Feature

Tanvir Hafiz

27th December
The registration day was upon us. We had lots of things to do today. The most important order of the day was to get ourselves registered. At 10 I came down and found that the King David hall, which used be quite and empty, is full with people of all kinds of colors and appearance. There was a long, long line for registration. I wondered when could we get ourselves registered. I caught some familiar faces, saw Sinha from NSU, along with Stalin Bhai, and a few more Bangladeshi delegates.

Shukrana and Hassib woke up and we got our dollars changed to baht. We looked at the registration room, they were giving out great looking bags and pink t-shirts amongst other things. After waiting for hours, finally it was our chance to get our pictures taken and have our registration done, what a relief! Later that night was the pre welcoming dinner accompanied with light jazz music beside the wonderful AU Museum. The Bangladeshi emerged one by one as the party mood deepened. The night ended with Bangladeshis gathering for a late night adda.

28th December
28th is another Hectic Day. The debaters are briefed and so are the adjudicators, followed by an adjudication test. In the morning I saw a large crowd of debaters and adjudicators mostly wearing the bright baby pink t-shirt (the official t-shirt of the event) making for the briefing session. We did well in the test. We had our lunch in ABAC shopping mall, which was on the ground floor of the Cathedral of Learning (CL building).

Later that night was the Opening Ceremony of WUDC. It was a formal/cultural night and everybody wore their national or traditional outfits. Bangladeshi girls wore sarees while the guys wore Punjabi. IUT-ians had a gamchha on their shoulder. The opening ceremony was awesomely grand. Rev. Brother Bancha opened the event and then the Thai dancers performed their traditional dances. The Dinner was great. We got ready for the following day.

29th 30th and 31st December
The most important part of WUDC, the debates, started from 29th. We hurried to the common briefing in John XXIII convention hall. The entire system of briefing was handled by the computer as it showed which team and which adjudicator should go to which room. The debates were held in the classrooms around the CL building. A bunch of runners waiting outside took us to our respective rooms The Assumption classrooms were nicely furnished and includes all amenities of modern classroom including internet connection and other facilities.

The debates were fierce. One by one 3 rounds took place on each of the days throughout the whole day. After each rounds we would all come together in the briefing room and share our experiences. For most of the Bangladeshis, this was the first time experience in adjudicating in the worlds.

For the experienced ones, they admitted that the quality of adjudication was very high.

That 29th night was the comedy night. The comedy was performed by debaters. The real excitement was on the outside, where they were giving out free Pizza, Friend Chicken and endless drinks. And wherever there are free food and drinks, there has to be adda.

The 30th nigh was the Women's Night. Women's night was basically a charity night that celebrated the women in debating and was intended to raise fund for a noble cause. The main attraction of Women's night was the dance troupe that AU had brought all the way from Philippines. These guys are girls are so agile. The dance was followed by a live concert. The band sang popular modern rock number and we went wild. Outside AU mall, a food fest was in order. The festival included all kinds of Thai traditional Dishes along with traditional Indian and Japanese dishes. Umm..

31st was the last day of preliminary debating rounds. The debaters were exhausted and were finally happy, that to day was the last day and they could take a rest. But we were mostly happy because it was the night of the 31st and we will be taken to a huge amusement park for the break announcement.

That night we got ready and got on the buses. Soon we were in Siam park city. The entire park was sealed off only for the use of the WUDC delegates. All the food and drinks inside was also free. Hassib tried a ride and decided that was enough. I always get dizzy on these rides so I passed.

At around 12, we started countdown for the New Year. As soon as the clock struck 12:01 am fireworks filled the sky. The DJ's was churning one dance track upon another, the crowd was crazy. We danced till we couldn't anymore.

(To be concluded next week)

(Student of Stamford University)

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Young love is a flame; very pretty, often very hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. The love of the older and disciplined heart is as coals, deep-burning, unquenchable.
-Henry Ward Beecher

Age does not protect you from love. But love, to some extent, protects you from age.
-Anais Nin

Life has taught us that love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward in the same direction.
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Love has no desire but to fulfill itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires;
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
-Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.
-Helen Keller

Love does not dominate; it cultivates.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Source: Internet