Dhaka Diary

The Rally
I expected the roads to be vacant last week, when I was on my way to Dhanmondi. As soon as I got to Mirpur Road, I found my car in the middle of a terrible traffic jam. I was wondering as to what actually caused this terrible roadblock. After a long wait, I finally came to know that it was the result of the Victory Day Rally led by the leaders of the opposition party. The rally, which went across the Science Lab to Road no. 32, left a huge congestion of traffic trailing it. It was a good 45 minutes wait before any vehicle could began to move again. This jam went on till Azimpur. Meanwhile, people in the crowd had begun to create some noise and raise questions to the rally leaders. After spending 50 minutes in the same place, I managed to cross the Science lab. These sorts of rallies conducted in the name of patriotism and remembering the martyrs, held without any kind of prior notice whatsoever, are becoming cumbersome for the public instead of doing any good. Its ironic how these processions are taken out by renowned leaders who speak of progress and solutions but on the contrary, create nothing but more problems.
Minhaj Ahmed
Maple Leaf International School

The Firework Story
A few months ago, two of my friends bought some crackers for fireworks from Shakhari Bazar the night before Shab-e-barat. On their way home, a police constable noticed the crackers sticking out of their bags and stopped them to have their bags checked. Upon finding the crackers, the constable asked them to go with him to the police station. My friends were trying to explain to the constable that the crackers were harmless and that they had bought them for Shab-e-barat, however, the constable turned a deaf ear to them and would not return the crackers. Meanwhile, another constable appeared on the scene. It was then that the first officer told my friends that the simple solution to the problem was to make the constable happy, otherwise they would be taken to the station for sure. They managed to give him a hundred-taka note, which was not enough for the officers. In fact, the officer almost reached into their pockets for more money. After dealing with the ordeal, my friends were starting for home, agonised after losing he crackers, when the officers asked them to stop once again. My friends assumed that probably the officer wanted more cash, but were shocked to see that the officer was actually returning the crackers to them. "Go and have fun, kids," said the constable. My friends left with the crackers, speechless.
Farhan Rahman
Buet

School Blues
My younger sister recently started playgroup in school and owing to her bubbly nature made lots of friends in a short time. On Eid, she was whining away with our mother to take her to school. We were all very much annoyed and surprised at the fact that she wanted to go school on a holiday, when we found out that she had instructed her friends to stand in front of the school gates so that she could pick them up and bring them home with her. Suppressing our smiles and grins for the sake of being a part of her serious conversation, we asked her why she had to make her friends wait in front of the school gates when she could have just asked them to come straight home. "None of us are able to write yet, ma," replied my little sister. "How do you expect us to exchange our addresses?"
Jafrin Jahed Jiti
VNC

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