LIFE AS IT IS

Rebecca, in her twenties, was beautiful enough to turn heads. Today, very little of it is left in her. Her jet-black hair has lost its volume, her complexion its lustre and her eyes their glitter. Rebecca who was born and brought up in a respectable family of Dhaka, even today, finds it hard to believe how her marriage to an unfaithful man had shattered all her dreams into bits and pieces. In her short-lived conjugal life of four years, she bore two sons. When she left her husband's house, she left it with her sons, for she knew that without a mother's love these children wouldn't live. At the age of 25, Rebecca began to live the difficult life of a single mother. In the early '80s although words like single mom and divorcee weren't unheard of, people still raised their eyebrows when they heard of women like Rebecca, single and beautiful. Rebecca refused to take refuge at her parents' house, for humiliation engulfed her and her very existence. It was a lov...

There was a time when making a piece of furniture meant a huge hassle for the buyer and the manufacturer/ seller as well. Although characterized by stressful tasks, the whole affair of making a piece of new furniture would at the same time flood families with excitement. Some 30 or so years ago, people used to free up their courtyard to facilitate the carpenters do their job at ease. Making furniture mostly meant hiring carpenters and bringing them home for the work. The carpenters were gladly treated with glasses of tea after every one hour. The children would swarm around them with eyes full of eagerness, enjoying the conversion of sturdy chunks of raw wood to skillfully carved bed, table, armchair or cupboard. But those days are long gone, gone are the days when home furnishings used to be bulky and less user-friendly. Today, very few people think of bringing carpenters to home to get their work done. There is no need to shoulder so much of strain when elegant plus affordable ready-...

Trambunctious rallies, elaborate spreads, music and poetry, and traditional garb...all work together to make the celebration of the Bengali New Year a truly unique one. The streets are filled with Bangali belles, elegant in their red-and-white saris, flowers in their hair, red alta on their feet, and of course, a rainbow of glass bangles adorning their wrists. This year too, our girls and women are making preparations to welcome the Bengali New Year 1413. Besides purchasing red-white saris, women are crowding places like Gausia Market, New Market, Piraan, Banglar Mela, Mayasir, Jatra, Deshal, Ideas etc to get hold of the latest bangles. The custom of wearing bangles by women is centuries old and the tradition is still going strong thanks to our fashionistas. If you want a little folk saying on bangles then know that gold bangles are believed to herald prosperity and well-being for hubby dearest. Thereby, gold bangles are usually seen on the hands of married women. However a dozen ...

There was a time when life meant crawling out of bed at 7 a.m. in the morning, getting ready for school, returning home in the afternoon and then dozing off in the evening with books wide open on table. School days are long gone, yet I wake up at 7 a.m. in the morning to catch the early classes of university. But waking up from bed no more entails constant shrieks of my mother, or the ear-splitting blare of the long standing bedside clock. My biological timepiece now seems to work better than the mechanical ones. As time is flying, life is unveiling itself with new a definition. What life meant 10 years back does not mean the same right now. And I know that life will not mean the same 10 years from now. A life is a journey, as you might say. There are ups and downs, you move through boulevards as well as alleys, you taste freedom as well as captivity. We become mature with time. This is possibly the reason why I now fret when the telephone bill skyrockets, when our maid snoozes whil...

There was a time when wearing nose pin by women was a custom; every married woman wore one. Nose ornament was considered more than just a trinket, it was believed that every married female should pierce her nose and wear gold to bring good luck for her other half. In many religions, women take off their nose ornaments when their husbands pass away. But those days are long gone; today young and unmarried girls pierce their nose and wear trendy trinkets as a symbol of stylishness. In our day wearing a nose pin is more a craze than a custom. It was during the late 1990s when wearing nose pin emerged as a fashion symbol among teenagers and adolescents of Dhaka. High school goers flocked to beauty salons like Woman's World, La Belle and Persona to have their nose pierced. At one time, piercing nose was a matter of panic for most women. The reason was that the entire process of pricking nose was intensely painful. However, this scenario is not true anymore. Today, you can pierce your...

The large portrait doubles the splendor of the modern living room where it hangs. It was taken some 30 years ago…a frozen moment from three decades back that doesn't seem out of place in this fashionable household amongst all the state-of-the-art furnishings. The picture holds the image of a young woman, gorgeously dressed in some brightly colored georgette saree, her hair done exquisitely in a style not seen today. It's a picture similar to the kind that we have in our homes. They reside in our age-old family albums. These albums embrace the youthful days of our mothers and aunts. These were probably taken as long ago as the '60s or the '70s, yet their captivating power is unrivaled. The times that were held still by the clicks of some antiquated camera were different from the times we are currently in. The women in these pictures are clad in sarees. It was a popular style of the '60s to embellish oneself in a saree that firmly clutched its owner. Elaborate rituals...

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...