When you buy something from Costco, you know, you have to buy a bit more than in the retail store. Acceptable. I bought some root ginger. I always put some ginger juice into my tea. As I bought from Costco I had to buy a full bag.
Today I found most ginger in that bag is rotten. I know I can complain, but complaining every now and then on all issues, isn't me. I am feeling tired. I will just throw them away and buy some more. Hopefully, this time will get some good ones.
When we were giving SSC (Final exam after grade 10), the government introduced "Objective Type" questions. Previously we had to write all answers in a descriptive way. Teachers judge them in their own way to mark. Now it became like yes or no. So, teachers or board examiners have to give numbers if the student's answers are correct. So, if they want they can get 50 marks with this type of answer, the rest 50 marks were in the same old style (Description Paragraphs of answers).
For me it was good. I am not good at memorizing line-by-line big essays. I like to write everything, in short, the main points. So, if the question said, write a short summary, I will definitely make it short. Later I found students who wrote long got better marks. I still don't understand this nature of marking.
Anyway, it was first introduced in SSC in Bangladesh with our batch. Previously very few students got marks more than 75%. They use to call the star mark holders in the exam. Very prestigious situation. Now after adding the objective system many students, including me got the start marks. People stop taking it as a prestigious thing. They start laughing at us. Like you to get a star! Like we didn't study or didn't do good in exams.
Even people from Kolkata, India started laughing at us. Some said we heard all-stars from the sky suddenly dropped on Bangladesh?
Later I found I didn't get "Stand" marks (Top 20 on the board) just for 1 mark.
I really work hard during the SSC exam. Exam time was always known as load-shedding time. From afternoon I used to sit on my desk and study with a candle, no fan or light. I remember it was a hot and humid season. I used to sweat and became totally wet during the study. All my family members used to go to the roof to get some fresh air. I spent my time like this for a month. Anyway, these good marks helped me soon.
Some people think mental harassment is the best way to make things done. They put pressure, lied and give false accusations, and believed this will make people do whatever they wanted to make them do.
On me, these don't work. If I felt I shouldn't do, I won't. People's harassment may hurt me, but won't make me do anything, which I felt I shouldn't.
If you want to change my mind, come up with good logic.
When we were in school, our nightlife had a significant time of Load-shedding (Power outrage). Like now day roads have a traffic jam.
Bangladesh is a hot and humid country. So, load-shedding means no fan and light. We didn't have AC on those days. In Dhaka, all apartments are too close, that there is no room for a gentle breeze. So, our condition was very poor in power outrage. Every day we had to spend 2/3 hours like this at night.
Kids always find a way to live in any situation. So, we did. Our sister had some specific time spending game in the Load-shedding. My older sister's favourite one was "Be quick, name of some birds (flower or animals)", we all uses to sit in a round shape, then each of them mentioned a bird's name. No one can repeat or skip. Otherwise, that person will be out of the game. In the end who stays, is the winner.
My sister had another way to spend this time, by sleeping. Even she liked spending her Eid sleeping.
My mom had a better way. Sometimes we went to the roof. In dark, we could easily take a moon bath. Mom uses to put a mat on the floor and if there is no wind then we took a hand fan with us made from the palm tree (In Bangla, taal patar pakha).
I enjoyed all of them. I believe where ever you are, find your happiness. Kids are an expert in this.
Everything is like a mental game. When you are mentally strong and sound, you can do many things. You will find a way from each problem, you can progress the way you want to. So, try to be there where mentally you feel comfortable.
Our Prophet Mohammad (May Allah give peace to him) was born and grew up in Makka, Saudi Arabia. But he decided to live his life in Madina. Because those people loved him, gave him a home to live in. He didn't ignore their love. He stayed with them for the rest of his life.
I want to live and be with those people, who gave me mental comfort. Where I feel loved. Not those who are rich and have a good position in society. Or likes to play mental games. Though I admire intelligent people and most of them are like that.
That's why I wanted to be with them, who are happy to have me. My presence gives them happiness. And feel comfortable too.
Before sitting for my study I used to clean my desk first, I mean put all things in the right place, then wipe and finally sit for study. Like someone was walking with a cup, then put it on my table and left. So, first I put those things in the proper place.
Soon my other family members figure it out. So, whenever they had or found anything, they just put it on my study desk. They believed their duty is done. They knew I will take of it then. Obviously, I didn't like that. I told them, why don't they put things in the proper place by themselves? but they didn't listen.
One day I saw my dad is telling to my youngest sister, "Just put the clip on Shimul's desk, she will take care of it". Well, I wasn't happy about that. They saw me and within a second both disappear from my eyes and I found a hair clip on my desk.
My habit has gone, I don't have energy for this anymore. Maybe after a year when I will move to another destination, I will clear up everything.
Asian people like to enjoy their festivals. Like new year, 1st day of spring, etc. They just don't enjoy, the way they enjoy that everybody can see, hear the bit of music.
Canadian culture is a little different. They like to enjoy their festivals too. But they never make other people see or hear, who doesn't want to.
When I first came to Canada, I was surprised to see that they were having a big election but I couldn't feel it. No big banners, no car rally, no frequently knocking on doors on elections. They knew where to go to vote, they went and got the result. I got to know about it from the news that all of a sudden we have got a new prime minister.
A few days ago a Persian family was celebrating their new year with their friends and families. Their culture is to play very loud music and dance and sing. The security tried to make them understand their neighbour can't sleep in this situation. They couldn't understand. They keep saying, try to understand, it's our new year.
But we should know, we all respect each other's culture, and we can enjoy ourselves as much as we want, but we can't disturb our neighbour. You never know who is facing which situation in life, some may take drugs to sleep, some may have very early flights to catch, some may not like your music, etc.
Don't torture others with your festival or occasions. Let's make a better environment where everyone can live the way they want to.
At home, my mom has a recipe book, "Siddia Kabir's Recipe". In my eyes, she was the best. She knew how to cook healthy in a simple Bangladeshi way.
When I was in school, I thought I should try those recipes. So, I had decided on Fridays, after lunch, when my mom goes to take a day nap. I can try to cook and before afternoon tea time, I will clean up everything and let mom work in the kitchen again.
I use to try every kind of food. Some I never tasted before or even never heard the name. I even didn't how the final product should look like. I just tried. Some became non-eatable, some are good and a few came in excellent taste.
I thought I am the only one who is excited about this experiment. But I was wrong.
Friday was my father's weekly grocery day. He used to go to the Khilgaon Kacha Bazar. Every week before he left he started asking me, what ingredients do I need today to cook? And in the afternoon he is the one who used to come first to the table to taste something new.
For some people, age is just a number. I have seen those people, they go to market, travel to different places, enjoy time with friends, kids, neighbours or just with strangers. They laugh a lot, they dance. If you see them with somebody, you may think, oh for long years they are having this relationship, now grown old. Actually, they just meet and started enjoying each other's company.
If you think these people don't have any physical pain or mental stress, then you are wrong. These people know how to overcome or ignore negativity and enjoy the positiveness in life.
I have stopped counting my age after 23. Now a day if anyone asks my age, I had to start counting. I really don't remember my age. I don't think it's necessary. I just like to live my life.
After reaching Canada I had rented an apartment in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. It was a wooden 3 storey apartment. Most of the apartments in Saskatoon are made of wood.
When we entered, my neighbour asked me if there were any cockroaches in my apartment. I said no. She said it will show up, just wait. I thought if I stay clean, I won't face any trouble. I was wrong.
Cockroaches are all over the apartment. When any tenant leaves, the landlord called the pest controller and they clean that apartment only, not the rest of the building, and it may stay clean for about 3 months. As I told you earlier most of the apartments are wooden. So cockroaches actually don't leave 100%. Some of them hide inside the wood, below the carpets or cabinets. Even if one egg is left it will create 21 new cockroaches and they grow very fast. If that does not happen then some new cockroaches will travel from the other apartments. So, in apartments it is very difficult to find any without cockroaches.
Then it continues growing. Never use any spray to clear cockroaches. Because then it will move from kitchen and washroom to your bedrooms. Medicine and glue may reduce some but actually don't help. In the end, it will make a home inside your wooden furniture.
After moving to Ontario, I get to know, there is no way to stay out of cockroaches in apartments. Only detached homes can be free from them.
We are living in an apartment now. Sometimes we saw cockroaches come from windows or doors. We killed it immediately. We mop our floor every night with soap water. Try to keep clean the sink to avoid cockroach problems. We heard and seen in a google review that this apartment building also has a cockroach problem (Who doesn't). But it never rose. The landlord put medicine in a very good way that till now cockroaches didn't rise. But it's been one year and now a day I find more cockroaches are trying to come here and make their home. Let's see what happens next.
Bangladesh and India had produced this film together. The hero of this film is from Bangladesh along with some other casts. This song is from the film "Hothat Bristi" (Sudden rain). I like this film and almost every song from this film. Let's share one of them,
Lyrics (English translation has given below):
ছোট ছোট স্বপ্নের নীল মেঘ
কখনো রোদ্দুর বৃষ্টি,
ছোট ছোট স্বপ্নের নীল মেঘ
কখনো রোদ্দুর বৃষ্টি,
জীবনের চাকা গেছে আঁকা-বাঁকা
সৃষ্টি বা অনাসৃষ্টি
তবু এক মুঠো সুখ ছুঁয়ে গেলে ভাবি
এ যেন হঠাৎ বৃষ্টি।
ছোট ছোট স্বপ্নের নীল মেঘ
কখনো রোদ্দুর বৃষ্টি।
কখনো আলো-ছায়ার খেলা
কখনো শুধুই আঁধার,
কোথাও থামে ভেজা সহনি
কোথাও ফুলের বাহার।
কোথাও চেতনা পাহাড় ভাঙ্গে
কোথাও বিপন্ন কৃষ্টি।
তবু এক মুঠো সুখ ছুঁয়ে গেলে ভাবি
এ যেন হঠাৎ বৃষ্টি।
ছোট ছোট স্বপ্নের নীল মেঘ
কখনো রোদ্দুর বৃষ্টি।
কখনো হৃদয় ভাঙ্গার খেলা
কখনো সেতু গড়ার,
কখনো নিজ নিকেতনে মন
কখনো কখনো সবার।
কোথাও চাওয়ার হিসেব মেলে না
কোথাও না পাই সন্তুষ্টি।
তবু এক মুঠো সুখ ছুঁয়ে গেলে ভাবি
এ যেন হঠাৎ বৃষ্টি।
ছোট ছোট স্বপ্নের নীল মেঘ
কখনো রোদ্দুর বৃষ্টি,
ছোট ছোট স্বপ্নের নীল মেঘ
কখনো রোদ্দুর বৃষ্টি,
জীবনের চাকা গেছে আঁকা-বাঁকা
সৃষ্টি বা অনাসৃষ্টি
তবু এক মুঠো সুখ ছুঁয়ে গেলে ভাবি
এ যেন হঠাৎ বৃষ্টি।
ছোট ছোট স্বপ্নের নীল মেঘ
কখনো রোদ্দুর বৃষ্টি।
I like rain. Now a day I have a very strong reason for that. When I saw rain I park my car outdoor in my workplace. So, that it gets washed and becomes spotless.
Yesterday when I was driving to work, it was raining. I sang a song in the car, no worries no one listened. Then took a decision to park outside. In the meantime, it started hails. Oh no, I can't put my car outside in the hails.
I had to park my car in an underground parking spot. I didn't feel good. I couldn't utilize this rain :(
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Our 4 sisters used to sleep in a big bed. My mom inherited it from our grandfather (Paternal). Now a day she sleeps on that.
On a winter night, I fall asleep a little earlier than others. I was inside the mosquito net. After a while, my other 3 sisters came inside the net to sleep. Maybe during that moment or earlier a cockroach somehow got inside the net. Within the next few seconds lots of things happened like a tornado, let me try to take you over there in slow motion.
First, my older sister screamed like death and then open the net and run away. Maybe out from the room. I couldn't see that because I was under the cotton-made blanket (In Bangla we called it Lep).
Next, my immediate two younger sisters saw the cockroach and screamed and jumped on my blanket, when I was inside. They knew that very well, that I was sleeping there. But I was their only hope to get rescued.
Third, in my sleep, I suddenly felt two big mountains fall on me and lots of screaming happening around me. Now, if you think, that's it. No, my dear, that's just the starting.
Next, these two girls, well they were not a kid, they had enough weight to kill me, keep jumping on me and every time they jumps, they were screaming, "Mejo! telapoka (Second sis, a cockroach)!!". There was no way that I could push them aside and remove the blanket and get up.
I tried to get loud as possible below the blanket and kept saying, "first move from here and let me out!" But I was inside the blanket and they were not in a mood to listen to anything from me they kept jumping and screaming.
Finally, after trying several times, I pushed one and kicked the other to move from the blanket and was somehow able to get me out from the blanket. They saw my head out from the blanket, they pointed to the other side of the mosquito net and showed me a cockroach.
I guess the cockroach also got astonished after watching their jumping and screaming. That's why it couldn't run away and standstill.
I couldn't decide to whom should I get angry, to these sisters or to the cockroach.
Tomari Chowate Song Lyrics In Bengali :
জানিনা কেন বারেবারে
হারাই তোমাতে, দূর নীলিমায়,
তোমারই যেন খুব কাছে
মন পড়ে আছে, অচিন মায়ায়।
তোমারই তো সাথে, মাতাল হাওয়াতে
ক্ষণে ক্ষণে চায় মন তোমাতে হারাতে,
তোমারই ছোঁয়াতে, ভীষণ মায়াতে
বাধা পড়ে তোমার হতে।
জানিনা কেন বারেবারে
হারাই তোমাতে, দূর নীলিমায়,
তোমারই যেন খুব কাছে
মন পড়ে আছে, অচিন মায়ায়।।
আজও আমি তাই, তোমাকে খুঁজে যাই
তোমাকে ভেবে কতো গল্প সাজাই,
তুমি জানো কি? দিবানিশি তাই
তোমারই দুটি চোখে আমি হারাই।
দূর সুদূরে
তোমাতেই যেনো আমি মিশে যাই,
ভালোবেসে একই সুরে প্রাণ বাঁধি তাই।
তোমারই তো সাথে, মাতাল হাওয়াতে
ক্ষণে ক্ষণে চায় মন তোমাতে হারাতে,
তোমারই ছোঁয়াতে, ভীষণ মায়াতে
বাধা পড়ে তোমার হতে।
জানিনা কেন বারেবারে
হারাই তোমাতে, দূর নীলিমায়,
তোমারই যেন খুব কাছে
মন পড়ে আছে, অচিন মায়ায়।।
দুটি চোখও আজ, খোঁজে না কিছু আর
যতনে রাখি তাই চোখের তারায়,
তোমাকে ভেবে তাই, স্বপ্ন সাজিয়ে যাই
তোমারই পথে আজ তাই পা বাড়াই।
বেঁধেছো হৃদয়
কোন সে অচেনা মায়াতে,
হারিয়ে নিজেকে খুঁজি তোমার ছায়াতে।
তোমারই তো সাথে, মাতাল হাওয়াতে
ক্ষণে ক্ষণে চায় মন তোমাতে হারাতে,
তোমারই ছোঁয়াতে, ভীষণ মায়াতে
বাধা পড়ে তোমার হতে।
জানিনা কেন বারেবারে
হারাই তোমাতে, দূর নীলিমায়,
তোমারই যেন খুব কাছে
মন পড়ে আছে, অচিন মায়ায়।।
তোমারই ছোঁয়াতে লিরিক্স - হাবিব ওয়াহিদ ও মৌটুসী খান :
Janina keno bare bare
Harai tomate dur nilimay
Tomari jeno khub kache
Mon pore ache ochin mayay
TOmari toh sathe matal hawate
Khone khone chaay mon tomate harate
Tomari chowate vishon mayate
Badha pore tomar hote
Aajo ami tai tomake khuje jai
Tomake vebe koto golpo sajai
Tumi jano ki dibanishi tai
Tomari duti chokhe ami harai
In Bangladesh, cockroaches are a little bigger in size. About 2 inches long. In summer when we keep all windows open sometimes at night they fly into our houses. If people can kill it, hit by a sandel mainly. It dies, and no more cockroaches. I mean if you keep your house clean there won't be any cockroaches.
There is some other kind of cockroaches too. These are small, brownish, about half-inch long in size. Someone told me these are Russian cockroaches. If it comes once, never left.
Again, these are not very common in our country. And if you can clean it properly, somehow can get rid of it.
Among our 4 sisters, I am the only one who is brave enough to kill cockroaches. It's not that I like it or don't scared of it, especially when they try to sit on you, but I know if I want to get rid of it, I have to kill it. Otherwise, it will keep flying in the house and sit on food.
My other sisters scare too much. They scream and run away. My older sister jumps first to get out of it from her body then run. One day she was eating her meal on her bed, suddenly someone told, " Boropa, Tela poka (big sis, a cockroach)!". It wasn't on her body but my sister didn't take any risk. She jumped, all her rice fall on the bed and then she run. Finally, she looked back if there were any cockroaches or not. Anyway, the cockroach was somewhere else. She is still like that.
