LIFE AS IT IS

Introduction The World Wide Web has brought about revolutionary changes to the way now people shop in their everyday lives. The online retailers make available a wide range of products and services in their virtual stores. Consumers visit these virtual shops, browse the available products, place the desired products in their shopping carts or bags, pay by punching their credit card number on the keyboard and wait for the products to be delivered at home. Online stores now sell products, ranging from clothes, shoes, jewelry and bags to kitchen utensils, electronic gadgets, calling cards, music, furniture, air tickets and so much more. The Internet has now made shopping a virtual experience for many people across the world. Most of these online shops are interactive in nature, allowing people to play with colors, shapes and sizes of the products they are interested in. Websites now feature advertisements on all four sides of their pages. Sometimes, ads are even inserted into the te

অভ্র দারুন একটি সফটওয়্যার, কি সুন্দর করে, কত অল্প সময়েই না বাংলাতে লিখতে পারি। আগে তো কখনও চিন্তাও করিনি যে বাংলাতে কখনও ব্লগিং করতে পারব। আমার মত মানুষ যারা কিনা বাংলাতে টাইপ করতে পারেনা, তাদের জন্য অভ্র একটি বেশী দারুন সফটওয়্যার। মনে হলো অভ্রকে একটা ধন্যবাদ না দিলে নিজেকে অকৃতজ্ঞ মনে হবে। ফেসবুকে কখনও বাংলাতে স্ট্যাটাস লিখতে পারব আগে চিন্তাও করতে পারতাম না, কিন্ত এখন পারি। নিজের ভাষায় কিছু লিখতে পারার আনন্দটা যে একেবারেই অন্যরকম সেটা অস্বীকার করি কি করে? :) ধন্যবাদ, অভ্র!

দেখতে দেখতে আবার আরেকটি কোরবানীর ঈদ চলে আসলো। কিভাবে দ্রুত সময় চলে যায়। মনে হয় এইতো সেদিন প্রবাস জীবনের প্রথম প্রাণহীন ঈদটা কাটালাম। অনেক বন্ধু জুটেনি বলে কারও সাথে দেখাও হয়নি, আড্ডা দেয়া হয়নি, হয়নি কাউকে ঈদ মুবারাক বলা। ভাবতেও অবাক লাগে যে আমার জন্য প্রবাসের ঈদ কতই না পানসে। বরের সাথে সকালে গেলাম মলে। জানি জানি অনেকেই বলবে যে মেয়েমানুষ শপিং করতে পারলেই খুশি। স্বীকার করতে আপত্তি নেই যে আমেরিকাতে শপিং করে সময় কাটাতে আমার ভালই লাগে, শপিং আমার জন্য এক ধরনের recreation এই দেশে, যেটা দেশে ছিলনা কারন দেশে সবসসময়ই করবার জন্য হাতে কোন না কোন কাজ থাকতো। না থাকলেও ফোনে কথা বলবার মানুষ ছিল, ছিল বন্ধুরা, মা, খালাতো বোনেরা। তো যাই হোক, মূল কথাতে ফেরত আসি। সকালে নাস্তা সেরে বের হলাম, উদ্দেশ্য shopping mall। আজ এখানে বছরের সবচেয়ে বড় sale ছিল, যাকে এখানের মানুষেরা বলে Black Friday. মলে গিয়ে দেখি প্রচুর মানুষ, প্রচুর জিনিষ, প্রচুর মানুষ ধুমসে্‌ কেনাকাটা করছে, দেখে বোঝার উপা্য় নেই যে দেশটি একটি বড় ধরনের মন্দার ভিতর দিয়ে যাচ্ছে। দেখে ভাল লাগলো, ছোট বাচ্চাগুলোকে দেখে নিজের ছোটবেলার কথা মনে পড়ে গেল, ঈদ এর

ছোট ছোট কত স্মৃতি আজ হাতছানি দেয়। এই পরবাসে এসে নিজের অজান্তেই চোখে জল আসে ভেবে যে কোথায় ছিলাম, আর এখন কোথায় আছি। হ্যাঁ, এটা বললে মিথ্যা বলা হবে যে বিদেশের কোন কিছুই ভাল লাগে না, শুধু থাকতে হবে বলে এখানে পড়ে আছি। বিদেশের অনেক কিছুই ভাল লাগে, ভাল লাগে এখানের নিয়মতান্ত্রিক জীবন, সিস্টেম জিনিষটাকে জেলখানা মনে হলেও মাঝে মাঝে সিস্টেম এর মাঝেও একটা ছন্দ খুঁজে পাই। যখন দেখি যে একটা কাজের জন্য সারাদিন পার করে দিতে হয় না অফিসগুলোর লাল টেপের ফাঁসে পড়ে, তখন মনের অজান্তেই মনটা ভাল হয়ে যায়। যখন দেখি ঘন্টার পর ঘন্টা পার করে দিতে হয়না রাস্তায়, ট্রাফিক জামে গলদ্ঘর্ম হতে হয়না, তখন বিদেশটাকে ভালই লাগে। ফিরে যাবার পর এই বিদেশটাকে অনেক মিস্‌ করবো। নাহ্‌, স্বিকার করতে লজ্জাবোধ হয়না। কেন, হওয়াটা উচিত ছিল নাকি? কত মধুর সময় কাটিয়েছি এই পরবাসে। মুক্তির স্বাদ মনে হয় এখানে এসেই প্রথম পেয়েছিলাম। গভীর রাতে তারাভরা আকাশের নিচে একা একা কখনও হাটঁতে পারবো আগে ভাবিনি। ভাবিনি যে সাত-সমুদ্র একা একা পার হবো কখনও। অচেনা অজানা মানুষের মাঝে দিনের পর দিন কাজ করতে হবে সেটাও তো আগে ভাবিনি। সাদা, কাল, হলুদ, খয়েরি মানুষের মাঝে মি

The mighty Mississippi is flowing once again. The trees lining the river banks are growing new leaves; soon their bare branches will don a green coat. The lakes, which were frozen even a month ago, now have ducks swimming in them. Spring has given new life to fields, gardens and parks - the grasses glisten as the sun pours over them its blazing, yellow light. The days are becoming longer – the sun now sets well past 8 o’clock. I enjoy the last few minutes of the daylight while I have my supper. The splash of red on the evening sky is a pleasure to the eyes. The sky reminds me of a blank canvass and the splashes of red an absent-minded artist’s strokes of a paintbrush. As the school bus crosses the bridge over Mississippi, I stare in awe at the river, which was white and icy even a month ago. The trees on the Mississippi banks were leafless; they stood crooked, withstanding the biting cold. But Spring has given them a new life. Fresh leaves sprouting from the branches of decidu

These days I wonder if I have really become a shopaholic. I go to the stores and there are too many things that I want to buy, some of which I do buy and the rest I dream of buying someday. However, when I am alone at home, I wonder if I am really becoming a compulsive shopper. I have always loved to shop. In Dhaka, I used to go from one boutique to another to choose a single dress. Even looking at and feeling the fabric was a pleasant experience. A chunk of my monthly salary was spent on clothes and shoes. But I could bring with me only three of my shalwar kameezes when I decided to travel some 13,000 kms to the U.S. for higher studies. While packing, I realised that I had other more important things to carry with me to America than shalwar kameez, sari…in short, clothes. Today, when I calculate the amount of money I spent on clothes, some of which I never wore more than once, I feel guilty. The money could have been used for a better cause. What a waste! I thought that the ex

I, who hardly ever stepped into the kitchen in Dhaka, now cook regularly here in the America. Life changes, and so do we! Many chores that a person never does or did in his or her home country become a part of everyday life in a foreign country. And, cooking is just one example. When I first stood in front of the electric stove in my one-bedroom apartment, I knew for sure that I wouldn't be able to cook the fried mixed vegetables that I was planning on cooking, even though I called my mom earlier for the recipe. I stood in the kitchen with hands on my waist. I was scared, for I thought I would end up burning my hands. I was worried, for I thought that all the vegetables and spices would go wastes - there was no way I thought I could cook something suitable for eating. In the first days of my life in the U.S., cooking simple things like bhaji and daal required long-distance phone calls to my mother. An aunt living in Florida was a saviour, who helped me adjust to this new

THOSE of us who were born in the independent Bangladesh, for us, it is often difficult to fully fathom the meaning of words like freedom and independence. Those of us whose ears never heard a splatter of gunfire, whose eyes never saw a woman lost in the horror of her captivity at the army camp, whose nose never smelt the stench of decaying human bodies, whose mouth never tasted tears mixed with blood, and whose hands never felt a wall riddled with bullets, for us the Liberation War is often about stories heard from family's elderly members, books written by intellectuals, patriotic songs, TV dramas and heavy talk shows and paying homage to martyrs on 26th March. Many of us miss the true meaning of the Independence Day, the cause for which millions of people gave up their lives. Many politicians, who fought the War of Independence, have eventually turned away from realizing their 1971 dream of building a prosperous Bangladesh. It's amazing how these people have changed over the

I wished, I so wished that I were there in front of the U.S. Capitol when history was being made. I am not an American citizen, yet the electricity that swept the country on 20 January had not left me untouched. An eloquent speech delivered by Barack Hussein Obama, the 44 th President of the United States, carried messages of hope for Americans as well as people all over the world. I am lucky to have lived this historical moment when the first African-American president of the United States was sworn in. "I had been planning to be at Obama's inauguration for the last one month, and my visit to the National Mall on January 20 was completely worth the effort,” said Tejaswini Madabhushi, an Indian student at George Mason University in Virginia. “There were huge applauses for Obama, his family, Hillary Clinton, and Jimmy Carter. Bush and Cheney were booed rather loudly - an experience that couldn't have been properly felt on the television screen. I screamed and danced

The other day while going home from office, I was stuck at the traffic signal of Gulshan 1 for a few minutes. I wasn't looking outside, for my ears and mind were glued to the popular songs that Radio Foorti was playing that afternoon. Suddenly, a teenage boy of say about 18 or 19 years of age walked to my car window and started begging for a few takas. I looked at him and figured that he was showing me his twisted hand to earn my sympathy. The deformed hand shook my inner being…and I took my wallet from my handbag to pull out a Tk.10 note. In the process of doing that, another young man of his age came running toward my car, screaming, "Apa taka diyen na, heroin khaibo taka diya (“Apa, don't give him any money, he will buy heroin with it.") It was at that time when I took a keen look at the fellow and noticed his red eyes, his stained teeth and his almost-black lips. I knew in an instant that he was one of those vagrant drug addicts who spend their days and nights on

For couples in Dhaka, finding a non-eating dating spot is like finding a needle in a haystack. The comparison may sound very clichéd but the truth cannot be denied. Restaurants and cafés have, over the past ten years, become the most popular dating places for couples in this metropolis. Today, the city food outlets target the younger generation- the décor and the menu of these restaurants clearly reflect the choice of young people. Soft music, exclusive interiors, modern furnishings and good food have converted countless restaurants into great meeting places. The restaurants now regularly refurbish their exteriors as well as interiors to attract more crowds. They now experiment with their menu and come up with new meal deals. The reason? To attract younger crowds. The idea of buffet lunch and dinner wasn't there even five years ago. People would go to a restaurant and order from the à la carte. Today, a couple would rather go for a set or buffet meal than order from the bill of far