Star Diary

Enthusiasm Against all Odds

It was a dismal evening. A friend of mine and I had decided to take a stroll on the streets of our neighbourhood and look around for chatpoti. We stopped when we found a small wooden chatpoti van. We relaxed and sat on two empty seats at a corner of the van. There were a few more customers waiting for their turn to be served with the mouthwatering dish. While the old chatpotiwala was diligently preparing the food, a young boy was intently observing him. The boy had dark complexion and dusty hair. He had a colourful book folded in the back pocket of his shorts. Some of the customers knew him by his name and seemed very fond of him. Out of curiosity, I called him. The boy, looking a little scared, came to us. When I had asked him to resolve the mystery of his colourful book, he told me that he went to an afternoon school for the poor children. The school is run by a group of university students who offer free education to the children. The book was given to him by his teachers. It was apparent that the boy was very enthusiastic about studying. I also learned that his teachers give him a bar of chocolate everyday if he shows up at school. In the evening hours, the boy lends a hand in his uncle's chatpoti business to make his ends meet.

As we got up and walked home, my friend and I could not help but admire the child's spirit in managing education against all odds. We also admired the selfless philanthropists who run such a school.

Naome Syed
Mohammadpur
Dhaka

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All for a Seat

	Photo: Zahedul I Khan

As I travel between home and work everyday, I see different types of curious incidents on the streets. The other day, I was going to my coaching centre. As usual, the bus I jumped in was filled with passengers. A boy was sitting on one of the seats reserved for women. The long seat was taken by the boy and three other women. After a while, a septuagenarian woman got into the bus. Although the boy saw her, he didn't leave the seat. Finding no vacant seat, the old woman stood there holding the door. It was so odd that I couldn't help asking the boy to let the woman seat. The boy obeyed. Seeing the woman on the seat was a relief to me.

However, as the boy kept looking at me angrily, I found him rather funny and laughed back. The other passengers also noticed the attitude of the boy and started to laugh as well.

Md Nafisul islam
commerce college, Dhaka

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State of our Human Rights

I was passing by a shopping mall at Uttara. On seeing a crowd forming nearby, I felt curious and went there to see what was happening. To my utter shock, I saw a rickshaw-puller tied to a tree. A mob of 10-15 people was mercilessly beating him. Someone standing nearby informed me that the rickshaw-puller was allegedly a member of a gang of snatchers that has been robbing computers and other valuables from rickshaw passengers with the help of corrupt rickshaw pullers. But no one could provide any proof of misdeed against the unfortunate man, who by then was in a near-unconscious state. Streams of blood were coming out of his nose and mouth. I left the scene. I was awestruck and wondered about the dreadful situation of our country.

Farooque
Uttara, Dhaka

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