Dhaka
Diary
Crazy
Campaign
All
of my O Level exams in May were held in Gulshan and driving
down the Tejgaon area to reach my examination centres, I had
a very interesting experience. Everywhere I looked, a moustached
man was beaming down at me, flanked by the message "Vote for
Falu Bhai"! Mr Falu's never-ending smile was adorning every
inch of the walls by the road not to mention the huge billboards
singing along with the posters. When I got tired of being
smiled at by the same man, I tried looking away, turning to
the skies, but hanging from roadside pillars and electricity
poles were colourful banners asking me to vote for Mr. Falu.
The large letters painted across the walls, however, were
far more colourful. I also noticed a stand of bamboo and cloth
that had been erected by the road, apparently by a committee
of truck drivers (or something similar), in support of Mr.
Falu. At one point it all got a little suffocating. The campaign
for Mr. Falu was really quite an overdose of propaganda. I
believe election campaigns should be brought under control,
otherwise commuters in the city will be haunted night and
day by faces of grinning politicians and their pleas for votes.
One thing, however, is certain at this moment there is no
escaping Mr. Falu once you enter the Tejgaon area.
Tania
Hossain, Dhaka
Victory
of Merits
My
elder brother was admitted in Bangladesh Medical College Hospital
(BMCH) at Dhanmondi a month back. I stayed with him for some
days as an attendant. There was another patient beside his
bed, a young boy called Shaheen, whose attendants were his
parents and a teenage sister, Happy. She was in Class 10.
One day, I noticed that she was reading a book. After a while,
she came over to me and asked if I could help her with some
math. I gladly helped her, as mathematics was one of my stronger
subjects. I solved all her problems and the next day, she
came to me with some new ones. As I was solving the problems
a ward boy called Azad, who was cleaning around us, observed
what I was writing down. Azad then told me that the way I
was solving the problem was really hard, especially for a
Class 10 student. "I have an easier solution to the problems,"
he concluded. At first I was really angry with him but reluctantly
I challenged him to show me his methods. He started solving
the sum and I was astonished. His handwriting was very nice
and his method was much easier than mine. It was amazing how
a cleaner could solve these difficult problems. I thanked
him and asked how he came to learn to solve such difficult
sums. He said that he was an Intermediate student of Dhaka
College. His poverty made him join BMCH as a cleaner. I admired
his good and humble nature, not to mention his intelligence,
from the bottom of my heart.
Tufayal Ahamed Tohin, Economics Dept.,
MSS (Final Year), Dhaka Colleg
The Pride
of a Teacher
One
fine day, I was returning home from college by rickshaw. I
was a bit tired and wanted to return as soon as possible.
Suddenly, the rickshaw puller saw a gentleman beside the road
and swerved the rickshaw to a halt. The rickshaw puller then
went up to the man and asked him how he was doing. The man,
looking here and there, reluctantly gave him some reply. I
thought that the man was hesitant because he was ashamed to
talk to a poor rickshaw puller. Nonetheless, they had a little
conversation and soon, we were on our way. A little later,
the rickshaw puller started to chit-chat with me. "Do you
know who that man was?" asked the rickshaw walah. Though I
didn't care, I politely replied with a negative answer. "He
was my student in college. I was a teacher in our village,"
he said. His voice was full of pride and happiness. I felt
really ashamed. Here I was, taking him to be a poor, illiterate
rickshaw puller whereas he was a great person who had educated
one of the faces of tomorrow. I had acted like a common person
with a typical mindset without even knowing the person. How
quick we are to jump to conclusions. I felt really bad because
life is not always fair, but at the end of the day...life
goes on.
Tabassum
Binte Islam (Titly) English Dept., 1st year, Dhaka
Commerce College
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thedailystar.net 2004
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