Photo: Prabir Das

The over-vigilant neighbour

I have a five year old daughter who loves to play outside and I always let her go. Luckily we have a park right next to the front gate, and she is one important reason for us to go to the park. It is hard to pull her inside when all she wants to do is stay outside and play with other the neighbourhood children. The other day she was playing cricket with her cousins and other children, when suddenly I found a woman I did not know, standing with my six year old daughter. She comes jogging around the park every afternoon. "She will get hurt with the cricket ball, you should not let her play cricket," she smiles condescendingly explaining to me why I should accompany her in some other games where she wont get hurt. I thanked her politely for her concern of my daughter being injured. "I don't believe there is any game that my girl cannot play because it is normally seen as a man's game," I added. She did not seem very impressed with my reply, and left me with my daughter. I want my daughter to learn how to follow her own instincts, but how can she do if we don't give them the space to try?
Farhana Zaman
Uttara, Dhaka

Spend it wisely

Every day on my way back home I encounter a number of beggars. The other day a middle aged man came asking for some money. He seemed physically alright, but he kept asking for money. At some point my colleague got irritated and decided to give him some. I know it was his choice, but I did not like the idea. We work long hours for very little pay and because of that I value the money I have worked hard to earn. I fail to see why I should give my hard earned money to someone who does not deserve it.  Because that man, like many other beggars we see, is not even in need, he is just too lazy to work but he needs money. Also some are fake, and some beggars just use your money on drugs.  If we give them the money they will think that it is better to beg than to work.
Rubaiyat Ahsan
Monipuripara, Dhaka