Thori si toh lift karaden

By Suzanna Sardar Masih


For the thousands of students studying in the University of Karachi the title would evoke memories of all the instances in their life on campus when they would have had to ask a passing vehicle for a lift to the gate, Arts Lobby, Pharmacy or various other spots on campus premises. The wide expanse of the university can be tiring for students to cover on foot as they try to get to and from their major to minor classes. The absence of a proper transport system within the varsity leaves students no choice but to take lifts from private vehicles plying the university roads.

Taking a lift is a very common activity in KU; in fact some might argue that your experience of KU life is incomplete without it. Having been studying here for almost two years now, I have become quite familiar with the process and have compiled a list of the kind of lifters (the nice men and women who are kind enough to give us a lift) many of us may have encountered.

The helpful souls
These people would see you standing by the road in the burning heat with your arm outstretched, they would take pity on you, stop, and ask you to hop on.

The chatty types
As soon as you are in the car they would start bombarding you with tonnes of questions about where you study what your subjects are and all topics under the sun. You have to be careful with what you talk about with them or else you might just get out of the car with them knowing everything from your family background to the last time you vaccinated your cat!

The at-your-service-ma’am types
This usually is a guy or a couple of guys who seem to be driving around the university all day long just to help damsel or rather damsels in distress. He would stop, give u a huge smile ask where you want to go and just happen to be very conveniently going the same way. Well even if he isn’t he says he will manage so whose complaining.

The wont-stop-at-any-cost type
This particular person would see you from a distance and realizing what you are upto would push the accelerator even faster and speed past you without a second glance. Sometimes they might glance at you with an apologetic look but that could very well be your imagination running wild.

The maybe-if-I-ignore-them-they-will-disappear type
A variant of the above kind this particular uncle or auntie would just pretend you are not there. You might be stretching your arm out as far as it can go, you might be wearing the heaviest chunkiest shiniest most reflective bangles out there, you might even be standing in the middle of the road but of course they cant see you ignorance is bliss remember.

The Nascar driver
You start cursing yourself as soon as you get in this particular persons car. The driver extraordinaire will drive at breakneck speed will brake abruptly and consider driving straight on a perfectly straight road an insult to his talent of snaking through traffic only he can see. By the time you get out your stomach is taking twists and turns of its own so good luck keeping that paratha you ate for breakfast down.

The Ok I'll stop...... yeah right type
This sweet person would drive towards you slow down to a stop a few steps ahead of you and as soon as you walk up to get in he will push the accelerator and drive away snickering (yeah very mature!) leaving you uttering a series of things I wouldn’t want to mention here.

The music lover
This person would be listening to the latest music (read Bollywood music) with speakers at full blast and feels obligated to refine your taste in music or perhaps ruin you eardrums or both. Reminds me of a time when a bunch of us girls got in car without realizing the obscene English song playing in the background. To our utter embarrassment the guy turned up the volume and we had to look away from each other for fear of laughing out at the shock on our faces. Thankfully that passed quickly.


All in all the KU lift experience is an entertaining if not educating experience. Try it and find out.