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asubhan
Member Since: 8/22/2006 6:08:07 AMLast Seen: 7/23/2007 11:19:15 AM
About Me
tinku: islam asubhan: tinku |
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Posted 7/19/2007 9:42:45 AM
Yesterday I went to those places I stayed during my childhoo. I was searching for the girl I loved. I could detect her in front of her house. I looked at her and she at me but perhaps she could not recognise me at my present state, my head with receding hair. I took some photograph of the small river I swam in and met the girls. I walked along the country road communing with nature. I will return again and again to the root. The old love haunts me.
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Posted 4/23/2007 8:32:01 PM
Somerset Maugham has completely reversed the idea that hard labor always pays and the result of irresponsibility and idly wasting time always is sufferings in future. The moral of the Aesop’s fable- The ant and the grasshopper is also the same. But the readers of the Somerset Maugham’s The ant and the grasshopper are bound to be shocked when they see that the unscrupulous and carefree Tom eventually becomes rich when he marries an wealthy woman and She dies leaving him a fortune. On the other hand, the respectable and hardworking George falls on hard times and is forced to sell the family estate. So by juxtaposing two brothers, the writer has shown the abnormal nature of the world. Here, the normal is, in reality, the abnormal. The elder brother George worked hard and expected that his idle brother Tom will end in the gutter. His expectation was normal but the outcome was quite opposite. It is perhaps because nature has a different plan. God may want to reward George for his hardship by taking away some of His favour from him. It is hardship that may be a boon for George because through hunger and thirst a man can understand the real meaning of life. On the contrary, easygoing life leads a man to indolence and debauchery which ultimate drag a man to hell. So though apparently Tom seems to be lucky but actually he is put to a hard test in which he is sure to fail. Thus through the story of The ant and the grasshopper, Somerset Maugham has expressed his belief that there is a harmony in nature in which the abnormal is the normal. The case of two brothers represents the enigmatic nature of the world where sometimes the good are put to penury and the bad lead a life of luxury.
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Posted 4/13/2007 11:24:16 PM
Shelley through his poem Ozymindius has successfully depicted the futility of human pride before nature. The proverb goes ‘pride goeth before a fall.’ Here in this poem we see rise and fall of a mightiest king. When he was alive, he was arrogant and laughed at the weakness of his opponents. Now nothing remains of him except his broken statue and the lonely vast desert all around.Ozimandius was the king of kings. He took pride in his vast power and wealth but didn’t give praise to God. But now his power is gone. He is long dead and his statue is broken. Only two trunkless legs stand on the pedestal with has still frowinging face hafl hidden in the sand. Now he has no subjects to subjugate. All his wealth , pomb and power has vanished in the air. Now what remains is the dreary desert all around. The mighty God has taken a hand to punish him. Truth and nature has now prevailed. When the poet wrote this poem, he was also in great despair. His first wife had just committed suicide. The courts wouldn’t let him have his children and his baby daughter with his second wife. Shelley himself was plagued by ill health, financial worries, and the sense that he had failed.Like Ozymandias , he was a man of great ability and had done what he wanted in life but was now broken down by what had happened. He was now unable to live as he wanted. He couldn’t just get up and start a new life. He was very ill, depressed and broken. So it is now ever more clear to us that every proud soul will meet the same fate like Ozymandias. And every person in the last leg of their life’s journey will be haunted by the same thought that they are now unable to start their lives afresh. With the bodily and mental strength gone, they are like broken statue of Ozymandias.
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Posted 4/5/2007 1:02:07 PM
Globalization is a process by which economies and culture of different countries of the world interact with each other resulting in a greater balance in the world and the standardization of people’s mental make-up. Globalization is not a new phenomenon. It existed in the past in different forms and extent. Present Globalization, however, is all-pervasive because of the advent of information technology. In the later 20th century, Internet revolutionized business transaction and all kinds of communications. Through World Wide Web (WWW), e-mail and live chat people now can have access to the oceans of information and communicate with any person living in the farthest corner of the globe. Thus Internet has ushered in a cultural globalization. But it has had an adverse effect on the culture of weaker nations. Younger generations here are now prone to western culture. Junk food like Coca Cola and boyfriend/girlfriend culture are all the rage with them. So whether globalization is good or bad is a matter of debate. Some think that it is a tool at the hands of the powerful to establish their hegemony over the weaker nations. Free market economy is the product of globalization but the developed countries obstruct the free flow of commodities from the poor countries to the rich countries. On the other hand the developed nations have an edge on the weaker nations due to their better technological know-how, which they don’t often share freely with the poor countries. So we should be careful about globalization so that rich countries cannot exploit us and exert a strong influence on our economy and culture.
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Posted 4/4/2007 8:18:07 PM
Child labor in Bangladesh results from the poverty. About 55 million people are considered below the poverty line in Bangladesh. This is mainly because of its large population, small area, corrupt government, frequent floods, etc. according to 1995-96 surveys by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics Approximately 6.6 million children worked as child labors in Bangladesh. Only in Dhaka there are about 3,00,000 children working as house helps. In the rural areas children are widely used as house servants to help cultivation and other agricultural activities. But what is a matter of regret is that all those children are exploited in different ways. In most cases they are badly treated, ill paid and deprived of education. Another matter of concern is that children are trafficked to other countries and sold as slaves. For example, in the Middle East boys are used as camel jockeys in races. In Bangladesh there are laws discouraging child labor but severe poverty of the people prevents the government from implementing those laws. But things are changing now. For example, some countries stopped buying garments that were made using child labor. So the garments owners stopped employing child workers but this measure aggravated the situation because in most cases children are forced to do hazardous jobs in different factories and households to run their impoverished family. So we need international help to successfully eradicate child labor from the country.
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Posted 3/31/2007 11:50:38 AM
In Moulmein, the main character and the first person narrator is a police officer during a period of intense anti-European sentiment. Although all his sympathies lie with the Burmese, he is compelled to kill the elephant because he is teased by the Burmese, especially by the Buddhist monks. When he receives a phone call telling him that an elephant has gone berserk and rampaged a market, the narrator, armed with a .44 caliber Winchester rifle and mounted on a pony, heads to the bazaar where the elephant has been seen. On his way to the spot, he spotted a man trampled to death by the elephant but as he reached the spot, he is followed by a crowd of roughly two thousand who are expecting him to kill the elephant, which looks quite docile. The antagonistic people are ready to make fun of the narrator in case he fails to kill the elephant. The narrator is not ready to be cowardly before the native people so his good reasons and sympathy yields to the whims of the crowd. The same is the condition now with America that is reluctant to withdraw from Iraq only because she cannot accept her defeat at the hand of the local Iraqi insurgents. Her hegemonic mentality compels her to commit one atrocity after another. However, the elephant took too much time to die but during this time the native people hacked the animal alive which also proves that the local people are ignorant of the usefulness of the live elephant. And it is this ignorance that invited colonial forces to the country to perpetuate mayhem of all kinds. For example, why America is continuing to kill innocent people of Iraq? The only reason is that the fellow Iraqis are not united and sympathetic to their brothers of different faith. So the reason behind the narrator’s killing the elephant is his fear of being ashamed of being coward before some whimsical, ignorant and antagonistic people and to assert the law of the administrators of the British Empires.
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Posted 3/27/2007 11:56:30 AM
Shopping in the Bashundhara shopping malls at Panthopath, Dhaka is a thrilling experience. The other day I had a golden opportunity to go there. Placing my motorbike at the basement which also houses a supermarket, I went up to the 8th level taking a lift. “Wow! How beautyful!” I exclaimed looking at the resplendent spacious food shops with seating arrangements for hundreds of people at the front under the sky light that allow more light and less heat. On the 8th floor are also 3 multi-screen Cinema Theatres with each of the rooms having seating arrangements for about 260 viewers . There are also other entertainment facilities for the kids such as theme park with miniature Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Taj Mahal, Bumper Cars, Roller Coaster, flying carpet etc. So unlike other shopping malls, Bashundhara thus has ensured entertainment for the shoppers who want a respite from daily mundane, hectic existence. Then the escalator took me to the 7th floor which I found closed. When asked, a person told me that 7th level is reserved for acquiring commercial fairs and festivals. 6th level houses various DVD/CD/VCD retailers, leather goods, shoes and some cellphone retailers. I bought three DVDs- Tom and Jerry, The Merchant of Vennice and Hamlet of Shakespeare. 5th floor has got various cellphone, electronic and lifestyle related retailers. On the floors from the ground to the 4th level are various retailers of garments, computer showrooms, electronic gods, electrical gadgets, car showrooms and sanitary wares. But what is interesting is that the ground floor is decorated with artificial palm trees, plants and decor that look quite real. Evening was about to come and I was amazed at the perfect ambience of natural and artificial light playing together to brighten up the whole place. The floors too are well polished to reflect the light, glittering and shining all around me. Though Bashundhara shopping malls is 21 storied tall, only 8 stories are used for shopping malls; the remaining stories house the corporate offices of the Bashundhara Group. I only wonder how those stories look like. I think that everybody should visit this shopping mall which is the largest one in our country. Of course, Bashundhara Group claims that it is the largest shopping mall in South Asia and the 12th in the world. It is the symbol of the emerging tiger that is Bangladesh. So we should visit this mall and have an encouraging and dazzling experience.
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Posted 3/14/2007 7:44:07 PM
Prime Minister of our country wields the executive power of our country. Though the President is senior to the Prime Minister but his role in the government is ceremonial. So If I were the prime minister of Bangladesh, I could bring about a drastic change in our country Bangladesh which lacks good governance since her independence. I shall start with weeding out corruption from all strata of the state and the society as corruption has eaten into our already poor economy. As the bad politics is at the root of all evils in our country, I shall promulgate a law barring corrupt people from running for election and putting a curb on extravagance of all forms. Only the honest will come to the fore of everything in my beloved country. Then I shall turn to people’s mental and physical health. I shall ensure mental health by imparting moral and religious education to everybody side by side with general education. Then by ensuring free medical facilities to the poor people, I shall eradicate premature death from the country. But before doing that I shall stop all the ways through which all kinds of diseases come. For example, I shall ban tobacco consumption and drug addiction will be a thing of the past. After attaining self-sufficiency in food, I shall give attention to rapid industrial growth by attracting foreign investment through investment friendly environment such as there will be no hartals or blockade and racketeering. Any person disrupting the development of the country will be dealt with an iron rod. My foreign policy shall be of on of friendly coexistence but I shall not allow any country to interfere into our internal affairs. Thus my able leadership will inspire the people to exert more active cooperation, resulting in the quick development of the country.
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Posted 2/17/2007 8:54:12 PM
Yesterday I went to Natore, the district town of Bangladesh with the K.G school students. Childrens are like fragrant flower of heaven. So I had a good time playing with them under the shade of hundreds of known and unknown trees and brushes. We arranged for them some races. The guardians played chair and pillow game. The former is played with chairs placed in a circle; the participants are to walk round the chairs and must sit on them with the blow of a whistle. The number of chairs being one short of the participants, every time of blowing whistle a player will be thrown out of the fray. Pillow game is played with a pillow by women sitting in a circle. A player will pass on the pillow to the next player. In this way the pillow will be tossed round and round. But the player that has the pillow at the time of the whistle will be out of the game. In this way the first and the second were chosen. A small student Jowtee arranged ruffle draws in which there were seven consolation prizes; I got one. The woman who emerged fist was told to sing a Bangla film song. Melting in coyness, she passed on the duty to her husband who sang it beautifully. I was also given a task of telling something about the quarrel between husband and wife. What I told is as follows: The other day my wife was belittling me in front of her father. She told, “ What have you given me? You have given me nothing.” Then my father in law came to my rescue who told that my wife learnt those words from her mother who continued to tell my father in law the same words in spite of his giving her 15 bighas of lands worth taka 15,00,000/-. I wonder whether husbands at your ends face such allegations from their wives. However, every enjoyment here in this world ends in satiety and exhaustion. So tired and fatigued in the evening, we set off for Lalpur, our hometown. On the way in the bus I sang a few songs. Nobody in the bus had the slightest idea that I could sing. Singing relieved me of some burdens. I could sing because my pestering little son Rahee was sleeping on my lap. Sleep, sweet sleep. The rest is silence.
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Posted 2/15/2007 7:54:09 PM
I was away from blog because of journey to Dhaka where I put up in my brother’s grotesque looking mess. The monitor being used as TV is blackened with soot, paper are piled haphazardly here and there, bathroom fittings have come loose and dangling etc. However, defying rain I went to the Bashundhara Shopping Complex, the largest one in Bangladesh and bought several DVDs that include Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice. Then performing my evening prayer, I went to the Ekushey Boi Mela (book fair) commemorating the phenomenal sacrifice of this land for the hounour of the Bengali Language. As my pocket was getting thinner and thinner , I got super caucious chooing books. At first I bought a CD containing Nazrul’s Song. You know Kazi Nazrul Islam is our national poet. Here are some lines of his poem “The rebel”. Weary of battles, I, the Great Rebel, Shall rest in peace only when The anguished cry of the oppressed Shall no longer reverberate in the sky and the air, And the tyrant’s bloody sword Will no longer rattle in battlefields. Only then shall I, the Rebel, Rest in peace. After that I bought a CD of Banglapedia and several books for my sons and daughter. My loving and demanding wife asked me on the phone to return home that night but I knew if I defy this demand she wont mind. On 13th instant I went to Michel Modhusudan’s birthplace Sagordari by the side of the famous river Kopotaksho. I had no river to remember like the poet but I have got two sons and a daughter whose smiling face rose in my mind and I was dying to go home. Now I am intent on visiting Chittagong and Cox’s Bazar next Wednesday. Please pray to God so that I can have a smooth, meaningfully joyous journey.
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Posted 2/3/2007 7:44:15 PM
We all were created from drops of dirty water. Materially we are dust but God endowed us with His own faculties and virtues so we are the best creation of God. Jesus was created without biological father so was Adam. In fact Adam was created without either a mother or a father. But we do not consider Adam God. But why do you do so in respect of Jesus? Did Jesus claim that he was God in The Holy Bible? In the Holy Quran Jesus is called a prophet and (to clear the doubt) son of Mary. But as he was endowed with the spiritual strength i.e. the Holy Spirit, he became more than dust- a preacher and a prophet. So it is against reason and revelation to call Jesus God.
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Posted 2/1/2007 8:08:11 PM
“Don’t walk on earth proudly, for you will never tear the earth open nor attain the mountain in height” Al- Quran.
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Posted 1/29/2007 11:13:53 AM
Browning is a poet who has some message to impart to improve the quality of men and women. Those are not merely the religious and moral message but the message of common interest which make the reader a better man. Browning’s conjugal life was a happy one so he understood the essentiality of love in building a man’s life. Browning is a poet of dramatic monologue. Most of his poems are long which induce some to say that what browning wanted to say in long poems could better be put across by novels or other form of literature. As Browning’s long poems tell us some inner happenings of a character or an interesting story, it does not fail to sustain our attention and interest. Browning’s idea that most impress us is his idea of optimism. Though Keats has depicted a gloomy life where men sit and hear each other groan, Browning has handed us a light of hope in the shape of reward in the other world. In The Patriot, the patriot falls from the esteem of the people for whom he did everything humanly possible. But what does he reap after one year? He is sentenced to death and is taken to the shamble’s gate in the rain, his hands tied behind and his forehead bleeding because people are throwing stone at him but still he finds solace in the hope of God’s reward in the next world. He says-“I am safer so” He feels safer because God might not question him regarding his reward in this world. So he will be rewarded in the next world. So I urge the oppressed millions not to loose heart rather I tell them to have faith in God who is Omniscient, most Gracious and most Merciful. If we are good and persist in good deeds and make every endeavor to call back those who persist in wickedness supreme to higher things, we will certainly face difficulties in this world but our reward in the hereafter will be the sweet heaven where we will be given loving spouses and every provision of comfort and honor.
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Posted 1/24/2007 7:08:21 PM
True, faith in pir(religious saint) curing disease and fulfilling the devotees’ wishes is not new in this part of the world but it seems anachronism in the context of present world of information technology. In his novel ‘Lalshalu’ S. Waliullah criticised the pirism which was mainly prevalent among the illiterate Muslims. But what surprises me is that nowadays even the educated persons go to pirs for their desire to be fulfilled. For example, we can say about general Ershad who visited Atroshi Pir apparently to have blessing but people knew that it was to please the gullible people. It is not the spirit of true Islam actually. There are so many pirs with their different torikas and followers with the ultimate result of division among the Muslims whereas the Holy Quran urges the Muslims to remain united and not to be divided. Islam negates all kinds of intermediary between Allah and human soul. According to Hadith, Salat is the Miraz (contact) for every Muslim i.e. through prayer a believer can establish direct connection with Allah. So when it is established by Islam and common reason that pirism is a dishonest and unislamic practice, now is the time we stopped believing in ready remedy instead of having faith in God and doing good and thus deserving salvation from God.
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Posted 1/22/2007 11:54:20 AM
[Bukhary, Volume 1, Book 11, Number 629: Narrated Abu Huraira: The Prophet said, "Allah will give shade, to seven, on the Day when there will be no shade but His. (These seven persons are) a just ruler, a youth who has been brought up in the worship of Allah (i.e. worships Allah sincerely from childhood), a man whose heart is attached to the mosques (i.e. to pray the compulsory prayers in the mosque in congregation), two persons who love each other only for Allah's sake and they meet and part in Allah's cause only, a man who refuses the call of a charming woman of noble birth for illicit intercourse with her and says: I am afraid of Allah, a man who gives charitable gifts so secretly that his left hand does not know what his right hand has given (i.e. nobody knows how much he has given in charity), and a person who remembers Allah in seclusion and his eyes are then flooded with tears."]
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Posted 1/19/2007 7:25:56 PM
While reading the Holy Quran, I came across an idea that all who pray to God and do good to others will go to Heaven. There is no clear cut demarcation that only Muslims will go to heaven and others will go to hell. War of discord occurs when one arrogate to him the sole ownership of heaven negating others as infidels. I was also impressed by the idea that Islam does not support vicarious atonement, as most Christians believe. According to Islam everybody is responsible for his own deeds. I want to entreat my fellow bloggers to study religious scriptures and live serious and meaningful lives so that they are placed in the heaven. I hope if I’m as honest and God fearing as you, I will meet you in the Paradise, if not in this world.
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Posted 1/17/2007 8:20:49 PM
Suffering is a passing phase. Life consists of happiness and sorrow. Allah has created the world with pairs of opposite things-light and dark, smile and tears, male and female and so on. I have passed chilly days of sufferings. The golden sun has again shone on me. My only hang-up is that I am languishing in a village wishing in vain to see the world. I console my mind thinking that I remember my Lord which is the greatest achievement.
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Posted 1/9/2007 7:45:22 PM
My brother in law has been arrested by police on the charge that he slpped his brother. I don't know how he feels in the dark cloister of the Police station. Everytime his relatives is going to give him food police is realizing some money. Police in Bangladesh is highly corrupt. The poor and uninfluencial are to suffer a lot here. What I am left with is praying to God for the redress. I pray for my country and wait like Shelley "If winter comes can spring be far behind?"
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Posted 1/7/2007 12:37:08 PM
The title character Silas Marner in George Eliot’s novel represents all those men that attained greatness by goodness within their character and help coming from outside that they deserved. In Lanter Yard Silas was falsely charged with theft and expelled from his town by drawing lots. His fiancée married his betrayer, William. After loosing everything he went to Raveloe and building a small cottage by a stone mine began his life as a weaver whom everybody in that small remote town saw as an outlandish outsider. He continued like this for fifteen years. Earning money by selling linen was his only driving force. As he had none to spend on, he amassed a considerable amount of money that he hid under the floor. One day local squire’s wicked son Dunsey was passing by the Silas’s cottage. He was dejected because he went to the market to sell His elder brother’s horse Wildfire but the horse got killed while jumping a bar in the market. Attracted by the light in Silas’s hut and tempted by the weaver’s hoard of money he entered the cottage and stole the money. But while fleeing fell in the stone pit and died but nobody in the town knew it until the end of the novel when Silas had got Eppie, an unknown girl in the town. Dunsey’s brother Godfrey married drunkard Molly but did not disclose it fearing his father may disinherit him. So when his father was preparing to marry him with a girl named Nancy, Molly set off to seek out him for revenge but on the way she died. Fortunately, his daughter who was later named Eppie by Silas toddled to Silas’s cottage attracted by light in the cottage. Later after one of his cataleptic fit , he found the girl sleeping by the fire. He thought that he had his gold replaced by the golden haired beautiful girl. He looked after the girl with father’s affection. She grew up and explored her surroundings. It was for this girl that Silas got the people’s sympathy and got an opportunity to communicate with the community that opened up for him a new horizon of redemption from his previous solitary existence. Later ,of course, Godfrey tried to take back Eppie but Nancy did not believe in adaptation. Godfrey remained childless which is seen as a kind of punishment for his selfishness in not accepting his ex-wife Molly and his second wife’s attitude towards adaptation. On the other hand Silas got homely joys with Eppie and got his gold also when he went to the stone pit to bring stone for the fence of the garden in front of his house. Then Eppie is married to Aaron, son of Dolly who told Silas to go the church and extended her helping hand to Silas. In the marriage ceremony Silas becomes the central figure which proves that a man coming however lowly a background can go up socially by dint of his good deeds and religious faith.
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Posted 12/31/2006 7:50:07 PM
I went to Rajshahi to collect the dress from the tailor. After trial, they told me to come after one and a half hour. So just to kill time I went to the bank of the Padma River which is called Ganga in India. In the afternoon people gather on the sandy banks of the river to have fresh air and the young and the children of the villages come to play football or cricket. But here there is an exception, the youth here has come either for lovemaking or to have kina freedom from the cloister of their rooms. A beautiful girl with sweet voice was talking nonsense with her boyfriend. I stood still apart to hear her for a while and went westward and saw the tall ancient fort like building built by the Portuguese who wanted to do business and establish colony here though later they had to make room for the more powerful Britons. By the side of the fort a beautiful garden has newly been raised where lovers and friends thronged. Being a lover of nature I didn’t of course felt lonely, On the ‘T’ shaped embankment lovers sat with their legs down and hands on hands while others enjoying machine propelled boat cruise on the narrow outback part of the Padma river. The Panda River develops such kinds of narrow slip of rivers of crystal clear water here and there along sandy banks that stretches miles after miles thanks to Farkka Barrage built by India. She is also trying to strangulate other rivers. What will be the ecological condition is anybody’s guess. Might is Right is the go of the world now. Bushed has hanged Saddam for charge he himself is accused with. So my prayer is Allah, send us a savior who will deliver us from injustices and the rules of jungles. Musing like these, I went to the Shahmakhdu Mosque to say my evening prayer. Shah Makhdum was a saint who came here to preach Islam not to do business like others. While I was returning to the tailor walking along the dark road lined with tall ancient trees, I heard the clamor of crows among the trees. ‘It is already dark but I have to go a long way before I sleep.’ I thought.
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Posted 12/26/2006 8:55:17 PM
M. Foster’s novel A passage to India has successfully depicted the wide chasm between the East and the west. Almost all the characters except for a few reacts with their preconceived notions about each other. Biased and prejudiced views of the main characters representing Muslim, Hindu and Christian faith creates a chaotic situation in Chandrapore which represents the wider view of the then India under British rule. First of all we see that Dr. Aziz is ignored by civil surgeon without any apparent reasons. On the other hand Dr. Aziz reprimands Mrs. Moore thinking without knowing that she entered the mosque with her shoes on. So we see that even Dr. Aziz is guided by prejudice. That there is a conflict between the east and the West becomes clear in the Bridge party where almost every Britons makes racist statement about Indians. In this respect Rony Heaslop is honest enough to agree that he is not in India to be kind but to do some other important things. However, the Indians do not accept the invitation without suspicion. The Indians think that there is some underlying motive behind the party, so conflict between the east and the west result, from prejudice against each other. Though there are some broad minded people among Muslims, Hindus and Christians but the narrow-mindedness superseded all as we see in the incident of Marabar Cave where Adela quested felt in hallucination that she was molested by Dr. Aziz. Though she later understood her mistake and cleared Aziz but the Anglo-Indians and Indians were at loggerheads over that issue and both the party tried to vindicate them without looking into the real facts of the incident in Marabar Cave. Thus we see that the relation between the east and the west is ridden with deep suspicion, narrow-mindedness and deep rooted superstition. But it is also the fact that colonization does not create an amicable environment in any country. Foreign dominion always breeds contempt and suspicion among the colonized. So conflict between the East and West will go on until injustice and foreign hegemony persists.
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Posted 12/13/2006 7:45:31 PM
You know how Iago put suspicion in Othello’s mind that stole all of his peace of mind. In the same manner one of my relatives, a mariner, came home and began to behave badly with his wife only because he was told by the housemaid that his wife meets in secret with another mariner on leave. My relative could not make up with her before he went to join another ship in Singapore. So now his relation with his wife marks with angry messages and angry exchanges of words on phone. How long will this continue? What should they do now? Please suggest.
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Posted 12/12/2006 8:16:18 PM
You know how Iago put suspicion in Othello’s mind that stole all of his peace of mind. In the same manner one of my relatives, a mariner, came home and began to behave badly with his wife only because he was told by the housemaid that his wife meets in secret with another mariner on leave. My relative could not make up with her before he went to join another ship in Singapore. So now his relation with his wife marks with angry messages and angry exchanges of words on phone. How long will this continue? What should they do now? Please suggest.
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Posted 12/12/2006 8:14:32 PM
Pinochet is no more. After a bloody coup aided by America, he came to power overthrowing elected government of Allende and ruled Chile for long seventeen years. So no wander, he is denied state funeral and people showing violent anger. Pinochet represents a tree of tyranny blasted by the chill of death. He also reminds us of Henry Kisinger and Bush who are guilty of crime against humanity. Bushes atrocities in Iraq outshine those done by Chilean Dictator. So we hope Bush will definitely meet the same fate. Tinku Lalpur, Natore
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Posted 11/21/2006 11:36:13 AM
The Old Man and the Sea is a novella in which Hemingway has explained a heroic vision of life through the character of an old fisherman Santiago. Hemingway participated in both the world wars and saw for himself the aimless and lost generation of that time. The society in his time was frustrated and sorrowful. But Hemingway was a life long fighter against all hopelessness. Let us now see how he explains his vision of life in this play. Santiago went 84 days without catching a fish but he does not lose hope. He is apparently so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man. However, the boy afterwards served him with food and nursing. Santiago opts to continue his effort of catching fish all alone in far wide sea and at last hooks a giant marlin. Unable to pull the fish into his boat, he fights with the fish that tows his boat for two days and two nights. During all that time, Santiago suffers injury, pain and sleeplessness but he holds on to his striving. As the fish weakens after constant fight, he straps the marlin to his boat and heads home. But his struggles do not end here, he is to now fight the sharks that attacks the marlin and reduces it into a skeleton. So though all his struggles come to the bitter end, he does not fret rather he calmly accepts the situation and goes to sleep. Thus the author gives us a clear vision of life that in this world we are alone. We are to fight against all odds of life like Santiago alone. But still the old needs helping hands of the young. In other words, the novel shows that in the post war society old people’s experience and young peoples energy should be combined to get complete success. Patience and hope should be there. And at long last, if success does not come, at least another hope of success will come.
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Posted 11/8/2006 11:05:18 AM
The main theme of Lore of the Flies is denial of the proposition that children are ever innocent. In Ballantyne’s classic novel Coral Islands, it was attempted to show that children are naturally innocent but through Lord of the Flies Golding has successfully illustrated that apparently innocent boys can revert to savagery in a situation where there is no control of laws. He has tried to prove that man is not made evil by the harshness of society rather man is born evil. Let us now see how this theme unfolds itself in the novel. Some British boys were being deported to a safer place to save them from the nuclear war. But the plane crash-landed near an uninhabited island. Men are social being so they need to live together under an elected leader. Accordingly, Ralph was elected their leader but a wicked boy called Jack did not accept Ralph’s leadership. He gradually reverted to uncivilized activities such as mindless hunting, killing and gross disregard for rules and responsibilities. For example, one day Jack was responsible for keeping fire burning on the hilltop but he did not perform his duty. If he did it, a passing ship that passed that island that night could rescue them. Besides, Jack became very callous and heartless which resulted in the murders of Piggy and Simon. Ralph, however, tried to humanize him but Jack perused him relentlessly and tried to kill him. Though fortunately, a naval cruiser saved Ralph only in the nick of time. Thus Golding upset the customary view that boys are innocent and that they would behave innocently and admirably even when released from partial control and school discipline. According to Golding, society holds everyone together with its social conditions, ideals, values and the basics of rights and wrong. Without society’s rigid rules, anarchy and savagery can come to light. Through the novel ‘Lord of the Flies’ Golding has also shown that morals come directly from our surroundings and if there is no civilization around us, Hydes in us will show up. But what is most interesting is that whenever I read this novel I can identify Jack of this novel with Bush who with his unlimited power has engaged himself with brutal killings and torturing Iraqi people and others in other parts of the world. Bush’s ‘Lord of the flies’ is his imaginary fear for WMD in Iraq and Islamic revival. Bush drums up imaginary fear for American people without knowing that within him is evil. We can now see with complacency when he is being reined in American people through ballot. Abdus Subhan Lalpur, Natore, Bangladesh.
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Posted 10/25/2006 2:06:52 PM
I was mentally ready to go to Gorer Bhita, an unknown place for me. I got a phone call from my brother in Akbor pur, my birthplace, telling that they were coming to Kochua and told me do the same. At fast I was reluctant to go but when my brother pressed me, I could not but change my mind. Getting ready, I set off. Fasting the whole day I felt weak and exhausted that afternoon. Fortunately, at Lalpur road intersection, the van driver managed me a front seat on the machine-powered van locally called Nochhiman. Proverb goes, ‘Morning shows the day.’ That dawn I said my Fazr prayer and recited the holy Quran. So I faced no trouble or humiliation in doing anything. I smoothly reached Kochua exactly at the same time as my brother and others coming from Akbor pur. After alighting from the van , I exchanged greetings with my brother-in-law Tabarok. Then we started to walk along the muddy country path. On the both sides of the path, there was no sign of orderliness. The houses were amorphous having no clear-cut patterns. There were clear sign of poverty everywhere. I noticed some brick built- houses but they were not complete so there was a gaunt and dreary appearances about them. However, we walked on and on. It seemed our path that snaked through the outback like countryside had no ending. At last we reached a place that charmed us with its clean manicured gardens and betel nut trees. I wished this house had been my younger brother Ismail’s would-be father in law’s house. Sometimes what I wish it becomes. If I start a day at dawn by saying my Fazr prayer with devotion and understanding and later reciting the verse and studying the explanation of the holy Quran, I meet with much favourable coincidence. The place consists of two homesteads beautified with beautiful trees and clean gardens in front and a small mosque. There was not mud on the path in front of them. The place had a heavenly aura so I could not but admire it. So when our guide took us to one of the two homesteads I felt relieved and admired Ismail’s choice. The house is by the side of a small lake edged with trees. The gentle breeze creased the surface of the clear lake water into thousands ripples. Our shoes being heavy with mud, we cleared them on some bamboo shavings and entered the house. What struck us at first was its utter silence. There was no comings and goings of small children or men or woman. It seemed that there were none in the house except the scrawny master of the house who took us to one of the room furnished with 21 inches color TV, two show cases stacked with crockery and knick- knack. The inside wall was not plastered still the room did not look dreary because on the bare bricks there were some beautiful pictures and artifacts. At last I saw two women entering the room we were sitting in. They took out some plates from a show case and went out. They seemed to be mother and daughter. The mother was tall and the daughter who was surely Ismail’s fiancée was a bit short. They were not so attractive. Soon came the time of Iftar withour giving us time of valuable prayer. There were two glass jugs full of water on the table. With the announcement of Azan I broke my fast without delay by drinking water from the jug in uncivilized way that is I just lifted the jug and put my leaps directly on the tilted corner of its mouth while my brother –in- law Tabarok finding not a single glass first took the jug in his hand, poured some water on his palm, washed his mouth and drank. I took umbrage at these table manners. However, snacks that consisted of some puffed rice garnished with course Chanachur, different kinds of cheap biscuits that are available in the village shop. The master was taken aback by our arrival, which he did not expected thinking that rainy and muddy afternoon. Hence the poor condition of Iftar. I hardly touched any food except the puffed rice and cold drinks. So after Iftar my stomach churned. We performed our prayer in the adjacent mosque. There were only a few Mosollis. It is again a glaring example of uneven development of Bangladesh. While we hardly find a place in a town mosque during the Ramadan, here in this remotest village Mosollis are sparse. It was getting dark. Tension gripped us thinking how could we get home in that dark night. Bithi, my demanding wife told me on the phone to return home quickly. But I had no inclination to go to her. “It is because of her that I have felt incarcerated so long. I wanted to break free but could not. Now is the time to roam about in the countryside communing with nature and communicating with the poor rustic people and relatives.” I thought. At last we took leave of Jesmine’s father after telling that we have taken a fancy to Jasmine and want her to be Ismail’s wife. Only then they gave us their decision to visit our place after Eid. The more the time was getting on the lesser was my possibility to return to Lalpur. To make the matter worse Ahsan, the matchmaker, took us to his Behai’s house. His Behai is a small jolly man. After a short time he treated us to succulent Papaya. Not only this he took me behind the house to show me the trees from which he daily pick papayas. Was it a sign of his simplicity or his feeling of joy finding some fine gentleman like us among them is a matter of research. I can only say Grey’s words “Let not ambition mock their useful toil.” It is of course obvious that the poor in rural Bangladesh are gradually shaking themselves free from the shackles of poverty. It is not that the rich are helping them but the poor themselves are striving to improve their condition by planting different kinds of trees and cultivating high yielding crops. Our Behai was very hospitable. He repeatedly told us to put up at his residence that night. When he failed to persuade us, he walked us almost up to the main road. There was a buzz on the road. Many ‘topi’ wearing Musollis were streaming out of the mosque after performing Tarabi Namaz. It was the 27the night of Holy month of Ramadan. So a huge number of devotees attended the Tarabi prayers. The night was auspicious but it seemed it bode ill for me at that time because there was no van to take me to my residence in Lalpur. Shahidul, my cousin, then strongly urged me to accompany them on the trip to Akbor pur so that I can participate in the the discussion on Islam that will go on until the break of the dawn. I agreed and called Bithi telling her that I was going to Akbor pur. She angrily put down the receiver without telling me anything. When we were getting on the van, a happy sense of camaraderie coursed through our blood. After a while the van stopped because metalled road ended there. Dismounting the van we began to walk along the muddy country road. On the both side of the road it was pitch- black so I could not see anything except the silhouette of trees and houses. Walking for sometime along the muddy road we took a shortcut through the outskirts of the Dhuspara village. We were walking by the sugarcane fields. Night birds and owls were hooting somewhere. Fireflies were scarce but a few tried to keep their light glowing. After a long time I could hear the mysterious howling of foxes. Islamic songs and announcement was wafting across the stillness of dark from distant mosques while some Maizvandaris, a minority renegades of Islam, were beating drums rhythmically to the special devotional songs. In short we were passing through a dreamy enchanted environment. At last walking by the ponds and under the mango groves we reached our sweet village where my mother greeted us with a smiling face that effaced all the drudgery of journey. After washing myself and doing Uzu I went to the mosque where I listened to lectures delivered by Ismail, Hamid, Aslam and Sadrul. I could not believe my ears that they could give such an erudite lecture on tenets of Islam. Later I was also told to deliver my lecture. Then it was the turn of my elder brother Abdullahil Kafi. Our village has developed a lot. People here have replaced their thatched house with brick ones and a large number of students are studying in different educational institutions. I was very pleased with this development. Next day when I was walking along the country road, the shades of trees on the both sides of the road lessened the my tiredness from walking and the gentle breeze of the green fields dried the beads of sweat on my body. Sometimes I stood still among the pervading greenery of the field to just commune with the unknown soul of nature. I am now in the town sitting in front of my desktop computer. It seems that I can see the screen more clearly as if the green of my village has sharpened my vision. So I shall return to my sweet village, stroll along its shady paths and groves to refurbish me again and again.
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Posted 10/14/2006 5:54:18 PM
Marabar caves predate Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. Hinduism has scratched and plastered a few rocks, but the shrines are unfrequented. But those who seek the extra-ordinary go there. Dr. Aziz took Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested to the caves but Mrs. Moore experienced horror in one of the caves and Adela Quested felt in hallucination that she was molested by Dr. Aziz. Though she later understood her mistake and cleared Aziz, the Anglo-Indians and Indians were at loggerheads on that issue and both the party tried to vindicate them without looking into the real facts of the incident of Marabar Caves. The Marabar caves prove that the squabbles of English with Indians or Muslim with Hindu become derisory. In the Marabar caves there is no real meeting, but a moment of hysteria which was followed by misunderstanding and recrimination and it ultimately separated East from West. The chasm that Foster has depicted in his novel The Passage to India has widened now because of West’s utter disregard to Islam’s Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Cannot we meet each other with open mind and understand each other?
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Posted 10/10/2006 8:45:32 PM
At the beginning of the novel mother tells that Pavel is serious for his age. His eyes were always stern and serious. he is strong, tall and the handsomest of all comrades. Son of a boorish firm worker, he changes from a thug to a socialist role model. He develops a habit of reading books of all sorts of topics and becomes well educated in revolutionary and other literature. He conducts erudite discussion among the revolutionary cell at his household. He presided over the meeting. Pavel puts the highest emphasis on the revolutionary work. For achieving this party or common goal, he sacrifices the comfort of his personal life. When his girlfriend Sasha wants to marry him, he does not agree to marry her because he thinks that family life may hamper their revolutionary works. He was very brave and a man of iron-will. So later when his mother tries to stop him from taking the dangerous path of socialists, he does not stop rather he opines, “If his own mother lain across his path, he’d have stepped right over her.” Pursuing his goal with heroic dogged determination, he is never frightened of the police or soldiers because he thinks that revolutionists are not doing anything wrong as we see him protesting deduction of Kopek from the salaries of the factory workers. Because of his protest, he ends up in jail where he delivers a fiery speech sharply attacking the judges and Tsars in the courtroom at the time of his trial. Fear of police bayonets or exile in Siberia did not stop him. Another important heroic quality of Pavel is his nobility. Pavel wins particular prestige from the people after the Swamp Kopek Incident. At the end of the novel when Pavel is tried the judges were impressed by the power of his words and serious and dignified speech.
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Posted 10/3/2006 5:50:43 PM
Gregor Samsa is the only earning member of the family but one day he metamorphoses into a roach. So he cannot go to his office. His family members lock him up in his room. However his sister Grete Samsa brings his food twice a day with great fear. Gregor gets alienated from his family and environment. He is neglected. Meanwhile, Grogor’s father gets a job in a bank and his mother begins to work in a lingerie shop and his sister gets a job as a store clerk. So in absence of Gregor, other members of the family metamorphose from dependent and lazy members to active contributors to the family. Through this novella Kafka has shown that in an industrial society, a man is valued as long as he earns. He has also shown that it is very difficult in an industrial society to balance out between freedom and duty as we see before metamorphosis Gregore failed to marry because of his duty to his family. But when he was free from his duty after Metamorphosis, he was not free either as he was locked out in his room and when one day he came out attracted by her sister’s violin the lodgers saw him and gave notice prompting the family members not to regard his present hideous form as their dear Gregor. So he slinks back to his room and dies that night. We should be grateful to God that we are still alive and kicking. What would have happened, if we had had the fate of Gregor!
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