Silly Tales

Truth Be Told

Sometime around August last year I had caught a severe cold and went to college despite that. By the last period I was sneezing a lot. I sneezed and my left hand suddenly jerked on its own and hit the window. Since it was a class of 180 students, the teacher did not notice the incident. I was still very scared since our college authority was very strict. I was sure that I would be punished or fined. I immediately decided to tell everything to our Director of Guidance, Fr Hemanto. After the bell had rung, I went to do the heavy task- to confess. My friend, Rajat, accompanied me. We entered Fr Hemanto's office and he asked me what had happened. I described the incident and he silently listened. I said, “Father, I would accept any punishment you give me”. He asked, “How would it sound if I fined you 10,000 taka?” I kept quiet. He broke the silence, “EXCUSE KORA HOLO (you are excused)”. I made a sigh of relief and heartily thanked him and just ran for it before he changed his mind!

Shibraj Chowdhury
Notre Dame College, Dhaka

Orangey Mistake

We had a friend in class five who was very naughty and often used to play pranks on us and even on teachers. One day one of our substitute teachers came to take our class. He gave us the scheduled task and started to fiddle with his phone. He was concentrating so hard on his work that he did not even notice that we were cheating. We finished our work in time and submitted our copies. He put his hands into his bag for his pencil case for a pen but instead of a case came out oranges and the whole class burst out laughing. There was no pen, worksheets or anything. All his belongings were missing and were replaced with small oranges. It was later known that our naughty friend emptied the bag and filled it with oranges while he was busy with his phone!

Mahadi Kabir Khandaker
Class VII Play Pen School

Crashing Down

When I was in high school, I used to be a part of my drama club. We used to take part in plays that we would arrange for every alternate assembly. Usually our dramas would be very successful and we would end the show with reception of a lot of applause and praise from the principal. We had one play that we worked very hard on since we based it on our liberation war. We put on our serious faces and started the show and immediately everybody was very captivated by the storyline and acting. I played a Pakistani soldier in that play. My entry was very sudden and I had to literally run onto stage. I already felt ridiculous dressed up like a man with a fake moustache and an army outfit but what made it worse was my entry. I ran on to stage and came to a halt. Suddenly I felt the thin plank of wood that is the stage tremble underneath me. I thought it was just me being nervous when suddenly I fell crashing down and the part of the stage where I was standing was nothing but a big hole. The whole auditorium burst into laughter. It was the most embarrassing day of my life!

Nusrat Rahman
BRAC University, Dhaka