Feature

Thoughts on Friendship Day

When Old Friends Meet!

After immense hard work of several days, 23rd of July finally dawned upon us, with massive expectations filling our insides. Yamin, Nawaf, Sakif, Ridwan, Emil, Shihab, Rezwan, Arshad, Sadaf, Riyad and myself, had made our way through innumerable hours of uncertainties, in which, one obstacle or the other trespassed our way every few days, making our goal seem as unattainable as ever! As a matter of fact, it wasn't until two hours after the event had commenced, did we truly believe that our dreams were about to take the form of a successful reunion!

My friends and I have long since been relocated in different parts of the world, after our A level exams were finished and university life began. It has been a year since all of us had been blessed with the golden days together, although many of us were back for summer holidays in Dhaka. Thus, all it needed was initiative and it came undoubtedly from our dear friend Yamin!

With so many of us backing his endeavor, we managed to book the 1st floor of Efes Restaurant in Gulshan I and hired Dj Tonmoy, to add to the ambience of the event. The arrangement was made for hundred people and even though the purpose of the event was not to make profit but to meet old friends and batch mates, we had charged a little higher than the cost, in case people would not respond.

The event was to officially begin at 06:30 in the evening. All of us organizers were present at Efes an hour earlier, awaiting the results of our hard work. It was already 08:00 and there were only 40 tickets sold. Just when we had decided to accept the fact that no one else was as keen as us to revive old memories and cherish the old days together, 08:30 brought along a torrent of people swarming at the gates of Efes. Numbers quickly rose and by 10:00, a hundred and twenty people were dancing their night away with Dj Tonmoy's foot stompers.

While the music, food and lighting extravagantly enriched the environment, the best part about the entire event was the fact that everyone had not just come to attend a reunion- they had truly lived up to the significance of the programme! We were all united by a feeling of comradeship, irrespective of whether people shared a common bond of friendship in their school days. It was surprising to see how everyone had grown into mature young gentlemen and ladies in just one year. Three hundred and sixty five days all of a sudden seemed a very long time in which people had forgotten their differences from school days. We had learnt to appreciate only the best of each other and judge them accordingly.

With a successful event in our hands, we decided to add another beautiful facet to it, by giving away our profit for charity! We haven't yet decided where to donate, but the purpose behind the donation is to make sure, young boys and girls like us, who are far less privileged, can one day pursue their dreams, in the same way we do! So that one day, when they meet their friends, they shall be proud to call themselves a part of the next educated generation, who can contribute to this society!

(Student of North South University)