The Snare

One Eid vacation two years back, I was returning to my rural home with more than twenty students from my native village. We travelled by launch from Sadarghat, which is one of the biggest and perhaps the most crowded launch terminal used by a huge number of people everyday. There are times when many people loose their expensive belongings to petty thieves, which could be anyone starting from the labourers in the terminal to the passengers. My fellow mates were playing card-games in different groups. I thought of doing something to keep myself busy and suddenly, I came up with a plan to catch a thief! A pair of costly shoes was deliberately kept in front of us to lure any potential thief around us. An hour went by before we noticed three people eyeing the pair of sneakers. After we were somewhat confirmed of their motive, I got up and got hold of the shirt collar of one of the thieves. My companions too were quick, but because they had started to blindly throw about punches, I could not get very close to him. In the chaos, the thief managed to run off, leaving behind his shirt. His accomplices were also no where to be seen. In the end, everyone was looking at our group, trying to figure what had made us come up with our little trap.

Md.Zillur Rahaman
Bangabandhu Hall, DU

In our so-called 'liberal society'

I was on my way to IBA to attend my afternoon classes. While passing the Sheraton crossing, I was stuck there at the usual jam. I was lazily viewing my surroundings when my concentration was directed to a traffic policewoman, rather nervously doing her duty, standing on an island. It was raining a bit and the lady was standing with an umbrella. A youth on a bike was coming from the opposite direction. I initially thought that he was also looking at the lady with admiration. But immediately I understood that he was laughing at the lady along with his co-passenger behind him. They had made the lady an object of mockery. It didn't end there. Another bike appeared behind them, whose rider was possibly in his late 30s. He also started to laugh at the lady more blatantly. His age did not reflect his immaturity. I felt like slapping the man. I wondered why the woman totally ignored the remarks of these sleazy people. Maybe she understood her position as a constable and more importantly, as a lady in a backward society. My anger and shock ended abruptly as my CNG started to move. I pondered why courageous and hard-working women should not be looked at with admiration? When will we start to take them as our equals? With a heavy heart and with all these questions in mind, I went to my class for my education, one that will enable me hold a prestigious position in this society, a society where free movement of women is still a far cry.
Md. Ashequl Islam
IBA Hostel

A Big Help!

My friend and I went to Siddheshwari the other day to visit a friend. We had the address but didn't know the precise location, so we left the rickshaw and started to look for the house on foot. We decided to ask about the address. We were really lucky because the first man we asked told us to go on straight for 30 yards. We did, but failed to find our destination. We asked another person and he gave us another direction. We walked the whole lane but our efforts were in vain. The next man we asked was quite inquisitive and started to ask us questions, 'Where will you go? Why will you go there?' and so on. He had no idea of what we were talking about. We asked several others who misguided us the same way.
After a long while, we asked an elderly man who at last gave us the correct direction. God bless him! We reached our destination after an hour of search. To our utter astonishment, we saw that it was just beside the place where we had let our rickshaw go. We had only to turn right to find the house but the local people misguided us without even knowing the locale. They could simply have said that they didn't know the place, instead of giving us wrong advice. Thanks to them, my friend and I had to stroll from one side of the road to the other. It was not a pleasant experience for us because there were a lot of people staring at us.

F.T.
Kamlapur