Star Chat

A Campus Experience

Singer Mahadi Faisal
Talks to
Salman Rob

Courtesy : Mahadi Faisal

I was a student of BAF Shaheen School. As you may know, students of Shaheen are very notorious for their mischievous ways. School life was however, very different from college life, with more restrictions and discipline. But nonetheless, it was one of the greatest times of my life. Waking up at 6 in the morning and going to school to attend the Physical training (P.T) class was a lot of fun for me. Unlike others my age, I would always find going to school enjoyable. As I grew up, school life became more and more adventurous. I had a big circle of friends and bunking school was almost a daily routine. Back then bunking school during the tiffin periods and smoking inside or outside the campus were 'fear factors' for us. We used to carry our regular clothes in our bags so that we could escape from school without anyone noticing. There was this one time when 20-25 of us bunked school together and we went to the 'Ananda Cinema Hall' in Farmgate to watch a Bangla movie. For us, doing that back then was a huge deal!

After school I joined Adamji College and majored in Marketing. University was not as crazy as school but I had my fun-filled moments there as well. When you join a University you are forced to be more responsible and you need to gather as much experience as you can, and that is what I did, more or less. I started doing a lot of extra curricular activities, holding events, going to places to research and attend classes. University life is the time when everyone has to set their minds on what they want to become and make a pathway.

I remember a time when I, along with a few friends of mine, got together and started a tee-shirt company. I remember two of my friends who were really into the work -- Shahriar and Shaker. We learned a lot from the business. We had to move a lot -- to places like Narayanganj where most of the garment factories are, and we researched on the different kinds of materials for tee-shirts. There were times when it used to get really late and we often stopped by this hotel called Mawra near the rail station in Narayanganj. They had the best beef and we would often end up eating there at 2 or 3 in the morning.

Professor Dr. Habibur Rahman of the Marketing Department of Dhaka University, was the person who inspired me through everything. I am still in contact with him and he has my utmost respect for helping me throughout. He was the one who not only taught us well but also gave us suggestions and helped us out in difficult times. He also played a big part in our tee-shirt business, giving us brilliant ideas along the way.

On a different note, it was very difficult for me to maintain my music when I was studying. For a certain period of time, I gave up music and remained detached from the whole scenario. Later on, when I finished University I suddenly got into music again, it was very drastic, and I don't even remember how it happened!

Campus is a very happening place. It is a place where a lot of creative minds come under one roof and start popping ideas. It is a platform of new opportunities and I feel that it is where you get to learn not only from books but from your own experiences as well.