Prank with religion

For the last few months, there have been some pranks on private email accounts and cellular phones. Those who have such accounts have received small messages containing short religious verses, mostly from the Quran and Bible. The sender is always sure to ask the receiver to read the text a certain number of times with a pure mind (and soul) and then to forward the message to a particular number of people in order to earn God's blessings. The significant part of the story is that the sender instructs all receivers to transmit the message to others via e-mail / mobile phone, which if disobeyed, would rob the message receiver of all personal belongings, wealth, social status and reputation by the wrath of the Supreme Authority within a given period of time. One can only wonder how people can play such silly jokes in the name of religion.
Aziz Amirul, Dhaka

Torn money

I was going to my tuition in Dhanmondi from my university hall. As the bus conductor asked for the fare, I gave him a Tk.100 note. He returned the change and I quickly put it back into my pocket without looking at it accurately since it was full of loose change. Incidentally when, after an hour and a half, I was returning back it was the same bus. As I was about to pay my fare, I noticed that the conductor had slipped into a torn Tk.10 note on the earlier occasion. Since it was the same conductor, I handed him the note without saying anything but to my surprise, he refused to take it. I was a little annoyed and told him to tear the note because no one was willing to accept it. He was not expecting such a reply and seemed totally taken aback. I said that it was he who had given me the torn Tk.10 note in the first place. He then recognised me because not many people change a Tk.100 note on a bus. He started to apologise for his mistake. He said that someone else had passed the money onto him and he had to try his luck at circulating it back. He finally took the money from me.

Md. Zillur Rahaman, MSS Economics, BB Hall, DU

The'Spiderman'

A man hanging on to the handle of the gate of a bus is hardly an unusual sight in our city, especially at peak hours. I was on a baby-taxi on my way home and was stuck in a jam near Shabagh and a bus carrying a hanging passenger was standing quite close to my baby-taxi. It was so close that the man was almost touching the baby-taxi. Seeing his dilemma and the risk the person was taking, my scooter driver expressed his concern for him and said, "You should get inside the bus, there is every possibility of getting hit by a passing vehicle.” The man in a petulant manner snapped back, "Try hitting me and you'll end up with a shattered windscreen." The driver was totally stunned on hearing the response. He turned to me and said, “That's what I get for trying to help my fellow countryman.”

Ali Hamid Khan, Sector 5, Uttara