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Dhaka
Diary
Smoking
Hookah at an ice-cream parlour
Our
4-year old son likes faluda and the Rainbow ice cream
parlour is one of his favourites. The other day we went to
Rainbow in Dhanmondi and sat down in the somewhat cramped
space of the parlour. There, we saw two young men, sitting
right behind us, puffing away and blowing smoke from a hookah,
served by the shopkeeper. I presumed this as the management's
latest sales technique to encourage more customers. However,
for our child and us, the smoke was quite unbearable. We had
to move away to avoid the direct smoke clouds, but there really
was no escape and the small room quickly filled with smoke.
When we complained to the shopkeepers, they in turn blamed
their management and seemed rather irritated themselves. Being
non-smokers, they were also suffering along with the other
customers. It is quite amazing that in this age, with a heightened
awareness of the perils of smoking (both active and passive),
where most work and recreation environments are becoming non-smoking
zones, such a practice is seen in an ice cream parlour. I
guess the next time, we would have to get take-away faludas!
Dr.
Iftekhar Ahmed Department of Architecture, BUET
Rotten
Veggies a day...
The
other day, I was at the Mohammadpur Bazar shopping for fresh
grocery, when I heard a customer's agitated scream, "<>Apnara
noshto shobji den, tar upor poishao chan beshi. Eto dam niyeo
kharap jinish dile amra khabo ki?<>" (You charge
us a very high price for these rotten vegetables of yours.
How do you expect us to eat for survival?) Musing upon this,
it struck me that the wholesalers actually sell us damp grocery
and in turn ask for a lot of money claiming that the vegetables
are fresh. We realise the state of the vegetables only after
we cook and eat them. This shows that the idea of health is
still taking a back seat in our society and that the idea
of having good food and a well-balanced diet, is probably
the last thought in the minds of our leaders.
Irfan
Khalid Notre Dame
No
pockets
step towards a better society
On
my way to Farmgate from Gulshan-1, our bus would frequently
stop owing to bad traffic. While going through a similar torturous
moment at the Mahakhali Tempo Stoppage, I actually had the
opportunity to treat myself to something, which I had always
heard of but never ever seen before with my very own eyes.
About ten Tempo drivers were 'shaking hands' with the traffic
policemen, actually passing money as bribe. Not only was it
amazing to see the policemen automatically put the money inside
their pockets, but also that after a while the 'big fish'
or the sergeant came up for his share as well! All the traffic
policemen brought out their bundles of nicely stacked two
taka notes, from which the sergeant kept a big portion. Since,
'to err is only human' and policemen being only human, bad
mouthing these law enforcers is just a waste of time. Instead,
maybe the authority can think of giving them new uniforms
with no pockets whatsoever. This might decrease the numbers
of these indiscretions, done so openly in public nowadays.
Md.
Jabed Amin (Juwel) ICAB
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