Star Diary

A Shared Meal

A few days ago, my friend Rashed and I were walking from the TSC (Teacher-Student Centre) of Dhaka University. We were appalled to witness a scene while moving towards the Institute of Fine Arts. A group of four poor and hungry were having lunch from a single, small dish. It is definitely strange. Even after going through a day filled with strenuous work, these people have a hard time managing a single meal. To add to it all, the little food that they can manage has to be shared by their family members as well. A few pedestrians, who happened to be privileged as compared to the ones eating their lunch, were passing by and commenting on how these street people were making the environment worse and blocking the pathway. It would take quite a while for discrimination against the poor to be wiped out completely. This will happen only when all will be everyone the more generous and sharing.
Md Manirul Islam
American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB)
Dhaka

Weird Language
Last week, after my classes I got on the bus to go home. The bus was less crowded compared to other days. Even then I failed to get a seat for myself. Instead, I had to stand balancing myself on a spare handle. After a few minutes, the conductor shouted out the word "plastic." The bus took a severe U-turn. I realised that by the word plastic, he meant the small cars. The bus was stuck in the traffic jam for a long time. I felt very exhausted. Just when I was about to doze off, I heard the conductor shout, "ostad!"(boss). No sooner had he said this, the bus driver braked hard. The passengers who were standing (including myself) were all forced forward. The passengers cursed the driver. Coincidently, more passengers got on the bus though there were no bus stops around. It was truly suffocating. Having finally lost my patience, I decided to walk home. What surprised me the most was the crude way the conductor used to alert the bus driver that they can afford to take more passengers. I feel that it is a pathetic way to earn more.
Meenaz Chowdhury
Maple -Leaf International School
Dhaka

Child Talk
The other afternoon, I was walking in front of my house when I found a few children playing and talking amongst themselves. As I got closer to them, I could not help but overhear their conversation. The children were playing a game of 'buying and selling' and to my surprise they were discussing about the recent phenomenon of the rise in price of rice. One child commented on how prices of essentials were rising everyday, especially the cost of rice. Others were agreeing to what the first child was saying, further commenting on the fact that now they would have to spend at least Tk 1 to buy the things that they used to spend 50 paisas on earlier. I was amazed to hear such adult conversations being carried out by little children. It also scared me a little. Recent issues like price hikes are clearly influencing the minds of the innocent children as well.
Nipun
BIFT
Uttara, Dhaka

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