Story was shared by Sajal Sarwar Sharma on Quora
#MyStory
I am doing M.Tech from IIIT Hyderabad. When I joined this college, it was the first time I left my home town and was a bit nervous.
On 25th July 2013, I left my hometown (Delhi) and reached college for registration and was allotted a double occupancy room. Just for a background check – I am a Pandit. I went to the hostel allotted to me and reached my room, and I found a guy with his parents already there, so I figured “Cool, he’s my roommate”, so I introduced myself to him. And when he introduced himself and said “Hi, I am Asif”, a slight hesitancy popped up in my mind.
My mother is very religious and a staunch Hindu, while my father is an atheist, and I have acquired the characteristics of my father.
Continuing with my story, I came to know that he’s single child of his parents and it was the same story as mine. He also came to a hostel for the first time in his life (he’s from Mumbai), so we share a lot in common, our bonding started from the first day itself, we used to watch cartoon, movies and serials together.
Within one month of our joining in the new college, I went ill (viral fever, cough, muscular pain) and my parents got really tense, and they were about to come to college to take care of me. But Asif called my parents and asked them not to worry and he took care of me till the time I recovered from my illness. I still remember he used to bring food, juices, medicines and sleep without the fan in the month of August. That one incident changed my mindset once and for all, and I no longer believe in any religion. I just believe in one thing which is humanity, that Asif has taught me. No matter what religion you follow, never forget humanity. Also friendship doesn’t have any boundaries, it understands no religion.?