Nandita Chowdhury’s Intellectual Home

Based on Bilal Rahmani’s “Chronicles of a Once Pessimistic College Freshman”, his intellectual home is associated with his college. Because he realized that college was the place for him to grow, learn, and shape himself into the person he had always wanted to be. This realization did not happen straight away; there were some certain activities that led him to this. In the beginning, he cultivated the thought that everyone was apathetic just like him, and the institution was not good enough. Though he was a smart kid, he was also self-centered and prejudiced. During the English lecture, while they were discussing “Cat in the Rain,” by Ernest Hemingway, he believed his interpretation was the smartest, despite listening to everyone else’s. Then his peers started sharing their ideas, which were also as logical as his. That hit him, and he realized he was in an ocean of ideas and wisdom. He was beginning to retract his opinion about the educational institution as he understood its true values. Finally, he became more involved not only in-class activities but also in other extracurricular activities. He feels the adventure and the knowledge he is acquiring here will shape him into the person he has always wanted to be. That is why I believe that his college is his intellectual home.