Dhaka Diary

Enjoying Rain

It was raining heavily, due to which the usual traffic had become even larger, albeit the drenched pedestrians and rickshaw pullers. It all looked very depressing indeed, when a nearby sight caught my eye. A car, with a blaring loud stereo system came rushing by, but instead of joining the traffic, it came to a standstill near the pavement. The doors opened and several teenage boys jumped out of it. Keeping their doors opened, so that the music was even louder by now, they started dancing! In a few minutes in the rain, they became really drenched. They were having the fun of their lives. Next, they took a few street urchins by the hand, who were sheltered from the rain under a tree, and brought them towards the car and encouraged them to dance too! People were pointing and gaping at them, but none of them paid the people the slightest attention. It just goes to show that even if the rain had brought nothing but misery for some people, there are still some people in the world who can have fun in any condition and make the best out of it for others too.
Wahid Tamzid Khan
Dhanmondi Tutorial.

Wahid Tamzid Khan
Dhanmondi Tutorial

This happened a few days ago. I was going home from school and saw an intriguing site. A bus nearby had come to a stop and was taking in more passengers. Since it was after school hours, the group of passengers mostly comprised of students. But what intrigued me was the fact that a couple of students were arguing and shouting at a stooped elderly man. One of them even had the audacity of shaking the man by his shoulders! From what I understood from the other passengers was that, since it is important to get on quickly on the bus when it is at a temporary stop, these students had shouted and even tried to shove the man in since he took a long time to get on the bus. The man had nearly lost his balance, so they were back on the pavement quarrelling about it with all the other passengers looking, not even doing anything! It is quite incredulous to see that their are some amongst us who are so disrespectful towards the elderly and even dare to reprimand them, while others do nothing and watch.

Zunaira Khan
Dhanmondi Tutorial.

Last week, I boarded a bus to get to my coaching centre. As I settled myself, I habitually started to plug in my mp3 player. Suddenly, I felt a nudge and looked up to see the old man sitting beside me enquiring what I was listening to. Just with a cursory glance, I answered ("Enter Sandman", Metallica) and was plugging back when he asked me how I like "Scorpions" and "Guns and Roses". Now he had my full attention. He was a mundane looking person, the sort you expect never to leave the confines of their own language regarding music. However, I was even more surprised when he asked me whether Satriani or Vai is the better guitarist. Interpreting my quizzical look, he explained that he was abroad during the fifties, and he returned with a lasting passion for music. From Pink Floyd and Beatles to Denver and Clapton, he ardently followed the music movements: heavy metal, grunge, soul, blues etc. He criticised the bubblegum pop and boy bands of the late nineties, while he was sad about the onslaught of rap music nowadays, telling me that those artists' music devotion was shallow. Moreover, he was optimistic about the quality of our bands but thought that they deserve greater international recognition. Then he quoted interesting facts from several musicians' trivia. I kept up with him for some time, but soon I realised that his knowledge of music far eclipsed mine. I am not sure whether that was a revelation, but next time my English Teacher assigns me to write an essay "A Strange Encounter", I will not have to fabricate a dinner with space aliens!

Ananya Das
Cephalon International.

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