23.10.08

বলেও তো যেতে পারতি




তুই চলে গেলি
এভাবে নিরবে, না বলে কয়ে?
কেমন ছিলি তাও ভুলে গেছি
হতেও পারো দেখিনি কখনো তোকে।
তবুও তুই আজ আমার সুহৃদ,
আত্মার আত্মীয়।
আশা - ভরসা - ভালোবাসা : স্বপ্নের মিতািল।।

তবে ভাবিসনে দোস্ত,
নেই হওয়া মানেই নাই হওয়া নয়।
আমরা তো আর তোর মত নই -
শক্তিশালি কঁাধ, দৃঢ় মনোবল, বিশাল হৃদয়।
তবুও তোর ফেলে যাওয়া অস্ত্র আমরা কঁাধে তুলে নেবই।
তোর অসমাপ্ত যুদ্ধ জীবনবাজি রেখে লড়বই।
িবচরণ করব তোর আকাশছঁোয়া স্বপ্নরাজ্যে।

হয়তোবা তোর মত করে লড়তে জানিনা, কিন্তু
লড়াই আমাদের চলবেই। তোর মত আকাশছঁোয়া
হয়তো হবেনা, কিন্তু স্বপ্ন আমরা দেখবই।
নিঃস্বার্থ - হৃদয় উজাড় করা না হোক
ভালো আমরা বাসবই। বাসবই।।

20.10.08

Conversation

The wound is still wet, scars yet to dry
vivid in our mind, memories of your smile
and cry.
but with time all will dry,
and you will just be a was
in the mind of few of us.

That's okay, remember me not
matters not a lot
for I am doing just fine up here with God.

My only plead
that you lead
the battles I had left un-won

...
So who is there?
With might and dare?
To keep my plead-
And take the lead?

Many words are said
Many prayers prayed

Thanks, but that's not all dear,
I am doin' fine over here

So, I ask again, anyone there?
With might and dare?
To keep my plead
To take the lead-
THAT'S ALL WE NEED

(from the ... onward (last four para) was written by someone else)

Photo credit: Art hit gallery

20.10.08

www.couchsurfing.com

its one of those late nights again. seems like blogging is keeping me up late.

couch surfing is about traveling, meeting ppl and sharing cultures. been a member for a while, but its only recently that i got active. two weeks back i hosted captain Tomasz (the captain part added by one of his friend) from Poland. with a guitar in his hand, a tent in the packback and some euros in his pocket, he is out on a year long trip around part of the world. at 21, he has already traveled quite a few places and knows a lot of things about ppl and life. this time around, starting from Norway, he plans to travel to finland, russia and then all over asia (including bangladesh) till august next year, when he has to return home to attend his sisters wedding. couch surfing, hitchhiking and camping all the way. hats off to his spirit and desire for adventure.
after he left i found myself questioning me whether i would be able to that. even when it comes to things that mattered much to me, things that i believed in, things i say i would do anything for; let alone travels.

a week after that i had an austrian girl surfing with me. she is a doctor who will soon start her specialization. medicine studies here is not at all similar to that in bangladesh. after school, they study six years to become a doctor, which is nothing but the title. then just to be a GP they need another 4 years of further studies (internship is in parts throughout the study years). otocho amader deshe mutamuti medicaler corridor diye bar koyek hata chola korle, ar khade apron o golai stethoscope julalei daktar hoya jai. manushe jibon niye chinimini khelte o amader pathure hridoye bajena!!
but what surprised me most is their trust. how much a girl traveling all alone have trust to spend a night at a completely stranger's place? some may say these europeans dont really care about physical relations, but i dont buy that. i think no matter what, most women are concerned about it to certain extent.

how much would i trust a bangladeshi stranger in bangladehsh? or a muslim stranger??

15.10.08

random rumbling at 0113

its 1.13 AM. up so late (or is it so early) after a very long time. usually i switch to staying up at night and sleeping through part of the day in summer, when the night is too short to sleep through. earlier today went for karate classes for the first time since leaving melaka. thus was planning on sleeping early, but here i am listening to 70's music, and blogging, and thinking what am i doing? at 0119 hrs.

last month i was in cannes. my first attendance to a major conference. met a few old friends from aalborg, and realized conferences are more than just just conference. there is also a socializing, making contacts and traveling aspect to it.

traveling with my colleagues, one other thing i realized is how alcohol became the number 1 industry in the world. we usually had dinner together, followed by the gang going for a drink at a cafe/pub. a few casual drinks and each of them were counting like 30-50€, excluding the wine at dinner. i even saw a wine that costs over 500€ a bottle (75 cl).

but that was last month. now i am back in trondheim, my adopted hometown for the next three/four years, spending dreadful days with all sorts of theories (matrix theory, information theory, communication theory) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. [sometimes i really ask myself - how on earth did i end up being a researcher!!!]

okay, i guess thats enough rumbling to make a post. (thus i can continue claiming to be a blogger;)

4.8.08

its me again


thats the usual me. absent for a long time, once again.
wats happened in all this while???

well, first of all i (sort of you can say) recovering from a long negative peak in my efforts at trying to be who i am. the thing is i am sort of lost as to what it really means to be who you are. i wont really say confused. its that i more or less know what it is (theoretically speaking), but trying to put that into perspective of everyday life as a practicing and God fearing Muslim (alhamdulillah).

there is a hadith stating that our heart is like a white sheet to begin with. as time goes on, and we start sinning, black dots appear on this sheet one by one, until one day no traces of the original while remains. by definition, Islam is the deen-fitrah (the natural life style), which means being who you are should really go hand in hand with being a Muslim. but by now my heart is pretty black (may God help me) and which sort of made things complicated.

thats one good reason. but i guess there are more. i thing that i can think of the society i come from. back home you are born with a pack of expectations. become successful in life (ans success means being an engineer or doctor or such - and get a white collar job), get a beautiful wife and bla bla bla. i have been living abroad on and off for some time now, and i have come across many people who are really following their heart when it comes to doing something with their life. so i am sort of caught between two boats..... of course the "financial safety net factor" has a big role to play, but then again - where there is a will, there is a way.

life isnt really meant to be "and they are living happily forever ..." - and there is no fun to it. so i have no complaints.

the quest for survival goes on, and he laughs best who laughs last. i have my fingers crossed.

[photo credit: my dear friend shabbir ahmed the chemist]

25.5.08

slap the weakling as you wish

some emergency repair work is going on at meghna gomti bridge on dhaka chittagong highway, and so this bridge is now a one way street. the work which started on may 15 is planned to last 44 days. and that means we, the frequent travelers between dhaka and chittagong, have to face untold sufferings and long hours in queue to get across. newspaper reports say the queue itself was as long as 18 hours couple of days back.

bus owners took this opportunity slap us, the helpless passengers, with yet another blow - an unauthorized 10% fare hike. a timely slap when we are most vulnerable.

so now a bus trip between dhaka and chittagong is not only going to take longer, but also cost more. what a way to treat one's customers!!!

p.s. i heard even flight operators took benefit of this long jam, and hiked up their fares.

now you know how all those mercedes and bmw's plying the posh streets of bangladesh are financed.