An interesting thing happened last week. My sister's dormitory seat got cancelled by her house tutor. For the final exam and semester break, she wasn't regular in her hall for the last two months and when she came back for staying in her room in the last week, she saw another girl who started nesting in her seat. She was freaked out thinking how to get the seat back because it is almost known to all that managing a public university's authority is a huge deal. So for just giving her mental support, I tried to be in her onerous work.
Actually travelling for 28km with free heavy traffic just for giving mental support..um I'm not that tender-hearted girl. The truth is, I was longing for the book fair which is happening just beside her university (I should say "in" replacing "beside", but.. let's keep the argument for another day). So it was like ek dhile dui pakhi mara moment for me, so I took the decision.
That day, after a headache-causing journey on the local bus, we reached our destination. Amidst the pollution and chaos of Dhaka city, the university area always bring out the ultimate peace in me.
after bargaining for a "fair rate" with a rikshawala mama, we hopped into his vehicle. To me, rikshaw is the best way to enjoy the beauty and calmness of this campus. The soft breeze of spring brushes off the tiredness of the long journey.
Recently, I got a habit of feeling the rhythm of rikshaw wheels. One of my close persons once said you can tell if the wheel is perfect or not just feeling the beat. It'll tilt a little completing every lap if there is any problem. and that finding excited me when I feel that tilting for the first time. Ah, good old days!
𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓲𝓶𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓮, 𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵 𝓲𝓽'𝓼 𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓭.
When we reached her hall, I made myself comfortable in a corner of her waiting room. It's also called a restroom for the guest who wants to meet with the students of that dorm. To make good use of time, I started going through with the hive posts but gradually, it felt like observing my surrounding people in that room was more delightful than that.
I was getting a vibe that each of the members in this room had a story. Like an aged red-bearded father was there with a polybag full of our local berries, some other seasonal fruits and snacks. After a while when his daughter came, she started to scold her softly for making a hassle bringing all these things. On the other side, a couple was hanging out, chitchatting about their day-to-day life, the boy was gently moving his hand on the girl's hair. But it makes me a little sad when after a while, he kept himself busy on his phone's screen, keeping her girl on the side. Later on, that girl dipped herself in social media too. I can't hold my sigh!
Later on, my eyes went to another boy setting in front of me, he was all alone for almost 20 minutes. Then a hair-covered, simply dressed girl entered the room, with a big tiffin carriage and went for him. When she was saying sorry for the late, then I figured out the delay was from cooking the meal. She brought out a clean plate for the boy and started to serve the warm food that she just made. And she started to eat on a chamber of her tiffin container. I was enjoying looking at them coz both of them were introverts and they could hardly make any conversation. Poor couple!
Lastly, a village parent came along with some huge luggage for their child. It was feeling like they came here travelling a very long distance but still, the joy of seeing their girl hushed all the tiredness. When their child came, her high-pitched voice of excitement just turned around the vibe of the room. After hearing some of their conversations, anyone could tell how jolly is the family. When it was the moment for leaving, she denied several times on her father's questions about attending BCS. She was saying I can make the same amount of money from my specialized area, so why I'll lose 2-3 years of mine just to get a good preparation? And that makes sense actually. Wish it was this easy to convince my parents too!
That day, when I was coming back home, a day from my dorm life hit me too. It was 5 to 6 years ago, one night, Baba came along in my hall's waiting room, with a small RFL wardrobe. As my home was distanced 1.5h from my campus, my parents didn't bother about me that much back in those days (truly speaking, my mother even never paid a visit to my dorm and I still taunt her for that). I was totally a home sicked girl and couldn't able to feel at home there. So seeing baba in an unexpected time just made my day. He brought out an orange from his side pocket and peeled that for me. After chatting for a while, he tipped one of our helping boys to bring the wardrobe into my room and left after a while.
I know, these are our ordinary mundane events but we should appreciate these little gestures, as each of them is a token of love. Most of the time, we take things for granted, but the peace which comes from these little things, can't be compared with anything.
I feel a little disheartened whenever I can't find any known face while visiting campus. The classrooms, dormitory, TSC, bhelpuriwala mama everything is there, just we got replaced by our next generation. Some of us get real pain admitting these factors, but this is just the wheel of life, life must go on, and you can't always hold your favourite places or people around you. So try to give value to those moments before time took them all.
P.S. My sister was able to regain another seat in her room, lucky her!! And I couldn't make it to bookfair, poor me :))