Dhaka Diary

Crazy People

Afew nights ago, I was going to Mohammadpur. All of a sudden I saw a huge crowd gathered on Ring Road. I went forward to see what was going on when I discovered that a shooting of a television drama was taking place. Noted actress Aupi Karim was trying to pacify the people gathered around, since she was unable to do her part. For a long time she tried, but failed to manage the people. I left the place after a while. I wonder if she ever got to execute her performance though. How much crazier can people actually get?

MARS Sohel
Mohammadpur

One Fine Afternoon

Last weekend, I took a rickshaw from Dhanmondi 4A to go to a friend's place. It was a lovely afternoon and everything felt so peaceful and soothing around me. Groups of friends and young families with toddlers were walking towards the lake to probably spend some quality time together. Some young couples were also enjoying the afternoon going from one place to another on a rickshaw. That was when I saw two Ducth couples on two rickshaws enjoying the afternoon as well, taking pictures and asking a million questions. And who else would be answering those questions in an almost perfect English, but the rickshaw pullers themselves! Not only were they conversing in English, the rickshaw pullers were also playing the roles of two unofficial guides, taking them around to the lake, asking them to try the phuchka and chotpoti and take pictures as well. I could not help smiling to myself after witnessing this incident, which added to the whole essence of the wonderful afternoon.

Sarah Haq
Dhanmondi

Life Goes on

I met a friend after a very long time. It was wonderful to catch up on each others' lives, what we have been doing for the last few years and it was also very interesting to note the little changes that took place within each of us after we left school. My friend, who was never really good with computers or any new little piece of technology that would spring up, informed me that she finally got married two months ago to a man she met online just three months before she got married! At one point in her life, she got hooked to the public chat rooms online and would meet several people. She was lucky enough to meet the man of her dreams on one such cyber chat, she said smiling. Even though I was very happy for her, I was a still a little perturbed about the whole meeting-people-online concept. What if both turned out to be completely wrong for each other? What if most of the things that they told each other online were lies and were fabricated only to seem interesting to the person on the other end of the line? And then I realised, how different is the arranged marriage concept that we still follow in our country? We just have parents or other eager relatives doing the selecting for us instead of the chat rooms. A girl is always shanto, sushil, and a good cook, while the boy is smart, a 'brilliant' student and earns a very good salary, even though half of everything is only half true. At one point in their lives, these two people finally realise that they have nothing in common but still have to go on with their lives.

Nazia Afereen
Gulshan 2

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