Modern Day Hazards

Keeping up with the times, one has to partake in activities available at a certain era. This activity could be either nece sary or for fun. Whatever the case, no matter how innocent a particular hobby, occupation or something done forcefully out of sheer boredom, all of it has hazards. I have listed some hazards that prevail in our society. So read carefully and live carefully, these are dangerous times.

Gaming Consoles- A recent research has shown that people actually end up with crooked thumbs due to none stop playing of video games. Their crooked thumb is a product of grappling PS2 and Xbox 360 controllers for a long time. Victims complain that they have never had the opportunity to participate in many campaigns such as one for Thumbs Up and are not allowed to review things because they fail to give even one thumbs up.

SMS- Sending SMSes destroy one's spelling prowess. Trying to fit a million messages into one tiny message, to save money, people come up with weird shorthand type words. I have to dedicate an article to show the ridiculousness of those words, but take my word, they are ridiculous. Hop u undstnd, I cnsrly and srsly do.

Chewing Gum- Even though everyone knows that chewing gum rules it is still hazardous. When have you ever acquired proof that the gum you swallowed had been digested? It never is and thus it remains in your bladder and provides a respite for all the germs you take in everyday. They can build towns, cities and even wage war all for a sticky space to avoid digestion. Even chewing all that gum, leaves your jaw feeling stiff. But it does develop your jaw muscles so you can actually take up boxing with your self-developed killer jaws.

Watching Hindi Serials- Once your hooked you get influenced from what you see. You start gossiping and you happen to be behind the door when the worst plans are announced. You start complicating simple ideas, such as going shopping, by adding schemes and all. If you hate 'em you still don't get to watch TV because someone in your house has to watch serials.

Books- Reading was much simpler in the days of parchments. They weren't hard and could be carried around easily. But books are heavy and though they build up your arms, it still hurts. All that reading and pressing the books against your nose, leaves you with super strong arms and a permanent imprint on your nose.

Gel- Spiking your hair and dying your hair from the age of 12 results in using oil to shine your bald head when you are 21. As all your re-bonded hair goes down the drain along with your money, all you can do is hope that the “bald” look becomes the in look by the time you lose all your hair.

Piercing- People will pierce anything these days. They pierce noses, ears, eye-brows, tongue, belly-button and even parts that people thought never existed. When the rings finally come off, with all the holes, people resemble Sponge Bob Square Pants. Unfortunately the holes can't suck in water, so they are useless but end up being just another place where dirt can be stored, as if our noses and ears weren't enough.

So it's about time that people realize how dangerous times are now. Every step may mean death. Maybe not death but surely something almost as dreadful which does not have any compensation. So be careful, take care of yourself and start contemplating about more modern day dangers.

By Osama Rahman

I cautiously eased the CNG auto rickshaw into a petrol station near Banani. Only yesterday I had come to the petrol station to find a queue of cars, taxis, microbuses, and of course, CNGs extending out of the station by more than a hundred metres. However, today I found only a small black cab which left as soon as I entered. A thin, dark boy stood there nervously smoking a cigarette.

I stopped by the pump, and got out of the driver's seat as quickly as I could to open the hatch to the tank. But I found that the boy had already opened it.

'Any news?' I asked, watching over the teenager, making sure he did his job properly.

'None yet,' he answered. Then he pressed the trigger to fill up my tank. The pump caused such a loud racket that a proper conversation was impossible … unless we barked at each other like angry dogs.

'There's something wrong with your machine,' I said, when he was done.

'I know, but-'

'Then fix it.'

'I keep telling the boss, but if he doesn't do anything what can I do?'

I started the engine, shaking my head in disapproval. Then the boy suddenly said,

'Keep your eyes and ears open when you drive. It's oborodh you know … you might find danger anywhere…'

Acting as if I hadn't heard him, I drove out of the petrol station. But he was right. I knew there was danger in the city.

However, I didn't expect danger to pop up before I'd reached the first set of traffic lights. But it did … in the form of five policemen, hailing me to stop. I had no choice but to oblige. Though it was a rather cloudy day, one of them was wearing sunglasses.

'Dhaka University,' the sunglass wearing cop grunted as the other four crammed themselves in at the back before I had a chance to protest. The sunglass cop who was obviously the head of his troop waited for me to open the door to the driver's seat. I opened it, quickly shifting to the far end of my seat before the policeman shoved his bulky body onto the seat. A shiver of fear ran down my spine as I felt this man could crush every bone in my body to powder.

I drove on towards Dhaka University as fast as I could hoping to get the journey over with as quickly as possible. Thankfully, the road was almost deserted. Also, having policemen in the CNG meant I didn't have to stop at traffic lights. So a journey that usually took over an hour took only twenty minutes.

As I entered the Dhaka University campus, I found the road had been barricaded. On my side, there was a line of policemen wearing helmets and protective clothing, each with a shield in one hand and a stick in the other. They were trying to keep the barricade in place. On the other side was a huge mass of angry people mostly men. They were pushing at the barricade, trying to break it apart. I could see an abandoned banner lying at the side of the road on the other side. It had the name of a political party, though I couldn't make out the name.

The sunglass-policeman slammed the door of my CNG open and dashed towards the barricade. He roared some very foul and unmentionable language at the mass of people so loudly that his voice could easily be heard above the rumble of the mob.

If the policeman thought he could quell the crowd with abusive language, he was mistaken. The crowd seemed to swell like a tsunami, and the next moment the barricade had been broken.

The angry people that broke through started breaking everything they could lay their sticks and bricks on. I tried to back my CNG away, but I was too slow. The mob surrounded the CNG, tipping it onto its side.

I managed to clamber out somehow covering my head with my arms and ran for dear life. Painful beatings of sticks and bricks fell upon me, but I still ran on, until I found a dark narrow alley between two buildings. There I hid, thankful no one had noticed where I'd gone.

A couple of minutes later, I noticed a golden light coming from somewhere. I dared a peek from near the entrance of the alley to see that the mob had set my CNG alight. I slumped to the floor, and stared helplessly as my only source of income went up in a bright blinding light of the flames.

By Iftikhar Azam