“When will we return to campus?” – this question seems to arise to the minds of all the students who are stuck at home for a long time. This static situation for Corona has not only stopped all the running activities of our country, but also ruining the mental health and bright future of our future generations.
Corona virus is like a horror story now. Although 14 months have passed since the lockdown started in our country, the students are not relieved yet. It was inconceivable that a virus from far away China would hit Bangladesh in such a horrible way. All the educational institutions had to be closed to avoid the transmission of this virus. Jahangirnagar University, the cultural capital of the country, was also no exception. The university has suspended all the physical classes and examinations indefinitely to prevent coronavirus infection. As a result, most of the students are staying in their respective homes.
The students are living a monotonous life facing such an epidemic. After being admitted to the university, the young generation gets the taste of freedom, gets the exclusive right to choose friends. Friend circles are made up of like-minded people. The relationship between the friends is simple and beautiful. Friendship is built on faith, love and affection. In university life, friendship is a word of trust. A campus without friends is like a desert. Many can not imagine university life without friends.
People from different parts of the country, different mindsets, different cultures and also different religions come together for higher education on campus and become friends. This friendship teaches people to rise above caste-religion-race, teaches tolerance. Chatting at the end of a class or on leisure time brings a little peace of mind to everyone. In addition to studying, students keep gossiping with friends at the tea stalls on campus. But now everyone is missing the company of friends on campus. The days of friendship in university life are very exciting memories for all students. However, the new students who got admitted to the university in last year did not get this opportunity till now.
As soon as we woke up, the class, the tea-chat with friends at TSC and the music in the red bus – all these things seem to be a thing of the past. Unfinished lectures, tutorials, assignments, promises to friends and loved ones – all came to a standstill situation in the terrible clutches of an invisible force. Besides halls and academic buildings, students used to roam around and gossip in different popular places of Jahangirnagar University such as Murad Chattar, Munni Chattar, Tarzan Point, TSC, Transport, Bot tola, Prantik, Dairy, inside the university bus, in the cafeteria, in the premises of Shaheed Minar. But they no more hang out in these places in groups. The chat is a source of rejoicing, joy and happiness for the students on campus. Whether it’s raining or a sunny day, friends hang out on campus. And this friendship-story-chat has paused due to Corona.
Shoptom Chayamancha, Cafeteria, Muktamancha, TSC were used to be crowded for celebrating birthdays during the campus days, Corona has also taken away this joy from everyone. Everyone has a lot of memories from the beginning of the first year until the campus closed in Corona. Everyone is feeling the bond of friendship during this corona period. The students are inquiring about each other through social media as they have not seen each other for a long time. In this time of Corona, friends were the only good companions to deal with depression. The business of running around with notebooks and pens seems to be just in the imagination now. When the campus will be full of students again, then the friends will be able to hang out together. Now everyone has to count the waiting hours sitting at home.
I visited my beloved campus in last month after a long time despite of lockdown as I had to collect some important academic papers. Some students are staying at nearest areas like Islamnogor, Ambagan, Gerua etc. But this lifeless campus is not like the old one. A campus that had been busy with classes, labs, assignments, programs all day long is silent, lifeless, stagnant in this corona epidemic.
In the virtual world of social medias, now it is a very easy process to chat and make friends, but no one really cares about it. That’s why every day we hear everyone’s longing and screaming to return to the campus through numerous statuses and posts that can be seen in the news feed of facebook. Everyone expects to return to campus as soon as possible.
Everyone is waiting to see when this epidemic will end, when everyone will be on the campus again. We have lost some friends during this time and some have lost their family members too. On these difficult days, let’s pray for each other and hope that our friends will return to the campus again, we can be reunited together. Looking forward to that day when Jahangirnagar University will be lively with students once again.
T. Mahmud Ornab
Student, Department of English
Jahangirnagar University