Dhaka Diary

So-called discipline

A few days ago one of my friends, who is a lecturer of a private university, came to me with a melancholic face. He said that he has stopped going to the university where he used to work as a part-time lecturer. He was an English Language teacher in that university. As he had to deal with Reading Comprehension classes, bringing the prescribed books was very essential for the students. However, some students deliberately did not bring their books to class and as a result the class could not be held smoothly.

One day, my friend asked the students, who had not brought their books, to leave the class. Later on, he was called by the director of the university to either apologise to the students or stop taking classes for the time being. My friend was extremely shocked and was given the impression that in a private university, students were more important than the teachers.

My friend did not want to accept the former proposal and hence stopped teaching. But the most surprising and brutal part was that he took 13 classes for the semester and was not paid a single penny!
Shaon
Eskaton

Traffic jams on Eid

During Eid, all of us enjoy the peace especially, since 60 to70 per cent of Dhakaites leave the capital. However, in the last Eid, I faced an unbelievable situation. My friends and I wanted to go to Farmgate and figured that we would reach the place in not more than 15 minutes from Mirpur. We started our journey from Mirpur-12. However, upon reaching Mirpur-10, we faced an unbelievable traffic jam. It started from Mirpur-10 and went on to Bijoy Soroni. Probably everyone had the same idea about Eid day and decided to get out of their home at the same time. We had nothing to do but linger in the jam and watch these around us. Some people were feeling bored. But some were enjoying this situation. Groups of youngsters were cracking jokes while some of them made wise comments about the situation. Some even blamed the government while some made the public responsible. The traffic jam was infuriating indeed, however, the apparent spirit of Eid was visible in everyone.
Md. Eunus Ahmed
Dhaka

The Spitting Saga!!!

I have been a victim of quite a few spitting near-misses as a sort of direct hit. One incident took place when I had landed at Zia International Airport. All I recall is that there were armies deployed sometime in January. One of the army personnel patrolling the airport corridors, while passengers disembarked, cleared his throat in the most ghastly manner, emitting guttural sounds from the deep recesses of this mucus-clogged throat. Then to my utter horror, he expelled the contents with which he had been making such sordid music in his throat. That too right next to me! I could no longer control my anger and gave him a piece of my mind.

Alas! My stay in Bangladesh was not pleasant that time. There were repeats of the same scene, though at different places with different people involved in the primary role as "spitters", but the issue was the same: people spitting in public places. I try so hard, each time I come to Bangladesh, to force down the rising bile whenever I am exposed to such scenes.

The second was at Nilkhet. I had gone there to pounce and pillage English novels, quite rare in those days. A man from a bookstall cleared his throat and spit aiming at the narrow path people used to move from stall to stall. Unfortunately my foot almost got within millimetres of the trajectory path of his projectile spittle. Having insulted him loud and clear, I went off in a huff to purchase some novels to erase the yucky scene I'd witnessed.
Sumaiyah Afrin
Kuwait

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