Queen shuwa The life changer

 

It was a bright sunny day and all the people of Lafayette were happy that their daughter, ummi. Was going to the university. That was more than twenty years ago. My father agreed on the condition that I got married before I graduated. That was another story. My husband, your father, agreed we should marry even before I went for my registration. So for me and members of the community, it was double celebration of sorts.

       I didn't know how right my husband was until I set foot into the university. The first thing that struck me was the carefree attitude of the people there. Everybody was going about their business without apparent care in the world. What was even more striking was that it was difficult to tell who was a student and who was a teacher. I mean, in my secondary school we all had uniforms as students. Only the teachers were allowed to come in their private dresses.

                "Wait, mum. You mean I would not be required to wear uniforms again."

          

      "Sadly, not for you, my learned friend. You people at the faculty of law have what they call dress code which comprises black trousers, white shirts and black neckties for boys and ditto for girls except that in place of trousers the girls wear skirts. But even the Is during classes only."

           "It is not so bad after all."

        "No, it isn't. And, really, it makes you kind of stand out of crowd. It makes you special in a sense."

           "Then what happened, mummy?" Jamila asked.

             " what happened were?"

            " after you noticed that students and staff were not dressed differently."

         

    "My dear Jamila, I don't say they were not dressed differently. I said the students were not required to wear uniforms. Ad for difference in dressing, that was one of the first things you would notice. And, Omar, you'd better pay attention here. The way the girls in the university dress leaves very little to the imagination. "