When Dreams Come True

Pias Majid
Talks to
Salman Rob

Photo: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

Even though I have been spending most of my life in Chittagong, all my childhood memories are from Comilla, my village. My first kindergarten school was 'Moonlight Kindergarten School' in Comilla and later I joined Comilla Jilla High School for my higher studies. And I can honestly say those were the best days of my life. It is not that life is not great anymore, but that was the greatest time of my life. That is when we have different experiences and learn a lot from them. And I did my share of learning. I used to get really upset during the weekends because I was unable to attend school and when vacation used to come by, I would cry out of boredom. Bottom line is that I loved every moment of my school life. More than an educational centre I treated that place like a centre of entertainment. That shows how much the teachers did to make a student think like that. And I believe every school should try that and make the students realize it is more than just an institute. Now when I look back at those days I always end up with a smile on my face. Rather than missing those days, I cherish every moment of it and find myself to be really lucky to go through that experience.

I was always a bookworm since school. The library was my place of isolation and at the same time a place to hangout with friends. All my friends were also so much into books that we used to be busy during our lunch breaks making deals with each other over books. At that time 'Tin Goenda' (Three Investigators) was a big seller and between us that was like the highest bid of deals. Other activities included the charity work I did besides studying. That brought a lot of changes in me, changes that were good for my future. I had a better perception about everything after that.

My writing started off in my school days as well. I used to write for the school magazines and anything of that sort that came out. And after that, the writing just carried on by itself. I just made sure I never face a phase where I would stop writing-- even for a while.

After I finished my Intermediate exam, I joined Jagannath University (JU) to major in 'History' so that I could enhance my writing abilities. It was quite a radical change that took place when I joined JU; it was like a totally different life over there. Things that I used to dream of were right in from of my eyes. Theatre drama shows, film shows and other workshops were a daily thing in JU. And to top that off, meeting people like Selim Al Din and Md Rafique were dreams that I never thought would come true.

“You are as big as your dream, a person who dares to dream big has already achieved something big for himself by just dreaming about It”, said Abdullah Abu Sayed, President of Bissho Shahitto Kendra (World Literature Centre) to me after I won in a writing competition. And that message has been like an inspiration for me to keep writing and that should be the message to every young hopeful talent out there who is ready to dream big!