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     Volume 7 Issue 3 | January 18, 2008 |


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Dhaka Diary



It was a very fine wintry Saturday morning when I was heading towards my workplace by bus. Usually Saturday is less crowded than the other days of the week but that particular day it was not the case. The bus was full. I, however, somehow managed to get a place. Beside me there was an elderly man who seemed to be very annoyed with the suffocating atmosphere. He told to me that he wanted to take some other mode of transport but couldn't manage. He had an emergency and had to take this local bus. He was complaining on and on and wondering about how people could actually travel on such crammed up vehicles and still manage to breathe and work for the whole day. I was listening to the elderly man, giving an occasional nod now and then. When his destination finally arrived, he got up from his seat and went up to the door to get off the bus. Before getting off, his eyes went to a piece of writing on top of the door which he read out to himself, but was loud enough for the rest of the passengers on the bus - "Thank you for travelling with us. Hope to see you again." That was probably the last straw for the man! He screamed out, "Allah na koruk!" (God forbid!) and hastily got down. I along with the rest of the passengers could not help laughing out loud at the scene. It is not everyday that you get to witness such comedy on the streets.

Mohammed Sohel Hara
WESTECS
Dhanmondi

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Last Friday, I went to the trade fair with my family and was warmly welcomed inside by heaps of litter lying around the place. I took it for granted, as many people in our country are not given proper guidance about these things. But to my surprise, I observed a girl aged nearly six to seven throwing an empty packet of crackers on the ground. Her mother was holding her hand and standing just beside her, watching her little girl littering the place, whereas there was a trash can right in front of them. As soon as they moved away, a Thai woman came up and picked up the empty packet and put it in the trashcan. There have been several articles regarding littering on almost every newspaper and magazine, but nothing really worked out for the people! It will never work out unless we stop blaming the political leaders and city corporation for not taking any proper steps regarding the filth of the city, and keep our city clean.

Fariha Hasan
Sunnydale School

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The Police Cap

A few days ago, I along with two of my friends was looking for a CNG at Naya Paltan. We noticed that commuters were being barred to pass through the road by the police as some VIP was supposed to use the road. The people gathered there were very irritated at this, as a good amount of time was wasted just standing around waiting for the so-called important person to drive by. Moreover the attitude of the policemen was anything but friendly. They were pushing us down the footpath for no particular reason. Meanwhile a police sergeant appeared in the scene riding on his motorbike to inspect if everything was all right. Seeing an empty road, he increased his speed on the road, when his cap suddenly flew away because of the wind!

Everybody began to giggle at the same time. It was a very good show for the pedestrians being pushed back on the footpath. The sergeant managed to maintain his hard face amidst all the laughter around him. He simply took turn a around and took the cap from the constable who picked it up from the road. So much for maintaining professional dignity in public!

Nabila Nudrat
Jahangirnagar University Campus

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