Reflection: Four Hundred Thirty-Five
……………………………………………………
May 23, 2012
When you decide to mix with SMALL people, you decide to show and tolerate SMALLER attitudes. Now, it’s your choice!
……I think, BIG people with SMALLER attitude are actually SMALL people in disguise. And, it’s true that sometimes we helplessly find ourselves in their midst. What I do in such cases is I just play the part of a recluse as it’s always better to be alone than to be with wrong people. I just build a wall around and reign in that realm. I hardly blame people to be lame or mean, rather I blame myself as I decided earlier to be a part of that group. Still, life is sometimes too hard to quit everything we feel like quitting. Thanks.
……It’s your choice to keep or remove such a hypocrite. Sometimes life means not being uncompromising but being simply accommodative. And, the choice is still yours as it’s your life.
……Don’t blame yourself, it’s rather a double punishment as you’ve already been punished much being in their midst. Sometimes we can’t choose, what we can is we just have to accept. What you couldn’t collect earlier, you’ll surely start recollecting later. Recollecting is easier than collecting. Once you recollect, just decide never to recollect such bad things again. It just hurts, you know, to be in a state of numbness when you don’t deserve to be there. Just start replying Hello’s instead of saying Hello’s to such people. Things might get fixed up. Good luck!
Sushanta Paul
May 23, 2012
A good priest and a reckless driver went to Heaven.
The priest: “O God! Why has that driver been ranked higher than me? He killed many men in his lifetime and even met death with 30 passengers!”
God: “O my son! Right you’re! Now see, when you preached, people felt drowsy and forgot me later. But he would drive the bus so recklessly that the passengers always had to pray to me. In this way, he served the purpose better!”……
……Sir, the truth is God keeps the poor close and wants to be praised all the time. The religious conventions are the unique possessions of the poor. Here is a constant clash between worth and fate. And, God just smiles, if there is Anyone at all to smile.
May 24, 2012
When someone replies, no problem,
not always it means, no problem. It might mean, I wish you’d more commonsense
not to ask, Any problem?
May 26, 2012
Sometimes it’s better to let go than
hold on to something that was never meant to be for us, it’s harder said than
done, but then that’s the way life is, can’t have always what we want……
now don’t go into euphoria
May 30, 2012
The year was 2010. An ICT Festival was happening at CUET. All the former students were sharing, one by one, where they were working and what they were doing. Only one person said he wasn’t doing anything; rather, “I’m trying to do something that could be called ‘worth doing.’”
That was Sushanta Paul. In the midst of all the ongoing celebration and cheering, suddenly there was a gentle ebb. What was that “worth doing” thing? Getting admitted to an MBA at DU’s IBA and becoming first in the 30th BCS.
Sushanta-da, you will remain our inspiration and pride for all eternity. How fortunate I am that I once breathed the same oxygen as you! Perhaps we too will one day do something “worth doing.”
(I cried a lot seeing this wall post that day. Life shows people so much, gives them so much!)
May 30, 2012
The editor’s pen has made its mark (this was necessary to reduce the length), so the original piece hasn’t remained intact—some words have been omitted, the English portions have been translated. The overall rhythm of the writing has clearly suffered, and the appeal seems to have been lost in places. Still, the essential sentiment remains undiminished. So I’m very grateful to him. ‘CUET’ has been written as ‘KUET’. I know this is merely a printing error. Yet, it hurts when you see your mother’s name misspelled. If it helps those for whom Prothom Alo published the piece, I’ll be happy. Any of your opinions, advice, or criticism will inspire me. Thank you.
The Path to Being First
How he became first in a public examination as significant as the BCS—Sushanta Paul, who secured first position in the 30th BCS (Customs), shares his story.
June 2012
Started Working at Government of the
People’s Republic of Bangladesh
June 2012 — Assistant Commissioner
of Customs
Chittagong
Custom House, Chittagong
June 3, 2012
…… on the way to the
secretariat…… going to join the first job in my life…… feeling excited!
Friends, please pray for me.
June 4, 2012
I’ve got my first posting as an
Assistant Commissioner at the Custom House, Chittagong. I’ve been ordered to
join my work station by June 6, 2012. Our four-month long foundation training
starts from June 12, 2012….
Reflection: Four Hundred and Thirty-Six
……………………………………………………
June 8, 2012
I hope you’re well. Brother, among all the posts on my wall, yours has stirred me the most deeply:
I understand all too well the agony of remaining nameless and unknown. Especially when everyone around you wants you to become something you have no desire to be—that’s when you feel utterly helpless. The awakening of inner consciousness has more power than the glitter of sharp reasoning. One might say it completely overturns the mind’s solitary kingdom. I believe spiritual liberation occurs precisely where reason becomes helpless before inner consciousness. That’s what happened to me. For so many days I was tormented by this heart-wrenching dilemma: is confidence essential for success, or is success essential for confidence? I thought I might be lost forever! But the understanding that tough times don’t last for tough men always worked within me. Fate became my ally. I didn’t lose!
June 9, 2012
Crushed by the stinging torment of this wretchedly angry afternoon, I am almost compelled to carve a path stone by stone within myself toward solitude—that road wrapped in gray dust—unable to keep pace with the unruly rhythm of cramped domestic joy, vanishes momentarily into the abode of pallor. Rather than standing at the far end of that road listening to the eternal restless call of the umbrella-world, a tired, helpless crow burnt by the sun’s ferocity troubles me deeply. That restlessness—suppressed rage—brings my own other-self before me in a different mirror! The yearning to be free even while knowing there’s no freedom—as futile as it is intense.
June 23, 2012
A lady with majestic beauty in our
train stays no longer in the poor compartment. My heart receives her, my soul
sings for her. The night-queen helplessly tries to beat her. O ruthless beauty!
Be not so pleasantly unjust! Let me drink the remains of this evening! When two
entities of beauty snare my mind, and I can’t have both or the one I want,
kissing Death appears so-never-felt easier before me!
June 23, 2012
Only I, alone, know who I’m. To
others, I’m only a perhaps.
June 29, 2012
One of the most touching songs I
just can’t stop listening to!……. haunting my head for the last 2 days!!
tere bin – teree sang (full song)
June 29, 2012
When I find and show excuses for my
mistakes, I often forget that at the end of the day people will remember only
my mistakes. People feel comfortable to judge you by your mistakes forgetting
theirs.
……..nice status… and even when
YOU don’t make one some people would make it a point to make it your fault and
judge you for it… it’s human nature- I guess!
……I agree. I think, the most
irresistible desire of humans is to find those weak points of others that would
have challenged their own existence much more if situation had revealed theirs.
June 30, 2012
Sometimes my own existence feels like a guest. I’m overcome with a deep yearning to sing of the very darkness I am submerged in. The weary “I” within rebels, and I silence it—quite deliberately, caught in some unconscious spell.
July 2, 2012
Let me tell you the story of when the poet met the woodcutter’s daughter.
A beautiful evening. The poet walks along the mountain’s winding paths, whistling and mimicking birdsongs. Deodar leaves glisten in the sun’s last light. Walking lost in thought, he suddenly sees a woodcutter’s daughter approaching from the opposite direction, carrying a load of wood on her back. The poet says to her in a gentle, sweet voice—what a beautiful sunset, and yet you walk looking only at the road? The girl lifts her weary, tired eyes and tells the poet—if you could just help me lower this bundle of wood, then I could see.
To one whose eyes are shackled, you may tell them anything else—but please, don’t ask them to dream.
July 3, 2012
Yesterday I sent a piece to ‘Prothom Alo’ at their request. The article will appear tomorrow (Wednesday) in the ‘Dream’ section. This is my second piece in ‘Prothom Alo’. A humble invitation extends to all to read and consider the piece. Please do read it and let me know your thoughts. I would be delighted. Thank you.
July 5, 2012
Barricades may block the road, but they also reveal new paths. Don’t give up, friend!
July 6, 2012
Dhaka University is called the Oxford of the East. Why this comparison is made, I have been unable to discover to this day. If Dhaka University is compared to Oxford on account of houses, buildings, halls, edifices and such physical structural reasons, I have nothing to say.
Ahmad Chhafa,
‘Although My Teacher’
I too am a student of this university. The matter has already bred in me a kind of inexperience-born pride. Yet in overall consideration, this hyperbole about the university strikes me as nothing more than a display of pedantic mentality.
July 7, 2012
One of most interesting things that
doctors can, others can’t, is, they can read their own handwriting. Not
necessarily it means you’ve to think I’m a doctor.
July 7, 2012
Achieved unpaid, lost paid. A free
lunch always costs high.
Reflection: Four Hundred Thirty-Seven
……………………………………………………
July 7, 2012
When someone judges you by what your
grandfather was rather than what you are, be sure that he is still living in
the age your grandfather lived. Now, it’s your choice whether you want to leave
him to live in the time alive or to stay with him to live in the time dead.
July 9, 2012
…….and soon nothing would
remain.
Yasunari Kawabata, ‘The Dancing Girl
of Izu’, a short story
July 9, 2012
Between grief and nothing I will
take grief.
William Faulkner, ‘The Wild Palms’
July 10, 2012
I wish I could judge others not by
what they show but by what they hide.
July 11, 2012
Someone who knows too much finds it
hard not to lie.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
July 11, 2012
Why is the language of law is far
more difficult than the law itself?….. Customs Act, VAT Act……Grrrrrr…..
July 12, 2012
We always remember that the reward
of success is BIG. But what we often forget is that the reward is BIG only
because only a few of us can become successful.
July 12, 2012
Get Busy Living, Or Get Busy Dying.
~~Morgan Freeman, ‘The Shawshank
Redemption’
Sushanta Paul
July 14, 2012
When luck favours, it takes you less
time to reach the station, there’s little traffic jam on the street, the bus
delays to start, and even when you finally reach late, you’ll have enough time
to have a cup of coffee, still wait for the bus to start and smile to yourself!
Sometimes time does stop and wait to
welcome you. Let’s believe in miracle. It happens!
…..off to Chittagong.
July 16, 2012
O God! Either make me comfortable
with remembering people’s names or make them comfortable with my forgetting
their names. Why am I gifted with an unpleasantly wonderful memory for
forgetting things?
July 17, 2012
O God! She has not understood, will
never understand my words. Give her another heart if you cannot give me another
language of love.
July 17, 2012
I had grown sullen with my beloved. In my anger I rose and left. But I walked out of her house thinking she would call me back, that she would stop me, dissolve my sullenness with sweet words. I thought—my clothes were billowing in the wind—that she would catch the corner of my garment and make me sit down again. I walked so slowly that if she called, I could hear and turn back. But she is such a cruel darling that she never once called out, never stopped me, never caught my clothes and pulled me back to sit beside her. Disappointed, I continued walking slowly onward. And today I have walked so far from her that we two have parted forever. She did not call,
I did not return,
and our love came to its end!
—Kaifi Azmi
July 18, 2012
If punishment awaits the pleasures I have enjoyed through sin, then O God,
let the anguish of my uncommitted sins also earn some praise from you.
—Mirza Ghalib
July 18, 2012
“When a beautiful woman sits beside a broken grave, her hair disheveled, weeping in anguish, it seems to me that nothing in this world could be as beautiful as death.”
July 19, 2012
Phir haath mein sharab hai – PANKAJ
UDAS
July 19, 2012
Na Tum Jano Na Hum – Kaho Naa Pyaar
Hai (2000) *HD* Music Videos
July 19, 2012
Let’s do what we love, let’s love
what we do because strangely our heart somehow knows better than we do.
July 20, 2012
The magician of the simple and beautiful has departed. The man who lifted spirits has departed.
RIP Humayun Ahmed.
July 20, 2012
It’s funny. Don’t ever tell anybody
anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
J.D. Salinger, ‘The Catcher in the
Rye’
July 21, 2012
I can pass this whole life just
enjoying only a sunset because such a sunset comes only once in our life.
July 21, 2012
For those who have read and continue to read
Humayun Ahmed, this status is for you—-
Please share the names of a couple of books
of his writing that you enjoyed. I have read only a few. I want to read more.
July 22, 2012
You think me a sinner,
a criminal, because I have loved her so deeply. Ask her once, O woman! Why have you become so beautiful,
so lovely,
so graceful?
Such beauty concentrated in one form—is this not a sin? Is the sin only the worshipper’s?
Not beauty’s own?
~ Mir Taqi Mir
July 23, 2012
I’m a fortunate man and today’s
hours are but a bonus, undeserved. Why have I been allowed to live this extra
day when others, far better than I’m, have already departed? Is this not a
grace of Nature to thank and not complain?
July 23, 2012
I have…..
No money,
no cash….
No car,
no house………
Yet still……..
.
.
.
I have my ‘status’!………
Thank you Facebook!!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Thought: Four hundred thirty-eight
……………………………………………………
July 24, 2012
Mujtaba’s Shabnam,
Sunil’s Marguerite, or the many beloveds of many others. Alas, must they remain imprisoned forever only in black letters? Or does the community of writers hold eternal rights over those unique, incomparable beauties? I am ready to die a hundred times just to live once—does this eternal yearning of a thirsting heart dissolve only into air? Yet,
does the heart always reach false conclusions?
If that is so, then where the Creator has no authority, is not the writer’s sole dominion painful indeed?
July 25, 2012
What an irony! Not always we can want
what we really want. Not always we really want what we can want.
July 26, 2012
samahla hai meine bahut apne dil ko
July 26, 2012
Rain Drops keep falling on my head
July 26, 2012
wanna dancin’ like this?
Gene Kelly – I’m Singin’ in the Rain
July 26, 2012
Drink to me only with thine eyes
And I will pledge with mine.
Or leave a kiss but in the cup
And I’ll not look for wine.
The thirst that from the soul doth
rise
Doth ask a drink divine;
But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,
I would not change for thine.
~Ben Jonson, ‘To Celia’
July 26, 2012
Farewell sorrow
Welcome sorrow
You are drawn upon the wall’s rafters
You are drawn in the eyes of my love
You are not complete suffering
Because even the poorest lips
Give you back
In a fragment of laughter……
–Paul Éluard
Sushanta Paul
July 27, 2012
Love is ‘something hidden inside.’ Take, for instance, a boy and a girl. The boy has fallen in love with the girl. When the girl appears before him, something hidden within the boy will emerge. What happens then is euphoria. A kind of joy. Accompanied immediately by profound melancholy—how long will she stay? Soon she’ll leave, then what! And when will they meet again? This uncertainty, this very uncertainty contains a wonderful joy. Thinking of his beloved makes the lover’s heart race. But the beloved will leave, she won’t stay. This melancholy, this questioning, this uncertainty—that is, ‘Sometimes I see you, why don’t I see you always.’ When she leaves, the euphoria ends. You are plunged into deep despair. When she returns again, that hidden thing will emerge once more.
Humayun Ahmed
July 27, 2012
“People don’t pity the weak, they despise them.”
Read this. A story that touches the heart. At the end, the story doesn’t end. Good thing too. Very good. The ending of this story isn’t easy to digest. Ending it was difficult for the writer too.
Eyes
July 27, 2012
Death will not correct
a single line of poetry.
It is no corrector of illusions.
Nor any compassionate
editor.
An irritating person remains irritating even after death.
A fool, even from beyond the grave,
Carries on its chatter.
Tadeusz Różewicz,
‘Correction of Errors’
July 28, 2012
HAPPY the man, whose wish and care
A few paternal acres bound,
Content to breathe his native air
In his own ground.
……………..
……………..
Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;
Thus unlamented let me die;
Steal from the world, and not a
stone
Tell where I lie.
~~ Alexander Pope
July 29, 2012
Yesterday as I walked along the path
my foot fell upon a skull.
I saw that the skull had broken into fragments.
It cried out,
“O reckless traveler, watch your step,
I too was once someone’s proud head.”
~~ Mir Taqi Mir
July 30, 2012
My Old Facebook Friends! I’d like to
write a few lines for you as a token of my gratitude for your friendship
because you people are just PRICELESS. I regret I can hardly say a lovely
‘Hello’ now. I am because you were & are.
That time! That morn! That dawn!
Blessed was I much more than now
I’m,
I sigh for my golden days! Pleasant
enough,
The never-returning dawn, dance of
twilight in the lawn!
The years, stolen moments, pass
by…
I know such goes the subtle thief:
Time!
Still my heart aches for those
precious eves,
Let present sink into oblivion,
precious past be back!
The silent point I lived but for a
while,
Neither did I touch, nor feel,
A deep breath sighs for the rainbow
I never touched.
The solitude in the midst of crowd I
weep upon now!
Nature, the greatest temple: the
elevated columns, the beating of souls
Sometimes a hidden soliloquy breeds
some cryptic symbols;
Thereupon men pass but silently
through the never-ending woods
The ancient trees just watch him in
their practised eyes!
Many a echo wafted from a
land—distant, deep, so enigmatic,
Darkness approaches all at once
through a transparent greatness!
All the colours, smells dare answer
to those souls.
Some smells as if soft in the tune
of the organ;
Greened in a prairie, soft with the
touch of a child;
The others—winners, wealthy,
profaned… yet alone!
Brings down to earth from the
sky-like height…
All the sensibilities kiss our soul
with the greatest mystery ever-unexplored.
(Ritu Soni Sodhi, Sharmila Talreja,
Sarada Sekhar, Girish Kumar, Sharmeen Muiz, Johora Bebe Ira, Rose Triza, Dk
Singh, Rajeev Seth & many more whom I do adore silently.)
Another name I must mention here
…….. Tamanna Noor……… There are many more……….I’m gifted with
such a forgetful memory.
….. Yes, I’ve. I really appreciate
the approach I always receive from all of you. I know I enjoy this friendship
even more than I deserve. It’s a bliss, a rare fortune. Shower of compliments
from you, rhythm of eternal gratitude from me.
Thought: Four Hundred and Forty-Nine
……………………………………………………
………No need to say anything. If everything had to be spoken aloud, how could the claim of friendship remain? Among our friends, you were the first to receive 100 taka from ‘Prothom Alo.’ Do you remember? Your question about the safety pin was brilliant!
I remain waiting to hear the story of your success.
………..A most beautiful personal expression has emerged in the writing. In the midst of very simple words, the manifestation of intense emotion and intellect is rather like a touch of dreams. The stairway of dreams has no end—the miracle-seeing has only just begun!
……. I wake in dreams,
sleep in dreams,
live in dreams.
………Sounds like I eat dream, I
see dream and I sleep dream, I live in dream. No dream, no life.
……Let’s live with dreams, for
dreams, by dreams.
……..We dream to make it happen
and when it happens it’s like miracle happened! So, let’s not stop dreaming.
………Without courage and without
action dreams never come true.
………Extraordinary writing. What a pity there’s no way to favorite things on Facebook!!
……Don’t feel sorry. You’ve read the piece, you’re sharing it with friends. The writing is already in your favorites! Thank you.
………Adding to favorites doesn’t simply mean that it’s dear to me. Adding to favorites means that a year from now I won’t be able to find this piece anywhere else. Yet if I could have saved it to favorites, I would have found it just fine.
……. I know how it is. If you don’t remove the piece,
you’ll find it in my notes.
………Now suppose I forget your very name,
then what?
………Don’t worry. Nature abhors a vacuum. Whatever you need, you’ll surely get it,
from someone else.
………I read it again! I have to read it over and over,
that’s how it goes. Whenever despair takes hold, I keep reading your notes. Many become the best. But not everyone can show the way, even when they want to.
August 17, 2012
Have you heard of how a group of
people decided to set up a Pessimists’ Society in London? It was a trendsetting
idea, and all the pessimists in the neighbourhood agreed to meet the following
Sunday to set up the association. But when the appointed day came, nobody
turned up for the meeting. Apparently, they all felt that it just wouldn’t
work.
The Height of Pessimism! Ahem!
August 17, 2012
The newspapers, journals, magazines
are offering special ‘Eid Gift’ in the form of supplements. And, the funny
thing is that you must ‘buy’ that ‘gift’ to get it. Sometimes, ‘A Free Gift’
doesn’t sound redundant.
August 17, 2012
There are many things in life more
important than money, and they all cost money.
~Fred Allen
(This gentleman should have been
teaching at the Harvard Business School!)
………Yes, in some aspects (purely
non-material) he is absolutely mistaken.
………..I can give a list of 2
dozen items where money fails miserably. Many others can come up with even 200
long list. Had it been money, no rich would have died….. or remained unhappy.
In my view, money is directly proportional to worries. And happiness, the key
word for which you accumulate money, is inversely proportional to worry.
………The best parts of life are
what we cannot buy with money. And, they are all intangible, non-material.
August 19, 2012
Taal Se Taal Mila – Taal (720p HD
Song)
The dream-lady!!
August 21, 2012
Mama always said life was like a box
of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
…… from Forrest Gump (1994), one
of my favorite movies
……….If it a box of chocolates,
I am damn sure I will see chocolates if I open it…….lol
……..Not always you get the
chocolate you want to get.
August 21, 2012
Share the names of a couple of Bengali books you’ve enjoyed reading. Fiction or non-fiction. Or anything else for that matter. Let’s have some stories about what captivated you.
………Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Aranyak, Drishtipradip, Ichamati, Ashani Sanket, Debayan—by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. Mujtaba Ali’s Deshe-Bideshe, Chacha Kahini, Shabnam, Panchtantra. Short stories by Shibram, Banful and Manik, Tarashankar’s Kabi, Saptapadi, Ganadevata, Arogya Niketan, Nilkantha. Tarashankar’s short stories. Shankar’s Chowringhee; Sarat’s Ararakkhaneya, Rabithakur’s short stories, Char Adhyay, Jogajog, Amar Chelebela. Adwaita’s Titash Ekti Nadir Naam. Satyajit’s complete Feluda, complete Shanku. Jahanara Imam’s Ekattorer Dinguli, Mahbub-ul-Alam’s Guerrilla Theke Sammukh Juddhe, Major Kamrul Hasan’s Janajuddher Ganajodha, Harishankar Jaldas’s Kaibartta Katha, Jafar Iqbal’s early science fiction and adolescent novels, Humayun Ahmed’s Achinpur, Anyadina, Shankhanil Karagar, Nandit Narake, Kabi, Ei Shab Dinratri………Shahidullah Kaiser’s Sanshaptak, Zahir Raihan’s complete short stories and novels, Suchitra’s Kacher Manush, Parabas; Gajendrakumar’s Poush Fagun-er Pala, Kolkatar Kachai, Upakantha, Shawkat Ali’s Pradoshe Prakrita Jaan, Nimai’s Memsaheb, Sunil’s Shei Samay, Prathom Alo. Samaresh’s Uttaradhikar, Kalbela, Kalpurush; Saatkahan. Ashapurna Devi’s Subarnalataa. Buddhadeb’s Tapasvi O Tarangini.
…………………………
Pather Panchali
Chhobir Deshe Kobitar Deshe
Kabi
Shabnam
Sapta Sindhu Dash Diganta
Tarkapriya Bharatiya
Europe Punardarshan
Anur Pathshala
Pararthaparataar Arthaneeti
Journal
Sudur Jharnar Jale
And many more…..
August 23, 2012
Atulprasad’s song. The simple pathos of the song somehow touches the mind with a gentle caress….. Still, the resonance lingers.
Bodhua Nind nahi akhi patE ~~~
Sraboni Sen
……The song is strangely beautiful. Haven’t heard it in Mita Haque’s voice yet. Is it on YouTube?
August 23, 2012
What a combination of talent &
beauty! Hats off Boss!!
Sonu nigam – mimicry of all singers
(uploaded by Rajja)
Thought: Four Hundred Forty
……………………………………………………
August 25, 2012
To love is to suffer. To avoid
suffering one must not love. But then one suffers from not loving. Therefore,
to love is to suffer, not to love is to suffer. To suffer is to suffer. To be
happy is to love. To be happy then is to suffer. But suffering makes one
unhappy. Therefore, to be unhappy one must love, or love to suffer, or suffer
from too much happiness. I hope you’re getting this down.
– Woody Allen, Love and Death
August 25, 2012
Poets don’t invent poems
The poem is somewhere behind
It’s been there for a long long time
The poet merely discovers it.
~ Jan Skacel
(these lines tell best, I think, how
a poem is created)
November 7, 2012
My handset is damaged and so I can’t
retrieve the contact numbers. Friends, please send me your numbers to my inbox
if you think I can keep your numbers stored on my handset. I’d highly
appreciate your kind help. Thanks.
November 7, 2012
I will show you fear in a handful of
dust……wrote Eliot.
Were I Eliot, I’d write….. I will
show you eternity in a kiss.
Read the sonnet ‘First Kiss’ of
Chaitali. Was Tagore more romantic?
November 8, 2012
Going to Dhaka. No, that’s wrong. Have to go to Dhaka. Everyone has to go. That’s why they go. Have to stay. That’s why they stay. It’s one of the most expensive
slums on this planet! The last bit isn’t mine. It’s from one of our IBA professors.
………..Dear bhaiya, I can really
feel how much nostalgia you pass through whenever you see anything written
about Bangladesh. Sadly enough, Dhaka is becoming a sophisticated Hell every
day. Most convincing Hell!… Right or wrong, it’s my home, my motherland! One
of our marketing faculties told it satirically in our class. Bhaiya, no offence
he meant, I think…..I’m fine. How are you? How is everything going on? Have
you any plan to come here? Please let me know.
….. Yes dear, you’re right to a
great extent. Now, the scenario is changed. Actually, I wrote this status
feeling very sad for this ancient seat of civilization. Beauty is vanishing,
beast is coming out every moment. Whenever we’re raping it once, it’s raping us
twice. It’s the revenge.
….. Mega city with mega problems.
It’s just like all other mega cities of the world.
…..Hellish Heaven.
….. Bhaiya, please don’t
misinterpret me. It’s not that I dislike this city. Not always what I like and
where I wanna stay are the same city. Here are pirates who have stolen the
age-old beauty. Some columnist wrote about America: It’s like a prostitute whom
no one likes but no one can avoid. Dhaka is far better as we like it. But we
can’t like its present shape as it’s shattering our dreams every moment. We
feel sacred!
……Dhaka city is a wealthy,
prosperous Hell. ____ Ibn Batuta
……Buddy, you sound to be the
generous janitor of this pandemonium!….lol….We’re rather happy to reign
this Hell rather than to serve a utopian better Heaven. Huh? Hope to meet you
tomorrow at the IBA hostel.
: Dhaka is such a city
that when I leave it for a few days, my spirit breathes freely, I am free to take breathe but soon
after lung & eyes has got enough fresh air & beauty then I start
missing Dhaka like anything!
……. Stockholm Syndrome!
Just google. It’s really
interesting! I came across this term some years back in a detective novel.
Let me know when you’ve gathered the
idea. It’s worth-knowing.
……the pain we’re eagerly taking.
We’re so happy to be unhappy.
……Slum-dwellers usually…..
Either live in slums….. Or, make the places slums where they live in…….
….. Then it’s only love for love’s
sake.
November 14, 2012
An interesting fact:
We often overvalue ourselves with
what we intend to do or achieve and undervalue others with what they do or
achieve.
Judgement should come only when
intent becomes action.
……Sir, it’s because often not
all our desires are worth-having. We often don’t know what to want, and more
tragic of it is, often we don’t want what we really want! Others underrate us
and so do we. We’re basically afraid of breaking the tradition, therefore
external and internal factors hardly fuel our emotions and passions. It’s
better to appreciate things we can’t have than to have things we can’t
appreciate. But we follow the second approach, overuse our mind, and become
mediocre.
…………Unfortunately, I missed that
interview. Please, send me any reference or link if you can.
………There’s another problem. The
saying, I think, therefore I’m, sadly turns to, I doubt, therefore I might be,
in reality. Tragic, huh?
It’s OK brother, nothing to feel
sorry about.
November 18, 2012
Sometimes you have to be two
different people .
………In personal life and
professional life, two different persons in one are needed.
….. To keep simple things simple,
and to keep complex things complex.
……Sin and Saint are just two
different sides of the same coin.
…. One is never one.
……What we’re and what others
think we’re.
……In shallow sense too.
……So true Stevenson is!
……That’s what they call
personality.
November 18, 2012
Instead of saying anything bad, keep
silent. Instead of arguing badly, unfriend him/her. Be nice, or be away.
……..When Words kill, Silence
saves!
………I really don’t have enough
time and patience to argue and win a friend. Argument often stirs pride.
Neither I deserve everyone’s company, nor do they.
………I hope I deserve your
company!
…….Let the past years speak for
you.
…………….so, u didn’t rep my
mail on ur bday—what’s this?
……. OMG didi!! Long time!!!!!!
Actually, I couldn’t reply all the birthday greetings, could manage to reply
only some …… nearly 583 left yet!! I was a bit busy with my new job
……..really sorry!!! ……. How are you, didi? How is life going on?
November 20, 2012
Walk only with people better than
you. If you cannot find any, walk alone.
~ Buddha
I’ve always tried to follow this
teaching, but often life is not so easy as to avoid the not-better, (if not
worse,) ones.
…….When they don’t walk, make
them walk. It’s your personal charisma.
……Buddha advised it for the
average men like me who have little knowledge to judge, change and be changed,
I think.
…. And, in that case, you run the
risk of turning into a goose from a swan, instead of being a better/wiser swan.
……Your query has already been
answered.
….. It’s natural. Then, I must be
tactful……I too belong to that group. Still, I don’t worry so much. As they say, the good-hearted move along untroubled………
……It’s what they call
commonsense.
Reflection: Four Hundred and Forty-One
……………………………………………………
November 22, 2012
My major weak point is, I often try
to rationalize, justify and defend my areas of weakness.
……. Rationalization or justification
of weakness is just another form of weakness. It’s cowardice. A weakness is a
weakness after all. So, I’d rather be hated for what I’m than be loved for what
I’m not. Yes, some weaknesses can be turned to strength. Then, it’s not a
weakness any more. My point of weakness may be another person’s point of
strength. It depends. But, just to justify or to rationalize weakness is just
to make it more vulnerable and miserable. I’ve often done this.
….. Nature heals. Nature soothes.
To receive its bliss, there’s a law. It’s the law of love. ….. Is Heaven more
heavenly? I doubt! …..Man proposes, woman disposes, God confuses!….~ SIGH
~…..
December 3, 2012
What really knocks me out is a book
that, when you’re all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a
terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you
felt like it. That doesn’t happen much, though.
– Holden Caulfield,
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D
Salinger
December 4, 2012
“One of the very worst uses of
time is to do something very well that need not be done at all.”
December 6, 2012
Better to die dying than to live
dying.
December 15, 2012
What a wonderful procession of beautiful words! —- Read this. You will like it.
That I loved you so deeply—today even saying this
feels unwanted. For this too is only the pain of failed possession, that you existed
just that much—unconsciously spellbound I try to understand, you lost completely,
which unjust chariot’s blow,
whose head shall I sever,
with all the others
in the grandest gamble I wander witless in victory;
yet in this win-and-loss
I never went, for I had wanted labor’s effective reward,
Knowing the storm might come, I had set my solitary sail on the boat
Had no storm come, where would I have gone, in whose current—I no longer understand, as if
it could have happened,
it did happen.
I sit empty-handed. This very sitting, this very suffering is also a new kind of
boat-rowing, perhaps in flood currents, yet boat-rowing, and I no longer
wish to,
my heart and I, the sorrowful one, no longer want to break unknown waters, my
great suffering,
forgive me—this cannot be told to anyone because
my fate or nature wants to hold the flowing mountains in an immovable heart,
wants to bind them with severed hands in discipline,
knowing it cannot be bound,
since
gambling does not acknowledge cause and effect,
perhaps it can be bound, this terror and
hope
make me walk on my chest; there is no liberation—even this does not liberate;
which doors of the heart I open, which I keep closed, I cannot understand
what serves any purpose, the boat moves on.
~ Tanmoy Datta
…….I cannot write this well. I lack such emotional strength.
……. Blood has flowed from the heart as well. Some of his lost writings were published by Shakti Chattopadhyay under his own name.
I love you. I was shocked just hearing it. What is this girl saying! I thought. I saw her picture on Facebook. Then I thought again. No!
She can indeed be loved, but only as a sister. A younger sister. Such a sweet relationship. Nothing to be done!
But my new sister refuses to accept me as a brother. If necessary, she’ll kill me. What torment!
My crazy sister! I ask your forgiveness. I also ask for your blessings.
O Earth!
Be split in two. I climb the tree!!
…… One shouldn’t laugh so much at someone’s sorrow. Rather, find a good match for my little sister.
I myself want to know this mystery. The human mind is truly strange. What does the heart want, tell me……
…… You’re absolutely right, Madam,
that spirited girl looks like our villain Jumbo.
…… There’s no accounting in this love, brother, this is unaccountable love! Deeply painful!
………Sometimes it seems really
difficult to understand whether developing confidence is essential for success
or success is essential for developing confidence. It’s something that makes or
unmakes the total scenario. And, we all must pass through this transition
period. So, don’t worry. What you’re is what we were. Best of luck!
December 22, 2012
Unfortunately, most of the lovely
girls you have to like are the girls you don’t/can’t like to have. But why?
Because, ironically beauty stays where you think it shouldn’t. Any other
reasons?
………and it’s better to have a
friend like you who has every trust on my confidence. Wow!! You sound to
believe what I claimed!! So sweet of you dear.
……Never paint all the pictures
with the same brush.
December 24, 2012
I’ll buy a camera today. Something within ten to twelve thousand taka. Seeking advice from friends on this.
……….. I really feel happy,
fortunate & grateful to have such helpful friends around me. It gives me
immense pleasure and a sense of security to get such online instant help much
more than I anticipated. Really!! Please accept my heartfelt thanks for staying
beside me. Please always do keep in touch.
By the way, as I was too busy to
find any time to buy a camera, my younger brother bought a silver-colour Nikon
COOLPIX S3100 Camera. It’s affordable in price and takes good (not bad) snaps.
I know, you suggested better options at a bit higher price. I’m very sorry for
my poverty. I’ll buy another one later.
December 24, 2012
……anchoring the cultural evening
arranged on the occasion of Farewell & Reception Program of some of our
senior officials at Custom House Auditorium, Chittagong.
December 27, 2012
…….now on a journey
through—the soul of night, the soft melody of instrumentals, rhythmic kissing
of wheels, the scent of soft breeze, the sweet sleep of Nature, the sound of
silence, the joy of being close to madness, the essence of the world I
create……. And, I slowly go insane. Life’s good!
Hello Sylhet!
December 28, 2012
Drifting by boat in moonlight…..the tender light comes and kisses lips, eyes, chin with its gentle touch! Oh! What love! What enchantment!…….the serene, ice-cold winter evening of Poush—that old magician!
Every now and then—click! Click! Yes, the camera flashes! Ah! Moonbathed, moonstruck!
Sublime!!
January 25, 2012
There is a whole world of sound
around us all the time that we cannot hear. It is possible that up there in
those high-pitched inaudible regions there is a new exciting music being made,
with subtle harmonies and fierce discords, a music so powerful that it would
drive us mad if only our ears were tuned to hear the sound of it. — Roald
Dahl