Reflection Of Life

Chapter - 9 : A day at school

Since the long stay at home, and the exasperating bed ridden condition was becoming an obstacle in the path of quick recovery, Monir and Parveen planned to take their daughter to a brief trip to her school one day. She did not want to do classes that day, it would be just saying hello to the principal and roaming around the library and cafeteria, two of her favorite places inside campus.


The Morning Prayer call from the mosque just two houses away from home, always worked as the best alarm clock for Fariha. No matter how sick she felt, no matter how depressed she was, she never forgot saying her prayers. Of course, women were forbidden to pray at a certain special time of every month. Fariha even recited the Quran aloud in those days. She had memorized the lengthier prayers for those days only.


“I would have to face Allah someday, and I don’t want to regret anything when I get older.” She used to say, when asked about her love for religion.


She did not take long to get ready on that particular Sunday, which was also her seventeenth birthday. She swam into the living room wearing a white long skirt with red floral prints on it, with a matching top.

“Hello gorgeous! You’ll be the cause of many heart failures today!” Parveen joked.


“Come on Ammu…” Fariha began.


“Oh no, little lady, you have permission to look as beautiful as you want to today. You’re the birthday girl.” Both her parents passed the same comment together.


Fariha always thanked her parents for getting her admitted in an English Medium School. Being there not only developed her English Language skills, but it also gave her chance to mix with both the genders, a rare opportunity for many of the Bengalis. Some parents prefer to send their children to single gender schools. Even in the twenty first century, some typical Bengali parents tend not to allow their boys to be friends with girls and vice versa. Unfortunately, people suffer from narrow mindedness just because of this bad practice.


About half an hour later, they finally managed to set off for Fariha’s school, with a tempting chocolate cake and some sweets to distribute amongst her friends. They had been doing that ritual for every birthday ever since Fariha got admitted to that school about six years back.

Her stomach was growling by the time she reached the campus. So, Fariha headed straight for the canteen as soon as she got down from the car. The canteen allowed her to converse with students of all the classes at one time. So, naturally, she looked forward to the everyday get together.


“Uncle, may I get a Thai soup please?” The nutritious liquid was one of her favorite dishes.


“Yes, sure, just wait for a second”. The man standing in a chef coat in front of the soup bowls replied with a courteous smile.


Just as she was about to sit at her preferred table, Saima caught her eye. Fariha just ignored the girl, quietly sipping the soup with a cup of Nescafe coffee.


Saima was just talking with a group of juniors; it was evident that she was trying to teach them something:


“Saima, you always make the topics more complex, can’t you make it a bit simpler?” One of the grade seven students asked, as she struggled with a Trigonometry problem of three dimensional figures.




“Well, I don’t think anyone can make it simpler. It’s tricky you see.” Saima replied, trying to remain calm, although anger was already burning in her mind.


“Fariha would always explain it as much as we want. You hardly explain more than once.” The junior complained.


“Miss Popular? What does she have which I don’t? Even the coolest guy in school hangs out with her… Really, what does she have? I’m fairer, slimmer, and more noticeable. Come to me, forget her!” Saima said at once, panting at the end.


“Mind your language, young lady!” Shanto appeared in the scene out of nowhere.


“Why? I mean, who is she? She’s none but a beggar! I have sixteen cars in my garage, does she?” Saima snapped.


“Beating your own drums will get you nowhere, Saima!” Shanto replied in a calm, yet stern tone.

He had noticed Fariha’s blur figure across the glass door of the canteen. She just stood there, dumbfounded, unable to decide what to do next.

Shanto turned around, the rickety wooden floor cracked under his booted feet. He just grabbed Fariha by the hand, and stormed out of the place, straight to her car.

Check out

FORUM

Try your luck-Charity Raffle-Hibernate   (E) A raffle to support various charity groups #1291778 by Humming Bird