Star Chat

Running on Spirit

Rehnuma Mamun Mouri
Talks to
Salman Rob

Courtesy : Rehnuma Mamun Mouri

I moved a lot when I was younger, which is why I went to five different schools, starting from Shaheen Collage Dhaka (1993-1997), followed by Indian Embassy School, Beijing, China (1997-1998), Pakistan International School, Beijing, China (1998-2000), Shaheen English Medium School, Dhaka (2001-2003) and finally Academia (2004-2007). I am currently pursuing my Undergraduate studies in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE) at American International University, Bangladesh (AIUB).

School and University lives are completely different. School was much more disciplined, and structured, which gave me more opportunities of feeling the rush of breaking rules just for the sake of it, for example bunking classes. The consequences of those broken rules did not matter much, unless one got caught of course!

When I look back now, I find myself engulfed in a lot of good memories from my school years. It's hard to point just a few good moments, and almost impossible to extract any bad moments. I think it's because I had a pretty eventful and diversified school life, which is why school was never not-interesting, and I was quite content back then. I have come across many people, and have been inspired a lot of times by those people, but since there are so many people, so many words, so many actions and gestures involved, I could not possibly name a single personality and be done with it.

I fondly reminisce the times I spent on stage performing plays (that made no sense to me back then), in pretty costumes, singing and group dancing with fellow classmates in Christmas parties, winning the Social Studies Quiz in the 5th grade, and meeting the people who have now become friends that I cherish dearly.

I like to take every opportunity as they come, and enjoy executing them. As long as there is no plan, there will be no expectation, and therefore no disappointments. It's enough to take one step at a time, and try to improve along the way. But I do plan to stay open to those opportunities and try new things, if possible.

In 9th Grade, a group of friends and I wanted to take part in the School Concert, which is when we all came together and decided to form a band. Those are the friends who are still with me to this day, as fellow members of Germantown.

One person who greatly influenced me is my elder sister, who is just three years older than I am. She has been my constant companion and I am sure that she will always remain my guiding star. My mother inspired me with her immense talent in singing. She never practiced much, but she could still make a room full of people go dumb with her voice once it caught hold of notes.

It is important to find yourself in all the confusions of this modern age. The clash between the western wave and the Deshi ways made a jungle out of society for all the people in general, but I guess it effects the adolescents the most, since they are at a stage where important decisions for life are to be made, and the mind has not yet experienced what a nightmare this life can be. So my advice is to not get confused, or not get forced into anything by anyone, be it your family, friends or society. Once you sit down and think about what you want, and what is good for you, taking into consideration what the people around you want for you, I am sure you will find an answer and following that is the best bet you have to succeed.