A Day That Felt Quite Normal

Winter is almost here, you can already feel it, the vibes are there. Just a few more weeks to go I would say, then we can get all our jackets and hoodies out, FINALLY! Most of us eagerly wait for this time of the year, I surely do. The weather during this time feels "balanced" just feels good you know, in Dhaka at least. Coffee tastes WAY better, going out for a walk, maybe just go for a sudden hangout, everything just feels more enjoyable. Also, people seem to become more outgoing during this time of the year, even if they have to work as usual, they somehow manage a bit more time to chill. The same is happening this year too, some of us were planning a sudden yet not so sudden meetup for this week, which took place yesterday at Dhanmondi.

The plan was to meet at Dhanmondi, KB Square at a restaurant called Game On. Even though I hate going out on Thursdays. Mainly because the traffic is very odd in our City on Sundays and Thursdays, I don't know why but it has always been like that for me. Yet, so far it sounded like a simple plan and route for me. Woke up at 11AM and got some work done, finished up at 1AM, got ready in a jiffy and headed out. Got on a rickshaw and had the brilliant idea of checking Google Maps for any odd traffic movement or jams, luckily the roads were quite free, on this side at least. The road towards the Airport was heavily congested for some reason (One tip: If you ever find this road congested, just head back, retreat, 8 out of 10 times it usually happens because of a blockade which takes forever to clear) but it wasn't an issue for me anyway. I was headed for Dhanmondi and luckily for me, this road was quite free BUT the bus I usually take wasn't available on that day. For which I had to take a detour through Agargaon and Shyamoli, so I decided to drop off at Shishu Mela, which then led to a 2 kilometer walk I'm guessing, maybe more. The long walk towards Rapa Plaza was hectic, in time though the hectic walk led me towards a man looking for directions. So, I had found myself a walking buddy now, I guided him for as long as I could as we walked ahead, until he got on a CNG and was on his way to his destination. Soon enough I had reached Rapa Plaza, finally got on a rickshaw(some rest for my legs) I would've put on running shoes if I had known I was about to walk such a distance.

Reached KB Square in about 10 minutes on the rickshaw, around two hours it took me in total, even though the distance wasn't a lot to be honest, that's just Dhaka for you. Headed towards the elevator and to my surprise, two of my buddies were waiting for me there. Took the elevator for the top floor, got into the restaurant and everyone else was there as well. I was as you would say "fashionably late" but hey, it wasn't my fault, my plan was flawless, who knew that the bus I always take wasn't out on duty.

So, everyone gathered around, people from the age of 17 to 30 who all simply knew each other from gaming together. Around 20 people altogether, meeting up and having a good time simply because they somewhat share the same interests and love for gaming. Surprisingly though, half of the people present there were meeting each other for the first time, it was quite the same for me as well, but in no way did it feel that way. Because these people have been hanging around on Discord during late nights, gaming, chatting and much more. People have gotten used to spending countless hours on Discord and Social media, interacting with each other, especially during the pandemic. So, it's all normal to us by now, even if you're meeting someone for the first time, it isn't like it used to be a few years ago. Nowadays it feels like you've known this person or these people your whole life, like they're someone quite dear to us.

We all ended up chatting and having a good time for quite a while, we even forgot to have lunch. So, we ordered our food and finished our lunch at 6PM. We were at the restaurant for about 5 hours in total, it got to a point where it was only us there occupying the whole thing. Soon enough we decided to head out at 7PM, before we got kicked out you know LOL. We then headed towards a field at Lalmatia for a bit of fresh air and some fuchka chotpoti. The field was occupied by people playing badminton, some friends chilling, jamming out and many more. We ended up having some of the best fuchka and chotpoti, which was quite reasonably priced for the taste and amount to my surprise. Then at around 9PM we all decided to head towards home, everyone started looking for a travel buddy who were heading back using the similar routes. I joined up with two others who were headed towards Uttara, so we got on a CNG and decided to split the fare. Soon enough we were close to our destination, there's isn't much traffic around this time in Dhaka normally. I decided to drop off midway and reached home at around 10PM.

It was quite a day, I was really in need of something like this, winter hangouts just hit different. This is what living life really means to me, this will stay in this state and memory forever, the moments that truly matter, true happiness. These memories won't deteriorate, they will be of the same value now and years after, you will truly cherish them if they were moments worth cherishing. Living in the moment, a time when you can truly be carefree, laughs and jokes, jamming and having a good time. A place and time where only the ones around you, this moment, the present only matters. It really did feel like the old days, no pandemic, no lockdown, no big list of restrictions and surely no trouble all these things have caused in the past two years. We are surely getting close though, hopefully it comes sooner rather than later. Cheers guys 🥃☮️