KARACHI: On Sunday, students from India and Pakistan came together to have a virtual chat simultaneously held at The 2nd Floor in Karachi and Campus Diaries in Bangalore, India. 

Roobaroo, with a hashtag of Story Hack, is conducted by the Campus Diaries in India. This time the collaborating partner is T2F.

Around 1pm, students, most of them from PECHS Girls School, started filling up the main hallway at T2F armed with their laptops. They were soon given placards numbered 1-30 so that students on both sides could reveal their respective numbers and be paired with ones with a similar number.

Nadia Naeem, teacher at the PECHS Girls School, said: “Interaction between the educated lot is need of the hour. I say this because discussions usually go out of hand once you are on the streets. We are lucky to have the technology to interact with people across the border. I just hope these conversations move beyond today’s discussion forum.”

The event got a bit delayed due to poor internet connections on both sides. Another half an hour was spent introducing the respective teammates to one another. It started with an exchange of banter as people on both sides tried to get their names right.

It turned out that the Pakistani students outnumbered the ones from the Indian side. There were 28 students from Pakistan and 14 from India. So, another few minutes were spent exchanging a few of the students to the other side to balance out the interaction.

The students then took to social networking website Facebook and through the event page of #StoryHack Roobaroo, posted five questions to begin the conversation with their counterparts. The interaction was then posted on Roobaroo’s official website. 

The conversation started with basic introductory questions, for instance, what do you study, where do you live etc. Aashish Vanjhara, 20, studying chartered accountancy, registered through an email a day ago. “It seems like an interesting idea and I’m excited about the ensuing conversation.”

Shaun D’Souza from Bangalore posted five questions on the event page asking: Which personality from history would you want to meet and why, what is the perception of a common Pakistani about India and Indians, and most importantly “Are you a grammar-nazi?”

Meriam Shabbir, admin coordinator at T2F, said that Campus Diaries approached Sabeen Mahmud a while ago as they were mostly interested in hosting cross-cultural apolitical dialogue between the youth.

“The projects are then put online for everyone to go through and comment. We have heard so much about India and so have they. I think such interactions should be encouraged and initiated by the youth themselves,” she said.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2014