Under a blue sky…

Hello Adiya, do you know where you are?’
'I don't know. All I remember is I was in the hospital. I heard someone crying. Who are you?'
'I am a friend.'

Finally, my vision cleared. The first thing I could see was a tall man smiling down at me. When I looked around me, I found myself surrounded by flowers. I stood up and saw endless kinds of flowers of different colours, birds and butterflies all around the place. 'This is so beautiful, I feel like I am in heaven.'

'It is beautiful. Heaven is always beautiful.'
I looked down and remembered why I was in the hospital. 'So they couldn't save me. I thought no one would be beside me when I am near death. Who was crying for me?' 'Your parents…'

Seemed like few days ago when I was between their daily fights, trying to break it. Every day that same argument, that same reason. I stood next to my window every night and watched the stars, wishing for a life where I can have a normal family. They were separated on my 13th birthday; later on they both got married to their new loved ones. I knew that neither of my stepparents liked me; I was like a thorn in their sight. The only person who wanted me to have a wonderful life was my aunt Gia. She took me to her house to live with her. She probably wanted me because her husband died few months after their marriage and she was childless. When I was 15, aunt Gia and I packed our bags and left the country. Soon I started to lead a normal life without the dreadful shadow of my parents. The new city was filled with strangers and one stranger seemed liked my long lost friend.

Rayne was the only person who understood my pain. Whenever I recalled my past, he was there to wipe my tears. I even forgot when I fell in love with him. Three years later, he found the love of his life and got married to her and got settled somewhere else. I was left broken hearted but he never knew my feelings towards him and I still remained his friend.

A month later aunt Gia died, I was alone again and now no one was there to wipe my tears. I started to work for my living, part-time jobs at different places. No one was there to worry about me. After a year, I finally found a permanent job that paid me well. I put all my focus on my career, letting life slip by.

Few months later, I was diagnosed with leukaemia. No one knew I was in between life and death, but death was my last destination. I was at the hospital and was unconscious on the bed for a long time. In my last moments, as I felt my heart slowly stop beating, I heard someone crying.

'They were informed that you were in your last days. They came and realised that they shouldn't have left you.'

'It is a little too late. I was always alone and wanted them to be my strength rather than my weakness.'

All I could do now was to be happy for where I am now. How can I ever forget all the people who were with me, even though they were not? Suddenly I realised I wanted to go back…back to where I really wanted to be, even though no one wanted to be by my side.

'I want to go back…back where I really belong.’
'You want to go back? Isn't this all you ever wanted from your dreadful life?'
'If I was given a dreadful life by Him then why did He bring me back here so soon? I want to go back and see the end…the real end of my life'.
'Wish…granted'

I slowly opened my eyes again; I could see the pale grey ceiling on top of me. I guess I saw it somewhere before but where. 'Doctor she's alive…she's alive!' I heard a woman screaming as if a miracle has happened. Few moments later I could now clearly see my surroundings. I saw my parents together, after such a long time I couldn't recognise them.

Later I finally achieved what I always wanted: a family. We all forgot what happened with us in the past and stayed together. Diya, my child, you know you are not my blood but still you are my daughter. When I saw you all alone, uncared for, in that cradle at the orphanage, you reminded me of how I used to be. You are not old enough to start your own family. I left a place so beautiful; very few people are lucky enough to be there. For me this moment right here with you is heaven for me. Stories fade away in the pages of a book; life fades away with the breeze. All that is left behind is the name, the name of a family as long as it exists. I gave you a name; I gave you a second life…all I want from you is a family.

By Antora

Mom's Aspirations....

Mother's day is here once more! Selected gifts for mummy dear..? This is a day, which we specially celebrate to salute all the moms of the world. Hats off to all mothers out there!

MOTHER- the most precious gift God has given to any child. She is our guardian, our friend, and our best guide. She makes our way easier so that we can travel towards our goal without many difficulties. She makes sure that we can carry through in life what we want. She wants us to accomplish our ambitions. We all have some aims and ambitions in life, I'm sure all our moms know what we want to be, but do we know what our moms wanted to be? Many of us have working moms and many of us have our moms concentrating on us or on household chores. Did we children, whose moms are housewives, ever try to find out what our moms wanted to be when they were at our age? Undoubtedly they didn't want to be only the mothers of sons/daughters like us! Do we realise that our mothers also had some dreams and ambitions the way we do now, when they were like us?

Most of the time in our country the hopes and desires of girls remain unfulfilled after marriage. No, I'm not trying to say that this is always because of the in-laws or the husband. It can also be seen that they sacrifice their dreams and work on making a beautiful house, making the family more happy. She contributes her whole life for the family.

I asked my mom what she wanted to be. She wanted to be a lawyer. She wanted to fight for the rights of people, to help the oppressed ones, to have a strong voice in the society. So that her way of thinking would have an effect on the society. Now, though, she is only a housewife. A loving mother to my brother and me, a caring wife, a supportive member in the family. I would say that our moms who spend time on us and other housework are no less busy than the working women are. They take care of every little thing going on in the house or in our lives.

I know why my mom didn't build a career of her own. She wanted to give her whole attention to her children. She wanted her children to be good human beings and for that she wanted to spend all her time on us. In every step of life she makes sure that we don't make mistakes, that we have the capacity to judge between right and wrong. She wanted to give happiness to everyone in the family. For that she wasn't even bothered about having to give up her dreams of doing something in life to show the world.

We should all be proud of our moms; not only for the things they did for us, but also for the sacrifices they made for us. I really want to take the opportunity to thank my mother on this very special occasion of mothers' day. Mom, you made what I'm today. You sacrificed your dreams to make my ones come true. You taught me how to achieve my goals in life. You made me confident. I know that it's impossible to repay you for all the thing you did for our family. What I want to do is to fulfil your dreams. Making you happy is a part of my ambition. I want to give you the happiness you gave me and what you deserve. I want to make you proud and make you feel that all your sacrifices were not in vain. I want you to convey your words to people through my voice. I want you to see your dreams come true through my eyes…as it's you who made me see this beautiful world. I LOVE YOU MOM…

By Syeda Nafiza Ahmed

BROTHERS/SISTERS: Best friend or the worst nightmare?

The door opens with a bang. The person who enters is very familiar to you, the person whom you know so well, and now he has come to make your life miserable. Well, that's what happened to me all the time whenever I saw my brother coming. Most of us do have brothers or sisters in our family. The ones who are younger than us can be termed as "pests" and the ones who are elder can be called the devils. (Of course, that is not in all cases)

I have an elder brother, we have an age difference of about seven years. I hardly talk to him, as I find nothing to talk about. I always found him to be strict with me (which I consider to be needless) and bullying was nothing new to him. I had a boring childhood. I never enjoyed it that much and was quite deprived of the things I deserved. My brother was responsible for this to some extent, but I never objected, knowing fully well that little or nothing will be done about it. Now that I have grown up and am a little distance away from entering into adulthood I sometimes become surprised to see that he is still the same and hasn't tried to change a bit.

Brothers and sisters are the persons in whom we confide, and with whom we share our feelings. They give us support and guide us in our path. It has been observed that people of the same age as yourself are very much easier to talk to than people who are two to three years older or younger than you. Well, it is also often seen that brothers or sisters who are quite old are still approachable and can make you feel at ease with them.

My case was such an unfortunate one. I have a brother who always thought I'm still six years old, oblivious to the world around me, and as a result I became a constant victim of criticism and scolding. When you share your sentiments and opinions with your brothers and sisters and vice versa things become very much easier to deal with. Moreover, no communication gap takes place and soon the other person becomes a very good friend of yours. That is when you take him or her as your best friend.

Well, I only read one side of the story. Things can also be seen in a different perspective. Nowadays, I hear almost from every friend of mine when they talk about their brothers and sisters, and explain the miseries they go through. Most of them say the younger ones create a lot of problem; they mess up your room when they come in, they pester you with their "stupid" thoughts and ideas, and it is them who get the priority in handling the computer and also the T.V. The problem further arises if you have a girlfriend. They even sneak up on you when you are having a conversation on the phone and later you get ready to face the severe consequences when they reveal this to your beloved parents. Apart from this, my friends also say they really go through a hard time when they have to make the younger ones study.

As for the elder ones, you cannot tell them anything. They will poke their nose in every single matter of your life and will not even bother to ruin your own personal life. Sometimes they get on your nerves but you are totally helpless. Well, things don't go the way you always think them to be, nevertheless you need to be brave and strong to face the relentless tortures of your brothers and sisters. You may consider them to be your worst nightmares but hey, remember every cloud has got a silver lining. It is you who needs to put the foot down and that is when the change will occur, I promise.

By Icecube fusion

Mummy's little boy

"Maa"…"amar Wshona"…"maaa"…"amar shonnaaa"…"maaaaaaaaa"…
Ten minutes later they embrace each other after overcoming that brutal misunderstanding set by the ugly, double-crosser darn villain, who tried to come in between the priceless, deeper than ocean, mother-son love.

This ending of the movie never fails to get the mummies to turn their waterworks on (those with a son of course). "Amar chele holo amar jaaner tukra" (my son is a piece of my soul) says the woman next door repeatedly. No, no…I am not jealous just because I happen to be a girl and happen to have a brother so dear to mum. Why should I worry? I have dad for defence. How does the mother- son relationship work really?

Writing this article as a general viewer, I assume it all starts with, "Is it a boy or a girl?" The answer follows as, "It's a boy (grin)", and though this is the 21st Century, there are still millions who say, "That's WONDERFUL, you're very blessed. Now treat us quick". (As for the girls…well I'll write a "Daddy's little girl" article someday)

We all know mummy's little boy is always well…helpless without his mummy. I am talking about the boy's age group starting from nursery until he is about 12. At this age, if he is just simply teased or accidentally bumped into, he will go running to his mummy and complain. The mum will fill the boy's face with kisses and then YELL the crap out of whoever tried to hurt her precious baby boy!

Next when baby boy will reach his teen years, he will constantly go to mummy for money, money and uh…more money. Daddy's harsh discipline and dialogues of "It's your fault our son is failing his studies" wont be enough to get mummy to shout at her, going- to- mature- soon, son. What would boys do without mothers!

So the boy matures. Let's just assume that he matures and falls in love and introduces the to- be Bhou to his mother. Now this is where snow falls in summer, sun rises from the west and the moon turns purple! In other words the to- be wife wants to live somewhere else and tells the to- be mother- in- law that her son wants to live else where as well. Could it be? Can all the love in the world for her son only end in separation? Mum is crushed…
son is confused in dilemma and the to- be wife laughs as she is successful in driving away her husband from his mother, where she can party all night and never be caught red handed while having an affair with another man! Just then…that's right, just then the son's best friend (which also happens to be a girl) drags in the to- be wife in front of her to- be husband and to- be mother- in- law. The best friend apparently overheard the to- be wife's evil plan over the phone with her "other" boyfriend and makes her confess this front of the son and the mother. Then the could- have- been- wife cries and leaves! The son's best friend confesses her love for him and the mother is happy to welcome an honest bhou in the house. Then the mother faces towards the son who is ten metres across the room and they cry to each other, "maa"…"amar shona"…"maaa"…"amar
Shonnaaa"…"maaaaaaaaa"…
ten minutes later they embrace each other after overcoming that brutal misunderstanding set by the ugly, double-crosser darn villain, who tried to come in between the priceless, deeper than ocean, mother-son love.

By Shayera Moula