There was this email on my student ID that international students can sign up to participate in a global youth event where you have to present one aspect of your country! I for once instantly decided to sign up and was selected to participate in the event.
The event was held at the University of York which is one of the most famous universities of the United Kingdom. I was talking this as an opportunity to test myself. All the words that I say about Pakistan, all the things that I decide that I will go for Pakistan someday, this was the opportunity to see if I had what it takes to do something practical.
I was sure about one thing that I will talk about some famous personality from Pakistan but at the same time I was extremely confused about what personality to present. I was confused between Abdul Qadeer Khan, Abdus Sattar Edhi and Geoffrey Douglas Langlands.
Finally I decided I will talk about Geoffrey Douglas Langlands because of three reasons. Firstly because he used to live in the United Kingdom, secondly because he was born in Yorkshire county, and lastly because he was one real life personality that I always think needs to be promoted more.
Believe you me it took me 5 days to complete the presentation and 7 hours continuous practicing on the last day to get everything exact. I wanted to tell so much but unfortunately I just had 10 minutes in total. When I first practiced the presentation I ended it in 30 minutes because of the stuff there was to tell, gradually I tuned down the presentation and shortened it and was finishing it right on the time as well.
Confession: I was extremely nervous but excited at the same time and this rarely happens with me.
We reached Yorkshire in the morning, it was day 4 of the conference which started at 10 am, there were 4 other students from Pakistan as well who were presenting other aspects of Pakistan and it was so pleasant to see that they were so passionate about it.
It was raining, the weather was romantic and then I saw the Pakistani flag among all the other flags fluttering, believe me it feels so good.
They asked us who among us would like to present first and strangely I raised my hand, more strange was the fact that I was rather confident while going on the stage, which NEVER happens with me. Before starting the presentation I even tried cracking some jokes, which failed to make anyone laugh but well, I tried.
The presentation went really well, I was able to stay confident all the while but just when I was about to end the presentation I felt my legs kept on shaking and wouldn't stop haha.
I had divided the presentation into different parts, firstly I introduced who Geoffrey Douglas Langlands was, then I told them about how I came to know about him, then about his early life, education, family problems time in the British Army, services for Pakistan army, contribution as an educationist, Langlands School and College and in the end I concluded the presentation telling them that he is extremely famous among the youth of Pakistan and my real life inspiration.
The reaction of the people was amazing, I have never seen people clap this enthusiastically for something, though most I could hear people saying words like ' good ' ' interesting ' ' wow ' the real compliment that I got was from the announcer who said she felt like I was telling her the story about his grandfather who also spent his life in Pakistan and that she was amazed that he is still alive and is so famous in Pakistan.
In the end I also told everyone that Pakistan is not all about terrorism and that you people should give us benefit of doubt because we are fighting the war against terror for all of the World and that there were many many more people that I could have introduced to them today and that Pakistan is filled with individuals who are amazing.
Overall it was an amazing experience, I swear I could not stop smiling for such a long while, extremely overwhelmed I was by the response and happy that I was able to something practical for Pakistan.
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