Feature

The Day I Lost My Isotope

Md. Rahber-E-Alam Raafa

HIS name was Syed Muheimenul Bari, but everyone called him Ontu at home. He is no more here with us and has gone very far away to the unknowns. Painfully, he is just a memory to us now. While writing this I still cannot believe that I am not going to see him for the rest of my life.

In the year 2005, I was admitted to a school in Dhanmondi named Sunnydale. The first two years gave me a lot of trouble adjusting myself with the new environment. I had no friends and no one to help me. All I did was study in school, then study at home and then again go to school the next morning. That was my daily routine. In class-VII, among the very few friends I had, Bari was one of them. Eventually, we became very good friends. We began to call each other isotopes of each other, which was a term we learnt in our chemistry class. It meant elements of the same atom with same electron numbers but different proton numbers. The class teachers confused me with Bari as we had so much in common. We looked similar, we were round faced, we liked music, and we liked playing guitar, although I could not. We visited each other often and spent a great amount of time together. His mother always adored me like her own son. Very soon we became best friends. We have been friends for not more than five years but I began to think him as my own brother. I shared everything with him. We had this bond of cracking lame jokes and had competitions of cracking lame jokes where we used to laugh at each other for hours for being so lame. I did not have to pretend like a 'cool guy' in front of him ever to become his friend.

He had another younger brother named Dipto. Bari and I decided that after our O-Levels we would start our own band. So we began to work on our songs. Bari and I would be the vocalists. Bari also wanted to be on guitars. Dipto was the second guitarist. Only the keyboardist was missing. We even looked for someone who can play the keyboard for our band. But we couldn't find anyone.Those were just the incidents at the beginning of our friendship. We were at the peak of being best friends in class-VII. The teachers put the two of us in the same section knowing that we were best friends.

Although, we were punished several times for talking between teacher's lectures. We used to make everyone in the class laugh by cracking ridiculous jokes. We used to tell each other that probably Allah will feel like taking us to the Heaven just because we make everyone laugh. In the end of the year, according to the tradition, the school arranged our class party. Everyone danced and ate and enjoyed. I also danced. But I could not make Bari dance on the floor. Tasneem, who was also our closest friend among girls and our walking diary, tried to make him dance but Bari stood there firmly. The only thing he did was stand still on the dance floor and teased me.

In class-X, again Bari and I were in the same section. But this time Bari and I were not alone. We found Akif and Sakib in our section. The four of us sat together. At the beginning, Sakib was not such a good friend of mine and Bari but Akif was. Akif was known all over the school for his good humour. Eventually, Sakib also became a good friend.They teased me by saying that I lived under the ground, close to the core. Whenever, by accident I cracked good jokes they again teased me by saying that “Ahh! At last Raafa has popped his head out of the ground." The only one reason why Bari was close to everyone in the school is that everyone used to tease him but he never gave any bad replies to anyone. But he became really mad if someone messed with him for no reason.

I will not be able to forget the memories of Bari and me even if I try. There is so much to tell but not enough pages to write. Only fairytales have happy endings. Unfortunately, I do not live in a fairytale world. It was approximately 1 a.m. on the night of 17 March, 2009. I was deep asleep. Suddenly, the ringing of my mobile awakened me. I picked up the call. It was Akif.

The first thing he said to me over was, “Dost, Bari jumped off the roof.''

I did not believe him at all. I took it as a normal joke, which my friends frequently used to crack.

But he insisted,“Dost, it's true. I'd never joke about these things. If you don't believe me then call Dipto“.

I jumped off from my bed in shock and had a talk with Dipto and it was all true. I could not cry because I still did not believe anyone. I called Tasneem and put her in a conference. Her reaction was the same as mine. The whole night Akif, Tasneem and I prayed that the next morning we would find that it was only a nightmare. I got off from my bed, totally numb, to inform my parents. They did not believe me either. My father called Bari's house to make sure I was telling the truth. He hung up the phone and started crying. So did my mother. I sat silently beside them wondering why tears were not coming to my eyes.

The next morning I heard a lot of rumours about Bari jumping off the roof, Bari being killed by one of his friend's mother and Bari being thrown off by some guys from that roof. I did not know whether some one killed him or not but I was so sure that he did not commit suicide. Because he always loved his life. All I knew that I have already lost my brother. But it was too late to think. All what was left for us was to mourn and pray to Allah for his eternal peace. After his loss, I have truly realized how valuable he was and so did others. But the truth is I never thought that I would have to write this article in my life.

The writer is an A'Level student, Sunnydale school