Too busy to be friendly?

The past two weeks have really been busy, with deadlines to be met and with exams approaching, getting free time has not been easy. Most of the classes have been running from 9 am till 5 pm with one and half hours for lunch break just enough to grab a bite. Therefore getting time to prepare a favorite meal has not been easy as duty demands that you spend some time in the library to finish the daily assignments and by the time you retire back to your room you are too exhausted to spend time in the kitchen. Anyway, I have resigned to the fact that I came here to study and I cannot afford a luxurious life except to fulfill the course requirements and pass my final exams.

It was a busy Friday, as the previous day we had been given the task of reviewing six scientific papers and making a presentation, that meant spending the better part of the night reading and summarizing the findings. By morning I was exhausted that waking up was a bother, the fact that it was a Friday did not cheer me either. When we finally broke off for lunch as usual I was headed to the cafeteria to grab a quick meal and with the usual experience of getting a long queue along the flesh counter, the alternative short queue for vegetarian meal of mashed potatoes only further dampened my spirit.

So, amidst the busy schedule when a friend squeezed his time to prepare a meal enough for five I was more than touched, for it meant that he had spent the previous night preparing the meal. Instead of heading to the cafeteria for the torture of queuing up, he whisked me to his room with four other classmates to a homemade meal of shrimps and fried rice, Bangladesh cuisine. It felt like being released from prison, not that I have been there but it felt great to sit down to a well prepared meal spiced by friendship, what more could I ask for? It made me think, that just when we think we are too busy even to spend time with friends, or even send an sms, there are others who deeply care that they go out of their way to make that friendship bond stick, that’s true friendship.