Rickshaw free Dhaka?

Regular readers of The Daily Star may have already known that its TO THE EDITOR page provides its valued readers with a nice and effective platform to express their views on different aspects of current affairs of home and abroad. For the last two months, this page is flaming with the debate on whether Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh should be made rickshaw free or not.

I was sceptical that the Editor of The Daily Star was biased towards the opinion that Dhaka should be made rickshaw free because of its propensity to highlighting the letters promoting rickshaw free capital more than those of opposing it. Finally, the Editor published an editorial making clear its stance on this issue.

Today DS's stance got a sore slap from Nasreen Khundker, a professor at Department of Economics in University of Dhaka that delighted me much. Interested readers are requested to go through this thought-provoking letter.

What do think regarding this issue?

Erratic behaviour of Bangladeshi Blog Aggregator

Of late, I came to know Bangadeshi Blog Aggregator from Mr. Adnan Quaium's Blog and linked my blog to it. It's really a great experience to get exposure to a wider platform.

But one thing that frustrated me is that my posts are being displayed under the name of another author - Rezwan ! I don't know what to do or whom to inform this erratic behaviour. Hope the administrators of that site will take immediate steps in order to fix this.

Anyway, in time of exams, my blog adventure is serving as an effective means of getting relief from tension! :)

Watching TV after a long time!

Yesterday when I was returning from Humayun's house, I forgot to take my varsity bag. I always keep my umbrella in the bag so that I can keep myself protected from rain and scorching heat alike. Now is summer and the rainy season is very close. So it would be imprudent to be away from my umbrella and that's why I went there again today to take my bag.

Humayun and Obayed are cousins and they live at adjacent flats (actually turned into mess for students). After taking my bag, I went to Obayed's flat. He has bought a TV. I love watching TV though I don't have one here in Dhaka. So I passed about 2 hours there, switching channel frequently and watching different programs. I haven't watched TV for so long for the last 3 months, I guess.

Obayed and one of his flat-mates were watching - Waqt, a Hindi movie portraying a father trying to introduce his son with the harsh reality of this world. The story was as a whole moving. Yet I was surprised to see both mothers of hero and heroine so young!!! They looked at most 40 and the hero and heroine were shown 27 years old.... :( How can it be possible? The reality should have been reflected in this kind of social movie.

Banglalink's recent ad about a little girl writing her departed mother a letter complaining about the people who look after her was tremendously touching. The letter was like this:

Ma, you know I can't take my breakfast without you. Then why do they coerce me into doing so? You know I can't sleep without watching cartoon. Then why don't they let me watch it? What's wrong with me being naughty? Isn't a little bit naughtiness alright? Ma, everybody says people become stars of the sky after death. What do you do over there being a star? Can't you see me? Then why don't you do anything?

The little girl buys two balloons and attaches her letter to and finally flies them away.

Telecom companies have now adopted a policy of exploiting people's feelings towards their near and dear ones. This recent ad was a beautiful addition. As for the little girl of the ad, she looks like next-door one, not that much cute and innocent. I don't know whether the ad maker was deliberately defiant about conventional practice when most of the ads shows too cute, too innocent little girls when needed or the reason was the mother of that little girl, not-so-famous singer Munni.

Switching to ETV, there was a program about our Bangla cinema, I guess. A song from the film Akash Choa Bhalobasa was going on. I was startled to see the get-up of the host! He looked just like a clown, clearly showing an imitation of Hindi MTV hosts. Bangladeshis' tenacious tendency to imitate everything of indian programs is downright disgusting!

I also watched some Bangla dramas on different Bangla channels. It seemed to me that the stories were deliberately made slow, having not enough pace to make me entertained.

There was another program on ETV about current much talked about issues of home and abroad. The theme and make-up of the program was different and I liked it to some extent. The host was like a clown, talking in a way that made its viewers laugh. He interviewed two persons who pretended to be Parvez Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif of Pakistan.

I must have a list of good programs the next time I watch TV; otherwise it would be a complete loss of time...

Shawkat sir

Today I got a phone call from Anis, younger brother of my friend Humayun at about 4 PM. He informed me that he happened to meet our school teacher Shawkat sir at Shahbag today noon and invited him to their house at about 7 PM. It has been so long since I met any of my school teachers. I confirmed Anis that I would come.

The moment I saw Shawkat sir, I was reminded of his impressive personality. He was one of the good teachers I have ever seen in my life because of his wholehearted effort in the class to help his students to assimilate the lesson.

He is now ill. I could see the inevitable effect of aging on his face. But it could not be felt during the adda we had. We, 6 of his ex-students were present. We had an about 2 hour lasting lively conversation that ranged topics from financial crisis of middle-income people to socio-political scenario of the country to the bureaucratic procrastination and corruption in the education sector of the country. He looked exhausted from the very beginning but his enthusiasm and vigour in talking about these different issues belied it!

Some teachers are unforgettable. Shawkat sir surely stands out among others and that's why we, his students, love him so much. He represents that community who are the silent shapers of the country. May Allah bless him.

Due Punishment

I've been duly punished for my blatant indifference to study. I did horribly bad in the exam on Compiler Design.

I know it's tough to overcome the shortage of marks. But I'm left with no other choice. I must try hard to fill the gap created here...

Tough Time Ahead

My whimsical nature and propensity to waste time ignoring the gravity of the consequences have brought me to my knees. I’m about to appear for the exam on Compiler Design tomorrow. But many topics are yet to be studied! I’m so much tensed up. Yet I can realize the best solution for me right now is to try to cover as many topics as I can. My classmate Azam is helping me a lot in this regard. I’m indebted to him.

There must be an end to this practice – just passing time without any fruitful work! Only Allah knows when I shall be able to overcome this seemingly innate characteristic. Nevertheless, I must give it a try, an all-out try! Oh! I can’t remember how many times I’ve already told this myself! In the end, it didn’t work out. Some people continue to act as before until they are stopped by something terrible. I fear I belong to this group.

Prospect of Getting a Job!

Today, while doing group study with Azam at his residence, I got a phone call from the company I was interviewed by in the first week of this month. The person who talked to me informed me that I along with my classmate Riyad had been selected primarily and asked me when my exam would be over and I’ll be available. I replied that my exam would be over on June 19 but I would have it quite difficult to join due to my year final project that was scheduled to be submitted within mid-July and I would have to do much work on that because I had done little as yet. He asked me to come to office the day after the exam and to negotiate on this issue. I assured him of that and thanked him.

Ineffable joy flows through mind when something like that happens. First job on the very first interview. But I couldn’t let myself indulging in complacency because of its existing uncertainty. It has not been finalised as yet and that’s why I can’t be sure of it. A different kind of situation to experience for me!

Whether I’m eligible for a job with handsome salary or not is a subject to debate. But what is indubitable and I believe is that I’ve wasted my potentiality in my varsity life. I’ve led a life full of foolish acts, never thinking of what they meant to the whole life. So I should be satisfied with what kind of job I get. Thinking of job satisfaction is a luxury for me.

It’s never late to be on right track of life.

Tired of spelling mistakes?

This is weird, but interesting! Try to read the following paragraph. I could read and understand fully. I found this in Kanto's Blog.

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Music of Windows!

Before the first exam of my 4th year final, as a naive attempt to relieve my tension, I was just wandering around the blog world and happened to find, thanks to Mr. Eamon, the link to this amusing music that was composed of solely the sounds we are used to hear while using Windows.

Wrong... everything I do!

Sometime everything we do goes wrong!

Although my final year exam is knocking at the door, being encouraged by observing the interest of some of my classmates in dropping CVs to a particular software firm after they got prompted by a senior brother who is now doing job there, I too got interested as usual and dropped mine! This incident happened quite a few weeks ago.

Yesterday evening I got a phone call from that firm and a man informed me that they had arranged interview for me and asked if I would come at 4 pm. I took time and replied that I would tell him later that night. After consulting with that senior brother, I could gather confidence at last and confirmed my consent to face the interview board.

Now here come the points of painful experiences:

1) I thought I would wake up early in the morning, if possible at around 7 am to go through some books as part of my preparation. But the moment I opened my eyes after having a sorely sound sleep, it was already 11 am!

2) I tried to make myself look less ugly. So I shaved my beard. Oh! Bloody blade!

3) I was at my wit’s end trying to figure out what I should take with me to the interview board. I called my senior brother and he referred to a printed copy of CV as a must. Ok. No problem. I copied my CV to my pen-drive to get a printed copy in a nearby cyber cafe. But the moment I went there, electricity was out!

4) The moment I got down from bus and started walking, rain happily poured on me. Rain could not resist itself from consoling my pain!

5) Should I narrate the apparently sweet yet horrible experience in my interview session?

DU Teachers' Stand

It was reported in The Daily Star on May 01, 2008 that a total of 201 white panel teachers of Dhaka University (DU) demanded immediate release of the detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia and other political leaders. In that statement DU teachers said "Reconstitution of the Election Commission (EC), withdrawal of emergency and, above all, holding of the parliamentary election are needed for the welfare of the nation".

It's heartening that DU teachers remain concerned about socio-political situations of the country and express their valuable views publicly.

It would be even more heartening if they could do something like this when DU gets closed due to political clashes among the student wings of political parties and ultimately students have to suffer from unbearable session jams. It would definitely be a great help for the helpless common students who want uninterrupted and conducive academic atmosphere on the campus.


[ This post was published as a letter under the anonymity of "an optimistic student of DU" in The Daily Star on May 14, 2008. ]

International Workers' Day and our RMG workers

Just before the International Workers' Day, RMG workers, as was reported in DS, once again blocked roads in Dhaka and Chittagong to press for payment of salary arrears. What an irony!

RMG workers of our country have grown over the years a propensity to block roads or highways whenever it comes to the issue of 'forcing' their employers to pay their salary arrears or to raise their wages. It seems that they have no other option at hand. So they do it disregarding the sufferings of commuters and causing loss of valuable working hours of other people. I don't understand why the owners of garment factories aren't brought to book for their unjust delay in paying the meagre salaries to their workers.

I think this prevailing practice in the RMG sector must be stopped without any further delay by taking effective steps for the benefit of the economy of our country as well as the poor workers.

[ This post was published as a letter under the title "RMG workers" in The Daily Star on May 11, 2008 ]