In-person Meetup with Amal Fellows
“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” — Dr. Seuss
It is a universal law that time never remains the same. It has to change and this is both a blessing and a curse of it.
After doing this intense 3-month career prep fellowship at Amal, there came a day which all of us had been waiting since the start of the fellowship. Yes, you guessed it right! We had been waiting for an in-person meetup. All of the fellows had seen each other on-screen and none of us had met any behind the screens. This was our first Sunday when we had no online session because we were given the opportunity to meet each other in person and none of us wanted to miss it.
We planned the event and reached the destination on time. (This is what I believe most of the people did.) As far as I am concerned, I never go to any event on time. I always go a little late. Even though I try to reach on time, still the odds have never been in my favor. I never lost anything by doing so, but this time it was different. As Benjee’s uncle said in one of the online courses of Passenger series:
“Better be an hour early than a minute late.”
On that particular day of the meetup, I realized the importance of this saying. As usual, the odds were not in my favor. I had to go with a friend to the venue of the meetup. His brother didn’t know the roads well. This wasted almost an hour. When we reached there late, everyone was sitting there and they seemed settled. To my shock, I came to know that they have already taken the batch photo. This hurt me a little as I wanted to be in that photo. But not being able to come on time gave me a life lesson which hopefully I will never forget. Even though our Program Associate Sir Anas did this amazing trick of splitting the circles and not allowing any pair to sit with each other, still all the fellows were enjoying talking to each other. It was a very wholesome experience to look at them this way.
At this time when everyone was engaged in conversations with each other, I, along with my friends, entered the door, and there I had an instant attack of anxiety. I turned my back from everyone unwillingly and could not look at them for the next 5 to 10 minutes due to this social anxiety thing. As time passed, I normalized myself. I sat with some amazing people from Circle 2. Talking to them, somewhat lessened my fear of face-to-face interaction.
My amazing circle, which already had an idea of the kind of person I am, came to meet and greet me. All of them were standing in front of me and they were trying to break the ice. This gesture overwhelmed me. It also reduced my anxiety level and I started speaking to them.
We then went inside to take a circle photo. The ice has been turned into the water now. We were now talking to each other, laughing and cracking jokes, the way we used to do in our zoom meetings and WhatsApp groups.
While we were sitting there, Jannat, a girl from my last learning group, came inside and said, Has Areej come? I want to meet Areej. This little gesture of her made my day. She made me feel special. I then met other people in my learning group and we clicked a group photo.
After this, I came back to my circle. We sat together for a long while and talked. We shared our opinions about each other, how we had imagined each other and how we actually turned out.
We had many zoom meetings in the past, where we used to sit together virtually to discuss our projects. We always had to do some learning from that meeting. Though we used to spend an hour doing random conversations and then we used to spend another hour in meetings to do the actual work. This time, it was a bit different. We sat together for no obvious reason but we learned a lot. Contrary to virtual meetings, I spent most of the time sitting in silence while just looking at my fellows and listening to them. I felt like I am in heaven where I am surrounded by my most favorite people from the planet, Earth. It didn’t feel like we were meeting for the first time because our souls were connected to each other. We have made such a strong bond with one another that the mere thought of the end of fellowship saddens us.
“We laughed until we had to cry, we loved right down to our last goodbye, we were the best.” — St. Elmo’s Fire
Being the leader of my circle, I still had something to discuss which was work-related but I tried very hard to control myself and not sound like a nerd to them. The biggest lesson this fellowship gave me was making me realize my potential. It made me do the things which I never thought I could do. It tested my abilities of leadership and problem-solving. Before the fellowship, I was of the mindset that working in a team is equal to wasting your time and potential. But this 3-month journey made me realize that working in a team maximizes your potential. It makes you kind and cooperative. It activates your problem-solving skills and time management. It gives you exposure to different opinions and generally makes you and your work better. I have praised my Amal Circle countless times because these people changed my views. Their constant support and working with them groomed me as a person. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the tenure of this fellowship has been one of the best learning experiences I ever had in my life.
As far as the planning on keeping in touch with my Amal fellows is concerned, I don’t think that I need to plan this. This, I believe, is needed where we are struggling to maintain a relationship. As the name says Amal Family, so we don’t need to plan to stay in touch with family because we are never far from them. They are always there. Our WhatsApp groups are always active. We talk daily there and sometimes we spend hours and hours discussing the things that make sense only to us. We are those people who have very similar traits. Hence, we connect with each other on a different level. This similarity in thoughts and preferences, and diversity in fields is the beauty of our circle and we all admire and cherish it. The people who live in our hearts stay close to us regardless of geographical distance.
“No distance of place or lapse of time can lessen the friendship of those who are thoroughly persuaded of each other’s worth.” — Robert Southey
My Amal family, especially my Amal circle, is a blessing that Allah has bestowed upon me at the very right time. These people are gems and I am forever going to take care of them. InshaAllah.
“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.” — Irish Blessing