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<%-- Page Title--%> Dhaka Diary <%-- End Page Title--%>

<%-- Volume Number --%> Vol 1 Num 132 <%-- End Volume Number --%>

December 5, 2003

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The Weight of a Teacher

I was on a Savar bound bus with some school-goers a few days back. Unfortunately, I had to be a witness to a new form of teacher-student respect. It all started when an unfortunate teacher got on the same bus, where some of his students were travelling. As it happened, the students were in the same school as the teacher and they soon started to give salam to the teacher in due respect. The frankness of the teacher must have triggered something in one of the boys, because he started to boisterously urge the teacher to pay the fare. It would have made sense if it was one student but there were ten of them all together. At this point, one of the passengers came forward to the teacher's aid and refuted the idea of a teacher paying for all the students. Another astute student brought into light the modern teacher-student relationship. The teacher paid all the fare but his silence was enough to show the humiliation he felt inside. Even though the students had pulled a fast one on the teacher, little did they know that they were only putting themselves to shame. They had taken advantage of a good teacher. I silently looked on, thinking back to my school days. Things were so different then.

Saad,Jahangirnagar University, Savar


A Curse or a Blessing

A few days back, I was standing in front of Aparejeo Bangla walking with a close friend of mine. A beggar came to us to ask for some alms. Since I had no change, I asked her to go away. As she was leaving, I heard her murmur something. I could have sworn that she was cursing us for not helping her. Almost at once, I found some change and called her back. She took the money and held up her hands to offer some prayers for us. At this point, I asked her what she had been murmuring about sometime back. She didn't say anything. While leaving, I could not help but wonder: did we receive her blessings or were we cursed?

Md. Aktaruzzaman Dipu, Department of Sociology, Dhaka University


Showing the Right Way

I was on my way to Azimpur from my Hall via Nilkhet on foot. When I reached Nilkhet, it started to drizzle and I took shelter inside one of the nearby shops. As I was looking at the wet scene, I saw a woman standing by the road helplessly looking about. From her looks, I presumed that she was blind. She stood for some time before a traffic policeman went up to her and started a conversation. As soon as the rain had stopped, I saw the policeman hail a local bus and helped the poor blind woman board it. I went up to him and asked if the lady was a relative of the policeman. He replied in the negative. We need such policeman in the force who will be our friend instead of being a tyrant.

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

 
         

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