::: Star Weekend Magazine :::

Dhaka Diary

Education
The Latest Commodity
A few days back I happened to find myself, unavoidably, in a traffic jam on my way to the university, in front of the Igbal Road intersection. As I waited impatiently for the jam to dissolve, my eyes caught sight of a strange banner. Being curious, I skimmed through its contents. When I had finished reading the advertisement, I realised a rather unusual thing. The banner said, that a coaching centre is offering tutorial assistance to students for the admission in a reputed Bangla medium school. But the sentence that surprised me was that, they are offering a hand in education on “contract basis”. On special circumstances the tuition providers would also teach on an "instalment basis". They gave a money-back guarantee if their students failed to get in to the school after being facilitated with their help. Although they had made an honest commitment, I could not help but wonder about what has become of the education system in our country. It has become a commodity to be marketed on the banners in such a way.
Naome Syed,
Mohammadpur

Turning Deaf to the Law
A few days ago, I was standing at the Asad Gate intersection, waiting to cross the road along with a few people. As the signal turned red, we set off. Suddenly, an ear splitting crash made us turn around in shock to locate the source of the commotion. A jeep from the adjacent road apparently tried to sneak past the stream of vehicles and collided with a motorcycle, which toppled over the riders on it. What was more astonishing was the fact that it was a police jeep in such a hurry. The traffic police just helped the people to get up while allowing the police jeep to abscond in front of the furious onlookers. I was flabbergasted to see that the police did not even offer a word of comfort to the hurt riders, let alone pay compensation for the damaged motorcycle. Their actions are always a far cry from their motto of serving the people. However, was it too much to demand that the "law enforcers" would at least abide by the laws of the road?
Ananya Das
Cephalon International

Diary from Chittagong
The Evolution of a Mosque Signboard
I have been a witness to several changes taking place in my city over the past years. Last year, at the big mosque situated in the Chawkbazar area of Chittagong, there was sign at the entrance which said -- PLEASE COME IN KEEPING YOUR SHOES OUTSIDE.
Within a few months the sign changed to -- COME IN WITH YOUR SHOES OUTSIDE, BEWARE OF SHOE THIEVES.
A few months later, in the process of the ongoing evolution, the sign changed to -- COME IN WITH YOUR SHOES OUTSIDE BUT KEEP THEM AT YOUR OWN RESPONSIBILITY.
And finally the sign that has been hanging there till today -- PLEASE COME IN, TAKING YOUR SHOES OFF AND CARRYING THEM INSIDE.
Preeam Shankar Ghosh
Dept of EEE
CUET