Biography 257: Sewing capabilities

 My mom learned to make dresses for women at a young age. She used to make her own blouses when she was a nursing student at Dhaka Medical College, and she also made dresses for my older sister when she was born.

I remember when we were in Saudi Arabia, and even after moving back to Bangladesh, she made dresses for our sisters for Eid. For my brother, she used to make a kantha (a homemade blanket made from old soft clothes).

After that, I sometimes saw her make Luchni (Hot pot holder) with old clothes.

She knew how to make flowers on dresses with thread and needle and make sweaters, cardigans, caps, etc., with wool. She also learned how to work with cross-stitch and knit dress materials.

She always said that her older sister knew this kind of work much better than she did. Once, I asked my older aunt if she could teach me some of her work. She was ready, but at that moment, everyone was busy, so the opportunity never arose.

Learning from my mom was impossible. She is the most impatient teacher in the world.

But she had lots of patience to make dresses and cardigans for us. While she was working more hours than a full-time employee and a full-time housewife, and raising 5 kids.

I am so proud to have had the chance to study at Matijhil Govt Girls High School. In this school, we had a course to learn all of this, and I also learned about sewing, knitting, and cutting dresses. Because of schoolwork, I made some good things. Then again, I am proud that I had the chance to study at Viqarunnisa Noon College. In this course, "Home Economics," I learned more about this kind of work.

Later in my life, I have always used my knowledge. People around me had so much faith in me that they would bring me anything to fix by sewing.

Biography 255: My mom

 My mom is a workaholic woman. And she likes to work fast. She worked full-time. More than full-time, there are always extra hours with or without payment. And she still managed to work at home. She did everything she did alone: House cleaning, cooking, doing the dishes, inviting people at home, and making food for them.

It's not that she doesn't want help, but none of us could work up to the mark for her. If we do anything, that makes her more crazy. So, I decided not to work or help her, as it wasn't working. If I don't do anything, she will say, no one is helping me. If I do anything, she will find 500 more faults to accuse me of and scold me for the rest of my life.

Many times, if a guest came to our home without any notification (on those days, cell phones weren't available), my mom made a full meal for them (Polao rice, curry, salad, etc.) within an hour. Even guests were surprised to learn how she did it all alone in one hour.

Now a day, she doesn't have the strength to work like that. But still, she works as much as she can, then rests in bed.

Though I always kept some distance from her to avoid making her angry, I helped her as much as possible with distance. I used to put all our wet clothes on the roof and bring those back (from level 2nd to level 6th by stairs with a bucket of clothes), go to the nearby grocery shop to get anything emergency (mostly eggs for father), pay bills to the bank, tried to give her some pocket money, giving gifts.

But it was impossible to make her happy with gifts. No matter what I bought, she didn't like that. So, I always bought gifts in a way that if she didn't like them, then I could use them. Let me give you an example. On her birthday I bought a pair of slippers. She said she won't take it. So, I started wearing it. One day, she said, you bought a beautiful one for yourself and gave a bad one to me. I reminded her that it was actually for her, but she rejected it. 

If I give them money, she doesn't spend it on herself; she saves it and spends it on her children when needed.

After school, she never took money from her parents. She always earned money and gave it to them to help their lives. Then, this expanded to her families, her in-laws, poor people from the village, poor people from the city, orphanages, etc.

Biography 241: Same dresses

 My mom knows how to make dresses. Sometimes, she used to buy clothes and then make dresses for us. So, in Eid, sometimes our sister's dresses match. I never felt bad for that because she used to make the dresses a little different from one to another, like adding buttons, laces, etc., but the prints were the same.

She used to make sweaters, mufflers, etc. She made a sweater for me when I was a kid. She asked me what I wanted in my sweater. I said, "A red car." (I just remember our first car in Saudi Arabia was red.) She made a couple of red cars, some flowers, and grasses on my blue-coloured sweater. I gave it to my son when he was a kid. I kept it for my grandchildren. I hope they will like it. It's actually a cardigan.

A good song

A good song with a beautiful melody. Every mom can relate to this song at some point 

Shafeen's page on Facebook

I want to share my son's page with you. I don't know how long I can be with him. You never know, right. But I want my good wishes to be with him. I want him to feel his mom's friends are there to be with him if needed.

Shafeen's page 

https://www.facebook.com/Syed-Ali-Shafeen-1241548329229959

Biography 06: Mom

My mom was a full-time worker, and most of the time, she had to work more than her work time. She was doing very well in her job, had taken all the necessary training, and always stayed at the top of her colleagues. When I was 7 months old, my mom had to go to Khulna from Dhaka for a six-month training course. When she returned, I forgot her.

My mom is a short-tempered person. She has high blood pressure. She has gone through several surgeries. But she holds and keeps up our family including my dad's family and her parent's family. I told you she worked really hard for income, then at home to raise 5 kids. She has taken care of our education and also took us everywhere for our extracurricular activities. My dad liked the food, and she used to make different kinds of food. She was the one who worked with the labourers to build our 5-story building. Still, she is maintaining the house and taking care of all tenants. She did it all at the same time.

I love and respect my mom. But I always keep some distance. As I mentioned earlier, she was short-tempered. When she gets angry, she screams and uses her hand like all Bangladeshi moms. I'm the one who suffered most of the time. Because I wasn't good in (Compared to my other siblings) education, I didn't like to read, I liked to run around the house and drop things. One day, I escaped from our home with my sister and went to my uncle's house. My dad once told me, "Why don't you run away when your mom started hitting you?" I respect her. Another day, she was scolding me, and my son was 3/4 years old. He loves both, so he pushed Granny outside the room and locked the door. Then told me not to go outside now.

I know, most of the Bangladeshi mom raises their kid this way, this is their way of parenting. But for me, this situation created a big gap between my mom and me. I never went to her on any issue like other girls do (And they should). I didn't tell her when my period started, I didn't tell her when someone tried to abuse me, I didn't tell her anything that happened in my school, dancing or singing classes. I was all by myself. Still, I am.

I talk with my mom but don't try to continue more than 5 minutes. I know after that we will start arguing. My son loves his granma. She uses to bought him potato chips (Because I didn't want to give him). Even now she asked me to buy chips for him.

My mom is a very hard working woman. She helped every single relative who needed it. she takes care of all of us. Still she works more than me. I wish I could do something for her to make her life a little easier.

Shafeen tried to make his mom look beautiful

My son likes to see me beautiful. He wants me to wear ornaments, put make up, and wear beautiful dresses. If for any occasion I wear ornament he doesn’t want me to put off after returning home… In the picture he put henna on my hand by himself. He was only 3 years and 9 months old.

Shafeen in my dress

Shafeen with my red t-shirt

Children always like to wear elders dress. When I was young we (all sisters) use to wear our mom’s sharee. Now my boy is following me. In this picture, my son wore my t-shirt. He was 1 year and 3 months old. I bought it for my gym class once.