The Weakness

Kissing the teary-eyed mother, the proud father and the lonely sister a goodbye, he boards the plane. He was fully prepared and optimistic about what was to come; after all, it was a dream come true. All those years of hard work had finally started paying-off. Thrilled by the mere thought of leaving home, he was ready to face all the challenges this new phase of life was going to offer. He felt invincible. Nothing could ever bring him down, he believed. Finally, he reached the stranger country and an extremely weird emotion overwhelmed him, something that was alien to him; loneliness. Never did he ever think he would miss the very people he once sought refuge from, so much that he’d have gladly traded anything for that one hug; one kiss; one glance…

Driving through a labyrinth of streets, entrusting his fate in to the hands of a stranger, he aches for a familiar face. Reaching the university, after what seemed to him an eternity, he pays the taxi driver and starts walking towards the administration office, like a confused cavalryman riding through a dense fog. He wasn’t happy anymore. Somehow he had become oblivious to the fact that where he stood, wasn’t just his dream, but of thousands of others too, but none of that really mattered to him then.

In the office, he is greeted by a friendly and a welcoming voice. The woman at the reception guides him to the registrations office, and asks him to wait in the waiting area. Sitting there alone and afraid,  all he can think of is his family. His name is called and he walks in to the office, only to be congratulated by the man sitting inside for being among the few who made it to the prestigious institution. He is allocated a dorm and is provided with a ‘freshman handbook’. He leaves the room and down the corridor. He walks past an elderly couple accompanying their daughter. Seeing the father kiss her on the forehead and the mother hug her, drove him down the memory lane once again. He finally fails…

 Still putting up a fight to keep the tears in, he walks out the building, towards his dorm. Never did he feel this alone before, even though he is surrounded by a sea of people. He keeps on walking. He reaches the dorm, and with a straight face, opens the door. He is pretty sure that he is alone in his suffering; no one else knows what he’s going through, until he finally opens the door and sees another guy quickly wiping off his tears. It is at this moment he realises that he isn’t alone after-all; for he can find solace. Although he left a family behind, at that moment, he found a new one.

By Muhammad Zaeem Ahsan

Edited by SSC Team Publications