CHINTITO SINCE 1995

Not only Mayors, we need to make promises too

Election time is full of promises. Wowed by the vows, some of us are the happiest. Many of us are steeply sceptical; we suffer the most. Most of us believe the rhetoric, or pretend to, otherwise candidates would not have been spewing material for us to build castles in the air, election after election.
Around the world in 999 words

The following anecdote I have narrated before, but it merits repetition for sheer context.
In 2K20, let us resolve to be a little different

As we draw closer to pulling the curtain on 2019, it is an opportune moment for self-analysing ourselves.
Pink ball, espionage and beating India

My earliest encou-nter with the razzmatazz colour, discounting my childhood chushni (more about that later) was due to my kindergarten schooling at Comilla’s Our Lady of Fatima Convent.
I too am Chhatra League

1974. BUET Elections. The position of Mujibbadi Chhatra League was not at all rosy. The major threat was the student wing of Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), drawing young people in droves by its patent ‘Scientific Socialism’. Another front was Chhatra Union, popular among cultural activists.
Till an argument do us apart, no!

Nowadays while meeting someone after a lapse of a few months, and with a gap in updated information, following the customary exchanges there is hesitation to pop the question, “How is the wife?”
Our pride, our hope, oh my Bangla Bhaasha!

Famed for his Moder Garob, Moder Aasha, a-mori Bangla Bhaasha, poet, educationist and lawyer Atul Prasad is long gone.
#Facebook

I am dazed and dejected, but not down. This chap is such a beyadab. He deserves one big thappar.
#Saree

The most adorable sight that thy eyes can behold is that of a child in her first saree, her small strides burdened by girdles of fabric (quality immaterial) and her vain efforts to keep her anchol in place. She will carry a heavenly smile garnished by shyness, innocence and pride of being Mommy, at last.
Dualism is to everyone’s loss

To be a successful criminal (No! I am not opening a school), besides having 10 SIM cards (legally allowed for each operator), an oily body to slip away if caught, a foul mouth, an arsenal of weapons, and liaison with uniformed ostads and informed murubbis, one must
Make them eat their mangoes

You left a restaurant, content, so much so that you tipped the waiter heavier than your usual. Two days later, a news flash on the TV scroll: “Sona Dana Khana Pina Restora fined Tk 1 lakh for freezing rotten fish and expired chicken.” Nausea overtakes you. To an
Of pink dogs and doggone humans

We have remar-kable similarities: jobless or sleeping on the job when employed, being kicked about or loved like crazy, meaninglessly barking at each other, unkempt body hair or salon spoilt, ready to lick and leak in public; tree or wall is a matter of circumstances.
Camouflage of a different kind

The history of camouflage is as old as animals hiding in their natural habitat. Human beings, perhaps the greatest copycats, took quite a while but never looked back, especially since World War I when military forces massively exploited the craft. Over the years, few of us can deny not having taken refuge in the art of disguise and deception at some time in our life.
Rajuk's 'absolute power corrupts absolutely'

British historian Lord Acton's 130-year-old observation that a person's sense of morality diminishes as his/her power increases is true
From Breivik to Brenton to #HelloBrother

Terrorists kill without discrimination. Their tactics differentiate them from freedom fighters. Terrorists have no religion. They may have names—Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Muslim or any other.
Melania Trump for president

America, of US fame, like most countries including Bangladesh, is a nation that thrives on “firsts”. From Benjamin Franklin's discovery in 1747 of the principle of electric charge conservation
Jumping to conclusions in poignant encounters

You never know until they tell you. We humans have been perennially judging each other by appearances mainly, but also by what we say or do or not.
We choose to be unsafe

The chain reaction, which culminated into the Chawkbazar devastation last Wednesday, was reportedly detonated by a car's gas cylinder that burst, leading to the explosion of plastic goods and chemicals stored in an area of mixed occupancies.
Ringtones of Misery

It's three in the afternoon. I have just retired from my routine lunch. As I settle down to relax with the day's newspaper and a bit of a shuteye, my mobile gives me a rude startle. Being someone whose occupation demands connectivity, I need to receive every call, and so I do.
Politics of posters

Level playing field” was the most popular phrase before the 11th national parliamentary elections, and after.
Why will 'they' pay to serve us?

The young man delivered the hot biriyani at our door. I thanked him and paid him his company's due, and a little something extra for his service.
Let architects do their job

Architects, not all, will perhaps offer a convincing reason for choosing the subject and the profession. Dialectics may vary from
My name is Ahmed

My Name Is Khan” is a 2010 Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer Indian hit film. In the cine world, plagiarism is the name of the game, and sure enough Dhallywood followed suit in 2013 with a romantic action movie by the same name with local heartthrobs Shakib Khan and Apu Biswas doing the honours.
The road belongs to us, the public

That does not imply we can do anything with it, on it and besides it. This license of ownership is rather a delegation of responsibility that very few of us understand, and therefore are unable to fulfil.
No apologies, I am not a candidate

To be honest there has not been any clarion call from any quarters, least of all the fallacious source of all power, nor from any of my well-wishers, relatives or "true" friends for me to submit my candidacy for election to the Jatiya Sangsad.
Celebrity slip is a shame for the game

A tennis umpire worldwide commences a game uttering what sounds like “Love all”. To the French, it means “l'oeuf” (pronounced love),
An example to build on

Going overboard for even acquaintances, nationalism for the appropriate cause and at the right time, united in the face of any natural calamity, and indulging in innocent gossiping (read: harmless backbiting) are some of the finer points of a native Bangladeshi.
Traffic education, upwards from kindergarten

Ignorance and defiance in combination with irresponsibility can be disastrous, more so if wrongdoers can get away with murder with a little help from delinquent sections of the state machinery.
A freedom fighter and Liberation War researcher

Our imagin-ation seldom can reach beyond the immediacy of time. We are free to jump on an illusory time-machine to traverse from a million year old cave to an undersea home in Mars, yet we do not venture even within that limited range; either way beyond is dark (or bright), who knows?
Rupa, Rajib, Payel, Dia, Abdul Karim…

Passenger safety or dignity were never the strong points of transport workers starting from the ticket counter till pushing them off a bus.