Outrageous winter fashion trends

Although winters in Bangladesh shouldn't really be called winters, they bring something for everybody. Poetic souls see it as another excuse to write more long, rambling (and annoying) ballads celebrating stupid stuff like mist, fog and clouds. Badminton enthusiasts see it is a chance to indulge in the game they all love, and the ever observant and opportunistic youth, see winter as a chance to expand from the linear and boring summer fashion of t-shirt and jeans to something more exotic and substantial. After all only in winter can you justifiably (sort of) wear a large number of different clothing and not appear like a complete fool. Unfortunately despite their best efforts many a Dhakaiya youth can't ever escape the perpetual cycle of appearing like a fool. Take a sample at these outrageous winter fashion trends

Fashion in the House of Knowledge

Winter is the time when kids get the elusive opportunity to escape the monotonous homogeny of school uniforms. It is a time when everyone can 'be different' by the sweater s/he wears to school. Of course there are school rules regarding the type of sweaters you might wear…but phsst..rules, who cares? Every kid will wear something different and try to justify that the sweater still adheres to the school dress code in some vague way.

Thus winter sees the influx of an unimaginably different kind of sweaters and jackets worn by school-er 'baccha tacchara'. You would see the heavy metal fans wearing heavy sweaters with all kinds of colourful phrases like “Death”, “Anger, Blood, Hate” or “KILLL!!” written on it. You would see the girls wearing sissy designer-labelled sweaters. You would see the cool rich guys wearing Nikes and Adidas sweatshirts and the plain thin and ugly dudes wearing ten different layers of clothing in a desperate bid to look bulky. I feel sorry for these poor dudes, since contrary to what they try to achieve the ladies are hardly impressed by their fabricated bulk and the poor guys only end up sweating profusely underneath that wool-and-cotton edifice. Dudes, one piece of advice. Give up. Girls aren't that shallow…

…at least when it comes to choosing guys. However when it comes to choosing your sweater mix, it's a completely different story. Have you noticed that the ladies who are rather facially challenged are the first ones to wear sweaters? Have you noticed that even if its not really that cold, these girls would come to school wearing sweaters and act all cool and hip. You...ladies, you might think that guys notice you for a second. But please…we only do it because our brains cannot help filter out a blue or a red individual in the midst of a sea of white. I know that you are all extremely angry now but calm down. You know it's true!

The ladies who are not so facially challenged also don't fail to act like idiots, specially if they come bundled with the extremely unsavoury habit of trying to gather every piece of male attention on the planet. Usually you will see them opting for the really tight and flashy sweaters. I haven't observed such ladies for quite a while now, (having moved on to more important things like, taking over the world and trying to pass my Freshman Physics Class), but if what my luiccha cousins tell me is even partially true, then we would soon have another school rule stating how tight a sweater can be.

All this makes me wonder. Why don't you just wear a normal sweater to school, like ordinary guys and girls? It's a pity that nowadays, Dudes and Dudettes out there hardly see the style in looking normal and respectable.

Biker Jackets

These exotic beauties you see in the picture are one of the trendiest winter clothing in the market now. I know exactly what you are thinking. They look like walking billboards… but way uglier. These are biker jackets, which are typically adorned by professional racers. It's easy to understand why the ambitious youth of Bangladesh would wear such things. Who doesn't dream of cutting corners at speeds which would kill a seasoned bungee jumper? Who doesn't want to walk around looking like Micheal Schumacher or Mika Hakkinen? Who doesn't dream of becoming a professional racer and navigating the potholes of Dhaka? What bothers your faithful correspondent is the fact that this is a hell of an expensive way to live up to a dream. An average jacket could cost from 3000- 7000 Taka and this prevents many kids whose dads aren't swimming in gold from living up to this wonderful dream. Thus I decided to step into this lucrative racer-jacket market by creating jackets plastered with Grameen phone and Banglalink ads. In this way I can sell the jackets for cheap as well as make plenty of cash from corporate sponsorship. Am I a freaking genius or what??

Why show your hands when you can wear gloves?

Bangladesh was never a cold country. It will never be a cold country. At least it will never be a country cold enough to freeze up your hand. Why would we want to wear gloves then? However that doesn't stop mega clothing retailers from offering a variety of different hand accessories for the fashion conscious youth of Dhaka. Not only we have normal gloves, but also leather ones and those useless fingerless ones which are supposed to look cool and macho. A segment of the population also indulges in fancier stuff such as ones with spikes, studs and an assortment of shiny sharp and dangerous metallic things sticking on it. I can already see billions of problems arising because of such gloves. What if the wearer suddenly has to itch his nether regions? And what if he forgets to take off his gloves? Ouch…

Want to see more outrageous fashion trends? Just take a walk through Dhanmondi Lake Side or go to the Farm Gate Coaching Center district, you will be laughing till you drop dead. At least this correspondent did. Take care all and have a great vacation!

By Reggie

Random ramblings from Little Britain


31st December, 2006…London

My alarm goes off at 6 am every morning. I mean seriously, which normal human being likes waking up before the sun…every freaking day? I hate London, I really do! Why is alcohol cheaper than water, why is a pound equivalent to 136 taka, why couldn't the high street shops have cheap clothes, why on earth is Oxford Street filled with the coolest clothes and accessories I have ever seen…and why on earth can I not afford anything?

I've been in London for the last three months, and I guess if I had money, I'd look at everything in a whole different light. But the point is, like every other student here, I have to work myself to death everyday, and handle the stress of university and crappy jobs and dissatisfaction at being paid enough to cover nothing! One year back, on this exact same date, I didn't have to cook, wash, tidy up my room, and write page long proofs about why one plus one equals two.

Ah…sweet memories! Of fuchka and rickshaws, and friends, and loads of “kothin bhab” and “abar jigais”. Man…I wish I was back home! It's New Year's eve, I deserve to be with my family. Most of my friends here have gone back to their own respective countries…it's just not fair!

1st January, 2007…London…5 am in the morning

This was, without a doubt, my best New Year's eve ever! Well, considering all my others were spent watching Bollywood stars dancing manically on Sony TV, it didn't have to be much, but it really was brilliant!

It finally stopped raining (looks like the sky needs a break as well!), and never before have I seen, and actually been amongst thousands and thousands of people, from all over the world, gathered around the same place to welcome the new year.

River Thames looks so breathtakingly beautiful at night (by day it looks like a large pile of mud), and with London's ever so cosmopolitan backdrop right behind it, I don't think there can be a better place to have the fireworks. And oh my god, what fireworks!

As we all counted down to the new year, the dark sky lit up in a million different colours- it was so beautiful! Of course, watching completely wasted people all around doing the silliest things was a big laugh, and singing Pothchola at the top of our lungs for no apparent reason was quite amazing as well!

When the sky was full of green and red sparks, all my friends and I broke into cheers of Joy Bangla…yeah, being away from home sort of gets you insanely patriotic! Well, got to admit it, did feel nice when a bunch of English and Italian blokes started shouting Joy Bangla with us…needless to mention, they were all quite wasted and had no idea which planet they were on.

After talking complete nonsense with god knows how many random people on the streets, (which was definitely better and less embarrassing than my friend shouting “Amar Sylheti bhaiyera kothay, KOTHAY?), a whole bunch of us went to McDonalds at 2 am, and then addafied all night long sitting around Victoria Embankment. It was the same sort of adda really…only it wasn't Café Mango we were sitting in.

Yeah, it really was a fun night…my best so far in London. And I think I really am liking this place now. It's not home, but no place other than Dhaka can feel like home, so what's the point of being homesick?

To all those applying to UK universities right now- it's not easy, but it's an adventure and an experience that you'll never in your life regret having! And yeah, if you're one of those people who don't like to party much…London's probably not for you mate!

By Fahmina Rahman

Poem

Demonic Era

Walking through revolution of time
Searching for the undeniable
In everyone, as harmony drifts away
World becomes unholy
Contaminated with demons,
Discovering the reigning demonic era
Leading us to shattered destiny
Inevitable Armageddon awaits us.
Stranded alone with all the regrets,
Demonic Era
Stands for corruption and false justice only,
Blood of vengeance flows,
Worshiping their avarice
Damnable animals we are,
Evil becomes invincible
As people divides the divine.
Falling memories of my wind blows
As I look at the unbounded sky
Blind we are even with our sight
Living in infernal era,
Though we seek the light
Only idiocy that we carry
Humanity that we bury
Vibration halts as we vanquish the truth.
Demonic era reigns
As wisdom becomes meaningless
Imbalance staying within
Death-like dehumanization grows,
I feel the end is near.
Walking alone in a cruel path
As I speak only that you can't deny
Born slaves we are.

The True Reflection

Seeing the reflection can you tell?
Hell is creeping into your cell.
Seeing the reflection can you tell?
The truth behind it is not real.
A world ruled by human race
People with their unlike ace
Never reflect their true face.
In this world of disorder
Evil thrives forever
The corrupted
The people who aid and abet
Leading us to an accursed future,
In this world of trust and betrayal
Truth burns forever
The false justice
The law which aid and abet
Leading us to an accursed future,
In this world of cruel deed
People and sky-high greed
Creating madness
The curse of stupidity
Leading us to an accursed future,
Forever the truth reflects
The coldness of your blood,
The feeling less of your heart,
The madness of your mind &
The sickness of your thoughts
Making you sane to insane
Making you humane to inhumane
Is this the innocent world that you say?
Where destruction and hatred growing day by day,
Is this the innocent world that you know?
Where hunger for power
And blood shed from war flow.
When we will have no fear?
No desire for power.
When will people
Have strength and faith within themselves,
Protest against injustice &
Overcome evil?
When will they welcome the truth &
Feel everyone's ruth?
When will they rule out cruel obsession?
Walk the streets without hesitation
Without pride or any aggression?
Open your eyes
Come out from the claws of evil
Break the shades of illusion
To see the true reflection
Of us & our true deeds.

By Ben Zaman