Daring to dream

Musician Joy Shahriar
Talks to
Rakibul Hasan

College days were supposed to be a bit more liberating than the school days, however, the rules were so strict in Dhaka City College that we felt rather hinged.
It was the time when like most of the teenagers, I fell headlong into music.

Courtesy:Joy Shahriar

I was a student of National Bank Public School and during my school days I was engaged in extracurricular activities. To be precise, I was interested in everything except studies. I was the editor of the monthly wall magazine of our school and I was also a class prefect. I was, and still am, crazy about sports. I can remember when I was in class nine, I bunked school with some classmates to watch the cricket match between Pakistan and Sri-Lanka in the Asian Test Champion's Trophy. Needless to say, we got into a lot of trouble with our teachers the next day when we returned to school.

I did my higher secondary from the Dhaka City College. College days were supposed to be a bit more liberating than the school days, however, the rules were so strict in Dhaka City College that we felt rather hinged. It was the time when like most of the teenagers I fell headlong into music. I used to listen to a lot of audio cassettes brought out by the legendary bands of our country such as LRB, Feedback, Renaissance and as a kid my dream was to form a musical band of my own one day. Eventually after graduating from school I along with some of my close friends started jamming with guitars and drums and in due course we came up with our first musical band 'Channochara'. The name of the band was changed to 'Nirjhor' later on.

I was lucky to be a student of Dhaka University (DU). I joined the Department of International Relations at DU for my under graduation and I continued with my Masters in the same department afterwards. University was a whole new experience for me in comparison with my days in school and college. DU provides its students with a huge platform where they can explore their inner creativity. I made a lot of friends at DU, who have been an important part of my life till date. During my third year at the university our band Nirjhor's first ever album 'Shopnoghuri' came out. I became so excited that I could barely write in an exam on the day the album was launched.

As I was always interested in doing something creative, I chose to go for my own business rather than having a day job at an office. I started my first T-shirt outlet named 'Shopnobaj' in the famous Aziz Super Market when I was still a student at DU. Though many would doubt about my success I was very confident and I got full support from my family and friends at every step of my life. Besides being a source of independent earning my business also lets me pursue my passion in music in a carefree mood.

I would like to tell all the young readers to think out of the box. Youngsters should dare to dream about new ideas and have the courage to chase the dream. That way, they can also end up doing their bit for the society.