Campaign in Bangladesh

 In Bangladesh, tradition/benefit is that when you want to campaign for anything, it could be a business product or any kind of election or services, you can use anything in this country without any permission. Treaditionally it is accepted by the people of this country.

Like, you can write about the campaign, or colour or decorate any wall, like a personal home, office buildings, or any shop. You can put your information on any tree, lamp post, public transport, etc. Especially during elections, the campaign party decorates the whole city. Like they own it.

Marriage ceremony

 Bangladesh has a tradition of celebrating marriage ceremonies, as do many other countries. There are some common steps that everyone follows, some inherited from family or community, to ensure everyone can enjoy the celebration. They spend days celebrating at various locations and months preparing, depending on their budget or capabilities.

We received many invitations to join marriage ceremonies. In most cases, my mom didn't want to go because we didn't have a car at that time. Most ceremonies end late at night, making it very difficult to find a ride back home. Uber wasn't available then.

Even if we attend the ceremony, my parents just eat food and then go back home. I haven't had the chance to see any of the activities at the ceremony. I have asked them many times, but they never listen to me.

I regretted it to my friends and said I really wanted to see all the activities of a marriage ceremony. They laughed at me. They said, " You will see when your ceremony occurs." Allah knows that was a disaster.

My friend Shumi helped me fulfill this wish. She invited me to her house to stay for three days and participate in all the ceremonial activities. Well, it wasn't really an option. She ordered me to do so. I stayed with her family for three days and watched all the programs. Shumi and her family took very good care of me—more than the bride herself. They constantly checked whether I had eaten or was facing any problems. Even though Shumi was sitting as the bride, she asked her mother to check whether I had eaten anything. It was a wonderful memory for me.

During my marriage ceremony, no one looked after me like that. Everyone at my ceremony was busy eating. No one fed me. By the end, there was a shortage of seating, and people faced trouble because of the limited availability. My sister's in-laws were also invited to the ceremony. They managed to set up a new table in my room (the bride's room) and sat there to eat. Boro apa (my brother-in-law's older sister) suddenly noticed I was sitting alone. She asked, "Did you eat anything?" I said no. So, she fed me 2 or 3 bites of rice from her hand. In the meantime, the groom's family arrived at the ceremony, so she stopped. Then, they started causing trouble because of the food shortage. The restaurant was very slow, and they caused such delays in arranging the food that everyone became very angry.

A person from the groom's family came to me and asked, "Did you eat food?" I replied, "Yes" (I had taken 2 or 3 bites). She said, "What kind of bride are you? How could you eat before the groom's lunch?" Then she went to the groom's family and kept saying, "What kind of bride is this?" Just to let you know, generally, the bride's family feeds the bride earlier because she may feel shy to eat anything with the groom.

My youngest sister came to me and said that the groom and his friends are also causing a scene. They didn't like the food that was served, so they are demanding something else. I saw from the window how the groom and his friends got up from their tables and walked to another table to eat more, showing their anger.

At the end of the day, my mom came and said they were going to eat now and asked if I wanted to eat. I have seen enough to feel eat anything, so I said no.

Anyway, as I already declared, I have eaten. No one offered me food after arriving at the groom's family's house. I think I enjoyed enough food at my marriage ceremony. I don't even know what the food will look like at my wedding.

Dhaka, Bangladesh.

 This is a semi-commercial/mixed commercial area in Kakrail, Dhaka, Bangladesh. I think the picture is about 15 years old. I took it from a hospital room. It was a difficult night to sleep, so I was looking outside and watching this scene.

Local Temporary Shaheed Minar

 In Bangladesh, people build many local temporary Shaheed Minars to honour those who gave their lives to keep Bangla as the national language. I was watching one of our local Shaheed Minars. Photo credit goes to my brother-in-law, Ashique.

"Shaheed Minar"

At the University of Dhaka, our department was on the opposite side of the "Shaheed Minar". "Shaheed Minar" is a sculpture in remembrance of those who died to keep the Bangla language alive in this world. We call it the language of our mother. The larger sculpture represents the mother, and the smaller ones are her children. The incident occurred on 21st February 1952 in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). Every year, the Banglade Academy arranges a book fair throughout the month of February to celebrate this month. People show their respect on February 21st and gather at this "Shaheed Minar".

While we were students at the University of Dhaka, one day I thought we should take some pictures on campus so we could remember this beautiful place. Shumi had a camera, and we took pictures at different places in the University. I think this was one of them. 

1st day of Spring celebration in Bangladesh.

 Before I moved to Canada, one day Falguni asked me to join the celebration of the first day of spring. We went to Boi Mela (Book Fair) and then visited some areas of the University of Dhaka. We met some of our other friends, too.

We were at the Boi Mela (Book Fair).

As far as I remember, the stage was at the Charukala, University of Dhaka, 

Inside Boi Mela (Book Fair), which runs throughout the month of February.

Citizen of two countries.

 It's a great feeling when you become a citizen of a new country, Canada. I now hold dual citizenship in Bangladesh and Canada.

Cityzenship Certificate

Oath of Citizenship

A letter from the former Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau

Biography 258 : Friday

 At a young age, Friday was very special to us. The moment I am telling you is when we returned from Saudi Arabia and lived in a rented apartment. We were waiting to complete our own building. I was newly admitted to a primary school.

Every Friday was a government weekly holiday. That was the only day in the week that we had school and the office closed. The whole family was staying at home. My father used to do his weekly grocery shopping from Khilgaon Kancha Bazaar.

I have always liked the meal cooked on Fridays. Because it tasted very good. Now I understand; it was because of fresh ingredients from the bazaar. Another reason was that my dad used to stay home, so my mom tried to make new items that day. I remember that our big launch table was filled with various food items. My dad also used to enjoy the Friday meal with all family members.

On that day, BTV (Bangladesh Television) started its channel in the morning. On other days, only after 5 pm. They played cartoons, kids' programs and many other special programs that day. We sisters used to watch it together. We used to play together after lunch. While our parents were sleeping. No matter how much we tried to keep our volume low, finally, we ended up shouting, fighting or laughing that my mom used to come up from her afternoon nap and beat us up. Because, she couldn't sleep because of our high volume of noise.

Now I can understand her position. She used to make special breakfast in the morning when we were all at home. Then, my father brought a weekly bazaar. Those were very raw in shape. Like chicken and fish, all were alive; vegetables needed to be washed, cut, and cooked. She had to cut all and pack up for the rest of the week, including cooking for that day, and she had to clean the house. Everything has to be done in a very short time.

We, sisters, used to clean shaak (like spinach, mustard leaves, etc)  for her while watching TV. That took hours for us to separate all from rotten ones and wash them. Mainly, my older sister and I did this job.

Maybe I liked Fridays because the whole family used to enjoy the day together. My parents used to wake up early in the morning. As we didn't have school, we stayed in bed as much as possible. My father had only one day to spend time with us. So, he tried to wake us up by calling our names, increasing the TV volume, and sometimes singing at a high volume while my mother was making breakfast. We sisters became annoyed with him, but never woke up early. We always tried to sleep as much as possible. This was our only day to sleep in more in the morning.

Now I understand how my father missed and tried to spend time with us. My mother was working alone from very early in the morning. She sometimes became very angry with my father, and he always tried to enjoy time with us by watching TV or playing. He never tries to make us study.

We were happy that our parents didn't disturb us in studying.

Garments products from Bangladesh

 Dresses are very expensive in Canada. Bangladesh has many garment factories, and they supply dresses at the cheapest price in the world. And the qualities are good.

Here is my recommendation: All small dress shops, all over Canada, I mean in small towns and cities, if you can communicate with a Bangladeshi garment factory to provide dresses (especially t-shirts) from Bangladesh, then you can make a lot of profit and also provide them at a much lower price to Canadians.

Bangladesh has ports for ships, so it will be easier to deliver by using the oceans.

In the same time we should try to produce locally too. Like indigenous people produces. We can create local production too. Then we have full control on those products and quality will be the best, some people will get jobs. We don’t have to depend 100% to other countries.

I hope business people should consider my opinion.

Biography 208: Colors thrown to people, when Bangladeshi Cricket Team Won.

 It was a big day in Bangladeshi Cricket history when they got Test Status. On that day, another thing happened in Bangladesh, mainly in Dhaka. People started throwing paint at other people. It would be good if they continued doing this among friends and family. But people got crazy and started throwing people all over the road. Some may work in the office, go to pray to master, go to school, etc.

On the road, people started throwing liquid colour to all passersby walking or moving in a rickshaw, car, or bus. First, maybe they had tap water with them to mix the colour with it. Then they started taking water from the drain, colouring it, and throwing it at the people. It didn't remain fun for all people. Many people were kind of harassed by this kind of activity, especially ladies.

It was a big victory day for Bangladesh, so eventually, people forgave this activity. At least no action had been taken.

We four sisters went out that day. Three of us came back home clean—I mean without any colour—except my fourth sister, Shekha. She was on the rickshaw with her friends coming back home. The rickshaw was in the Shahjahanpur Railway Colony (Government Residencial Area). Some boys threw buckets of colour on them.

Now, I want to tell my history. I was in the Department of Geography & Environment at the University of Dhaka. We were on the second level of our department building, at our class. Then the news came with the color-throwing event. Some boys ran outside to collect colours to throw them on the girls. All the girls were scared and tried to run away. I, along with some other girls, ran to the library and closed the door.

Some boys came, including one of our classmates, Tulon. Because another classmate, Tinni, was shouting continuously, "Tulon, don't do this, stop it!." Well, that gives Tulon more courage to continue their activities. They tried to break the lock by pushing the door. Some girls, including me, tried to push back the door so that they couldn't get inside. Tulon used his brain 200% and a steal ruler to open the lock. Then he gave a big push to the door. When I was alone, I was trying to keep it close, so I couldn't.

All entered together in the room. I screamed and hid my face with my hands. I don't know why; nobody touched me or threw any colour on me. They were using dry colours. They ran inside the room and found girls who were hiding below the table or behind the shelves and through colours on them. I was shocked and standing at the front door. Then they all go outside.

I was thinking, how did I get relieved? Anyway, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to all of them. I don't know who they were; their faces were covered with colours. I just know that one of them was Tulon.

Then, I waited inside the library for a couple of hours to stop this colour game. I took a rickshaw and came back home. On the way, I saw colours everywhere. In the Matijhil, all cars were coloured, all roads had colour marks, and buildings had colour marks. I saw some forceful colouring activities beside the roads too.  Luckily, my rickshaw poller used 300% of his brain, he rode fast and kept our rickshaw in the middle so that they didn't try to attack me. I came back home clean.

Biography 202: VCR Era

In my childhood, a new culture grew in Bangladesh. We can call it VCR culture. People used to rent Video cassettes from a rental store to view movies at home. They kept a VCR (Video Cassette Recorder) at home to play the cassette. In every block, a new video cassette rental store is established. In school, students discussed what film they had viewed the day. One of my school friends, Falguni, said that every day from 9 pm was their movie time. After dinner, the whole family would stay together to watch movies.

My dad went to the mall to buy a VCR with his boss. This boss became our family friend; his family always attended our Eid and Birthday parties. My mom and dad visited their house, too. Mom said she had never seen such a neat and clean house. All credit goes to his wife. My dad became his friend because they both like to try new electronic items. So, when they went to buy a VCR, they came back with a VCP. Because it was new in the market and had sound technology and a remote.

Anyway, the VCP (Video Cassette Player) era started in our house. My dad used to bring all the cassettes. We used to watch movies according to his choice. I must inform you that most of the movies were Hindi. This VCR era taught me Hindi, which has become a good asset now, after all these years.

This era continued until the cable TV era started. Cable TV and multiple channels started one after another to support each other. People stopped renting cassettes; they could view movies and other programs on TV with a minimum monthly subscription. Technology changed. The video cassette store was turned into a VCD disk rental shop. That is also demolishing too. Nowadays, kids have no idea what a video cassette is.

On those days, I had performed a TV program. I danced. My father recorded the whole program. My sister's programs and many other recordings were at home. With time, all were destroyed. Now, we don't have any copies of that program.

Thought process of Bangladeshi men

[It's totally my opinion, from my experience (including observation, news and personal experience)]

 In Bangladesh, there is a trend of thought process; Men (Teen to old) can do anything to a woman except kill. Killing is for home (I will talk about that later).

From coming out of the home, on the way to her destination and till she enters her destination, men are allowed to do anything. It's the girl's fault; why did she come out. Men and most women believe that this came from the religion. Though our messenger (May Allah give peace upon him) always took his wife to the war, other women also helped the soldiers like a doctor; they worked on business and everything during his time. Men were not allowed to disturb them anyway and were responsible for caring for them.

Let's return to Bangladesh; at the end of the day, men will say, you want the rights 50% (They believe and act like women shouldn't have any rights), then do everything like us. No, they didn't mean to work like them that women do better. They pointed to tolerate and be with them. Or showing strength like them. Obviously, not on them. On work, so that the small part of work they are doing, they don't have to do that either, but the respect they are getting from women should always be there. Otherwise, they will show their strength to the women in every possible way. If not physically, then verbally. Like, that woman is bad (in Bangla, Nosta), so now every man has the right to do anything to that woman. That is not bad for a man. Because they are men. Men will be men.

Let's give you a small example of the situation. If you ask any woman who rides on a bus, every woman will say someone touched her on the bus. Though most men are Muslim, they think if women want to take a bus, they have to tolerate this men's entertainment.

If you go outside Bangladesh to any other country, it is very rear that a man touches a woman on the bus. Whether they are Muslim or from any other religion or do not believe anything. Women can go out to work like a human.

Husband, a showpiece?

 In Canada, I have seen a huge number of Bangladeshi families. Among them, a significant number of families are running like this:

Both males and females are working. Females earn much more than males. And she is working outside and inside the house and caring for the kids. Men enjoy their work and relax time. No or very less contribution to the family. Very little help in the household work and taking care of the family.

Those men feel proud of that; they made their wives like that. Who earns for them and takes care of their kids as well.

Why are women tolerating this? First, traditional thinking was in mind to save the marriage, to have someone whom kids can call father, and surprisingly I found another reason. They keep them as a showpiece. Non-married women can face lots of different kinds of trouble from other males. Yes, in Canada too. If society knows the woman is married, she will face fewer problems. So, just to keep life hazard free, just like a marriage certificate, some women kept that showpiece in their life.

This condition is happening in other communities too.

Biography 158: Walking from one building to another

 At the University of Dhaka, all buildings are far apart. Thanks to Allah, rickshaws are available inside the University area. Actually, some main roads go through the university. I guess only heavy vehicles are not allowed to run in between the university area, except university buses.

The admission process happens in June. That is one of the warmest weather in Bangladesh. It isn't a joke at noon when it is about 40c temp if you have to walk from one building to another, which is 5 to 20 minutes away. But again, it's an old University. There are some very big and wide trees available on the university campus. So, shades are there. Again many small mobile stalls are also available with different kinds of foods, mainly fruits, juice, nuts, tea, and ice cream, throughout the campus. So, these elements help to reduce walking pain. Again university students mean very young people. Who are healthy and strong enough to walk. Many students don't have enough money to take rickshaws or buy food. They just keep walking to save money.

Students can take university buses to move from one place to another. But busses have fixed time, and they are in less amount than the student's number. Sometimes, students can't get on a bus because it is overcrowded. For this reason, sometimes accidents happen. I knew some bus helpers died, falling from the running bus because he was hanging from the bus door handle. In Bangladesh, all buses have a driver and a helper. The driver drives the bus, and the helper stands at the door and does other jobs. Like, as selling tickers, collecting money, giving instructions to the bus driver about his blind spot and road condition, screaming to the bus riders about which stoppage it came from, and shouting to the crowd which place the bus is going to invite them to ride on the bus, buy foods and other staff for the driver, etc.

Biography 148: Period

 Menstruation (Or period) is something that people in Bangladesh think is something to be ashamed of, it's a girl's secret. Nobody talks about it openly. Many men get to know about the period after marriage or from their girlfriend.

People don't buy products for periods openly.

My son, when he was a very young boy, saw pads at home. He found it very similar to his diaper, but he asked what are these.

My theory is, if anyone can ask any question, they are ready to listen the answer.

I told my son that you know, all woman's body has a womb, where a baby grows up. Every month our body cleans it with blood and it prepares for the baby. After washing the area, the blood comes out. So, we need to wear the pad, on those days.

He was satisfied with my answer and didn't ask me, which way it comes out. So, I avoided that part.

From then I bought things for the period in front of him (Sometimes) and he never felt uncomfortable or never tried to avoid that section while shopping.

If we take natural things, naturally why it will be so shameful for us?

Biography 126: Stars

 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.

Biography 125: Load-shedding

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.

Biography 98: Geography from kids storybooks

I use to read a lot of books. I have started my reading from Bangladeshi kid's books like "Thakur maar jhuli", "Thakur dadar jhuly" (In English "Story from the grandparents"). Most of the time I use to think about those characters, the princess, queen, king, monsters etc. Those stories were based on Bangladesh. They always told us that there was a kingdom or a village, after the village, a big open land (Like prairie) and at the end of that field there was a jungle. A deep jungle where we have tigers, monkeys, snakes. If I look at current Bangladesh, it has jungles. But there is no preirie land. People harvest everywhere. From those stories I can feel, there were more jungles in this country. My mom use to say, she has seen wild cats (In her language "Bagdasha") come to their house to take chickens. I don't think that is possible now.

When a writer writes a story, they just don't write about someone's life, they wrote about a place, its landscape, culture and so many things without any effort.

Biography 85: Dance

 I liked to dance whenever I listen to any beautiful music, or wear a new dress or just because I'm happy. My uncle (My mom's oldest brother) suggested my mom teach me dancing. My mom took 4 daughters to Bangladesh Shishu Academy. My youngest sister was too young to get admitted, so the older 3 of us get admitted. My mom admitted my older sister to learning guitar. I was admitted to singing and my younger sister Sonia was dancing.

After admission, I was attending to our orientation class. Suddenly my mom came and take me out of the class. She said, Sonia is feeling very shy, she is not dancing at all. So, you have to go to the dance class, she may feel better and join the class. So, I get admitted to the dance class and started learning dancing. My four-year-long dance learning started from here.

Sonia decided not to dance. So, mom took her to the drawing class. Here she started drawing. Though sometimes after my session, when I go to her class to take her home, my mom said, she didn't finish her painting (She is too lazy) so complete her painting. I have no problem, so I use to complete her painting and submit it to the teacher. I think, sometimes, I made it worse. My painting was never good. But I like to do the painting. I had a notebook. I uses to draw many things, mostly nature in it.

While I was learning dance, my mom get to know, I need to learn classical dance If I want to improve my dance. So, mom took 3 of us to the Bulbul Lalitokola Academy. Where I joined the dance class, my older sister was in guitar and Sonia was in the singing class.

Then, here a temporary classical dancer came. My mom asked him to teach me to dance. He is from the Krishno Ray family. Who were famous for dance. He taught me Monipuri dance (Male version). He also started teaching me gypsy, kathak etc. But then he got a chance to work at Bangla movie as a choreographer. So he left. I must say, I was also not very serious about learning. I was just passing my time. I could dance well so, I didn't put much effort into it.

On those days every week, we uses to expend two days in each Academy. My classmates knew I could dance. Sometimes I had danced in the class, in front of my friend or relative. My mom took me to many children's dance competitions. I always get prizes on those.

One day my mom took me to Bangladesh Television. Because they announced to joined one of their program for the 1st day of Boishak. I went there and give the audition. From hundreds of girls, I have got selected and get performed in the TV program "Chhoy ritur ei desh" (The country of six seasons). My main performance was in the Spring section and I had also performed the winter section. Here I have got my first earnings tk65.

Biography 56: Visiting Bangladesh

Our parents visited Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia every year. They use to bring gifts for everybody. They enjoyed the Eid-Ul_Fitr in Bangladesh. I'm guessing that was the longest holiday they used to get from Saudi Government.

I didn't like this at all. I used to live in Saudi, Bangladeshi environment was totally different. In Saudi, we always drink cold water from the refrigerator. In those days, in Bangladesh, refrigerators were not available in every home. So, they use to give me drink normal room temperature water. In Bangladesh, room temperature is also high. So, I couldn't drink water. In my maternal grandparent's house, they give me water from the mud-made pots. They said this is a cold one. I didn't think so, but somehow I could manage to drink it. The only water I used to drink on those days is green coconut water.

I liked goat milk in my grandparent's house (Maternal). I use to ask them to give me "Chhagoler Dudh" (Goat milk). They all laughed at me. I don't know why. But my aunt uses to give me it, I was happy with it.

As I told you, we visited every year. Each year I found some people became bigger, some stopped talking, some new people started talking with me. I was thinking, why don't they stay the same.

I remember, in Bangladesh people uses to visit us to see me, how I talk, how I do things, whatever I do they found it interesting. I kind of enjoyed it and sometimes felt annoyed too. It's not a kind of celebrates feelings, it's like you became a joke to the people. Sometimes my relatives ask me, do you know who I am. Obviously, I don't know any of them. But they look a little familiar to me. So, I replied I can recognize your face, but I don't know who you are to me. they laughed.