Longing for home on Eid day
For Muslims, Eid-ul-Fitr is one of the biggest festivities, when families and friends come together to celebrate the momentous occasion, amid joy and happiness.
Eid excitement is in the air, but it is quite elusive for the foreign students living in Sir PJ Hartog International Hall of Dhaka University, who will celebrate the festival thousands of miles away from home and family.
As reality demands they have to be away from home on this special day. They miss their families back home more than any other time of the year.
Studying abroad gives one a chance to experience new cultures, get to know new people, and taste new foods. But Eid abroad is not the same.
"Eid's speciality is to seat with family to eat special dishes and go for Eid namaz together. this not going to happen this year. It is the first time I am spending Eid away from home and my country," said Oladipopu Adimola Ibrahim, a Nigerian student celebrating this Eid around 8,650 kilometres away from home.
Ibrahim is a postgraduate student of the Department of Disaster Science and Climate Resilience of Dhaka University.
He came to the country under The Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarship (QECS) which offers a unique opportunity to study for a two-year Master's degree in a low- or middle-income Commonwealth country.
Ibrahim who came to Bangladesh in November last year, said that the people of the Bangladesh is very friendly. "I like that everyone calls me brother, making it easy to make bonds".
He said that he is going to miss his parents, two sisters and one brother badly on this Eid day.
Inzamamul Haque, a Nepalese student in Bangladesh, said that although he is celebrating Eid with friends here, he still misses his family and especially his younger sister.
"I miss my mother's delicious cooking", said Inzamamul, who can't go back to his motherland as his final prof exams for MBBS course is due next month.
He is studying at Green Life Medical College since 2015 and spent several Eids in Bangladesh. "Eid experience in Eid in Bangladesh is not bad as I spend time with friends. But the emotion is not the same as with family," he said.
"My mother gets emotional on Eid", he added.
Ashman Koul, a student of the same college, came to Bangladesh from Kashmir in India and could not go home for the Eid holiday as he has to perform duties as an intern doctor.
He said this is the second time he is spending Eid without family. "I disparately miss my family", he said.
Both Inzamamul Haque and Ashman Koul said that hall authorities try to make special arrangements to give feelings of Eid. It may not be as festive as it is back home, but they still try to make the most of it.
Sir PJ Hartog International Hall provost Prof Md Mohiuddin said that around 100 students stay at the hall and some of them stay back during Eid due to different reasons.
"We try to present our culture of Eid celebration to them," he added.
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