Silly Tales

Betel leaf

When I was 11 years old, I used to sleep in the same room as my grandmother. She could not sleep without eating betel leaf which would really irritate me. She always kept her betel leaf box near the foot of the bed. So if anyone kept it away from her she could easily notice it. My father always rebuked her because it is harmful for her. As usual one day she asked me to buy a bundle of betel leaf for her. I exchanged it with other leaves which looked like betel leaf. When I came home, I kept the bundle with her other bundle of betel leaves so that she couldn't notice it. The next day she asked,“Did you keep any other leaf rather than betel leaf in my box?” I said “no”. Then she burst with laughter and said, “I know what you did!” I, then, pleaded guilty and asked her how she noticed. She said, “When you get used to something for so long, you can easily identify it.” This memorable incident still comes into my mind every now and then. She is no longer in the world. But her memories are still with me.

Al Kader Momen
East West University, Dhaka.

Birthday Disaster

This happened the day I turned eleven. I used to study in DPS Singapore. My school had a rule that we can wear party clothes on our birthdays. So my mom picked out a very nice Salwar Kameez and some fancy jewellery for me to wear. It was time for school and the bus was waiting outside. I wore my beautiful sandals and ran outside. When I sat in the bus I looked at my sandals-- they looked a little suspicious. When I reached school, everyone was looking at me like I was a star. Everyone gave me nice comments; some even said I looked like a film star! I distributed chocolates and cake to my friends and teachers. Suddenly, the leather strap of my sandal tore. I did not give it much attention to it. Finally, it was lunch break and everyone was running, so I also ran and suddenly, I slipped and both of my sandals tore. I was so upset. I had to throw my new sandals aeay. I had to walk barefoot in the whole campus! What a birthday!

S Saba Sheerazi
Bangladesh International Tutorial, Dhaka.

Best Punishments in School

After going through many boring lessons, our class often turns very noisy. As a result all of the students are always punished. When we were in Class V, we got two such punishments, or 'fun', as most of us called them. Our class teacher, Miss Nargis, was busy and we were left alone in the class. Needless to say, we became the noisiest class ever. Then our teacher came in angrily and told all of us to line up in the big field where all other students would make fun of us as the noisiest class. We did as told, but in a minute we began to run and talk and play in the field. Another day, when our teacher, Miss Laura, was out for some work, everyone started laughing for some reason. She entered the class and at that moment, we stopped. We were told to write, 'I won't laugh in the class again' 20 times on the board. Everyone wrote, even those who did not laugh. These were the best punishments we ever had.

Nadira Tasnim
SFX Greenherald International School, Dhaka.