Star Diary

Lack of Discipline on Roads

While returning to Dhaka from Cox's Bazaar, I came across a road accident on the Comilla Highway. A bus, pacing ahead with a speed of 100kmph, came face to face with a jeep that was about to overtake a car from the opposite direction. The bus was naturally forced to halt all of a sudden allowing it to jump a certain height and roll sideways into a pond. The bus landed upside-down and so the passengers suffered from severe head injuries while the jeep escaped. Is it too much to ask for vehicles not to cross the dual carriageway on roads?
Mohua Morshed Nitol
Maple Leaf International School
Dhaka

Just a week ago, while sweating in a never-ending traffic jam, I came across a weird scene on the street. A rickshaw with two female passengers was standing beside my car. After a tiring ten minutes, the signal turned green and before the subjective rickshaw could start moving, a car behind it came and banged on the rickshaw. The two female passengers as well as the rickshaw puller luckily did not fall, however the spiky exterior of the rickshaw made huge scratches on the car's body. Instantly, the driver of the car came out with his employer and began their investigation. Meanwhile, all the other vehicle owners and passengers were happy spectators of such an event; all of them shouting and screaming. The car owner began to curse the rickshaw puller for the damages made to his car, eventhough there was clear evidence that it was the car driver's fault. This event provoked many other spectators who had seen this from the beginning and they went to rescue the rickshaw puller. While a party went to help the actual victim, a few others who were oblivious to the truth went to take the car owner's side. And then began the real chaos- two groups of people shouting and cursing in the most horrible ways. The whole road was blocked on both sides; some vehicles stopped due to this accident while others were just trying to enjoy the scene. Then after almost twenty minutes the police stepped in; they took aside the car and the rickshaw and made the bystanders move on. The whole scene left me thoughtful and till date I cannot reconcile myself with what I had seen. We the Bengalis are very proud of our nation and the populace. According to us our tradition is comprised of our rich characteristics, culture, manners and so forth. However, it is startling to see the opposite episode in our mundane life. I guess this is a good time to change ourselves and adapt more mature ways to deal with situations. We claim to be so cultured while our activities often contradict this.
Noshin Sharar
Dhaka

It was drizzling a few days ago. I was walking along the road when I took shelter in a shop. I noticed a small tea stall a few feet away from where I was standing. The weather was charming, encouraging me to have a cup of tea. After I had my tea, I returned to the sheltered place. There I noticed that a child was rushing to the stall and back to the sheltered spot bringing tea for all the other people who had decided to wait it out while it was raining. I could not understood why those people could not just have their tea at the stall, instead of making the child run to and fro. I wonder when we as a nation will find pleasure in doing things ourselves.
Tahmidul Islam
BAF Shaheen College
Dhaka

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