Shimu recalls school days

Sumaiya Shimu, a household name on the small screen, has been involved with TV plays for long. She won the hearts of millions with her acting. In a chit-chat with The Daily Star, the actress talked about her childhood days and more. Excerpts:

“Since I was born and brought up in Narail, my first school was Narail Government Primary School. After a few years, we shifted to Dhaka where I got admitted to a school and studied there for three years.

“I returned to my hometown again and got admitted to Narail Government Girls' High School from where I passed the SSC examinations.

“I have so many fond memories of my schooldays and those still resonate in my mind. My close school friends were Labony, Jholon, Shilpi, Rubi, Chameli, Lira, Chandni and Sajani. We all went together to school and for private tution. We had lots of fun those days.

“Many memorable incidents of my schooldays still cheer me up. Once, all our friends decided to shave of our head simultaneously. With the bald heads, we wandered everywhere. We really enjoyed this.

“The River Chitra passes by our home. During my childhood, I went to the river with my grandfather who taught me to swim. We often wandered on the bank of the river. Our family often enjoyed boat rides in the river. This is one thing I still enjoy when I visit Narail.

“I grew up seeing world-renowned artist SM Sultan. He often strolled past our house but that time I had little idea of how great the person is! I feel nostalgic when I recall those days.

“I remember early in the morning, we siblings would compete to pick ripe mangoes that fell from the tree in our yard. Nothing deterred us even amid heavy storm.

“I was scared of ghosts during the night.  I still get shudders remembering those days.

“As everyone is scattered now it is difficult to get in touch with old school friends nowadays. Two year ago, I went to Narail and all on a sudden, some of my school friends met after a break of 20 years. We became very emotional at the get-together.

“Later, we visited our favourite teacher Nannu Madam who burst into tears seeing us. We also wept.

“To me, I can never erase those sweetest memories of my schooldays from my mind.”