Eid Holidays are over, and I am back in office again. This time, it was the Eid Ul Azha, the eid of hard work and less time for roaming around. Eid day was on the 22nd, a Saturday. We have weekly holidays on Fridays and Saturdays, and that's why this Eid gave us next to no holiday. We didn't have to come to office on Thursday, as Government declared it as a public holiday, but we were notified that we'll have to compensate that holiday on 29th, due to some stupid affiliation with some stupid chamber of commerce. Anyways, on 21st afternoon, I tagged myself along with the "Cow procurement" party of our family, consisting me, my cousin Rousseau, and three of my uncles. We went to Shahjahanpur gorur haat, and then to Komolapur gorur haat. As it has been published in yesterday's newspaper, on the day before eid, cows were sold at a price equivalent to the same of Water (panir dore goru bikri). We thought we bought a huge cow at 18k BDT, and it did look huge. However, later on, we found out that it didn't contain that much meat.
The haat experience wasn't that bad, as I was expecting. I went to the haat 2 times before, and this was perhaps the most peaceful experience of all. We bought the cow within 3 hours, and it didn't take more than 1 and half hours to walk back the cow to home. This time, me, my youngest uncle and cousin did the "walking back" job. Walking back the cow through the crowded roads of Dhaka is quite fun. However, our cow was a domestic one, and perhaps this was the first time it came to Dhaka. The cow had white complexion, and was very gentle in nature. It wasn't mooing, but it did not travel the road willingly. In multiple occasions, the cow decided to stand still on the road, refusing the go any further. In those cases, the two guys whom were accompanying the cow, had to beat him up mercilessly using a stick. This saddened me, and I tried to refrain them from resorting to the beat'em up policy. After ensuring the safety of the cow in our backyard, I looked at myself and judged that I didn't get too much dirt on, and I can go to the barber for a haircut. My mom gave me a deadline that I must get a haircut within this day, or else there will be news for me. Ahem...so I went to the barber's and sat in a chair for getting the haircut thingy. It didn't take too long. The barber was young and jolly, he talked a lot and he told me that he was going to give me a bollywood cut(!@#!). I was too tired and engrossed in thought to say anything. I dunno how good a haircut he gave me, but everyone said that I was looking good :$
I was waiting for the goats to arrive. My uncle went to the haat again for getting the goats, at around 10 PM. I was playing Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth, and hillariously, Aragorns war chant and goats "baaa" sound echoed together, at 1:30 AM. I finally went to bed at around 2 AM.
Woke up at 7:30 in the morning, went to the mosque for prayers, and came back and enjoyed the delicious food items prepared by my mother. Meanwhile, the poor cow was getting slaughtered downstairs. Usually I keep myself present during the yearly slaughter sessions, but this time I decided not to see the brutal dissection of the cow throat. Not too surprisingly, I have grown a soft corner for the cow, which was very cute and gentle. I didn't want to see him getting slaughtered. I went downstairs long after the slaughtering was over. I spent the rest of the day in a very busy manner. I actively participate in the process of taking meat from downstairs to upstairs, and later on, me and my cousins distributed the meat in to 7 equal shares. The categories were Pure meat, meat with bones, only bones, liver, lard, meat with lard, meat from the head, etc. Liver was further broken down into three sub categories. The process is fun. Though the thought of touching meat with bare hands might make some people puke, the actual process isn't that much bad. We finished everything by 12:30 PM, which was quite fast.
I went to my only Bhabi's house, one floor down. I live in the 2nd floor, and she, along with my eldest uncle's elder son (who is her husband) lives in 1st floor. And then I went to 2 of my uncle's, came back home, and lied in bed. Stayed there for a while, and then got up and had lunch accompanied by my sister and parents. That was the time when I got my first shot at the kurbani beef. Beef was good, but not fully boiled. I mean it was still a bit hard.
After lunch, I slept for an hour or two. B's phone call woke me up. She's a very good friend of mine, and it felt great talking to her after a long time. Her cell phone is an old nokia 3310, which is almost a museum item. Recently, the battery went nuts and I couldn't call her due to that fact. She called from the tnt number, and although I was sleepy, I enjoyed the chat. by the way, she's a distant khala of mine.
I got up, started the PC, and played games till 4. Then went to Pintu's house, another very good friend of mine. There I met Pintu, Afzal, Murshid, Tushar, Sajal, Shujit, Ashique--all my ol' pals . We had plans for going to Netrokona and Mymensingh, with Murshid not confirming his going beforehand. This issue was discussed thoroughly, and I personally tried my best to pursuade Murshid, for going with us. He had an exam on 27th, and declined to join us. His reasoning was quite valid, but it was still painful for me to accept the fact that he won't be joining us. This was the first time all of us were going out together, on a journey as long as this one. Me, Pintu, Shujit and Murshid are buddies since our early schooling years. I first met these people in 1990, more than a decade ago. There were ups and downs in our relationships; but we never lost contact. So this was a life-time opportunity for all of us; an opportunity none will want to lose. But unfortunately, when we boarded the bus scheduled for Mymensingh on 23rd, Murshid was not with us. We missed him throughout the whole 3 day tour, and I hope together we'll go somewhere else in the near future.
I had a long adda and walking session with my friends, and at around 7 pm, the school friend's group decided to visit the school. This has become a regular routine for us. Every year, on Eid day, we go to visit our school in the evening. I think we are following this ritual for the last 3/4 eids. Everytime we go there, we meet a group of people whom we never get to meet unless it's Eid. These are the people who went to school with us. So many faces, and strangely enough, I haven't forgot any of them. This year we met Ismail, after almost 9 years, and still we could recognized each other. But I'm sure that I won't be able to recognize many college-mates, even if they recognize me. School friends are the best friends one will ever get.....most probably this hypothesis won't be proven wrong.
We wanted to leave early, as tomorrow was going to be a big day. Being present in Mohakhali at 7 AM is a challenging goal, for any circumstance. So we needed to get back home early. Enroute to home, me Pintu and Murshid decided to give Bobby a visit, another old friend of ours. Bobby is a school friend of Murshid. They used to go to school together, before Murshid joined Khilgaon Govt. High. I first met him in 1995, as far as I remember. Later on, we became good friends when he also joined NDC and we both got into group 2. Bobby left for USA after passing HSC.
I saw Bobby after 7 years...and he didn't seem different at all. That same smile, that same sense of humour, and a bit healthier(!) physique. After all, he's married now. Yeah, he got married a week before that, and he didn't invite me :@ . I am not angry, though, as he didn't invite too many people. It felt really good to see him.
When I returned home, I was a happy man, and I had a lot of expectations in mind for the days ahead. Who knew that the next three days would turn out to be some of the most memorable days of my life! (Till date).
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