Letters
Thanks
for Writing "Writing Gracefully"
Being an SWM's fan and avid reader, I read almost everything
in it. I especially enjoy reading the "Letters"
section. I found the letter "Writing Gracefully"(Dec.
17 issue) by Mr.Clarence Meloney to be eye opening and extremely
interesting. I would like to congratulate the SWM team for
publishing such a letter. Eluding to a great point of failure
in our educational system's, the writer gave us hope and
inspiration to reach the educational success of countries
such as China, Korea, Japan and Denmark! I am in full agreement
with this approach and would like to second the motion that
we should use Bangla to be the vehicle of modernisation
and the nation's upcoming success.
Md. Shamiul Haque
Dhaka
Pleasant
novelties
I enjoyed SWM's new additions -- "Face to Face"
and "Eating Out" -- in the December 17 issue.
It was a pleasant surprise to find an interview of a sports
personality, which is not very common in the magazine. The
restaurant piece was also rather entertaining and made my
taste buds tingle! I hope SWM will continue to cover diverse
topics -- including lighter things like restaurant reviews
-- and that it will introduce at least occasional sports
pieces, as seems to be the demand among many of its readers.
SWM is wonderful as it is, but new additions once in a while
will make it even more appealing. Congrats, SWM, for a job
well done (week after week!).
SQ
Gulshan
Acute
traffic jam and our sufferings
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh is one of the world's most
densely populated cities. About ten million people live
in this mega city. Nowadays, Dhaka is a city of traffic
jams. City dwellers have been subjected to many bitter experiences
caused by traffic for the last few decades. The acuteness
of traffic jams are increasing day by day. Traffic jams
is common in areas like Farm gate, Mohakhali, Khilgaon,
Shahbagh, Malibagh Chowdhuripara. No steps have been successful
to solve this critical problem. It was expected that after
completion of the Mohakhali flyover, the traffic jams at
Mohakhali would be reduced. But unfortunately, the situation
remains unchanged, even after the inauguration of the Mohakhali
flyover. Really, we are helpless. Is there any solution
for us?
R.M Morshed, Kranti
Dhaka
A
Mistake
I felt it my duty to rectify the error as to the name of
the Chairman of the Agartala Tribunal which has been mentioned
by Mr. M. Azizul Jalil quoting a statement by Bangabandhu
in his recollections of the years past, in the column In
Retrospect, which was published in your Weekend Magazine.
The author, while recalling his meeting with Bangabandhu
during his visit to Islamabad for the round table conference
with the President of Pakistan after the withdrawal of Agartala
Case, mentioned that Bangabandhu, while in Pakistan met
the Chairman of the Agartala Tribunal, Justice Anwarul Haq,
to talk about the sad incident that the Chairman of the
Tribunal had been through. Mr. Justice Anwarul Haq was never
the Chairman of the Agartala Tribunal. Bangabandhu could
never make the mistake of naming Justice Anwarul Huq as
the Chairman or, for that matter, gone to meet him and expressed
his regrets. This mistake might have been due to the author's
ignorance as to who was the Chairman of the Tribunal or
for not having kept a note as to the name as was mentioned
by Bangabandhu. I expected this rectification to be made
either by the author soon after the publication or someone
else. In his recollections, he has mentioned his meeting
with Ila Mitra, a great leader of the Tebhaga Movement in
erstwhile East Bengal, and the right decision taken by the
government in allowing parole to take her to West Bengal
for her treatment and my late brother under whom she had
her treatment at the Dhaka Medical College Hospital, Prof.K.S.Alam
and was known in that name rather than Dr. Shamsul Alam.
Ila Mitra had always remembered Prof. Alam with gratitude
and acknowledge my brother's professional care and consideration.
This, I mention, is for clarity as to who Dr.Shamsul Alam
actually was.
K. Z. Alam
Dhaka
A
Little Bit of Respect
I really enjoyed reading the Musings piece titled "A
Little Bit of Respect" by Lally Snow. It is nice to
know that there are some foreigners, however few they may
seem, that have some sense of respect for the locals. I
am in an environment where I have a lot of contact with
expats and I always find their treatment of Bangalis quite
disgusting. It is almost as if they think that we owe them
something for being here. It is ironic because one would
think that foreigners living in a third world nation are
more tolerant because they have more exposure. I find however,
that it is usually the opposite. Them foreigners here live
in a bubble. They escape the reality of living in Bangladesh
by going to their respective recreation centres pretending
that they all live in whatever country they came from by
surrounding themselves by people who are from exactly the
same background as them. While I understand that they miss
their homelands and Bangalis are guilty of doing the same
thing -- case in point, Brick Lane in the U.K. -- I still
feel like this kind of defeats the purpose. What is the
point of living in a foreign country if you are going to
shelter yourself from the outside world completely and pretend
to be somewhere else? Experience is everything in life.
I am glad that the author of this well-written article was
able to and had the desire to experience what she felt was
the essence of Dhaka rather than sit in a cocoon of ignorance.
Thank you SWM for publishing such a great piece.
Samina Wahed
On Email
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