Dhaka
Diary
Say
a little prayer
The
other day, in the mosque when I finished my jumma prayer,
I noticed some very awkward behaviour. A middle-aged man,
sitting a little away from me was pulling his nose-hair and
throwing them about. This seriously disgusted me and the fact
that he was doing it absentmindedly did not help the situation
much. Not only was this act prohibited in the middle of the
prayer, but it also reflected a very repellent act on the
man's part. I clapped my hands to get his attention and asked
him to stop doing what he was doing in the mosque. He realised
it only then and looked a little embarrassed. How can people
forget themselves to the extent of doing disgusting things
in places reserved for prayers?
Aaqib
Javed Dhaka Commerce College
Free
counselling at the hairdressers!
It's
universal knowledge that if you want to hear interesting tid
bits about known personalities in town or get some free advice
on how to handle your husband's snoring problem, then just
drop by your nearest parlour or a salon. The other day, as
I was squirming on my seat at a popular hairdresser's in Banani,
while the lady was trying hard to get rid of my bushy eyebrows
with a mere piece of string, I couldn't help overhearing a
conversation going on right next to me. A newly married woman
was advising her to-be-married friend on how to tackle fussy
mothers-in-law. "You simply have to give it back nicely,
if the old one gets to you, you know," remarked the married
one, with an air of experience and know-it-all expression
in her eyes. "Just remember, darling," she went
on. "We live in an age where women can and should raise
their voices against any kind of oppression, be it for equal
pay at work places, or deciding on who should take the car
out, you or your mummy-in-law." I could not help smiling
through my painful tears. One can actually get much more at
a hairdresser's than a haircut and a pedicure, and that too
absolutely for free!
DK
Baridhara
Identity
at stake
Being
a member of the Culture Club at my university, we tend to
get busy during the months of February and March. The other
day, I along with a friend went over to Elephant Road to search
for the patriotic numbers that are sung and played on radio
and television repeatedly during these two months. Something
that actually struck me, was that most of the music stores
could not get enough of peppy Indian numbers like "Dhoom
machale" and other Indian olden goldies which have
been 're-structured' so as to have the younger generation
appreciate them more. When we approached these stores for
age-old songs like "Ora amar mukher katha kayra nite
chai" and "Joy Bangla", the storekeepers'
stoned expression told us that they probably hadn't heard
these songs ever before in their lives. They were also wondering
as to why a couple of youngsters were inquiring about these
Bangla numbers, when they were blaring out hip hop foreign
numbers on their speakers. It is really a shame that music
stores in an area like Elephant Road, which has so many of
them, do not have the famous patriotic numbers that most of
us have grown up listening to and which actually speak about
our culture, country and the freedom attained by sacrifices
by the young and old alike.
EK
Banani
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