Dhaka Diary

The New Law

This particular incident took place a few days back during the country wide siege called on by a political alliance. Naturally the road was free of any vehicle, even rickshaws. I, along with a couple of my buddies were hurrying down Dhanmondi Road Number 27, as we were getting late for a class. Some policemen were seated at the roadside. As we were passing by, suddenly two of them stepped in front of us and blocked our way. They said we were breaking the law by walking away from the policemen without saluting them. They further threatened to throw us behind bars for disrespecting the law-enforcers. We tried to explain to them that we had no idea about the new law and we were sorry. However, the policemen did not seem convinced, and they demanded a written apology. Now that was something very weird and we did not know what to do, for we were already late for the class. At last the policemen made their actual demand -- they insisted on having some cha-panir khoroch (a bit of cash for tea) instead. So we gave them fifty bucks and at last got rid of the trouble. Now I wonder how the law-enforcers, who are supposed to protect us, harass us to pocket some extra cash and are getting away with the crime. Unless the authorities take notice of this and take some serious action to stop this corruption, our nation will end up in the most corrupt list again.

Sadat Shams
Maple Leaf Int. School

My Nokia and I

It was a lazy afternoon when my friend and I were on our way to work. I was looking for something in my bag and accidentally dropped the cell phone from the autorickshaw. Within seconds I realised it and shouted out to the CNG to stop. We got down and frantically started looking all over the road for it, and literally stopping the passers by, shouting “Give me my cell phone back!” at them. Meanwhile my friend kept calling my number when suddenly a man picked up and said “Hello”, we noticed a middle-aged man just appearing from a distance on a rickshaw smiling at us with MY cell phone in his hand!! Considering all the odds of getting it back from the middle of the road and all the heart numbing stories I've heard so far about losing cell phones, I still can't believe I got my Nokia back without a scratch!

Nazia Ahmed
Kawran Bazar

A poor man's courtesy

One day at university, a man came up to us and said that he was ill and was moaning in pain. Seeing him in such a condition and listening to his painful story, I was filled with sympathy for him. I gave him all the money I had which my father had given me for Eid. After taking the Tk 1,000, the man disappeared. A few minutes later a senior on campus, came up to me and asked why in the world I gave the money to the heroin addict? Upon hearing this, I was horrified. However, after 15-16 days, the man came up to me and said that he was looking for me for a while. It seems with the money that I gave him, a major part of his illness was cured. He had come to thank me. At that moment, I felt that I had finally done something worthwhile in life.

Md. Safiqul Raihan
Law and Justice (3rd year), Rajshahi University

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