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     Volume 4 Issue 67 | October 14, 2005 |


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Dhaka Diary

A Demented Cow
The other day, I was returning home from Panthapath to Banani on a CNG. And as the story goes in Dhaka City, I was confined in the never-ending jam on Manik Mia Avenue. The scorching heat seemed to drain me completely. It seemed to me that my whole body was scalding, as I couldn't even move my parched lips because of thirst. Suddenly, I saw a black, furious, mammoth-like cow, rushing towards the footpath. It was trying to get away from its owner. The startled passers-by were moving away from the path of the cow. A young man with his girlfriend was strolling and wasn't aware of what was going on. The cow jabbed the man's behind and throw him on the ground. Thank God that he was not seriously injured. The passengers in the jam burst out laughing at the scene and perhaps thanked the cow silently for delivering the hilarious distraction from the sun.
Faisal Khan Banani, Dhaka

A sign for husbands
A few days ago, my mother had gone to pick me up from college. My mother observes hijab and covers her head. The only ornament that can be seen on her is the 'nakphul' or the nose ornament that she has a habit of wearing. Incidentally, on that particular day, my mother somehow forgot to put her 'nakphul' on. One of the other parents who was there to pick her child up as well, practically ran to my mother and asked her, gasping, "Is your husband ok, Bhabi?" my mother was equally shocked. "Yes, of course,"she replied. "Why would anything be wrong with my husband?" "You are not wearing your 'nakphul', that's why I wondered if something had happened." The woman explained.
Even in this day and age, how can women actually believe in concepts like the absence of 'nakphul' symbolising death husband?
Jafrin Jahed Jiti VNC

Diary from Sylhet

Brothels replacing Cyber Cafes
I am a student of English Literature and had to collect some information regarding a project I was working on. I visited a pretty well-known cyber café in my area to browse through some related web sites. To my utter shock, the café was filled with teenagers and young adults who were openly browsing pornography sites! What actually made my head reel was that these young people did not seem the least hesitant about their actions and neither were the café officials. When I sat down to work on one computer, I really had a hard time since these horrible web sites would keep popping up within two minutes of each other. Absolutely frustrated, I got up to talk to the manager of the café. He, very nonchalantly, explained to me that these youngsters were the real customers of the café, since they browse these web sites for hours together and spend quite a lot of money. This kind of browsing is a very personal matter and should not be allowed in public, especially in a place where all kinds of people, especially young students, go with the intention of studying or simply communicating with their loved ones outside the country. The government should probably intervene to stop such malpractices.
Pradip Kumar Roy Department of English, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology

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