JourneyJoke!

I was returning home from university in a crowded local bus. I was sitting next to a middle-aged man who was talking to me the whole time. He got off later at a nearby station. When the conductor began collecting the fares, he also asked me for my co-passenger's fare. I was astonished and didn't know what he was talking about. The man had told the conductor that I would pay for him and had purposely talked to me during the whole ride to confuse the conductor into thinking that we were acquainted and together. I was fortunately able to convince the conductor that we were NOT together, but I do advise everyone to beware of their co-passengers.

Md. Al Amin Sagar Dhaka University

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Trust Lost to Hypocrisy

A few days back, an old man with a long grey beard came to our home. He introduced himself as an ex-professor of Dhaka College. He said that he had come to our home to help us. He revealed that we had many enemies and they would harm us. My mother, being credulous in nature, got frightened and asked the stranger the way-out. The old man readily ordered a glass of water. After taking the glass he blew in the water muttering some sort of doa that we could not understand and asked all of us to drink the water. Right after we drank it we lost consciousness. We could see everything, but neither we could say anything nor did we have the strength to do anything. He demanded Tk 700 from my mother and she happily complied, as if she had to do anything he asked. When we finally got our senses back he was gone. I would request others to be aware of this type of pseudo-pirs.

A Reader

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Sylhet Diary

An Educated Rickshaw-puller

A few days ago I was travelling by rickshaw from Darshandeory to Mirermoydan. I had a magazine with me, a monthly, called Juvenile Voice. Suddenly, the rickshaw-puller asked me whether it was Juvenile Voice that I was reading. I told him it was. He then asked me -- in fluent English -- whether I could give him a copy. I asked the rickshaw-puller how he knew about the magazine and he told me he read it every month. He also told me that he had passed his B.A. but couldn't find a job and so was pulling a rickshaw for a living. I felt really bad and as I got off the rickshaw, I gave him the magazine and Tk. 50 instead of the Tk. 5 fare. Is this the future of our country's graduates?

Abdus Sattar Hredoy Osmani Medical College Sylhet