Yeah,I said I am in college now. It was a co-ed. college. My classmates stared at me,like I was someone who dropped from the sky without notice.Actually I didn’t study in any of the schools they went.The question in everyone’s mind was, who is she,where did she come from,can she speak Bengali,why is she taking Urdu,instead of Bengali? I said, ‘wait, I will answer all your questions.’ It irked them because I wore Shalwar Kameez and not a Sari. It’s all changed now,every Jill,Mary and Penelope wear nothing but Shalwar Kameez.My how the times have changed.
I started my classes in Victoria College,Comilla. I liked all the teachers,at least they didn’t have a whole bunch of questions about me.I found the Urdu class the most difficult.I found the atmosphere tense.I was the only girl in this class,the rest,you guessed it,were boys.I was so nervous,I hardly spoke.One day the teacher asked me a question,the boys were all ears,waiting for my reply.One of them said out loud,’Yeh bol sakti hai.'( she can speak).The teacher kept quiet,pretended he didn’t hear it.The two years in that college proved very uncomfortable.I told my sister I wanted to continue my studies in Dhaka.My sister suggested to take admission in the university.I declined,it would mean co-education again and I heard the boys were much more difficult to deal with than the local college I went to. I told her,no I want to go to a girls college.Okay she said if I didn’t do honours in under- grad,there will be a lot of hurdles to overcome.I wasn’t old enough to know the difference,so I got admission In ‘Holy Cross College.’
To be continued!