LIFE AS IT IS

সবাইকে মহান স্বাধীনতা দিবসের শুভেচ্ছা। "একটি বাংলাদেশ তুমি জাগ্রত জনতার, সারা বিশ্বের বিস্ময় তুমি আমার অহংকার।" এসব বিশেষ বিশেষ দিনগুলো দেশের বাইরে খুব মিস্‌ করি। দিনভর দেশাত্মবোধক গান শোনা, ফেসবুকের ডিপি, সিপি পাল্টানোর মধ্যেই বেশিরভাগ সময় সীমাবধ্য থাকে। তাতে কি? নিজের দেশ, নিজের মাতৃভূমি তো আমরা হৃদয়ে লালন করি, পৃথিবীর যেখানেই থাকি না কেন হৃদয়ে সবসময় বাংলাদেশ। Happy Independence Day to Bangladeshis across the world. Let's keep our country and our martyrs in our prayers. এক সাগর রক্তের বিনিময়ে বাংলার স্বাধীনতা আনলে যারা আমরা তোমাদের ভুলব না। দুঃসহ এ বেদনার কণ্টক পথ বেয়ে শোষণের নাগপাশ ছিঁড়লে যারা আমরা তোমাদের ভুলব না। যুগের নিষ্ঠুর বন্ধন হতে মুক্তির এ বারতা আনলে যারা আমরা তোমাদের ভুলব না। কৃষাণ-কৃষাণীর গানে গানে পদ্মা-মেঘনার কলতানে বাউলের একতারাতে আনন্দ ঝংকারে তোমাদের নাম ঝংকৃত হবে। নতুন স্বদেশ গড়ার পথে তোমরা চিরদিন দিশারী রবে। আমরা তোমাদের ভুলব না। Ek Sagor Rokter Binimoye

I could not hold back my tears after watching the video below. I was thinking of my geography teacher in school the other day and was wondering how she is doing now. I texted a school friend and he told me that she still looks the way she used to look 18 years ago. I liked her so much! She was a great teacher. I remember getting books from her for getting the highest marks in geography on the final exams. And I used to study hard for geography before final exams because I always wanted  those books that she gave as gifts every year...!! Our teachers come next to our parents. "A teacher affects eternity; she can never tell where her influence stops..." This is a 10-minute-long video but is totally worth watching. Link to the video:  Meeting my teacher after 40 years

Human minds are already complex by nature. I think our efforts should be to make it less complex so that we find more peace in our personal and professional lives. If you believe your mind is complex (which it probably is) and behave accordingly, you might sometimes overlook the beauty that lies in simplicity.  Facebook Page

I will be at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in spirit tonight! Wishing our tigers the very best of luck!! India is the defending champions - they are a mighty team. And it will probably be very difficult to beat them. So, I want to wait till the end of the match to begin my celebration. I just want my brothers to play and show their best on the field. It's a game so ONLY ONE team will win. I, as a Bangladeshi and a cricket lover, want our tigers to present us with a competitive match, so that even if we lose we can say that our cricketers fought courageously before conceding the defeat. The game starts at 11:30 EST. What a bad timing for those living on America's east coast! But I could not have slept tonight even if I wanted to. Once again, lots of good wishes for Team Bangladesh on their quarter-finals match against India! Facebook Page

Bangladesh and India are facing each other in a World Cup Cricket quarter-final match on Thursday, March 19 in Melbourne, Australia. As a cricket lover and a Bangladeshi, I am looking forward to enjoying a good match against the defending champion. But the purpose of this blog is to vent some bottled-up emotions. The fans of these two countries are right now involved in mudslinging - they are badmouthing and belittling each other. They are making videos and creating social media posts to mock the opposition. I have gone through several dozen Facebook posts and status updates written around the March 19 match in the last 48 hours. Most of these posts and the comments below them are very demeaning, containing derogatory words and phrases. Many of the comments are written to dehumanize the opposition. The cricket lovers are also dragging religion and politics into their cricket posts. They are forgetting that it's just a cricket match, and a cricket match only. I believe that sp...

It was my fifth time in Big Apple, the pet name for New York City. But this trip was not like the other trips to the dream city, it was special for a couple of reasons. It was the first time I spent nights away from my 2-year-old daughter. I was a little sad for some time but then I became excited, for I needed a break from being a full-time mom. My husband said he would be happy to look after our child for three days. So I talked to my childhood friend in NYC and planned a weekend trip. My friend and I were excited! It was a dream come true. In your 30’s it is not often that you get to spend a whole weekend alone with friends.   My friend and I were planning to make another wish of ours come true. We were planning on a visit to the Empire State Building. Completed in 1931, this 102-story skyscraper was the world’s tallest building for nearly 40 years. The building is an American icon. If you watched movies Sleepless in Seattle, An Affair to Remember or even King Kong the...

If I could go back in time What would I do? Would I change a few things? Fix some of the mistakes I made 'cause I was naive? Or would I just let things Be the way they're? Not changing a thing! But only going back To live again some special moments, To see again some loving faces, or To revisit some special places. Life's a one-way journey. I don't want to change a thing, For yesterday's events made me, The person that I'm today. Facebook Page

Many of us donate our money, time and belongings to good causes every year, and it’s the least we can do for those who are less fortunate than us. But after my daughter started attending pre-school, I realized that the importance of giving needs to be ingrained in a child at an early age.  My two-year-old daughter goes to a pre-school, where they teach children about giving from a tender age of two. In their first semester, the teachers asked the students to bring in loose change from home to donate. The children dropped the coins into a jar that was placed outside their classroom. On that project, the school partnered with Heifer International, a global nonprofit organization that works towards ending world hunger and poverty. My daughter’s pre-school is a small one but together they collected $386, which they used to purchase treadle pumps, tree seedlings, a goat and a flock of chicks for communities in need.  The school also organized their annual harvest food driv...

How expressive can we be on the social media, especially on Facebook? Our Facebook accounts do not only include our close friends and family anymore, but also friends of friends, acquaintances, workplace colleagues, former colleagues, and sometimes, even people we never met in the real world. With such a large and diverse audience, our Facebook posts experience criticisms and scrutinies that often lead to debates and resentments.  I use Facebook much less than I used to. I rarely put up a status, share a song, poem or anything else. Why? I want to avoid being judged. Yes, people judge you. They reach conclusions about the state of your mind, your marriage, etc. from your posts even though these may not have anything to do with my current state of mind. For instance, a melodious but heart-rending song can make some people think that you are upset about something or someone. In reality, you perhaps shared the song simply because you liked it.  At one time, I felt th...