A friend's birthday is coming up, but you don't know what to get for him. Girlfriends especially fall into a dilemma at this point, because they want their gift to be “perfect”. Here are a few items not too expensive which a guy would definitely be pleased to receive!

A Tempo. Not a real one, but a model made of wood! Different types of such model-vehicles are available at Aarong, if you would like to give something really unexpected!

A pair of Sunglasses. It is amazing how simply wearing sunglasses or other such shades can turn your looks around! A highly recommended option, unless the guy has too many already!

T-Shirts. Make sure the colour and design matches with the guy's personality. Even better if something interesting is written at the front.

Chains, lockets, belts etc. Available in any gift shop. Many guys have a passion for these, and you will most possibly see your gift hanging from his neck for many days after you give it to him!

A Wallet. A highly useful item. Watch out for the design, though; many wallets may look good from the outside, but are inconvenient for storing cash. Remember that leather signifies quality!

Deodorant. Useful for guys who are into sports and for guys who simply sweat a lot!

A DVD Movie Collection. Especially useful if you are in a hurry (e.g.: you suddenly remembered your friend's birthday party is due to start in one hour). All you have to do is go to the shop and choose a DVD with a collection of good movies! Be sure you buy the right kind of movies; the collection of horror movies my friends gave me for my 16th birthday has still not been touched!

PC Games. Perfect for keeping a “game freak” happy for hours! Know which type of game a guy might prefer; I, for one, am excellent in racing, and football games, but am a complete loser when it comes to strategy and first-person-shootouts.

Posters. If you can get your hand on a poster of something the guy is really passionate (if not obsessed) about, then you have a job well done!

A Pocket-Knife. Quite a classy gift! A pocket knife is also very handy, not only in life-threatening situations, but also in situations where scissors are amiss!

A Book. There is nothing quite like giving a gift of a book, especially if it is a novel of high quality. As with DVDs, people also have preferences with books, so choose wisely!

A Kiss. You will be surprised how much a “peck on the cheek” from a girlfriend, or even a close friend, means to a guy! This option is not recommended for males!

Guys tend to prefer gifts that are useful; that can be used in day-to-day life. However, you should not lose your head and forget the true reason you are buying the gift! A gift shows that you care. It is a token of friendship, and something that the guy you are giving the gift to will remember you by. That is why a completely useless gift like a model tempo still stands upon the mantelpiece of my friend's room!

By Iftikhar Azam

Last Saturday, the 1st of September, hundreds of people decided to do something ethically nice and highly enjoyable: They went to a charity concert.

Shirin H Kamal, a Biology teacher of Bangladesh International School was recently diagnosed with blood cancer (leukaemia) and is currently in India for treatment. The treatment is highly expensive and the students (both ex- and present) and teachers of the school decided to come forward and organised a charity concert called “Alo” for her on the 1st of this month.

The concert kicked of with a great performance by Poridhi, followed by equally awesome numbers by Silent Scream, Steroid, Carnival, Border, Mechanix, Tomosh, Kalponik, Powersurge, Gene-Split, Drive, Black, Artcell, Shironaamhin and Nemesis.

The crowd was pleasantly large and went slightly ballistic when the usual “Big Sharks” performed. Even the temporary rain in the middle of the open air concert did nothing to mar the enthusiasm of the audience. Jahan from Black came to perform despite it being his birthday and received a huge round of applause and a slightly off-tune birthday song from the screaming crowd!

“We are all here gathered together for a great cause: to save a teacher from a horrible disease. Thank you all for coming here today and supporting the cause, it means a lot,” said Lincon, of Artcell as he addressed the crowd. Similar messages of “thanks” were delivered by almost all the bands. The event ended with a rocking performance by Nemesis.

The concert was sponsored by Amin Mohammad Group and Yummy Yummy and the web partner, media partner, and radio partner were AmaderGaan, Rtv and Radio Today respectively.

All in all, the concert was a tremendous success and three cheers to all organizers and specially the audience member who bought the tickets….because as they say, every penny counts.

By Loony Kim

Scholastica has seen its fair share of concerts in its STM Hall, but on 30th August the first ever concert open to the public, The Faisal Robbins Memorial Concert For Charity, was held. A class X student of Scholastica, Tawhid Bakhtiar, organized this event with help from friends, in memory of his brother who passed away in 1999 after suffering from cancer. “When my brother died I was very young”, Tawhid tells us. “But now I understand what I'm missing, and I wanted to do something for him, and also for others who are suffering like he did.” Faisal Robbins, who was only 23 when he passed away, was studying at the Florida Institute of Technology and was member of the Teenage Awareness Group, which used to operate with help and support from the Daily Star.

The concert started off with Scholasticans performing in bands such as Synopsis, Stigmata, Cravenight and the great newcomers Ablaze, who played only punk rock. Eclipse, Abhrock, and D Rock Stars' Powersurge and Mechanix also attracted a pretty sizeable crowd, especially Mechanix. But the event really started to heat up when Prayer Hall performed with Ajob's vocalist, and the crowd went wild with the arrival of Arnob. The suave singer was a huge hit, and it was very hard to hear his voice over the crowd's during the famous “She Je Boshey Ache”! Up next came Yaatri, and their fiery performance made it difficult for the volunteers to contain the masses!

Nemesis also had an amazing impact on the crowd, especially the girls, and Black kept them busy with their antics, which included the vocalist jumping onto the crowd and losing his shoes! The event finished off with another great performance by Artcell; all in all the concert was a blast and it earned more than 2.2 lakh, which will be donated to the Rajshahi Cancer Hospital.

By Shuprova Tasneem

An early morning phone call took me to the verge of tears a while ago, but getting back in touch with a long lost friend was worth the emotion. Samya, the caller in question, is a childhood friend and we had been in the same school since Class 4. However, we drifted apart after I opted to appear for my O Levels privately. The reason to which I owed the pleasure of the surprise phone call was an upcoming reunion of all my old friends.

I waited for the day to arrive with bated breath and when it did come, I was all nerves. Samya came to pick me up with three other friends and we made our way through blissfully empty streets to a café in Dhanmondi. Although we had been detached for years, conversation flowed easily and after initial bickering over the changes we had suffered in our time apart, we found common ground in tracing back the yesteryears.

While we recounted the old days, we discovered ourselves anew and being back together made us realise just how long and far we had come from being the carefree, mischievous students that we were in our schooldays. Time changes and with it, so do people and we are no exception. The maturity and responsibility that has been incorporated into our personas over the years would have seemed impossible only some time ago.

Towards the close of the evening, we took pictures to capture the day in stills, knowing full well that days like these do not come along in abundance. But of course, whether they do or not is not of essence, the fact that we had taken the time out of our busy schedules to spend an evening together shows that even after living different lives, every once in a while each of us should get back in touch with age-old friends before we lose them completely.

By Farisa

On the 16th of August, the community service club of HURDCO International school of Bashundhara, Baridharawith the collaborative effort of both student body and the faculty donated around one lac taka worth of relief materials to flood victims.

The students distributed around Tk 300 (in cash), food, Orsaline, medicine, clothes and dry food like biscuits to around four hundred men, women and children of Khilgaon thana's Trimohoni, Trimohoni Purbo Para, Laonadi and Purbhita.

On the 17th, two students and three members of the faculty returned to distribute Tk 15,000 in cash and more relief goods. The relief operation started from Meradia haat of Khilgaon thana and proceeded towards the Trimohoni school camp. Here we distributed the bulk of the food, and in the process nearly got our boat capsized. It was a manic affair, trying to give away the relief materials without starting a riot, what with people jumping aboard and trying to snatch the food from us. We were surrounded within minutes, but managed to somewhat satiate the crowd. We then meandered our way through Fakirkhali, Dasher Kandi and Nasirabad.

We passed by little settlements, too, with corrugated tin huts standing in clusters on little patches of land. Most of the inhabitants of these homes were floating around in their boats, and always made a mad dash whenever they spotted a larger boat go by. Along the way we stopped, and having exhausted our supply of food, gave away clothes and biscuits and cash. We gave away the bulk of the cash at a Hindu village called Kayed Para, which was totally cut off from the mainland and up to here with floodwater.

The last stop was at Rupganj in Narayanganj. Here too we gave away money. It was a sight to behold, with children no more than five years old, rowing away furiously, chasing our motor boat and frantically paddling away. At every stop we made, we were inadvertently chased by boats that had spotted us from afar yet not had reached us in time.

The journey was five kilometers from Meradia haat to Rupganj and back, and took us around two hours. When we returned to Meradia, it was three o' clock in the afternoon, and we came back with only the empty box that had contained the biscuits, and enough money to pay the trawler's fare. But no, this wasn't enough.
There's a lot more to be done.

By Shehtaz Huq