Elevated!

I find it great to work, I do! No wonder people, and people I love and care about, come to me complaining that I prefer my work to them. I understand, and sometimes even loathe myself for it. But it's in my blood to give my 150% to a passion, to a cause I believe in, and nothing gives me more satisfaction than knowing that I did my best for it.

That's what the Flood Action Campaign has turned out for me - a passion. No, it's not the rising mercury of donations that elevate my senses - it is indeed a sense of belongingness with the poor people who suffer in this country behind the veil of ignorance that we, the bourgeois, live in. A closeness that I gained in the 7 days I went door-to-door in a Manikganj village called Burundi. The hospitality and affection I received from those lovely people have slapped me back to my senses - reminding me how unlike them we treat a stranger knocking on our iron-clad doors in the City. And now I feel at one with them, and feel unfairly privileged every time I take the elevator up to my flat on the 4th floor, thinking how many peoples' precious possessions are waist deep in muddy water.

So I've put my entirety into this campaign, forgetting everything else that was nibbling away at my time all these three months that I've been away from College, and filling up every blank space that remained in my life. Naturally, I feel content that I'm trying to do something for them. But today, I came across yet another blessing that this campaign has brought for me. One person, whom I've met only a few days back through this campaign itself, said a few words today that not only made my day, but which I will probably remember for the rest of my life. The person (whom I'm not going to reveal) affectionately stared at me, and said in a tone which exposed the welling emotion inside - "Rubayat, when I see people like you, I feel hopeful that this country has a future after all!"

He said many more things, even went as far as offering to pay for my application fees for graduate school, but nothing remained etched in my mind more than those few words. This is not the first time I have had people believing in me, but nobody has ever put it so beautifully, and so candidly.

It just shows that when you are passionate, you are rewarded many times more than what you give, not the least of which is the admiration and faith of people who matter.