For Md Asif Ali, it has been a saga of loss, sadness and success.
Asif, undaunted by extreme poverty caused by his father’s desertion and then the death of the grandfather, has pursued his dream of higher studies.
Today, he has turned from a vegetable seller to a student of Jagannath University thanks to his determination and had work.
Talking to UNB this week Asif narrated how the wonder happened and how the humble boy from Swarupnagar village in Puthia Upazila of Rajshahi made it to a premier university of the country.
Asif was in class three when his wife-beating father left home one day leaving his grandfather as the only breadwinner of the family.
By breaking bricks the old man somehow managed to feed the family. But life had more miseries planned for Asif as his grandfather died two years later.
Then a student of class five, Asif learned to endure the horrific pain of hunger when his mother couldn’t earn the daily meal for the family even after buying a goat with borrowed money.
“My grandmother tried to help by working in other people’s vegetable fields but what she got at the end of the day was not even enough for one meal,” said Asif.
By the time Asif was in class six, he got a job in a hotel on condition of free meals and Tk 5 to 10 per day as wages.
“We could buy 30 kg of rice per month with Tk 300 through the government's VGF (Vulnerable Group Feeding) card but still didn’t have enough to buy something to eat with the rice. There were days we had only a pinch of salt with rice, unable to buy vegetables.”
Asif recalled the days when he used to stand for hours in front of the neighbours, houses in hope they would offer him something good to eat.
While in class seven he started working at a distant uncle’s vegetable shop at Mahendra Bazar. There he had to work for the whole day on Sunday and Wednesday, the two busiest days of Bazar by dodging classes.
“I accepted the condition as for those two days they paid me Tk 100 and some vegetables to take home for the family. My mother used to run the family through my earnings and rearing goats,” said Asif.
Every morning a Rajshahi University bus used to stop for the students at Mahendra Bazar. Seeing the respect and honour they got as university students from the locals, teenaged Asif’ was moved.
In 2018, for the first time Asif crossed the 2.1 km path from where he worked to the Rajshahi University to visit the campus to watch the celebration “Pahela Baishakh.”
Mesmerised by everything he saw on the campus Asif’s daydream of getting higher education turned into a strong determination.
That year Asif passed SSC exam from Bharuapara High School obtaining GPA 4.89 and with scholarship ranking 251 in Rajshahi Education Board. He also got a chance at Rajshahi University School and College situated in Rajshahi University.
At that turning point of his life Asif remembered gratefully how his shop owner uncle, a lady teacher of the high school, his maternal uncle and a local brother made sure he got admitted by managing the fees and uniform for him.
“From there I started nurturing my dream and learned there is no alternative to studies for me. On the two weekdays I used to work in others’ fields,” he said.
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