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"Happy Birthday to you Rafi"
The 14th of April is approaching and
so is my longing for you. Long have I stood the test of time but how long
more? Rafi, it's your birthday and I hope you can hear me from where you
are so peacefully placed. I miss you a lot. I miss all those lovely pranks
of yours and most of all I miss that fantastic smile of yours that could
erase all my worries and sorrows. Your ever smiling face lingers in front
of me all the time and even through the world says you are Past Tense,
to me you will always be Present Tense because I am sure and I can say
demon sure, someday soon you will call up and say, "Hi Sir, hows life?"
Life has been going on and will go
on but persons like you, Rafi come into my life only once in a life time.
I pray that wherever you are, you be in the greatest form and may the Almighty
keep you in his fold of fond and beloved ones. Happy Birthday Rafi from
the very bottom of my heart and many many happy
returns of the day.
Your's only,
Moin Sir.
A Proposition on April 14, 2000
Dear Josephites,
Today is Rafi’s birthday, and it
happens to be Friday today. Every Friday, at 5 PM, I usually go to Banani
graveyard. There I stand beside his grave for a while for “Jeyarat”. Now,
the proposition is that you can find out what local time it is at your
place when it is 11 AM Friday here, and, if possible, do the same at your
respective times either formally with the formal sayings, or informally--just
a wish from your mind for your friend. I think all we can give Rafi now
is our wishes whether formal or informal.
I suppose you do it time and again,
but if a specific time is chosen, then our wishes will be synchronized,
more focused, and I believe, more powerful to serve its purposes. Let me
know of your minds. If you wish, I would reschedule it at 11 AM Bangladesh
Time each Friday.
Thank you.
-Iftekhar
Shubho Jonmodin, Shujon
Another year has passed by... Bengalis
around the world is getting ready to embrace a new year today...14 April....Pohela
Baishakh (1st Baishakh). This is a day of joy.. this is a day of enormous
happiness. While we were in school, we had an additional fun on this day.
This day wasn't just a New Year's day to us, it was the birthday of our
friend, a friend who is really hard to find in this complicated
world, Shujon (Shujon in bengali
means good person). He indeed was a good person in all sense. Did you notice
I said he "was" ? He's not anymore with us in this mortal world. He left
us and most probably having the same fun in Heaven what he used to have
it here with us. Last time we could celebrate his birthday in presence
of him was in 1996. Then one summer afternoon God decided to
make a cruel decision. He took Rafi
away from us. Since then, every year when it comes the time to celebrate
"Pohela Baishakh" my heart doesn't get excited.. my mind gets blocked
with the recollection of the memories of my good friend Rafi. Every year,
we write a lot about Rafi's memory. He was this ..he was that. But
I personally could never write a single piece about him, I just couldn't,
every
time I wanted to write something
I couldn't stop my tears roll down , I couldn't use my brain to think,
how can I do it, it's still impossible for me to think that Rafi doesn't
exist in this world anymore. When I'm alone at home sometime, I could still
feel that he's around. Sometimes I think he'll just stop by my apartment
and ring the bell as he used to do those days while he was at Amherst and
I was in New Jersey and start yelling at me, "kire tor moto olosh pola
dekhi nai..baje matro rat 2 ta ar tui chash ekhon ghumate..chol Dunkin
Donuts-e jai ..shararat adda cholbe kintu" (I haven't seen a lazy bum like
you...it's only 2 in the morning and you want to go sleep.. let;s
go to Dunkin Donuts ...let's chat for the whole nite."
But alas he doesn't show up anymore.
I haven't heard from him for the last 4 years. Every year, when it comes
to celebrate "pohela baishakh", I just can not enjoy this day anymore without
Rafi around. Rafi, wherever you are, I'm pretty sure you can hear me. I
know you are having a good time up there, I just wanted to wish you a very
happy birthday. "Shubho Jonmodin Bondhu".. I miss you.
-Utsha
THE BOY, I ADMIRED
- Sony (04-04-00)
I am not a josephite but you can call
me one ‘cause I had spent a lot of time with them and in the school. I
am Sony, Moin Sir’s daughter, the only girl josephite.
The other day, Utsha Bhai told me
to write something about a person, we all loved and admired very much –
Rafi Ahmed.
What a boy - he had a very sharp nose
and eyes that were always sparkling. Whenever I saw him, he was always
smiling. We were kind of a good friend who used to fight a lot. Sometimes
I was jealous of him because Papa (Moin Sir) used to prefer him rather
than me. He adored Rafi a lot.
As far as I knew Rafi, he had this
strong drive to have something that he liked. He was in class 10
and I was in class 6. There was a inter school debate competition going
on in St. Joseph. A pretty looking girl came from Holy Cross School. I
was a student of Holy Cross School. Rafi was so adamant to meet this girl
and be friend to her, he was bribing me. Now I think, if I had wanted the
moon from the sky, he would have to it for me for that girl. After the
competition, I found a close-up photograph of that girl, which Rafi took
without letting anyone knowing. Later they were friends for a while.
He was witty and intelligent. I admire
his passion for English literature. He was a good debater. His pronunciation
and choice of words were very attracting. When he used to debate, everyone
would have been silent and listened to him.
When Utsha Bhaia, asked me to write
about him, I never thought I remember so many things about him. He never
missed to wish my Papa on his birthday. Even though he was in the States,
he managed to make plan to go to Dhaka when it’s time for Moin Sir’s birthday.
He even remembered my birthdays.
He had a bad habit of doing practical
jokes on people. When I heard that he was lost in the water and no one
could find him for days – I thought he was having a good time somewhere
else and making all of his family and friends worry. I never believed
that he drowned to death in the sea. Even I told Papa that, it couldn’t
be Rafi. He is just playing jokes on you people. After seeing the body,
Papa told me that it was he. I still cannot believe that he is not with
us. After his death, I could not looked at the water for a long while.
I was scared of the water.
Now, I am living in America and I
sometimes think that by some miracle, I’ll have a call saying, “hey, Sony,
it’s me, Rafi”. I wish.
I really admired that boy.
From: "Tariq Islam" <islam_tariqul@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 02 Apr 2000 14:00:46 PDT
FRIENDS
I was shocked when i got the news
from Emran, first i thought its a joke but indeed it was not.He was
a very good friend of mine and we had very good time together. He was one
of the smartest and nicest person i came in touch with. Its unbelievable
that he is not among us. He was always cheerful and funny, he loved his
life. It is very hard when you loose a good friend like him. Only Allaah
(swt) knows best, and we should always pray for his soul and his family
back home. We have to realize that today or tommorow we will meet him,
so please my josephite friends, try to pray five times a day and please
Allaah (swt) and ask for forgivness. Take care all.
Massalam.
Tariq 89 batch.
Below is the result of your feedback
form. It was submitted by
Kazi M. I. Haque (Pintu) (pin2@email.com)
on Thursday, April 13, 2000 at 23:29:02
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email: pin2@email.com
realname: Kazi M. I. Haque (Pintu)
Subject: Rafi
Status: Josephite
GradYear: 1988
Webpage: http://kazman.virtualave.net
Message: It took me 15 minutes just
to type this line. I was thinking about how fragile our lives
are. My prayers are with Rafi's
friends and family. May God give Rafi's soul eternal peace.
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