiting in their room where everyone sat abnormally still except for a really animated adjudicator. Well, at the least we were glad to have given a really good performance – which is why both sides agreed jokingly NOT to see each other again before the Semis…
……*chuckle!*……oh, how we had NO idea of what was to come!!
The silent round:
Surprise, surprise: waiting for us in the main hall we found a very cheekily-smiling Faria this time, who gave us the incredible news that they won over Manarat by ONE POINT!!!...As we both laughed and went “WHAT THE HELL!?!” at the same time, someone went up to the stage and announced that this would be the last round of the day, and that sixth round was cancelled! As roars of appreciation mixed with groans of incredulity rose, me and Abrar shared an exasperated look… we needed one more win to confirm a break now; except that now was THE ONE prepared-motion round that we had the worst preparation of!!
The tabs were announced, and if it wasn’t enough that ESS3 faced BIT (two debaters of which were surely ranked in top 10 later on), it looked like ESS1 was to face our most latest friends from AKS… with a “You guys are SOOO gonna feel the pain!!” -look at the ESS1 team – we charged up the stairs for what might just be the last time for this Pre-World’s…we needn’t have worried - our opponents (again from AKS) looked even more nervous of the situation. When the girls’ faces fell so comically at the mention of which classes we studied in, me and Abrar just had to exchange a quick “wicked” grin...
Here’s a few moments to better reflect the situation:
Suaida: …We do not believe in this proposition because… because… *she looks at her notes, then frightened, at the Speaker*… s-S-Sir! I left a paper there… can I take it?
Everyone in room (including the Speaker): *cough cough*
Maisha: …you cannot just lower the age for child labor, it’s against the UN laws!! You…*eyebrows rise alarmingly, seeing all three of us jump up saying “POI!!”*… oh-o-OKAY then… *pointing at Risalat* You!
Risalat: *smilingly* HELLOOO!! That’s why the motion’s called RE-WRI-TING the laws!! So where’s the problem here?!
The second speaker: *opens mouth*…*closes mouth*…*looks at the Speaker*…
Me and Abrar: (muttering) God is SHE so screwed!!!
Zefroon: …this is…*pause*…This is, hon. Speaker…*again pause, nervously skits through her notes*…This is the…Oh! *face falls as she looks up to see all three of us standing*… O-o-ok then…
We three: (together) Alright, which one of us?!?!
Maisha: …*just closes eyes and puts head down on podium*…
The debate finally ends and we leave the room in high spirits… though the same we weren’t expecting from the other two ESS teams… and sure enough, their faces just said it all… *sigh!!*
The Break
PAR-TAY!!... everyone seemed to be skipping, shaking and mo-vi-ing as if the world was about to fall apart (at least, seeing the way that Faria and Abdullah were ‘rocking’ it, the floor certainly would have!!)… but as the music suddenly stopped, the huge roar that followed clearly showed what was still on everyone’s mind… “The 16th ranked team…is…”
…not ESS…the cheers rang from the other side of the floor… but just seconds later, the tension has already thickened… “the 15th ranked team…”… and another raucous cheer from the other end of the hall… and another one there… and another…Our faces fell as just another cheer rang out from elsewhere… it was evident in our eyes too now… only three confirmed wins for ESS3… was that the end of the road for them?!?!
“…Ladies and Gentlemen…that team is ESS ONE!!!”…
…?…?…
…“HUUUAAAAAAAHH!!!” As the roars of joy left us almost involuntary, we just kept jumping – the girls just squealed, the guys just yelled,… and even as we settled down, many a thought fast-forwarded through my mind – both as wonderful as us breaking even higher than eighth-ranked ESS1 – and as horrifying as that of ESS3 not breaking at all…And even as I had this thought, I saw the flicker of the same in everyone’s eyes now too…
...but right as sixth place went to some other team…I had my doubts “WHERE was ESS2?! Were we not breaking after winning three consecutive times?” and right then I thought “but so did ESS3…so did ESS3…”
“And fifth place… it’s ESS TWO!!!!”
…?!...?!...
“AAAAAARRRRRYEAAAAAAAH!!!!”…… I found myself on my knees - mouth opened wide as I roared with everyone together, shaking the air for how long we had no idea!!... And then again – we might have silenced immediately too… and not because we were shushed so that the announcements could go on… all I remember is seeing Adiba and Afrida smiling with tears, and we all stepped up together and just embraced each other in one large hug…as we broke away, we saw the most distraught Navid with his face in his hands… and I watched as Faria and Adiba still held on while Mahnaz Apu embraced Afrida and whispered softly……
And finally as we looked around, we saw exactly what we all felt – the smiles on some faces, the staring disbelief on others, and the veiled anguish on many…
Ladies and Gentlemen: that’s the Pre-Worlds experience for you…
…well, not for the most part of it… but surely the most inescapable part of it…
The Pre-Worlds: Final Day!!!
If the FIRST problem on the second day was the soreness in my throat, then today it was the ONLY problem… but at least we had some time to catch up on some extra sleep before being on our way. Forced into super-quiet mode to save whatever that was left of our vocal chords, we embarked for the penultimate day in our quest… we were missing a few people, namely Navid and Adiba, but a tired Afrida was there with us like many another person to cheer us to the “death” (oh, and by the way - they were referring to OUR death!!)
The Octo’s!
Motions were announced and ESS1 and ESS2 rushed to their respective rooms…our tension mounted, egged on by the many wishes of good luck by the countless passer-bys…many another thought crossed my mind as we took our seats, most of them culminating in imagining us losing big time. What we never imagined was our opponent from Academia defining corporal punishment as… “spanking children on the butt-cheeks, administered by marshal artists to minimize the pain”!!!
We couldn’t help it, and as the most ludicrous images formed in our minds, we just roared and banged the desk in laughter… mind it: the debate was difficult still, as we found it extremely tasking to keep a straight face on the podium…things were made more difficult by our opponents who were (either deliberately or naturally) ‘unreceptive’…
Me: The govt. has overlooked that this bill will incite more cases of sexual abuse…yes, your POI.
Farhan: Can the opposition give me an example of sexual abuse?
Me: *before I can stop myself* WHAT THE ****?!?!
We will especially not forget the line that followed every time that “butt-cheeks” was mentioned by our opponents...
We three: *raising a PoI* A Point on the BUTT-CHEEKS please!!
The debate ended with another victory for us…jubilant, we exited the room only to hear of a shocking piece of news: ESS1 had lost their octofinals. It was unnatural to see them approach us so quietly...But still they managed a smile and wished us luck for the next round.
We were now the only team remaining from ESS…as we realized that, we intended to go all the way…
The Quarter’s!!
Again we were opposition! A bit disgruntled we prepared as well as we could within all the commotion in the hallways – as we enter the room, what struck us first was the imposing presence of four adjudicators in our room…but even worse was the feeling of fatigue in all of us and the stinging throat of mine – at least I could soothe it a bit with some warm water which Nafis from Rajuk managed from god-knows-where!!
The debate starts and we can feel that our opponents from AKS (again!) would be much more of a challenge than our previous ones. The debate once again, as is the rule with us, starts to get animated… and there are plenty of moments which no doubt will still bring a tinge of embarrassment in some of us…
Raieda: GM crops are the solution to food crisis, as has been repeatedly stressed by team govt. Yes, your PoI…
Me: *emphatically* But what if one such mutated crop dominates over others, *now shouting* becoming a SUPER CROP *Risalat helplessly tries to make me sit down* that wipes *bits of spit everywhere* all LIFE-from-the-PLANET?!!
Nazifa: *In the middle of her speech, completely wrapped up in a point*
Abrar: *rising* A point of…
Nazifa: *triumphantly* I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO SAY! I WON’T TAKE THAT!!!
After plenty of botched-up arguments and zealous speeches, the round was concluded. The results were uncertain – just one of those debates which was bound to be close. The nerves had set in, our hearts beating frantically as Mabroor bhai stepped up on stage to announce the winners…
“AKS1 vs. ESS2…”
We three braced ourselves…
“…winner: ESS2”
The hall rang with the loudest roars and bangs as yet…as people cheered and patted us on the back, we realized with incredulous joy that were in the semi’s – the SEMIFINALS!!...
The Semi’s
The cheers rang down, and just then and there the tabs were announced: “Mastermind vs Manarat” and “ESS vs …”
“…AKS6”
*groooaaan* It was none other than our old acquaintances from the fourth round. The prospect of facing the only team against whom we have lost was not at all appealing. Resigning everything to fate, we grinned at the face of the grim reaper (i.e. our opponents) and rushed to our room. We were govt. after a long time finally, and now was the time to take the biggest decision of our careers – how best to define the motion? Our only loss in the tournament was still fresh in our memories, and we weighed the relative strengths and weaknesses of both sides.
One thing was clear – we needed an unpredictable definition. As we came up with a possible definition that was totally unpredictable, yet meshing well into the motion, we weighed the risk: we could still be facing a “challenge”…
To hell with it: we went on with our definition - “THW look to the East for inspiration” was defined as “This house of the ICC would look towards Australia’s cricket program to spread cricket all over the world.” I went on with the definition, highlighting as much as possible the links between motion and definition, such that I couldn’t even take a PoI. But as Maimun stepped up, they challenged our definition.
So, it was all down to this: protecting the definition against the challenge. We dished out the arguments in favor of our definition and though things were looking precarious for both sides, when their third speaker Rishad stepped up, we in turn were now surprised: he ditched all the technical aspects and tried utmost to appeal to the ‘common sense’ of everyone…we heard stuff like “we know that our govt. is passionate about cricket, but people are dy-i-ing out there…” and “we don’t care if we lose the debate, we just want to do justice to the people who are dy-i-ing out there.”…Once again we found ourselves head bowed down and laughing incredulously in the face of such oration. Backed down to a corner once again, we vehemently fired out our last speech, highlighting all the technical aspects in which we were superior and highlighting as many technical flaws of our opponents.
The debate ends, and as everyone is dismissed the buzz spreads – a challenge in the semifinals! The discussions are plenty and everyone was talking about it…my eyes strayed towards the room we just left: the adjudicators were discussing, or rather debating amongst themselves, seeing that they were quite more animated than even we were throughout the debate. The tiny sliver of hope grew just a bit bigger – perhaps we did pull it off against the challenge.
As we gather in the hallway, the nerves somehow did not creep back in now. It’s been three entire days of debating – my throat had collapsed, our backs were arched, we were all tired from fever and exertion. I don’t know exactly what it was, but I think I had expended all my nerves in these three days to have any left for the moment the winners were to be announced. And yet, when our turn came up, we raised our heads in solemn anticipation… “the semifinal of ESS2 vs AKS6 was a split…” *our hearts skipped a beat* “…it has been split 4-1…” *the silence was complete now* “…ladies and gentlemen, our second finalist…”
“…IS…”
“AKS6!!”
The roars rang from the right of the hall this time. I exhaled a sigh, and clapped for the finalists unconsciously. That was the end of the road for us now…as it sunk in, I just sat quietly with the ESS debate contingent. But we were not alone, as people from all over the hall came to us and congratulated us for coming this far. The dissenting adjudicator praised our astuteness, raising our spirits. Mahnaz Apu approached us, bringing news about how we made the adjudicators consult the constitution of WSDC, something never done before! Despite the moment, we could just laugh at this! I couldn’t help but smile at a personal recollection: this was my second semifinal where there was a challenge and where I lost…as I shared it with everyone else, we just all burst out laughing again!
And that was exactly the way we would love to exit the tournament – all smiles, whether or not we win or lose…
The End of the Road
The lost semifinal at least concurred on us the luxury to enjoy the final without having to go through all the tension, talking and toil. Our opponents from the semi’s eventually won the finals, and we consoled ourselves with the cheerful thought that we were beaten only by the champions in this tournament!
Personal rankings came out after the tournament – and we were overjoyed to have 6 out of 9 debaters in the top 50 list: Alaka, Faria, Risalat, Me, Abrar and Afrida. As we toiled through Natl’ Camp, the new list of top 20 was announced, which included Risalat and Afrida from ESS. The reader will perhaps remember how the same Afrida was like “What the hell is UN??” before the tournament…Their inclusion just reflects what kind of achievements ESS has made within such short times…
What of Faria and Alaka? Hmm, let’s see…though Faria should be on the verge of retiring, it seems she just hasn’t finished with debating. So off these two went as the swing team in the All-Asians debate tournament hosted in Bangladesh, with none other than Progga as their third speaker. Their glorious march there culminated in them ranking 13th amongst the university teams from all over Asia!!
Right after the tournament, all of us were faced with the un-holiest of crusades once again, this time in the form of our A level exams. The debating year of 2007-2008 thus ended for ESS, and as I sign off I feel all the pleasure and content that the past year had to offer.
Special Thanks:
- to Nafis and his crew from Rajuk for presenting a great Pre-Worlds…just get better certificates next time!!
- to all our opponents during the time-span of this tournament – we thoroughly enjoyed all the debates, and will never pass an opportunity to pochafy you guys with the treasure trove of memories you’ve left us with.
- to all our observers - Abhinandan, Progga, Rafid, Raisa, Rida, Sakib, Tanzia and Vicky – for pochafying us and egging us on, and for being the loud voice of ESS whenever cheers were needed – your presence made us proud of bringing the largest contingent of observers in the Pre-Worlds!
- to the directors of ESS for financially supporting us without question, and to RD sir and Dominic sir for giving their time to accompany their brats (i.e. us) to the Pre-Worlds.
- to Mahnaz Apu – first: “Ha!! Told ya ESS2 would do better!!” – second, yes, thanks for being the sweet, headstrong godmother of ESSDC!...third: that does not make us your babies!! :D
- to the readers, for being ripped off their time and reading this piece of c*** - you are all highly appreciated!! Thank you for your patience :D
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