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Dhaka
Diary
 Doctor or Bluffer?
A couple of weeks ago, I with a few of my friends went to visit the Bangobondhu Museum in Dhanmondi-32. After visiting the museum we went to the bank of the lake in front of the museum to hang out for a while. A man about 40 or 45 was sitting with us on the bench. Suddenly he was looking at the sky and talking to himself. We laughed at him assuming him to be a mad person. Then he looked at us and started to speak to us in English. We were surprised to hear such fluent English. He told us that he was a doctor and had retired from his government job just a few years ago. He pointed to a red building nearby and said that he lived there.
He gave us a lot of suggestions about how to keep our body fit and strong. He wrote the names of several medicines on a page and asked us to take them regularly. After writing the little prescription he casually asked for 100 taka as his medical charge! We were obviously surprised. However, we gave him 50 taka saying that we didn't have more money. He took the money. Just then the man who sells cigarettes there, called out to him, saying that a little boy had fallen down near by and was bleeding from his knee and elbow. The doctor started walking with him. We followed them to watch him at work and also the little boy who needed help. However, we were stunned once again since both the men hid behind the bush and started to smoke ganja.
Onio
University Laboratory
A Unique Way of Mugging
One evening, I was returning home after my coaching classes. I noticed a small crowd in front of Lab Aid hospital. A man was talking with a policeman over the cell phone. From their conversation I came to know that the man had hired a CNG auto rickshaw to go home. The driver had misled him and tried to run the auto rickshaw on a different road. But the man was lucky enough to find a traffic police nearby and could stop the rickshaw. These drivers are connected with muggers and often deceive lonely riders to snatch away their valuable things. I also read that one of the journalists of The Prothom Alo was also a victim of such a scheme. How helpless we seem to be in front of these criminals!
Masudul Hassan Quraishi
Notre Dame College, Dhaka
A Thought Provoking Experience
Xcuse me young man," I heard somebody calling me in English. I stopped and saw an old man standing beside me. He asked me, “Are you a college student?” I asked him if I could do anything for him. He said that he completed his Masters in English from Dhaka University. He was doing a good job when suddenly he had a brain stroke. The left side of his body became paralysed and he lost everything. Now he survives by begging. I was very surprised when he told me that he was from Faridpur. It was easy to mistake him as a foreigner because of the fluent English he was speaking. I gave him 10 taka and asked him about his family. He told me that no one in his family cared for him. His wife was married again and just had left him after his brain stroke. I wished him the very best for his life from the bottom of my heart and left the. This incident took place in front of a post office where I had gone to drop a letter many days ago. I told my friend about the incident. Some said that he was a fraud. Notwithstanding, I could not forget his helpless face. Life is strange indeed.
Monzou-Re Khoda
English Department
East West University
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