Silly Tales

Heartbreaking Slap

When I was in school, there was a really pretty girl in my class. All the boys used to have a crush on her. And, obviously, I was one of them. This once, during an exam, I needed help with an answer and she was sitting right next to me. I didn't know how to ask her anything because I was so shy. I was looking at her for a very long time and, naturally, she realised and looked at me and asked, “Is there something you want?” I got so nervous, my hands started trembling. I was just staring directly into her eyes because she was just so beautiful. Without thinking twice, I asked, “Can you come close to me? I need you.” She got so shocked; she walked over to my desk and slapped me in front of everyone! Our teacher couldn't help but laugh, along with everyone else. Now, after 11 years, we're really good friends and we laugh over this incident every now and then!

Saad Aleef Ahmed
East West University, Dhaka.

Different Traditions, Different Reactions

The funniest thing happened in our university's first year anniversary celebration. We had a Spanish lecturer, and in Spain, there's a custom where they greet each other by kissing one another on the cheek. I was always aware of this tradition, but for some odd reason, it slipped my mind that night. When I came across my lecturer, I yelled 'hey' from a far. He walked towards me all excited; we shook hands, and, all of a sudden, he leaned towards me to kiss me on my cheek. I didn't realise he was going for the cheek, though. I instantly jumped backwards and said, “WOAH!” The poor man got so embarrassed, he started yelling, “NO NO NO! That's not…wait no! It's tradition in my country! I'm so sorry!” And we both gave each other awkward laughs and walked away. Later, of course, I apologised to him for my reaction and told him that I knew about the tradition and reacted completely out of impulse. It was one of the funniest, yet most embarrassing things to have happened to me!

Naeema Islam Khan
Raffles Institute of Higher Education, Dhaka.

A Scratching Problem

When I was a kid, I loved to reveal the hidden information on scratch cards that came with the packets of different products to see whether I had won something. One day, I found a scratch card in a bag of detergent powder and scratched it off instantly. To my utter surprise, it read –“you have won a coaster.” Apparently I thought it to be one of the coaster buses in which I used to go to my native village with my parents during summer vacations. The possibility of winning a bus had me on top of the world and I ran to the nearby shop from which the bag of detergent was bought. To my dismay, only after getting to the shop, I came to know that my prize was actually not a bus but a small mat to be placed on tabletop. From then on, I stopped scratching off prize cards!

Lamia Huda
University of Asia Pacific,