::: Star Campus :::

Life in Campus

A Stranger in their Midst

Imran H. Khan

After a semester had gone by and having finished my university years at North South, I went back to catch up on my friends there. There just seems to be so much more happening when one has passed out from the place and the feeling of nostalgia grows strong: the events, the class room activities as well as the gossips -- all seem new. Having arrived in front of SPZ, the busiest hub of our little campus, I looked around for a familiar face. I saw none. I felt alone. The buildings, the shops, even the mamas at the entrance were all known to me but still I felt somewhat different, somehow separated. I had always been used to the sea of unfamiliar faces at NSU but that has never bothered me much. Today, they seemed to be prying at me, their facial expressions questioning my intentions. These new recruits seemed like ardent agents of an unknown cabala and they seemed intent on probing my identity. It never happened before that I had to identify myself. I felt a little lost, a stranger in their midst.

There are certain people who finds bliss in solitude and then there are those who are social butterflies. I happen to be someone who identified with the latter, and having familiar people around me to talk with is a major part of who I am. Without someone to talk to, I felt an uneasy feeling of being an outcast, and the more I though of it the more it took on a solid shape. I took a chair and sat for a while at the canteen, contemplating on my next move. I felt lost and I wanted to go home. Suddenly I noticed someone waving at me. I didn't know his name but he knew mine and that was good enough for me. I remembered him from a Computer Science course I took and I couldn't have been more glad to see him. He seemed as pleased too. He came over and I gave his hand a vigorous shake. I came to know that he was completing his internship in a bank and he started describing his work environment. He than started to talk about the people who he was in touch with and some familiar names started to pour in. Within minutes, I discovered that we moved in quite the same circle but never actually got to hang out or even be properly introduced. We talked of how things were and how things had been and about the sea of students whose volume was simply uncountable. Not fifteen minutes had passed when my friend got up to leave. As I watched him go, I smiled. In our brief moment of tryst, we had both gained something. We had established our identities and felt a part of something larger than ourselves. We were a part of NSU and a part of us will always come to remind us of that, bringing in all the memories Like the saying goes, you can take us out of the university but you cannot take the university out of us.