Dear Mama
By Osama Rahman
“Though back at the time I never thought I could see another face, there isn't a woman alive who can take my Mama's place”
18 years have gone by and I step back and relive the bygone days. My life has been blessed and my days have been ones spent in deceptive joy. Even with poverty knocking on our door, we never got the feel of it. This was because of my mother's determination and her will to provide us with the best of everything. We grew up in a veil of love which covered our eyes, preventing us from seeing our mother's tears. Even in stages of grave depression and sadness, my mother stood by my side, keeping me close to her heart. That was what safety felt like!
“When I was low you were there for me and you never left me alone because you cared for me.”
Every time life pushed me down and when I was about to succumb to the fangs of defeat my mother was there, pulling me up. Suspension, complaints and bad grades all met with her disappointed expression, but she never gave up. No mother ever gives up on her child and my mother was no exception, but she worked with me and corrected me and made me a better person.
“When it seems that I'm hopeless, you say the words that can bring me back to focus.”
During my periods of uncertainty over my life, when I failed, when my friends shunned me, when the worst periods of my life emerged bringing darkness, my mother stood there with her light. When all hope was lost my mother was there, telling me she loved me and comforted me. When the friends who I ignored her for where all gone, she still stood by my side. She raised me with an iron hand in a velvet glove and I grew up getting the best of everything. She struggled with me, tried to understand me and most importantly lent me an ear. She supported me through thick and thin and guided me when I was lost.
“When I was sick as a little kid, there was no limit to the things you did. All my childhood memories are full of all the sweet things you did for me.”
My childhood reflects my mother's love for me. Her determination to raise me as a proper human being was overwhelming. She did not hide life's facts but made sure that I confronted them. She hardened me and brought out the man in me. When I would be sick, my mother would stay awake all night, holding me close to her. I slept peacefully and my mother forced her eyes to remain open and she kept checking on me every few minutes. One of my most secure moments were when I opened my eyes and saw my mother hugging me and sleeping right next to me. I felt like I had the best mother in the world.
“Just working with the scraps you were given and Mama made miracles every Thanksgiving.”
At a time of immense financial crisis when under normal circumstances, it would be hard for anyone to provide three proper meals, my mother worked from sunset to sunrise just to provide us with a royal feast. When food was hard to come by, my mother worked with whatever she had and managed to whip up delicacies and we all ate contentedly. I did not know that my mother slept with an empty stomach. She toiled all day, ate nothing, stuck with us and we still didn't give her the love she deserved.
“And even though I act crazy, I have to thank the Lord that you made me.”
Maybe I was never there for my mother when she needed me, maybe I didn't hug her when she desperately needed it, and maybe my mother never felt the love I had for her because of my inability to show it. For every success, for every smile and for every joy I ever experienced, my mother is the kind soul responsible. Till my birth to my grave, my mother will remain as my number one. I love my mother, I respect her and I am one of the lucky few who can honestly claim that I understand my mother. Thanks for bringing me to this earth, for giving me life and for raising me right.
“There's no way I can pay you back. But my plan is to show you that I understand. You are appreciated.”
My mother is the best mother in the world. For someone to go through so much and still come out with a smile is unbelievable. My mother stands as a role model for me, she stands as my idol and she stands as my inspiration. Thank you for always believing in me, for always loving me and for always providing me with that much needed support. Like the majority of the people in this world, I owe everything to my mother. For everything we blame our mothers; when they try to take care of us, we shun them; when they try to understand us, we avoid them and when they try to guide us right, we forget to care. Let us all reflect on everything our mothers did for us and realise that life without them would be incomplete. My heaven does lie at the feet of my mother and so does each triumph of mine. I continue on my journey towards the unknown carrying with me a love so true, so virtuous, so sacred and so powerful that nothing in the world can harm me. The bond of the Sun and its light, ever lasting is like the bond my mother and I share.
Quotations extracted from “Dear Mama” written and performed by the late Tupac Shakur.
The age of brand new super heroes
By Hitoishi Chakma
Gone are those days when Superman, Batman showed up within pico seconds of our frightful screams with their capes flapping in the gusting wind to save us from whatever trouble we had at our doorsteps. If there was a damsel in distress some Peter Parker was sure to save her by all means from those arrogant hoodlums. Nowadays, no one expects a superhero to bother saving ordinary people's lives or helping them out with the simplest of things, since they're all busy doing Hollywood movies and getting paid in millions anyway. Even Bruce Wayne aka Batman who owns half of Gotham City could not resist Hollywood!
Crime doesn't pay
Bluntly speaking, we lost our need for superheroes like those old ones! Even when this nonsense yapping continues a new class of Super-Duper Heroes is emerging! Flies in… thukku walks in Magistrate Rokon Ud Doula. Everything about superheroes except their super powers fit very well with this particular hero. Spiderman, Superman or whatever-man kicks evil bottom whereas Magistrate Rokon Ud Doula, busts 'em! Mr. Rokon Ud Doula is the man all those scumbag cons are so scared of! He embodies the celebrated Don Corleone quote, 'a lawyer with a briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns'. The only difference is he is a magistrate not a lawyer and is in fact working to stop the stealing! Not many are doing the duty he is doing for his country. All hail this man because he 'showed' us with a capital 'S' that we everyone can be a hero if we can wield the courage to stand up against whatever that is wrong and unethical.
He braved the flames
When the BCIC bhaban caught fire, many and I mean many just gathered up in front of the building and sent their imaginary friends home to bring them back a couch while they stood there watching the live telecast of 'World's Most Amazing Videos'. Wonder what stories they told their families after getting home that day. Maybe they figured that if all of them could inhale the oxygen from that area simultaneously then there might be a dearth of oxygen to help the fire burn thus the fire might stop burning! Nah… even my eleven-year-old niece thinks this is stupid! One courageous man did not have to make up the stories to be looked up on. For he dared to go inside that blazing inferno and look for survivors putting his own life at grave peril! Major Imran, the brave man from Bangladesh Army made us all proud and is already getting bravados from left and right!
A Nobel cause
As said before, nowadays just punishing evildoers or saving a damsel in distress is not the only way to get recognized as a hero. And Mr. Yunus' work surely proved that. He is not just a super hero, he is a super duper-uber cool economist cum hero who is working his brain cells harder than anyone else to find all the possible ways of getting the poor people out of poverty. As recognition of his work he has already got the Nobel Peace Prize.
With the country working so efficiently these days Mr. Chintito is really having a hard time getting a topic for his weekly column in Star Weekend Magazine. As all the BIG, small fishes are in the jail he is turning his attention to the TV fish or Mondira Bedi! Anyway I just figured that man is a hero as well as he was instrumental in voicing the problems of our country when she really needed it. A bravo goes out from this end again.
