Alas! Last two years I never had an opportunity to travel to Kapasia where I lived up to the 10th grade! So much change all around. I had a glance at the Kapasia Pilot High School, my alma mater, after how many years I can't even calculate. Once a rural area now a busy township in the making. So many buildings here and there. The old muddy paths are hardly there.
I called up my school chum Shoeb, a revered science teacher now. We had a short walk on the bridge connecting Kapasia with Targaon. During my days at the High School (1986-92), the bridge was in the dreams of the villagers. Every morning I used to reach school taking a boat ride. Three decades down the line, I realize it was quite an adventure for a boy who didn't know how to swim. I remember during the monsoon days the mighty Shitalakhya would be full to the brim. One way boat ride would last for almost one hour whereas during the dry season it would be just fifteen to twenty minutes.
One day during monsoon, I probably risked life to reach school when none except me turned up! All classes were suspended that day. We escaped thanks to the extra-ordinary handling of the boat by the "captain". I wonder how lifestyle changes! When the bridge was not there, I, a non-swimmer high school boy used to take the boat ride twice a day almost every day of the class year. Now, since I haven't mastered the technique of swimming whenever go back to the village I am discouraged by my family members not to adventure with the boat ride. Is life more precious now than it was then?
When I was in the eighth grade, one day I failed to appear in an exam as the local people in our end of the river were observing a shut-down over some local politics. All the three hours of the exam time I was feeling restless. This is the only time in my student life I was absent from an exam hall.
I called up my school chum Shoeb, a revered science teacher now. We had a short walk on the bridge connecting Kapasia with Targaon. During my days at the High School (1986-92), the bridge was in the dreams of the villagers. Every morning I used to reach school taking a boat ride. Three decades down the line, I realize it was quite an adventure for a boy who didn't know how to swim. I remember during the monsoon days the mighty Shitalakhya would be full to the brim. One way boat ride would last for almost one hour whereas during the dry season it would be just fifteen to twenty minutes.
When I was in the eighth grade, one day I failed to appear in an exam as the local people in our end of the river were observing a shut-down over some local politics. All the three hours of the exam time I was feeling restless. This is the only time in my student life I was absent from an exam hall.
