Letters
Eid
Hot Spots
I would like to extend my heartiest felicitations to SWM
for its timely and informative cover story on November 12th
about "Eid Hot Spots". Truly speaking, all of
us crave a change of scenery from our monotonous lives for
places and entertainment on such holidays. Therefore I would
like to thank and congratulate the SWM team for giving us
a great Eid issue which gave us suggestions on how to spend
our Eid and what to do. I would also like to congratulate
photographer Zahedul I Khan especially for his colourful
photo feature.
Hasan Abdul Kadir
Madanganj, Narayanganj
Scrooge's
Eid
I enjoyed the wonderful feature titled "Scrooge's Eid"
by Neeman Sobhan in the Eid issue of SWM. By choosing this
particular character she has managed to heighten the intensity
of the story in a very light-hearted way, which I feel is
what she excels in most. She has wonderfully devised the
Eid journey that moves through the past, present and future
Eid spirits. She finds Eid in a foreign land very dull and
despite her ardent desire to have fun by entertaining guests
in various ways, she fails, because it's a foreign land
with people of many different religions and customs. She
has wonderfully split time in three phases: the spirit of
Eid in the past appear to be more pleasing; the Eid in the
present is a downright flat one and that of the future is
questionable. However, she has been able to keep up the
tradition by instilling them, customs and overall warm feeling
of Eid to her sons who are in different parts of the globe.
She finally decides to celebrate Eid, be it in her own boring
way. It's amazing that Neeman Sobhan has such a great knack
for innovative ideas to enhance the beauty of the event
in the changing wheels of time. She finally has come to
terms with the idea that she will celebrate Eid. She is
happy because she has found the same spirit in her sons
which she has been cherishing and nourishing all her life.
Her blending of reality and emotion is excellent. A great
realisation indeed. Congrats!!
Rafiqul Islam Rime
Agrabad, Chittagong
On
Writing Gracefully
I read with interest the article entitled "Writing
Gracefully," by Dr. Syed Saad Andaleeb on the November
26th issue of SWM. I must admit that I found the writer's
tone to be highly condescending. It is amazing that the
generation that complains about the fact that Bangalis have
no writing skills to speak of, is the same generation that
is responsible for the poor quality of education in Bangladesh.
As a professor in a university abroad, it is very easy to
thumb your nose at our education system. If you really cared
so much, come back to Bangladesh and try to make a difference
instead of coming up with a solution like, "the subject
ought to be dropped for the vast majority of students and
made optional" In your article you say that, "by
doing so, resources could be concentrated on producing fewer
but better calibre students armed with a foreign language
skill they could use." However, why should you sell
Bangali students so short? That is basically saying that
as a teacher or professor, rather than doing your job and
giving extra special attention to students who may not know
how to reach their full potential, you would rather not
deal with them at all. How will it help our nation as a
whole if we continue to lower our standards of excellence
by forgetting about those students who need more help, and
just focusing on the quick learners? You want to show off
our best students and, in the process, sideline the not-so-fortunate
students. Even though it might up our standards globally,
it will do nothing for Bangladeshis on an internal level.
As for your comment on writers, I definitely agree. The
media is guilty of the same thing that you are: lowering
their standards because they don't care enough to make an
effort for those who are trying to learn, but may not be
as proficient as they wish. I hope this letter was written
"gracefully" enough to suit your standards.
A Reader
On Email
On
Bangalipona
In the 26 November issue of SWM, Nabila Idris threw light
on a very important issue in her article called "Bangalipona".
Our gradual decrease of 'civic sense' will push this already
troubled nation into further chaos. Being the citizens of
a poor country does not mean that we should be devoid of
decency. I think the media can play a vital role in inspiring
people to behave decently especially in public. And write-ups
like the one Nabila Idris has written will help, too.
Wajahat Anwar
On email
Lack
of Common Decency
I really enjoyed reading "Bangalipona" by Nabila
Idris in last week's SWM. The writer was able to make her
point succinctly, keeping her tone light and humorous. It
is unfortunate that our people not only lack civic sense
but also common decency. We see this when we walk out on
the street and see a man urinating in public, which has
become such a common scene in Dhaka that people barely blink
an eyelid when they see it. That too, is sad -- that we
are so used to these things and have become almost numbed
to them. There are many reasons why I like reading SWM,
but the main reason is that it promotes young minds with
fresh new ideas and a new school of thought that I think
will be very good for the future of Bangladesh. Keep it
up SWM and Nabila Idris.
Tanzeela Ahmed
On Email
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