Save the Children Concert

On December 12th 2010(Dhaka), Save the Children UK organised a concert to raise awareness on child mortality. Popuar bands such as Ayub Bachchu, Artcell, Fuad and Friends, Lalon, Shunno and Radioactive showed their support for child survival through awesome performances and statements.

Now the organisers devised a clever plan to spread awareness through this concert. Instead of buying tickets, in order to enter the concert the fans needed one of the following messages in their mobile phone inbox:

· 137 Children die from Pneumonia every day. Breastfeeding, vaccination and treatment can save them

· 250 000 children die from preventable diseases every year in Bangladesh; that is 685 children every day. Join us in our EVERY ONE Campaign

To have this message on your mobile phone someone must send you the message or you could send the message to someone and ask them to return the favour. The idea of such messaging is to support a viral campaign which will create awareness about child mortality as a critical issue facing Bangladesh.

The concert took place at Mukto Mancha Rabindra Soorobor and needless to say the size of the crowd was colossal even before the show began. Hundreds got in by showing their messages while other not so lucky ones, were just as happy watching the concert from the streets.

The concert was a huge hit. Shunno absoutely tore up the stage with their awesome performance. They also gave away signed T shirts to fans who could correctly answer a few questions regarding child mortality. Radioactive also got the crowd rolling with Michael Jackson's Beat it and It's My Life by Bon Jovi (BD's favourite rock song).

However the ultimate highlight of the show was the man himself Ayub Bachchu. The crowd went absolutely ballistic when Bachchu Bhai entered the stage with his electric guitar strapped to his shoulder. He completely mesmerised the crowd with his soulful guitar solos, while the crowd sang along with the vocalist. Others bands also gave notable performances and were greatly appreciated by the crowd.

All in all the event was a tremendous success and we hope Save the Chidren continues to provide us with such epic concerts in the future.

By Alvi Ahmed.
Special Thanks to Mr. Maswood Hasan and Contico PR.

In the previous issue the topic had been Lost in Space, and we must say, some of the entries left dazzled. Choosing one over the others proved a little hard but in the end, this piece won out. For next week, the topic is Smoke and Mirrors. Articles have to be written within 600 words and sent to ds.risingstars@gmail.com by noon Sunday.

Lost in Space

By Zaki Muhtadi

The fan was incredibly old and rusty, whirling at its best, probably not succeeding in its task. The screeching noise it made would bother anyone but her. On a candle-lit table, she was racing through pages, elucidating the significance of the theory she had just proved. Her hands were already numb, eyes smouldering sheer excitement, she stopped; satisfied. The world was same no more.

Ishrat was the only daughter of her parents or as their neighbours enjoyed designating them, 'weirdos'. Her father was always awake and her mother always slept. It was a matter of serious investigation for their neighbours when the vice versa occurred, along with other eccentricities, making their daughter's life miserable. But the fact that he bought a calculus book first even if they spent months without having a proper meal, instilled the value of education in her. Extreme penury and a lonesome life made her different. Ergo, she channelled all her focus into the one thing that didn't share her life's complexities, physics. It was the only thing she understood.

Now that her ten years worth of conscientious proof lay before her, she considered herself the happiest person alive. All she had to do was make a call to professor Pasha, the don in her discipline and get a patent in her name. The credibility of the proof was solid. The title read “Existence of a Parallel Dimensionless World - An Aspect”.

Ishrat made the call.

Professor Linear Thorn was drinking apple juice and going through a random human's mind, Mr Pasha's mind. Of course, the juice wasn't real, only a favourite sensation. He had discovered the existence of this dimensionless world at a mere 20.

Fascinated by its attributing 'immortality' as there was no time dimension; he decided to implant his mind in' space', as he liked to call it. Only humans in their mind form could enter this parallel space, not in there earthly shapes. He had been exhilarated and enthralled for the first few decades of Earth time. Among other things, perpetuating the invasion of human minds without their knowledge there seemed fun and he did it to a fault.

So Professor Thorn was turning the 'pages' of Mr Pasha just like any other day. Adventitiously, he glimpsed at the proof he had once done, that put him in the hellhole he was in now. Completely shocked and horrified, he intercepted other thoughts, 'pulled' the strings of Pasha's memory and found out about her. 'Ishrat has to be stopped', he thought to himself.

Thorn did not want his mistake repeated. He did not dare to think what would happen if the theories got published. There would be chaos, possibly another World War because of the gravity. And if there's an experimentation of the proof, and it succeeds…he chilled with alarm.
The memory segment incorporating the proof in Ishrat and Mr Pasha had to be removed. He didn't know how; he only knew he had to. Thorn started focusing all his attention towards them. Suddenly an unprecedented surge of energy overwhelmed his mind.... everything went blank.
Professor Thorn regained consciousness with a gut feeling telling him that something was terribly wrong. He sensed more existence. He was right. There they were Ishrat and Mr. Pasha. He understood that in trying to efface their memory he had actually brought them inside. It could not be undone.

The three of them were lost in space.