Silly Tales

My Learning Curve

Back in the early teen years we all had our crushes and fixations on real or fictional people. When I was sixteen I was enchanted by this beautiful girl in my class. She was smart and had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. I would always sit behind her in class and we became the closest of friends. One day in an attempt to impress her with my intellect, I started to brag (creatively lie) about how I am not bothered with studies and how I just watch television all day before quizzes because they are so mundane and not challenging. My words did not have the desired impact on her. She had a distinct look of disappointment and annoyance. She said that watching television before quizzes is an act of utter irresponsibility and it is not something I should be proud of.

She eventually looked past my academic insincerity and for the past six years she has been the love of my life. But that teenage episode taught me an important lesson- smart girls can read us like books and it is wise not to pretend to be something else to win them over.

Adit Hasan Khan
North South University, Dhaka

My Friend Did It!

2 years ago when I was in the fourth grade I loved playing cricket. One day when my mom went out for shopping I decided to play cricket in the house because it was very boring. The living room had a big open space so I decided to play there. One thing I did not have in mind was that we had a very expensive television in the room. I kept on bouncing the ball back and forth off the ceiling. Then the ball suddenly hit the television and one-fourth of the screen broke! I started to panic. I was totally dumbstruck and did not know what to do. Then a plan struck me-- I took a paper and coloured it black and stuck it on the screen. I survived for one day. The next day I called my friend, Jawadul, over. We decided to play cricket again in the living room. This time I gave a very slow delivery so he could hit it towards the television. He hit it and the whole television broke down. Then he had to hear all the lectures and there was never any evidence that I was the one who broke it first and tricked him into breaking it the second time!

Shihab Sharar Isa
Australian International School, Dhaka

An Extraordinary Toffee

When I was at the age of 5, I was a toffee addict. It was difficult to get me to do anything without giving me a toffee. One day my mom brought back the monthly groceries home. I was waiting for her to give me the toffees that she bought for me. She got inside the house without giving me any kind of toffees, so I started searching in the shopping bags. I saw some big toffees, and I was really happy because I had never seen such large toffees before. I started eating the toffees without telling anyone.I suddenly felt like something was wrong with them. It seemed to have had a very bad taste. I started crying and went to my mom. I saw that my mom gave toffees to my cousins before showing them to me because nobody had the ability to take it from me. I told her what had happened and the whole family burst into laughter. Turns out, I had mistaken soap to be toffee. I did not understand the issue at that time but I was very disappointed. But at this age I know what actually happened and how silly I was. Now I get really embarrassed when my cousins remind me by showing me soap and telling me to taste it for them!

Farzana Rahman Supti
Methodist English Medium School (MEMS), Dhaka