Life has been cruel to a lot of people. Thank God, it’s been the best for me. The very unpredictable schedule of the University, however, pisses me off sometimes. The recent one was during my last ‘Eid’. Who conduct semesters during the festive occasion? Let me correct, our most important festival! It was June 26th, a bright sunny morning. I woke up to the feeling of missing home and homely things like waking up early and seeing mommy getting the chores ready, cleaning the room to the last call, the male members getting ready for Namaz, and me eagerly waiting for everyone to leave so that I could get ready peacefully. There is a special kind of freedom I enjoyed on this day, back at home. I could be out from 9 in the morning to 7 in the evening and nobody would still question me about my outings. This is really sweet of my parents. All they need to know is where I’d been and with whom. All the male members would leave for the Eidgaah. Meanwhile, the merry go rounds, the chaat-wala, the ice-cream vendors and everything that can allure your eyes would start crowding at the baseline of my house, extending to the alley right in front. I remember the times I used to go out with my beloved friends and eat one heck of all kinds of street food present there, even ones which I ain’t allowed to touch now. IBSD sucks! Anyways, I miss those friends. We are distant, we rarely talk, but they are somewhere deep in these childhood memories which stay forever in my heart. Ah! I deviated from where I began. So, the same homesicknesssummoned up the day I woke up in my hostel bed. It all came back to me. “But hey”, I would tell myself, "this is not the first time you are away from home during Eid, it’s alright.”
The next day I had my ‘Computer architecture’ exam. I was stuck between ‘let’s-celebrate’ and ‘shut-up-and-study’. I chose the former and didn’t go shopping even. Something incredible happened the day before Eid. I was sitting in my room, wondering how I would spend my ‘tomorrow’ when a bunch of ‘my people’ came in with a gift wrap. A lovely self-made gift wrap it was. It read-‘Eid Mubarak’ with a crescent-shaped moon drawn beside. The way it was packed, so articulately, it had already taken my heart. I was elated to see a beautiful, embroidered, yellow kurti which would fit me in perfectly. Happiness knew no bounds.
We were invited to the Sewai-party by one of our batchmates. I hesitated once because going out would kill a lot of my time, and I had a lot to prepare for the exam. However, it would exempt me from the feeling of missing home badly and missing the Sewai at all. So, I decided to go. Little did I know the consequences of my decision.
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THE SWEET DISASTER
Short StoryA realistic tale of college life, tragic, friendship, festival and love.
