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Dhaka Diary

A Nobel Profession!
As I have been suffering from a miserable dental problem for a while, it had become really crucial for me to go a dentist. I went to a very prominent dentist, who sits at Jamal Khan. After checking my teeth he suggested that I run an X-ray and gave me a prescription. Later on when he came to know that I study at a renowned private university, he asked me to hand over the prescription whereupon he added a new tablet. When I went to the dispensary to buy the medicines, I realised his intention as I found out that the last batch of tablets that he had added cost Tk 12 a piece. When I went back to him after a few days to submit the X-ray report, he did not bother to even check the report and just asked me to do 'scaling' and 'filling'. He would obviously get a commission from the Diagnostic and Pharmaceuticals companies. This is the kind of service we get from the doctors and dentists of our country! While I was returning from his chamber, I remembered what my father used to tell me at one time, "Son, study hard and try to be a doctor, the noblest profession in the world."
Adnan Saifullah
Dept. Of MBA, East West University, Dhaka

Mystery of the ponds solved!
There are two ponds in Dhaka City that never fills with water; even in the rainy season these two remain empty. These two mysterious ponds are located inside the National Child Park (Shishu Park) and another one is inside the Institute of Fine Arts premises. An elderly worker of Shishu Park believes that the Shishu Park was previously a shrine or a mazar. Since the peer of the mazar was ousted from his place, he cursed the place for which the pond remains vacant. This pond in Charukala is also very deep. Since it remains empty throughout the year students have set up a badminton court at the bottom. A few years ago at a meeting in Chittagong, Delwar Hossain Sayedy had spoken of this curse due to which the Charukala pond remains waterless. He claimed that the Churukala students are the "Nafarmans".
The real fact is that in Dhaka City, many parts of the land are enriched with low clay. Geologists found out that in Charukala and in Shishu Park, the layer of clay is only 15 to 20 feet high. As the height of these two ponds is about 20 feet high the clayed layer cannot hold the water. Therefore, they stay empty. So much for the mysterious curses! Everything has to do with the topography of Dhaka.
Mars Sohel
Dept of EEE, BUET

A Struggle to Survive
A few days ago, I encountered something strange and pitiful: a rickshaw puller who had only one leg! He had lost the other one in a road accident a few years earlier. When I had approached him, I had not noticed his disability until he started to cycle his way towards my destination. He was moving along like all the other rickshaw pullers on the street. When I asked him about his leg, he told me about the accident which had occurred years ago, but even then could not stop his work. After reaching my destination, I paid 5 taka more than the usual rate, which the rickshaw puller would not accept! It seems he would never accept sympathy and alms from others around, rather work his way through, just like he used to before the accident.
Md. Kamrul Hasan Regan
Department of English, University of Dhaka