By Nusrat Jahan

Rupalee was seven years old when she was sent to Dhaka from a small village by her poor parents. She was sent to work full-time in the house where her aunt worked as a part timer, the house where my friend Adeeb lived. Seven year old Rupalee’s job was to do some dusting, wash the dishes, go to the general store to fetch some daily necessities, and play with Adeeb when no one was at home. Sometimes, when Adeeb went out to play with me or his other best friend Tawhid, Rupalee would tiptoe in to Adeeb’s room and flip through his books. She knew how to read alphabets, small poems, and write her name in Bengali and English. She was smart and had potential and Adeeb’s mom knew it since the day of Rupalee’s arrival.
A month after Rupalee joined the Chowdhury household, my friend’s mom started tutoring Rupalee every afternoon. Auntie would teach her how to read bigger stories, spell, and write essays. It took Rupalee three months to muster the art of speaking proper Bangali, and learn how to answer some small questions in English. She learned manners and etiquettes. Auntie bought her dolls and nicer dresses, and soon Rupalee would join me, Adeeb, and Tawhid to play outside.
It was hard for Auntie to persuade everyone in the household, but once she did, Rupalee shined like no other: Auntie convinced everyone that the little maid was a hard worker and she deserved to go to school. Rupalee was almost eight years old when she was enrolled in Milestone School at Uttara. It was hard for Rupalee to fit in at first and some people behaved rather rudely with her because of the background she came from. However, after three years, she was 1st in class, had a lot of friends, and was no longer Rupalee- the girl who came to the Chowdhury house wearing old tattered clothes. She turned into Rupa Chowdhury, Godhuli Chowdhury’s daughter and Adeeb Chowdhury’s older sister.
The cheerful little Rupa is now a successful 23 year old. You might have even seen her on the newspapers sometimes because of her volunteer work to educate street children. After class-10, she shifted to Rajuk Uttara Model College, and graduated with a GPA 5. She then joined Dhaka University to study Criminal Psychology, only to transfer out on a partial scholarship to Louisiana Institute of Technology. There, she met the love of her life Eric Laborde, who had accepted Ruby as she was. He accepted her background, her parents, and her religious beliefs. Next month is Rupa’s wedding ceremony, and I am going to dance in her Gaye Holud.
If you knew Rupa, you would know how inspiring her story actually is. You would have had the chance to see a rare occurrence of a poor maid-servant growing up to her pursue her dreams to become a lawyer. Unfortunately, Rupa Chowdhury is only a fictional character. But wouldn’t it be great if she actually was real? If you or your mom were the reason behind someone’s success? You see, that little girl who is busy fetching you your bag of Mr. Twist from the general store or busy washing dishes might have a Rupalee hiding inside of her. Inside her mind might lie the cure to Cancer, the blueprint to invent a revolutionary machine, or the next great literary wonder. Education is one of the most critical thing in one’s life and you should not let anyone around you be deprived of it. Send your little maid-servant to school, and let her explore her full potential. Maybe, if you do, we just might have over a hundred Rupalees in Bangladesh.