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    Volume 9 Issue 3 | January 15, 2010|

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Letters

On 'A Different Sort of Dreamer'
I read The Daily Star regularly and also the 'Write to Mita column'. I appreciate the positive values they espouse. But recently I was dismayed at Mita's answer to a query from "A Different Sort of Dreamer". Does Mita mean that every woman must have a career so that she can have children and keep her family happy? As a thankful son to a wonderful housewife mother, I believe that a fulltime mother is the best gift children can get. Also being a father of two small children, I see how much they have missed, when their mother goes to work. Though my wife tries her best to balance between career and home, she is also at pains sometimes when she cannot balance them well. Of course homemakers are not valued as much as they should be, but their sacrifice and dedication have moulded millions of families in our subcontinent. Not many people can balance career and home life and many times the imbalance leads to broken homes, tortured minds and destroyed futures. I think Mita should consider these things. As for 'A Different Sort of Dreamer', she is on the right path and should continue to focus on her family and keeping them happy. However, education is not necessary only for one's career but for oneself and one's family too. One should study properly and love what they do. It is also important to find the right partner who will understand, appreciate and support them.
Dastagir
Dubai, UAE

How 'bhua' is the 'bua' topic?

It seems that no matter where I go, one topic of conversation at gatherings is inevitably regarding the maidservant or buaets everyone excited and indignant is their bua situation. There is one group of women who feel they deserve sympathy for having an incompetent bua. You won't believe how lon crisis. Women will talk about the weather or despair about the traffic. But what truly gg it took her to make only six items for lunch, do the laundry and clean the house! Another group of women are constantly suspecting their bua of cheating or having an affair with the next-door driver. But of course by far the largest category is the group of people whose plight knows no bounds. They are in fact, bua-less. They will whine, beg and plead for a new bua. Their last bua lasted only two weeks! This crisis always amazes me. Why did that person leave? And why is it that my mother has had the same person in her house for almost 10 years? I wonder if it is that many have not figured out that a bua is, like any other human being, going to respond to kindness and respect. If given an appropriate salary, some kind words and welcomed to a household, they will show loyalty and dedication. Many may feel that this is not possible, how can you treat the bua like she is an equal being? I guess until that mindset changes, I'll be subjected to more years of lengthy banal discussions about buas.
Salwa Khan MD MHS
Philadelphia, USA

Violating Culture

Unquestionably, we Bangladeshis, have a rich culture which shapes our lifestyle, our dress code, behaviour and beliefs, etc. It is our duty to foster our culture and pass it on to the next generation. Regrettably, we seem much more interested in western culture and the culture of our bordering country, India. Our television channels have also some duty to nurture and promote our own culture and they do this from time to time. But a few days ago, I was surprised while watching one of the episodes of “LUX CHANNEL i SUPER STAR” on Channel i, which is a very well-liked programme and we got many talents from this programme. The participants of this programme were dressed in a way more western or Indian than Bangladeshi. We are in the age of globalisation and modernisation. That does not mean we have to follow and endorse those cultures through our national television channels. Was it not possible to put those participants on in sari, salwar kameez or something that does not violate the dress code of our own culture? I appreciate these types of programmes, which bring out many talented people. But the organisers and judges of the programme should organise and run them according to our cultural values. It is not necessary to follow the culture of others in order to keep pace with globalisation.
Sunny Rahman
Department of Business Administration
East West University

Engineering Institutions in Every District
We all agree that expansion of technical and professional education is essential for economic development but in practice we have been expanding only in the areas of general and religious education since the emergence of Bangladesh. The industrial sector has been developing fast in the last two decades. Textile, steel cold rolling, cement, sugar refine, edible oil, poultry, leather, etc. are a few examples. Industrialisation needs technically qualified manpower. It is surprising that even unemployment is a major problem over here when we have been employing a good number of technical and professional people from abroad. Engineering institutions or colleges can produce engineers. Setting up an engineering college is a time-consuming and capital-intensive project and Bangladesh is already behind in the race. The elected government can take up programme of setting up one engineering college in each administrative district. Otherwise we have to import engineers from abroad to set up and operate new industrial units in the years to come while Bangladeshi youths remain unemployed. If we produced engineers, they could even go abroad and contribute to our foreign currency, not to mention solve our own unemployment problem and thus get closer to our target of becoming a middle-income country in the next decade.
Md. Ashraf Hossain
Ramna, Dhaka

Migration Mania
When the British government paved the way for many Bangladeshies to migrate to the UK for education through tier-4 system we saw the rush of students like migratory birds in winter. Some students left in the middle of their semesters in hope of a better future abroad. However, the situation is not as wonderful as promised. Sometimes students are trapped by fake universities or ones which have no actual campuses or accommodation. Part-time jobs are not that easy to come by either. Students must not forget that it is better to be first-class citizens in their motherland than to be third-class citizens in another's land, be they developed countries. The British came to the sub-continent in search of treasures and then left, but Bangladesh remains a land of treasures.
Ahsan Uddin Tohel
Department of English
Shah Jalal University of Science and Technology


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