Biography 319: Outside food vs homemade food.

 I believe outside food (the opposite of homemade food) from anywhere in the world is not healthy, no matter how expensive it is. Not even the street food, which is made fresh in front of you. Because they prepared the ingredients a long time ago, sometimes they don't clean thoroughly; sometimes workers may not handle it properly, mix it with old food, or don't take sufficient steps to preserve all nutrients, etc.

When I was a kid, my parents used to take us to big restaurants for special occasions. But as far as I remember, I never liked it.

Later, when I was in school, I started liking outside food because it was tasty. After starting my own life (separated from my parents), I have started liking outdoor food more. Because then I don't have to cook, and it is tastier and has more variety than mine.

In my dating era, I used to find different beautiful fast-food restaurants and enjoy various kinds of food. They were tasty.

Nowadays, my choices are changing again. I now prefer homemade food. Homemade food is tastier, more nutritious, and saves money than outside food. When someone offers food, I always want homemade. But I prefer to eat outdoors because I don't want to put any pressure on them. And I always bring leftovers home. The first reason is that I don't want to waste a single drop of food. The second reason is that, because of those leftovers, I don't have to cook at home for some time, because I will live on them. I need that break.

Here are some tips for Canadians to keep their homes bug-free

 Bugs are a very common problem in Canada. I have some tips to prevent them. These will not kill bugs; you can just keep them away from your house or apartment.

Before you sleep, mop the entire house floor with soap and vinegar every night. It may smell for a few minutes, but it will disappear. This tip will keep bugs away from your house.

If you are affected by bugs, take a spray bottle, pour in a little fabric detergent, Datol (Disinfectant liquid), and vinegar, and fill the bottle with water. Shake it and keep spraying the area where you think bugs may stay. Keep spraying daily three times until you feel there are no more bugs.

Always add some vinegar to your regular detergent when you wash your clothes.

These steps won't hurt anyone but will keep your life bug-free.

*When you are using Detol, Savlone, or any kind of disinfectant, it will kill both good and bad bacteria. So, my recommendation is if not needed, don't use it. However, for beg bugs, Detol is a must.

How should we help

 When you help someone, try to help in a way that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. At least their one problem has been solved. Or if you really can't do anything like that, then help as much as you can. Don't just throw some coins so that they can wait for other coins to buy a cup of coffee.

This goes to the government, too. A person who needs help should have a basic amount of money to survive, not just enough to have something, live in a tent,
and keep begging to stay alive.

Home buying situation in Canada.

 If you want to help anyone, you can look for profit. If you are making a profit with your help, it's not help; it's business.

In Canada, it's getting harder and harder to buy a house. The amount of money people need to buy a small house is staggering. If they just cross the border or go to the UK or any other expensive place, they can buy a palace.

This is not a welcoming situation for Canadians. Things should improve. But maybe some people are getting richer. For those few people, all others are suffering. The situation should be good for all. Policies should be taken to fix this situation.

People should get loans without interest to buy houses. If you are saying you are helping to get a loan, then you are not helping the home buyer; you are helping the bank to profit and other stakeholders who are getting rich.

Conflicts within ourselves

 Recently, I had an interpersonal conflict with my son. He thinks he (was 13 years old) has grown up enough to decide what to do or not. However, as a mother, I found him to behave very childishly. He wanted to play games on the computer all day long, and if I didn’t stop him, he wouldn’t even sleep for 24 hours and keep playing.

My son believes I don’t understand him. He may also think I lack the knowledge of modern technology to understand him. We may have a huge generation gap. He thinks he needs more freedom to do whatever he likes.

“Implicit Personal Theory” works here because my son and I are guessing about each other’s behaviour and having a conflict. Our role play is like friends. We are making assumptions about each other’s behaviour.

Biography 185: My first tour to Cox's Bazaar (Uncle's home)

 My uncle rented a house in a village near Cox's Bazar City. From the bus, we took rickshaws to that house. From the main road, we went inside the village on a narrow road. We passed a village market also on our way. Then we stopped at a place. Then we had to walk through a jungle (it looks like) for a few minutes to reach the house. It was a one-storied concert house, but the roof was made of tin shed. There were little open spaces at the front and a backyard too. Later my cousin drew a selfie on the soil of that front open space. I didn't have a camera or cell phone to capture it. The doors and windows were made of wood.

I am trying to explain in detail the house because I liked it. After reaching home, was walking around and talking with my uncle's two tiny sons, Tonoy and Tonmoy. My aunt became very busy preparing food for these unannounced guests. But she seems kind of used to this situation. My uncle bought some mattresses for the guests.

My uncle was really surprised by me. He said the way you were throwing out, I thought you would lay down on the bed.

Later, when we returned to Dhaka, my brothers sat in another place, not beside me ;). They scared. Though I became an expert in handling myself on the bus so things didn't get nasty.

Here I met with Tomony and Tonmoy's teacher. She had a great personality. Everybody liked her because of her sweet and helpful behaviour. She was a student too. After the exam, she got some time to do tuition for the kids.

She took me to her friend's house. I felt really difficult for their conservation. Chittagong and Cox's Bazar has different language accents, which is difficult or impossible to understand in the other part of Bangladesh. In this house, they gave me local fruits that were very delicious. I told them I couldn't understand their language, so they started speaking in front of me on some topic which they might not want me to know. I actually understood some of it and guessed the rest of the conversation. No, I didn't reveal those to anybody.

From this house tutor, I have learned how to tell a story. She tells every single detail in a way that everybody will stop doing their work and listen to her. I was amazed. Later, when I used to describe storied in college, my classmates said, we like how you tell us the story. All credit goes to my cousin's teacher, whom I never met again.

Biography 122: Roaches 3

 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.

Biography 40: New home in Umluz (Saudi Arabia)

 My dad and mom planned to settle in one place. People from Alkaseem, liked mom a lot. They wanted to bring my dad to that place. But my dad decided to live in town, not in the village. So, we moved to Umluz (Local people called it Umlez).

Umluz was a small city in Saudi Arabia (I heard now it became a big tourist city). The red sea is just beside the city. The water is crystal clear. The colour is blue. Later I have seen in the BCS guide book that The red sea's watercolour is red. No, I have seen it blue. Weather is better than Alkaseem. Has beautiful housing and a road system. 

My dad at the beginning used to live with other men in one house by sharing the rent. As he planned to bring us there, others moved away. When we went there we found an old one-storey building. Doors and windows are made of wood and the colour was green. In the middle of all rooms, there was an open space. A very small one. On one side of that space, there was some area that wasn't covered with concrete. Somebody planted red leaf vegetables (Laal shaak, in Bangla).

It was an old building, some part of it was broken. One day some part of the door or window comes out and it was placed in that open space. I use to walk or run around so I put my foot on it. I didn't know a big screw was there. That screw totally went inside my feet. My mom took it out, lots of blood comes out and she put a bandage on it. Still, I have a small black circle under my feet.

We didn't have any furniture over there. So, my mom decorated a window as a dressing table. She put a mirror and all her staff over there. This became my older sister Sharmin's favourite place. She uses to comb her hair many times in front of the mirror. Maybe that's why later she had the longest and thick black hair among all sisters. Her hair was about to touch her knees.

Shafeen’s house

Everybody wants a cute little home. My son has this dream too. So, from everything he wants to create his home. In the picture he brings out all blankets and cushions from wardrobe and makes space to go inside. Then it became his house. Sometimes he took small box and decorates it as his toy house... He definitely needs a toy house now.

আমার হাতের তৈরি খাবার, চেখেও কি দেখলো না? (Didn't it like my hand made food?)

Shafeen, feeling smart.

যখন দাওয়াত করি তখন সব সময়ই চেষ্টা করি খাবার যেন সাধ্য মতো ভাল হয়। মেনুতে যেন সব ধরনের খাবার থাকে। যাতে কারো একটা পছন্দ না হলেও আরেকটা খেতে পারে। পরিমান যেন প্রয়োজনের চেয়ে খানিকটা বেশি থাকে। কারো যেন কম না পড়ে। অল্পের উপর দিয়ে কোন মতে খাওয়ানো আমার পছন্দ না। তাই বলে কেউ এরকম করলে খারাপ মনে করি তা নয়। যে যেভাবে যা করে, সেটা তার ব্যাপার।

এবার বিশেষ জনের জন্য খাবারের ব্যবস্থা করেছি। সে দুদিন চুরি করে লুচি আর রুটি খেয়েছে। তাই ময়দায় সামান্য পানি দিয়ে মন্ড তৈরি করে তার উপর টেস্টি বিষ (খেয়ে দেখেনি, উপরে লেখা ছিল) মিশালাম। তারপর তার ঘরে ঢোকার দুইটি প্রিয় জায়গায় পরিবেশন করলাম, প্লাসটিকের প্লেটে। আশা করেছিলাম মহাশয় খেয়ে না হলেও চেখে দেখবেন। কিন্তু তার আর ছায়াও দেখছি না। বুঝলাম না কি হলো, খেলো না এমনিতেই খাবার নষ্ট হচ্ছে? রুটি ভেজে দেইনি বলে কি পছন্দ হলো না? এ যে খাবার নিয়ে এতো বাছ বিচার করে সেটা আমি কি করে জানব? কে আবার, আমার ঘরের নতুন মেহমান ইদুরের কথা বলছিলাম আরকি :(

Whenever I invite anyone, I try to make food as good as possible. Try to keep all items so that if they didn't like any one item, can take another. Try to keep the amount of food little more than it needed. Any one shouldn't feel shortage of food. I don’t like to feed people just something and let it done. But I don’t mind if others do so, everyone has their own way.

This time I prepare food for an especial one. It had stolen both luchi (fried bread) and ruti (bread) in last few days. So I make dough of flour then put tasty poison (didn't taste it, it was written on the packet) on it. Then serve them on plastic plate and put those on its favorite two entrances. But don’t know where it went. Didn't it like my home made food? Or didn't like it that I didn't fried it. I didn't know that this creature makes this much trouble on food. Yes, I am talking about the mouse the latest unwanted guest in my house.

A suggestion to stop wasting gas in home

I made tomato-daal in normal gas stove

In Bangladesh who has proper gas connection waste this energy in many ways. They keep the fire on even for hours they might not needed. Keep the fire in full volume when it might not need. Use it to dry cloths, shouldn’t do or in many other ways… When I was in Dhaka University one our teacher said, we should put miter on gas line. Then people will be alert not to waste a bit. They will turn it off even them might need it in 5 minutes… I disagree (though I couldn’t say this to my teacher) because we have miter in electricity connection. What you see in real life? Lots of system loss. Same thing might happen with gas line too. So my advice to stop wasting gas at home we should provide automatic burner for cooking for free. Then people won’t hesitate to stop the burner after or middle of cooking. We can see this in real life too. People who started this automatic cooking system don’t keep on the burner. It’s a becoming a good habit.

Managing money

I am not good in accounting; I mean calculating money and keep all information updated. Though I had to work as an accountant (under guidance) for few days and I understood very well, I didn't born to do this job. But at home, you are everything. Home management means you are the sweeper to Queen. You have to manage and do (if no one else to help you) everything, including accounting. To make everything easy I tried to make small solutions. Right now I am keeping some small bags (old rejected bags) to keep money for different reason, with a small note, mentioned which moneys are for which purpose. It works like a small bank with different kind of account. Well this reminds me; today I might need to go the bank to solve some small issues.

Moon, from my veranda

Now a day in Dhaka everywhere high storage buildings are rising. It’s very difficult to view the sky from home. But still somehow the moon manage to show itself from my veranda.