Star Diary
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Source of Alarm?
I came back to my room with a glass of water to complete the article I had been working on, but I was mortified by what I saw. My two-year-old cousin was running towards my laptop, hands outstretched and a sparkle of purpose in his eyes. Fearing the impending doom of my work, I raced to reach the laptop before the tiny fingers, and to my horror, failed to do so. However, I observed something interesting. The little hands did not proceed towards the keyboard as I had expected. Instead, he reached up for the screen. My curiosity drove me to keep watching. First he tried to select the colorful icons on the screen and when that did not work out, he made a few attempts at scrolling down. Finally when the frustrating medieval technology (my laptop) failed to yield any results, the two–year–old simply lost interest and walked away, leaving the monotonous device behind. I suddenly realised how much technology has advanced since the first time I saw a clunky old computer at the age of 8, and more importantly what profound effects that advancement has had on children. I am well aware of the advantages of this development and how essential it is for kids today to be well acquainted with technology. However, when recent studies show that kindergarten kids refuse to pick up a pencil because they are too accustomed to touch-screens, I do think that should be source of alarm. It leaves me to question, what would be a source of awe for kids who think anything can be done with a single touch? Is there anything that they would find magical? Or are we moving towards a generation where imagination is replaced by computer graphics?
Sanjana Islam
Dhaka Medical College
Dhaka
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The Honest Cashier
The other day I accompanied a friend of mine to a government bank, as he had to encash his fixed deposit. We had to face a big queue there and so it took him around an hour to get to the cash counter. Feeling tired he didn't bother to count the cash which he received and returned home being unaware that the cashier had given him less than what he was supposed to receive. He probably wouldn't have realised this till a long time afterward if the cashier hadn't called him up and notified that had accidentally handed over a lesser amount. The amount was not very significant but the cashier apologised profusely, asking my friend to collect the money from the bank the next day. He even offered to pay him the transport fare to the bank. My friend was dumbfounded by the honesty of the cashier. When he visited the bank the next day, the cashier ran up to him, immediately giving him his due in cash without making him wait for a minute.
Rahim Sajwani
IPDC of Bangladesh Ltd.
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