The New Nation - Internet Edition

Sumaiya Anjum Kashfi

Every year, the top 5 debaters, chosen by (Bangladesh debating council) BDC get the chance to go to Worlds Schools Debating Championships. This year, the great event was being held in Washington, USA, the land where it all happens.

The debaters who were representing Bangladesh were Sumaiya Anjum Kashfi(yours truly) from Manarat, Zubair Idris from Mastermind , Nadiv Rahman and Samiul Karim from Skolastica and Syeda Nazifa Tasnim from the Aga Khan school.

We started our trip to Washington on 4th September via Qatar airways. And after 2 months of practicing and preparation, nauseated debate sessions and sleepless nervous nights, we held back our breath, as our plane landed in USA -the land of opportunities.

It had been a long journey for us. We were disheveled by our jet-lags, exhausted by the plethora of films that we had watched in the plane and added to all these was the gut-wrenching plane food. But even after these it was nothing but an exquisite twinge of joy for me to see Hyatt Reagency, our brick warm hotel, standing tall with elegance and welcoming arms for us. We were finally in the scene of action.

I don't like socializing, or chitchatting with unknown people. May be that was why I was overwhelmed by the presence of multi-colored people all around me. Bangladeshi people have a tendency to stare at foreigners, and I am proud to say that so do I. but it was the first time that I was being stared at by other country's people. In our hotel, every one was the foreigner. There were the pasty-skinned English team with their fancy accent and untidy air, the Indian team, loud and bickering around with their strong Asian accents; I observed the Israeli team (seeing whom, Zubair Idris, the hard core Islamist in our team shivered. There was the South African team with their smug faces. The team that attracted the most attention from everyone was team Qatar. It had a full Qatar TV crew following it around, and the familiar brown faces covered in scarves didn't take much long to make friends with team Bangladesh. As exhausted as we were, we couldn't wait for the tournament to start. We went to our beds with giddy heads and red eyes, holding our breath for the next day.

The debates were eventful. The first round was against Qatar , the motion was on religious schools, and team Bangladesh proudly defeated their friends. The next day we had a prepared debate against Zimbabwe . The motion to be debated was "This house supports military intervention to deliver emergency aid in humanitarian crises." even though we had a very good preparation, our coach insisted we stayed up late and finalized our speeches. Next morning, full of hope and spirit, Bangladesh, yet again defeated another team, this time Zimbabwe.

The debate that followed was going to be on the same day, against Lithuania. This time the topic involved public officials. Bangladesh won this one as well. USA was suddenly the most beautiful place on earth for us. We floated back to our hotel, gobbled down Big Macs for dinner and went back to work. After a whole night's preparation came our first defeat in the tournament, to team Sri Lanka. The topic was on environmental safety net and was a prepared topic. Zubair very quickly pointed out that one of the judges had been an Israeli, so much for being a sport. But we made it up by winning with team Romania in the next round. Half happy, half sad, we went back to our hotel, ending yet another day in Washington. But if that day had been bad, we had yet to see the worst. After another night's preparation, we were driven to another venue, to face the most reputed teams in the tournaments-New Zealand and South Africa consecutively. Unfortunately, we lost both, even after putting up the strongest defense. Only another preliminary round was left for us, this one against England. We just had to win that debate or else we would not move on to the octo finals. Pulling ourselves together, team Bangladesh, went to work yet again, what we did not know then was that it was going to be the very last debate for us in the tournament. The next morning, England defeated us unanimously, letting all butterflies loose in our stomachs. It was almost certain that we would not go to the Octo finals. The announcement of the teams that had broken for the octo finals was to be made that night. Despite our 4 wins and the fact that we needed 5 at least, to break, we held back our breath. But reality dawned on us soon enough when team Bangladesh was not announced as one of the breaking teams. Whatever we did to hide it, letting down 135 million people is no small deal.

So the rest of the days, we spent sight seeing and watching debates of other teams. For the first time in my life, I saw the white house, the place where so many people I admire had lived. I walked around Capitol Hill, and to my distaste, the space museum (it gave me headaches). To my utter horror, we were dragged to the shopping malls by our team mate Nazifa, I mean the food was excellent in the malls, but I just can not shop without my mother, I don't know why!

The rest of the days in the tournament went by with games of monopolies, friendly arguments and random tantrums. at the end I almost felt sorry for our coach Mabroor Wassey who had to endure 5 teenagers' hormonal ups and down 24/7.but the day of the Grand finale came by. I could not believe how the journey had suddenly ended and was just beginning to get upset when the team I supported, team England became the champions of the tournament with New Zealand as the runner-up. In the closing ceremony, we heard awe-inspiring speeches from Alfred snider, the debate guru of the west.

The food was great, the judges were amiable, the other debaters were like almost drew a map in the halls with their different language and countries. I will be a typical teenager in this instant by stating that the event was simply "joss".

The whole tournament was like a dream to me. I didn't even realize when it had finished. Everything was amazing; starting from the waffles served with maple syrup at breakfast up to the late nights in our rooms- everything. The experience was like no other experiences of mine. All the people I met in there brought new definition to my life. Then I knew that I had many more models to follow, way more to go, in the long road of life. The realization has been a milestone in my life. The feeling of aspiration, adventure, life, and friendship- everything is indescribable.

I want to end with a message to all my friends and manarites. There will be times, when we become successful. There are times when we start thinking of ourselves as The Person. I have experienced this in my life. But the most important thing at these moments is to carry a big stick and never leave the ground. We have to try to look around us, watch the people who have more achievements and feel thankful for what our Creator has given us. WSDC has been a great lesson for me, not only in terms of debating but also in terms of making friends and respecting other people and self-actualization .I thank all my teachers and friends and Manarat for standing by me, and praying for me through my entire journey. Last but not the least; I thank Allah for blessing me with such a grand opportunity.

(Sumaiya Anjum Kashfi is a student of A level of Manarat International School and College)