Star Diary

Imitating Parents

The other day, I was sitting on the balcony, watching people go on about their lives. My eyes fell on a young boy, not more than 4 or 5 years of age. He was standing beside his father on the road. Like all young children, he was imitating his father's activities. It was cute and I was enjoying the little boy's tactics. Suddenly, the father lit a cigarette and was puffing away, something that caught the boy's attention. Immediately, the little boy took out a pen and was imitating his father, pretending to smoke. He went on with the act, which seemed slightly disturbing to me. The father seemed quite unaware of the fact that his son might try smoking an actual cigarette in the absence of his parents. Parents should be careful about what they do or say in front of their children.
Rahim Abu Ali Sajwani
North South University
Dhaka

A Little Effort to Help

The other day on the train, my friend and I were discussing about the different facilities provided to commuters on the train. At a certain junction the train stopped to let the passengers out and to take in some new passengers. At that moment I saw the ticket master taking out something from the compartment. Just as the train stopped he fixed a long piece of metal plank in front of the door, when a physically challenged person in a wheelchair got down using the plank. I was very impressed by this and wondered if the same could be done in Bangladesh as well. It doesn't take much effort to do something like that on buses and trains, which would enable physically challenged people to go about by themselves. I realised that people here in Auckland care about their people a great deal, When will we start caring about our own people in our country?
Mohammed Hifzur Rahman (Aman)
Auckland, New Zealand

Belief in Mankind

As I was returning home one hot afternoon, I was desperately looking for a rickshaw. Finally hopping on one, I started on my way home. The rickshaw puller began to talk about his life. He was saying that the following week, he was expecting guests to his home, who were coming to see his daughter for a marriage proposal. So he needed some money to entertain the guests. I told him that I would help as much as I could. Over the next few days, he met with me several time, which made me doubt his intentions. However, I gave him a little money. He was happy and went home. After a few days, I met the rickshaw puller but tried to avoid him. He was coming towards me and I obviously thought that he wanted more money. But he approached with a big smile on his face, thanking him for helping him out when he needed it most. His daughter was married in a well-to-do family, which had been possible only because he had received help from his friends and decent folks, like myself, he said. I felt good inside, realising that I had helped a fellow man in need and could not help wondering how happy the rickshaw puller had become with the little money that I had given him.
Asif Islam
Mycomputer IT
Chandpur

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