Star Diary

Tigers and Human Beings

One of Bangladesh's most famous treasures is the Royal Bengal Tiger. So whenever I read reports of tigers being beaten to death by villagers I used to curse the people who had committed this supposedly atrocious act.

Few months back, on a trip to Sundarbans, we had to stop at one of the villages to get fresh water. Our conversation with the villagers inevitably shifted to the subject of the tiger and that was when the villagers pointed us to a house where a tiger attack had once taken place.

The man whose brother had perished in the attack gave us a first hand account of the incident, occasionally breaking into sobs as he remembered his dear brother in the mouths of the animal trying in vain to save his life. It was then when I realised that this man, and the whole community will try their best to kill the next tiger that ventures into their neighbourhood. Wildlife conservationists have to keep in mind that if they seriously want to save the tigers, they shall first have to save the people who risk being killed by the man-eaters.

Faruk Ahmed
Old Dhaka

A Lesson Learnt

The other day I was returning home from university on a rickshaw. Once I reached home, I asked the puller for change. While he was searching through his wallet for the change, I saw his ID card. When I asked him about it, he said in an embarrassed voice that he was a student of Dhaka College and was on the waiting list at the University of Dhaka. He was struggling to get through his studies. I was totally dumfounded. I asked him if I could help him out with some financial aid, to which he flatly refused. He thanked me politely and went off looking for another passenger. I had learnt a lesson that day, that even in dire poverty, people trying their best to get an education in this country, to make a better life for oneself.

Rabiul Islam
University of Dhaka

A Pleasant Surprise

I was shopping in a mall with my mother in Dhanmondi a few days ago, when this happened to me. I am a careless person by nature and leave my belongings everywhere. I was at a sari store for a while and when I made my way to a shoe store two floors below I realised I had misplaced my cell phone. Panicked, I asked my mother to call me, but it was obvious I did not have it with me anymore. Worried I started going up the stairs when I saw the boy, who works in the sari shop came running up to me holding my phone. He said I had dropped it and he had been looking for me to give it back. I was amazed because I had not expected anyone who found it to make an effort to return my phone (I had lost a few this way before). I offered him some money as a reward but he adamantly refused which was even more surprising. He rushed off the way he came, leaving me thinking there is some goodness and honesty left in this world.

AH
Dhanmondi
Dhaka

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