Symbols of friendship

Ten friends having fun: Abinta Kabir (second from right), Tarishi Jain (fourth from right) and the writer (third from left).
Ten friends having fun: Abinta Kabir (second from right), Tarishi Jain (fourth from right) and the writer (third from left).

Abinta Kabir and Tarishi Jain met in school in 2008. I met them both in elementary school and over the course of middle and high schools, we became a close group of ten friends. Tarishi and Abinta were the definition of best friends. They were always the first to make fun of each other and went to unbelievable lengths to support and protect each other. They even suffered through the same injury at the same point of senior year, and walked around on crutches together. They were so great to be around together, but were also amazing and unique individuals.

Tarishi was one of the funniest girls in our group. She had a very distinctive laugh, and I can still picture the way she smiled just before making a joke. She was incredibly kindhearted, and always went out of her way to get to know people. Tarishi was someone you could bond with over both funny and painful situations. She was proud to be an Indian, and dance was one of the ways she stayed connected to her roots. She always performed at school events, and she could be so expressive through her movements. She also loved sharing parts of her roots with us, and fed us the most amazing Indian foods. Tarishi was a very compassionate person, and another person’s pain could deeply affect her. It is still so painful that Tarishi is no longer with us, but I have no doubt that parts of her will live on in all of us. Her actions have always been a lesson in empathy, and her capacity to radiate love and joy make her an inspiration for us all.

Abinta always towered over the rest of us, even the boys up until high school. She had a beautiful smile, and her laugh could always be heard in the hallways. She was so lighthearted, and could always laugh at herself, but on the basketball court she was immensely fierce. She never backed down, and on the court nothing scared her. Her determination in basketball was equally present in her academic life. She was insanely hard-working, and would do whatever it took to achieve her end goal. She would be the first to start preparing for a test, and her dedication paid off when she made it to her dream school. Abinta loved Bangladesh, and always considered it home. She cared about helping in the long term, and was excited to move back and work with her mom to develop the place she called home. There were so many facets to Abinta’s personality, and it was impossible not to laugh around her. She always had her priorities straight, and that was one of the most inspiring things about her. She knew the value of hard work and the importance of family.

To conclude, I would like to share an extremely special memory. The night of our graduation ceremony, me and my nine best friends were standing at a table just before we walked into the ceremony hall. We held hands through our feelings of anxiety, excitement and happiness. In that moment, we said that even though everything after graduation would be new, we were excited to start the next part of our lives together, and that we loved each other no matter what we are. It is still painful to think that the start of their lives lasted only a year, but I am eternally grateful for the love we felt in that moment. July 1st 2016 cast a dark shadow over Bangladesh and left a gaping hole in many of the lives of people who knew Tarishi, Abinta, Faraaz and other victims, but also in the lives of those who didn’t know them. The tragedy was so pervasive that it shook Dhaka, and much of Bangladesh, to its core. This past year has been extremely difficult for those who knew the victims, and especially the family members. One year later we do everything we can to honour these amazing lives, and to keep them alive through our memories.