Biography 201: Pronunciation made everything change

 I was studying in school on those days. We had a private tutor for Math. He came from a district different from Dhaka. His accent was different from ours. We never had any understanding problems because of his pronunciation, unless one day.

"Bus" is a common word in Bangladesh. It's the same as English, which means public transport where 50 people can sit together and travel. 

Another word in Bangla is "Baash," which means bamboo.

Our teacher started asking me if a bus was deep in the mud in 1/3 parts. I stopped him. Why on earth would a bus be inside mud unless there was an accident? He looked at my face and said, why not. Can anyone put it like that? I was surprised more and said, no, why would anyone?

He kept trying to make me understand how natural it could be, and I didn't admit it. No way, this is a normal situation.

After a couple of minutes, suddenly, I looked at the book, where the question was written: "If a bamboo is put inside a mud 1/3 parts..."

I understood it was not a bus; it was a bash (Bamboo); it's just his accent, which made me a fool; I told him, ok, I got it; you were right, so what were your questions?

He was preparing to say more to make me understand, and suddenly, I stopped him and agreed. Now, he became speechless. What made me understand everything? It took him a few minutes to start talking and continue his math teaching.

Biography 184: My first tour to Cox's Bazar (The road)

When I was in grade 8 or 9, my youngest uncle (Maternal) used to work in Bandorban Rubber Garden as a manager. The owner of the rubber garden was Sohel Rana (Masud Parvej), a prominent actor in Bangladesh. My uncle had a fruit garden too of his own. His family used to live in Cox's Bazar because of his kids' education, and he had a shop in a mall.

My uncle knew he lived near a big travel spot. So, he always tries to take any of his nieces or nephews with him whenever he comes to Dhaka or Faridpur and shows them the beach of the Bay of Bangle.

One day my turn came. Because my annual school exam was finished. My uncle just asked once. And I happily agree to go with him. My other cousin-brother Ranku Bhai (May Allah keep him in peace) visited our house then, and he joined us.

In those days, there was no direct bus service from Dhaka to Cox's Bazar. My uncle took us to the bus terminal at Arambag (For Cox's Bazar and Chittagong buses).

The bus took us directly to Chittagong, and then we changed to another bus to Cox's Bazaar. We started very early in the morning. When we reached the bus stoppage by rickshaw, a man joined us. Ranku bro said it is his friend and will go with us too. The individuals were totally ready for the journey. Clearly, they knew about it before, but not me or my uncle.

My uncle agreed to take him too to his house. In those days, there were no mobile or cell phone systems. People really used land phones on the road. So, my aunt (My uncle's wife) had no clue that 3 extra people would go to their house to live for a couple of days.

Before reaching Chittagong, we stopped at a roadside restaurant to take our lunch. These restaurants are built for highway travellers. Their food was good. Washroom was clean. Then we start our journey again.

Here I have to mention something. I am not a bus person. In my childhood, I even couldn't ride in a car. When it started moving, I used to begin vomiting. After growing up, I have more control over this problem. Now a day, I just stay relaxed and head up all the way. If I even try to read something or check my cell phone, I feel like throwing out everything.

I was in school and didn't have control like this time. It was a huge bus and a long journey. I felt terrible several times but somehow held it till Chittagong.

In Chittagong, we get down from the bus. It was afternoon. We took some rest and got on the next bus. By this time, my brother Ranku had bought some Champa Banana. He ate and gave us too. I tried one. It was good, probably local fruit.

Then the bus started moving. And I couldn't hold anymore. I throw out everything. Couldn't take my mouth to the window, though I sat beside the window, my uncle sat beside me. My brothers sat behind us. My uncle cleaned me up with a gamchha (Cotton towel). In those days, people didn't use to carry tissues. He told me to keep the window open always and keep my mouth near the window so that I won't get dirty again.

But his anger went to the Champa Banana, indirectly to my brother. They started fighting. My uncle asked why he gave a banana to me. I didn't have this problem after lunch or snacks but after taking the banana. My brother said it's not the banana; it's the poor bus. Smelling like gasoline. I tried to stop my uncle, and my brother's friend tried to stop my brother. Both of us failed. No matter how many times I said, it's my problem. No one listened.

I threw out two more times, but I became an expert by that time. I used the window to clear my stomach, and no one got dirty.

We got down before we reached the main Cox's Bazar beach area. There was a small market by the highway, and my uncle lived nearby village.

When we reached my uncle's home in the evening. By that time, fighting was stopped, not over. Both of them (Uncle and brother) stayed silent for the rest of the tour.

Biography 178: Riding on the bus in Halua Ghat

 We had a unique bus experience from Halua Ghat to Maymensingh. The road didn't have the concert cover; it was just on the soil. Bangladesh is a tropical country, so we had enough rain all year. You can imagine if a big bus ran on soil on a rainy day what could have happened with that road. It was going up and down like a small hill. Though, that didn't reduce the speed of the bus.

We were sitting inside the bus, surrounded by dust (The bus running on the soil), with no way to see anything through the window. The bus was jumping up and falling down for a few km. We jumped up with the bus, then the bus went down, so we fell on the seat. It's not an amusement park, the seat was hard, and there were no seat belts. When we fell on the seat, a noise came out from our mouths like Ah, for the pain and fear.

I sat in the middle of the bus and felt what I had described. Now you can imagine what could have happened who were at the end of the bus. Some of the boys in our class were there. Among them, I could hear Mamun's (Polash), Tajul, and Deepu's voices. One of the girls from the front row said, do you want to exchange seats with us? They felt bad for those boys. Mamun replied, No, it's OK. Then he said to the other boys if girls be seated here, they will become lentil soup (he said this in Bangla, Dail). Other boys laughed out in laughter.

It didn't sound good, but it was confirmed at that moment.

School bus only for French medium school students

We are living in Saskatoon, Canada. My kid is in elementary public school. We had to walk 20 minutes to go to school from our apartment. From the beginning I wanted to send my kid to school by bus. The school authority directly told me the school buses are only for French medium students. So, from our apartment another kid used to take bus for school and my kid had to walk on snow, -40 c temperature to go to school.

This is not fair. If you have shortage of school bus, then according to distance kids suppose to be picked. If you only choose French medium students, then this is kind of racism. There can be other good reason to run buses like this, which I don’t know.

Still I am alive

Yesterday when the bus hit our car, I thought I have gone forever. But somehow car driver slow down his speed at the last moment and bus driver give the hard break. But both have seen each other long time back, easily they could stopped themselves. But Bangladeshi tradition is unless there is no space between them; cars/bus/rickshaw will not give chance to anyone to go earlier.

volvo bus - Uttora service

recently I try to ride on volvo bus from Uttora to Motijheel. I brough tickets and wait. then wait, wait and wait. I can't see any volvo bus and waited for 30 minutes. then I return ticket and buy another bus's ticket. there were many people who were waiting and face the same problem. If volvo service goes like this way then I don't know how much profit they have targeted.