Modern
Day Fokir
I was sitting
on a rider in a blazing summer day in front of Dhaka College
gate. The rider was bound for Farmgate. An old beggar came to
me and asked for some alms. I gave him a Tk.1 coin. Another
passenger sitting behind me called the beggar and giving him
a Tk.2 note and told the beggar to return one Taka. However,
the beggar was reluctant to return any money. Rather, he started
to dilly-dally with the passenger and asked, rather, told him
the he (the passenger) didn't require the change in return.
What could one get for a measly Tk.1 nowadays anyway, was the
beggar's question. The passenger was reluctant to comply. I
overheard someone saying that this was the modern day fakir!
I was surprised at the beggar's behaviour and was thinking how
nobody in our society is happy with what they get. They always
want more and more and even more. I guess it's a good time to
change the famous proverb that says, "Beggars can not be
choosers" because the modern beggar definitely has a choice
now.
Md
Nazrul Islam Sumon, Department of English, DU
The
Inferno
One
day, as I was coming home from my university, I noticed smoke
coming from my neighbour's window. I also heard someone screaming
for help. The incident was taking place on the first floor I
ran up the flight of stairs and rang the doorbell but nobody
answered. As I could still hear the shrill screech from the
other side of the door, I broke down the door and entered into
the house. As I had figured, there was a fire in the kitchen
and all the commotion was coming from a 13-year-old. There was
no one else around and by now, there were other people crowding
around. I risked my life and saved that girl and called the
fire brigade and soon, the fire was brought under control. The
girl was injured and I hurried her to the hospital. I had managed
to collect the mobile number of the owner of the house from
a phone-diary book and called them as well. I later came to
know that the little girl was the servant who had unfortunately
not realised that the gas-pipe to the stove was cracked. She
was about to do the cooking when everything went ablaze. It
felt really good to know that she was doing fine as I had played
a major part in her saving her life.
Md.
Golam Kibria, State University, Mohammadpur
Let
sleeping dogs lie
A
few days back, I was near Rd 32 when I noticed a stray dog sitting
idle by the street, busy with his own activities. A guard from
a nearby house, who just didn't have enough to do, was just
not feeling comfortable with the dog for some reason. He felt
that something should be done and took matters into his own
hands. In this case, the matter happened to be a big stone lying
on the street side. He carefully aimed at the dog, and looked
hear and there, maybe to calculate the friction of the wind.
When the stone made contact with the dog, it gave a shrill cry
of pain and stood up. The guard's initial theory was that the
dog would vacate the area in a hurry but to his surprise, it
started to make a lunge for him. It was an extremely funny thing
to witness because the guard was not a very good runner at that.
I am sure that he will think twice before hitting a resting
animal.
Ameer
Maple Leaf International College
