Sondhis: Your Passport to Feasts, Friendships, and Feuds!
(By: Mishaal Irfan)
Picture this: you wake up at 8 am, surrounded by the stench of the lethal smog, and the world (Lahore is my world, ok??) in front of you looks like an eerie, apocalyptic scene. But wait, the real twist in the plot comes when you start hearing the murmurs of zombies, or so it seems. These zombies, however, are not after your brains; they're burping out random political facts at intervals. At first glance, you might speculate that these sleep-deprived individuals are the walking dead. However, upon further investigation(warning: people with extreme intellectual prowess can only do it), you can distinguish a thin veil underneath, and you can see glimpses of a very passionate person about a debate tournament.
Sondhis, a debate tournament at Lacas Burki, was no different. A very inclusive tournament that welcomed people from all classes as one could witness debaters from 8th grade to A3(gotta flex your cognitive "wealth" after all). These A3 kids have an unhinged obsession with debates. They are stuck in a toxic relationship where their significant other (debates) dismisses them and makes them sob every nanosecond, a relationship that is full of red flags–a sort of relationship that only the intellectually "elite" can afford.
Unlike any other conventional event, Sondhis provided us with great food instead of "Shadhi ka khana" (no shade intended on munners). For us JT kids, the colossal building, natural grass( yes, we finally touched it!), and the swings left us gawking. Maybe that is why we lost the octo-finals; we were too enchanted to utter a word.
Regardless of the wins and losses, this tournament gave us many memories, simultaneously providing tough competition for gourmet food (sorry, but fancy restaurants must step up their game because the bar has been set too high). We did not bring home a trophy, but our exposure made us better debaters; improvement is all that matters!
