Banking Tips

Nasreen Sattar Head of International Sales, Standard Chartered Bank

Q. I went to open an account in a Bank and despite producing my
identification (passport, driving licence, photograph etc.) I was asked for an introducer, someone who already has an account in the bank. Why is this
necessary?

A. Yes, the bank's action in requiring an introduction before opening an
account is legally justified. If the banker does not require introduction
of the customer before opening an account he cannot avail of the statutory
protection available to him because of his negligence in finding out the
true identity of his customer.

Q. I received a cheque in my name, but it is a crossed cheque. The problem is I do not have a bank account and need the money urgently. What should I do?

A. What you need to do is contact the person, who issued you the cheque, get her/him to cancel the crossing. Please note whenever there is an alteration in a cheque, full signature of the drawer will be required near the alteration.

Q. My domestic help in the house wants to open an account as she received a sum of money by selling some land in her village. She is illiterate, how can she operate the account?

A. As an illiterate person cannot sign their names and hence the bankers take their thumb impressions as a substitute for signature and also a copy of their recent photograph. An approved witness should attest the application form and the photograph. For withdrawing money, she must attend personally and affix her thumb impression in the presence of an official of the bank, for the purpose of identification.

Q. My son has got admission in a College in USA. Can I send him fund from here for his educational purpose?

A. As per Bangladesh Bank Guidelines foreign exchange may be transferred for studies abroad by Bangladeshi nationals in all regular courses (subject to being consistent with the Education Policy of the Bangladesh Govt.) in recognised institutions. Certain formalities will have to be completed before funds can be transferred.

Agony Medic

Dr. Lutful Aziz, FCPS, PHD, Consultant "analgesia, Pain relief centre

Care and Protection of the Osteo-Arthritic Knee

Keep Your Knee movement full
Allowing your knees to stiffen and losing some movement at the extreme straight or bent position will restrict your activities and reduce nourishment to the cartilage. Walking will become more uncomfortable if stiffness occurs and your legs will feel tired and achy more quickly.

The Squeeze-Pump-Squeeze Action
This movement helps to feed the cartilage by pumping the nutrients towards the joint and squeezing them into the cartilage. This should be done several times on waking in the morning and repeated again last thing at night.

Lying down, bend your knee as far as it will go, now grasp it with both hands and give it an extra pull towards you (this is the squeeze). Now straighten your leg (this is the pump), and brace it flat on the bed (the squeeze). Repeat these movements several times.

The Half Hour Rule
If sitting for a long time, for example longer than half an hour, try to remember to bend and straighten your knee several time every half hour.

This helps to prevent stiffness setting in and the associated stiff discomfort on first standing up. Stretch your leg first, loosen up and then stand up.

Exercise Routine
To Improve/Maintain Mobility
a. A large board or tray makes this exercise, but if one is not available the exercise can still be performed perfectly well. Start by lying yourself down on your bed, floor or sofa, place the board beneath your legs and a towel folded up into quarters to make a pad to go between your heel and the board. Now bend and straighten your leg by sliding the towel up and down the board. Make sure you bend up as far as you can and also straighten out as much as possible. Do this exercise until you feel your knee loosen up (up to 5 minutes).

b. The next exercise is done sitting on a chair with your feet firmly planted on the floor.

Place your feet about six inches apart, but keep your knees together. Now try to turn your feet out like Charlie Chaplain, then turn your feet in so that your big toes almost touch.

Do this 10 times turning in and 120 times turning out. Rest for a short time, then repeat. That totals 20 in and 20 out.

Helpline

Anwara Chowdhury Guidance Conselor

Q: Dear Anwara,
My friend's three years old daughter is a "problem child". She is very hyperactive, always picking fights with other children in the nursery. Feeding her at mealtime is like being in a war zone as she runs about and throws food everywhere. She goes to bed late - usually around midnight and then has very hard time getting up in the morning. I think my friend is very close to a nervous breakdown - Please HELP! -Afreen

A: Dear Afreen
Thank you for your letter. First of all I would suggest not labeling a child "Problem Child". As an adult if we are already set up with negative thoughts then definitely we are going to give them negative messages through our verbal and non-verbal actions.

To improve the child's behavior you need to have rules. To exercise these rules you should have consistency, consequences and a reward system. I suggest that your friend talk to a professional who can guide her through these different methods. I also run a "Children's Behavior Management " course for parents. I am sure this course will also enable her to manage her child better.

Q: Dear Anwara,
My nephew is ten years old. He is having a great deal of emotional problems. He cannot control his anger. He becomes very disruptive and destructive in the home. How do you deal with this form of out burst?
-Sohel

A: Dear Sohel,
Thank you for letter but each case is individual. I will need more information in order to give the proper advice. However I was counseling a nine-year-old boy with similar disruptive and destructive behavioral problems a few years ago. Firstly I obtained information about his family and their relationship with one another before starting counseling with him. This particular boy had experienced a violent home environment. He felt helpless and powerless to protect one of his parents and because of this he used to suppress his anger, which gradually changed into a destructive nature.

The initial work with him was play therapy to overcome his fear and anxieties. During counseling play therapy, other activities were introduced to explore his anger, which used to turn into a disruptive and destructive nature. This enabled him to explore his positive sides and develop skills, which would help him in later stages. Besides this he was encouraged to build a positive working relationship with his family.

For further details or advice contact Anwara Chowdhury
Email: AnwaraChowdhury @hotmail.com

 

 

Under A Different Sky

The Irony Unfold

I see her everywhere. Sometimes awkwardly dragging over packed grocery bags in her new jeans and oversized t-shirt. Sometimes waiting patiently at the bus stops, nervously looking around to see if she is at the right one. Sometimes with her kids wearing very washed kamizes at the play ground near the apartments where her family has moved into. She always hesitates, always smiles and always has a guilty look. As if you have just caught her doing something, or read her mind, and she is too embarrassed to what you have found out about her.

She is the woman who just set her foot in America, with limited finances and limited choices trying to fit in. She is neither from a very wealthy background nor from a very poor. The stickiness of middle class doesn't let her do much that would help her and keeps her glued to some things that would be better to get rid off. The obedient house wife now in a country where obedience is a chauvinistic word, one often wonders how she fits in. She remembers how back home the few hours she got in the afternoon to herself with the kids taking an afternoon nap and husband at work seemed so precious. Those few hours went by so fast with so much to do or ponder, and now she has got all day. After her daily chores, she has got nothing else to do but to watch television talk-shows and sitcoms which she can not relate to, so she prefers to sit out and count the flowers of the magnolia tree shading her balcony.

Some time passes, she understands the power of the dollar and decides as well to earn it. The other Bengali house wives in the same apartment complex who have decided to earn some extra money through baby sitting at home come to use, because that's where she leaves her kids while one Saturday morning she goes out with her husband to fill out applications to various grocery and retail stores.

So I see her more often now, at the local grocery store wearing red aprons fixing the aisles, with a mixture of happy and sad smile. The smiles that come from little independence of first earnings and old hesitations of set standards. The standards where she couldn't imagine being a grocery store aisle stacker. So she writes to her family saying she is a kindergarten schoolteacher and hopes they don't ask more questions.

She has picked up more English now, from the sitcoms, which she slowly is finding funnier, and from her colleagues. She has problems understanding some of the slang, but she also has picked up some and can make-do just fine. She still gives her full pay check to her husband who later gives her enough cash to take the bus every morning and back. She hasn't gathered the courage yet to ask to open her own bank account but maybe soon one day she will.

She doesn't mind giving her kids microwave meals anymore, or the fact they are hooked on Burney the purple dinosaur TV show. She throws parties where she adds new American dishes she learnt with the chicken biriyani and wears deep red shaded lipsticks leaving her hair down and laughing with a new rhythm she has picked up from the grocery aisles to the bus's wheels and odd slang.

She dreams of going back to school but it still remains a dream. Though her husband is PUTTING UP with her working he will not put up with missing the home made Bengali dinner. She dreams of cutting her hair short and wearing stylish clothing and maybe even one night, taking her husband to one of those night clubs her co-workers talk about. But she only dreams and knows most of these will never come true. A woman whose priority has always been her husband and children, something that she learnt and saw being practiced by her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, how can she all of a sudden prioritize herself in the land of the selfish and successful?

So now when I see her she looks a bit different. Turning bitter slowly. She doesn't have much hesitation but it's more of a frustration. No smiles, just dark lips from using cheap lipsticks. When I look at her now instead of resisting she offers me her thoughts which tell stories of the irony of limited choices the land of opportunity holds for her.

By Iffat Nawaz