LIFE AS IT IS

She hangs the towel along the washing line in her balcony - her hair still dripping water and making asymmetrical shapes on her white kurta. She places her palms on the balcony railing and gazes at the skyline. Her concrete city is waking up and it's soon going to be another new day. A smile appears in her face. She fills her lungs with the city air, which is generally less polluted in early morning. Although life is busy and her daily routine hectic, it feels wonderful to be alive, healthy and smiling. She loves the early morning time when she can contemplate in the quietness of a city still in slumber. Rabeya closes her eyes and says a little prayer for everything life has given her... *Photo taken from Google Images

How much of ourselves do we always reveal? The societies we live in often ask us to keep our emotions and behaviors on a tight leash. We suppress our thoughts and feelings and go with the flow. Even if you want to strike out in new directions, you are held back by norms and traditions.  Writer's Facebook Page

I pray for the safety of my friends, family and everyone else in Bangladesh, India and Nepal. I have been feeling helpless for the past 4 days. Beside feeling sorry for the people in Nepal, I have become deeply worried about the safety of the people in my home country, Bangladesh, where an earthquake of high magnitude can leave cities and towns in shambles.  In poor and overpopulated countries, where people do not even follow building codes, natural disasters bring about unimaginable losses in terms of life and property. Lack of education and knowledge about disaster preparedness also often prevent people from saving themselves and others during catastrophic events. We panic at the feeling of tremor. Although panicking is normal human reaction to anything fearful it's also at the same time important to remember that panicking cannot not save us, but only decrease our chance of surviving during an earthquake.   If anyone from Bangladesh is reading this, I request you to stay s

Every time I read news stories about girls and women being raped, I lose my cool… I cannot think clearly. Sometimes I try to imagine the traumas that victims of this heinous crime experience throughout their lives, but I cannot… It’s just too painful to even try to imagine something like this. Sometimes I shed tears in the silence of the night.  As a woman and a mother I believe that prison time is NEVER enough for a rapist or sexual assaulter. Perpetrators of these crimes also need to be emasculated so that they are constantly reminded of the sins they committed. In our male-dominated societies, we are more lenient than we should be toward our men and male criminals.  I have a daughter. And if a man ever tries to dishonor her, I know I will not think twice before hurting him. I just won’t. I was shocked at the incident that took place on Dhaka University campus on April 14, 2015. Do we live in a country where law and order still exist? It does not seem so! How could our

Not all prison cells have bars. There are prison cells without bars too. Some of us serve our sentences behind invisible bars. 

কিভাবে দিন চলে যায়! ১৪২২ সাল চলে এলো! আমার ১৪০০ সালের কথা প্রতি বছর এই সময়টাতে মনে পড়ে। সেবার আব্বু আমাকে আর আমার ভাইকে রমনা বটমূলে নিয়ে গিয়েছিল। প্রতি বছর পহেলা বৈশাখ পালন করা হলেও ঐ একবারই যাওয়া হয়েছিল রমনাতে গান শুনতে আর চারুকলার ছেলেমেয়েদের মঙ্গল শোভাযাত্রা দেখতে। কি যে গরম আর ভীড় ছিল সেদিন! রিক্সা করে আইসক্রিম খেতে খেতে বাড়ি ফিরেছিলাম। সময় কত দ্রুত চলে যায়... ২২ বছর কম কথা নয়। ২২ বছরে কত কিছুই পাল্টে গেছে আমাদের জীবনের। কিন্তু স্মৃতিগুলো এখনও সবুজ এবং সতেজ। স্মৃতির সেই ছোট্ট আমি ছোট্টটিই রয়ে গেছি, এতটুকুও বড় হইনি। সবাইকে নববর্যের অনেক অনেক শুভেচ্ছা! 

Keep it secure. Keep it somewhere safe. Let others use it once in a while but then always take it back. The key to your own happiness is yours. It's a special key, an invaluable one. You cannot put a tag on it 'cause it's priceless. And it's your charge to keep this key out of harm's way.