The Nameless Friends

It's already 6:30 p.m. but he is still talking.

This is our last class so he is trying to finish everything in the final two hours. Crammed, jammed and stuck - That’s how I feel right now. I bet most of us feel the same. I can see it in their eyes. It’s raining out there, as if the clouds just had an agreement with the lecturer to keep us in the class forever.

Finally, it ends only fifteen minutes later. It’s still raining but not as heavy as before. We can still walk in the rain.

I walk to my bike as fast as I can. I put on my helmet and start the engine. You know how I like it when it rains. Though it hurts a bit when the raindrops fall right onto my face. It’s like having an acupuncture treatment on your face. Yet, still I like it when it rains.

After a few kilometres, my bike stops. As before, but now I’m prepared. I have learned the lesson. I actually keep a bottle of petrol under my seat, which I only use in case of emergency. And this is definitely an emergency.

Only after I empty the bottle and try to start the engine again do I realise it is not the petrol. It is something else. Once again this is happening to me!

So I push the bike.

This reminds me a lot of the Chinese guy in the ‘The Nameless Idol” incident. How I wish he was using the same road again today. But of course that is not going to happen because I am in the campus where most of the students are muslim. Well, I think that is also good because I’m sure these people are more than happy to help another muslim who is in trouble. That is the teaching. That is the fact. And I believe they are among the best-educated people in this country. It’s just my luck to be stranded here - I guess.

So I push my bike. I push kilometres after kilometres, hill after hill, block after block. I see some guys riding motorbikes. I smile, knowing that they will come and help me. I am pretty sure I know them. They are my friends! But they just pass by me without showing any sign that they ever notice me. Ok, it’s almost sunset so it’s a little dark and they are all rushing to go back to their places to perform night prayers. So maybe they just can’t see me. They just can’t.

And so I push the bike again.

Not one, not two, but many bikes and cars pass by me. And unbelievably they just don’t see me! I can’t blame them because if they do stop by and ask whether I am alright, or maybe even help me, they might not be able to perform their night prayers on time. But how I wish for them to know that I haven't performed my evening prayers myself and it seems impossible for me to reach my place before prayer time ends. I cannot do anything else except push my bike.

And so I push the bike.

I only reach my place around 8,

while hoping that either the Chinese guy is a muslim or more correctly the muslims here can act like the Chinese guy.

For now, what I can say is for the first time, I couldn't find any stories about the honest ones. But sadly, it is about some friends that are most likely becoming

the nameless ones.

The End

Photo by Qaisy Jaslenda