Biography 111: Masuma Khatun

 I was in Majhil Govt Girls High School from grade 5 to 10. In this period my best friend was Masuma Khatun. She used to live in Kamalapur. In her childhood, she had polio, so her one arm was not working properly. She was a very nice person, soft-spoken and honest. We always use to sit together.

As our house were far away, according to kids. We never visit each other's house. Maybe that's why now I have no communication with her. The last time I have seen her was after getting admission to Dhaka University. She said she is on the waiting list. As her marks are good, probably she will be called.

We get separated from the college (Grade 11). When I went to the Viqarunnisa noon college and She got admitted to the Matijhil Ideal College.

When I first sat beside Masuma in grade 5, she was crying. She said the person who used to sit beside her didn't like her. That girl put a mark on the bench and told her never to cross that line. She felt like she is not likable to anyone. Well, Allah knows, no one knows this feeling better than me. From the very childhood I use to see, no one likes me. And now I have accepted that situation everywhere.

I said to her, never feel hesitate to sit anywhere on this bench. It was a two-person seated bench with a desk. I use to share everything with her. Well, I didn't have much. She did that too with me. When we were in grade 10, one day she brought some notes on Islamiat subjects to me. She said her older sister has collected these. If you read it you will get a letter mark (80%), guaranteed. I didn't believe her because I knew, I don't read. But I did go through some of it and got a letter mark in the SSC exam. So, she was right.

Her father was a doctor. Her mother was from the original Dhaka (Dhakaiya). She liked me because I was kind of from Dhaka too (Bikrompur).

I remember one day she told me, she doesn't like to study, but when her maid (Having a maid is a very usual thing in Bangladesh) put everything in the proper place, she felt like taking a book and studying. Well, I didn't have that luxury. I use to do everything by myself. And I never liked to study school books.

Later I tried to find her a lot. I have searched on the net, Facebook. But she became disappear from everywhere. I wish I know where she is, how she is.