LIFE AS IT IS

Sometimes all a mom needs is a comfortable pillow under her head...

The gratification comes from not just beating the #2 guy but from being better than everyone else in the competition.      style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

Motherhood has instilled in me a different type of emotion, an emotion whose existence I was unaware of in those pre-mommy years of life. Today, when I see suffering children, turbulent emotions rupture my heart. Sometimes, I shed tears in silence. I ask myself if all this emotional overflow is because of my new identity as a mother. Perhaps. Every child deserves a happy childhood. But to millions of children around the world, "happiness" is a word that carries little or no meaning. Many a child’s childhood is snatched away at such an early age that they never know what it feels to go to school five days a week, eat three good meals a day, or sleep without having to worry about their houses being blown up by enemy troops. In any conflict, it's the children who suffer the most. When I see images and video footages of living and dead children of Palestine and Syria, I sit still before my computer and know not what to feel. Sometimes I wonder what I myself would have ...

Smiles and the sorrows will think twice before coming near you.      style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

We celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr here in the U.S. yesterday. We cooked special food, talked to our families back home and watched TV at night. It was not a day too different from a regular day except for my husband went to the mosque for his Eid prayer and took the day off. But Eid in Bangladesh used to be so different. We would visit and call relatives and friends, watch special Eid programs on TV, eat loads of good food and collect salami/eidi (a monetary Eid gift from relatives older than you). Here, Eid comes and goes by and in some years, we don't feel that it really came. Sometimes I wish I lived in a mega-city like NYC or Chicago, where you can feel the festivities around the occasion. We thought we would visit NYC this time, but changed our minds later... perhaps, we will visit NYC next year, when my daughter will be almost three. We did not cook much this time around - saffron polao/pilaf, chicken roast and a salad followed by firni, a traditional rice custard cooked with...

There are times when everything seems meaningless. We live in a dismal world, where war, poverty, death and violence make headlines. When I think of the comfort I enjoy in my every day life, I cannot help but thank the Almighty. This morning, everything suddenly seems meaningless. I know I am rambling but sometimes, you cannot find the right words to express what you feel deep inside. I am thinking of the children that are dying every day in Gaza. I think of their parents and what they feel. I wonder what a child feels when he/she hears that his/her father/mother/sibling is no more. I ask myself, what would I have done if my daughter died a similar death? Would I have been strong enough to survive the grief? I think of the lives that we are losing in the air. The unexpected and deadly plane crashes are leaving thousands of people without friends and family. I cannot imagine what those passengers felt when the planes caught fire and lost their control. I wonder what the friends ...

People have often called me a tomboy. A tomboy? But I could not and cannot not care less when people call me a tomboy. After all, what does the word mean? A girl who behaves in a boyish manner? A girl who does not fall under the "socially-constructed" definition of how a girl should and must behave? I am sorry but I cannot be what I am not. After all, these socially-constructed definitions are man-made. And man-made things change over time. If I do not like wearing a lot of make-up and jewelry, I wonder how it bothers others. My favorite possessions are my watches, not my bracelets or bangles. But that's the way I am. I wear very little jewelry because I feel suffocated when I wear too much of them . I do not have anything against anyone. It does not perturb me when I see girls wearing make-up and jewelry. As a matter of fact, most girls look more beautiful when they wear make-up and jewelry. It's just that I don't feel comfortable wearing them. Yes, I do we...