Kathmandu:

Last afternoon I was just flipping through the channels when a scene in a movie being aired just caught my attention: there was this male school teacher stuck with a class of unruly children, who make so much noise that they disturb the other classes going on in the school. A female teacher comes out from her classroom and bursts into this man’s class really angry and ready to burst. However, the man just looks awkwardly at her as if meaning to ask “What to do?”

This scene brought back bittersweet memories. Two years ago I used to teach in a school where I met Dipu. An electronic engineer, she was still looking for the right job when she landed in our school.

She was in the classroom next to mine and the noise in that class disturbed me. I looked in to see what the racket was all about, and our eyes met She smiled. And like the male teacher in the Hollywood flick, she shrugged her shoulder as if to ask “What to do?”

Dipu was beautiful — everyone admired her, and I was not the exception. With time we became close friends and one day I told her how I really felt about her in a letter. However, she told me she was involved in a serious relationship and considered me a good friend.

She has gone abroad for further studies. She had promised me she’d mail me but that did not happen.

After nearly two years, I met her online last week and we chatted for three hours. She even called me up and told me that her boyfriend was in the same country but in another state.

Though friends have a name — best friend or good friend, I prefer that our relation remain unnamed.