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To the Editor...
Letters will only be considered if they carry the writer's full name, address and telephone number (if any). The identity of the writers will be protected. Letters must be limited to 300 words. All letters will be subject to editing.
Fasting made easy?
My daughter thinks his math teacher is a "josh" person. Why? Because he described to them about his way of fasting. Well, "his way of fasting" seems to have allured his students, including my daughter.
He told them that on holidays he watches movies all night till he has "sehri" and then he goes to sleep. Waking up the next afternoon at around 1:00pm, he teaches his students at his home for two hours till 3:00pm. Then he sits before his PC and play games. And then, he told them, the "iftar" time arrives in no time.
So, according to his students, this is the best way to fast!
Now, the questions to the teacher are: is this actually the best way to fast? And should a teacher, without knowing the actual meaning of Ramadan, be saying these things to his students?
A parent, Gulshan, Dhaka
Junk foods and soft drinks
For most people, nothing is more refreshing than a bottle or can of their favourite soft drink. The cool, sparkling taste of soft drinks is a sensation that is enjoyed everywhere -- at home, in the party, in the park or at the movies. But the bad effects of junk foods & soft drinks are generally unknown to many of
us.
All foods, however, even the most nutritious ones, can act the same way as junk foods if they are taken excessively. Milk, for example, contains protein, calcium, and vitamin D but it's a poor source of vitamin C and other important nutrients. Subsisting on milk alone is just as bad as relying solely on junk foods for nutrition. Likewise, a strict vegetarian diet is bad for health since it lacks vitamin B12, calcium, and phosphorus.
Now I'm sure readers may ponder why I'm pointing out the bad effects of junk foods & soft drinks . It's because we are really addicted to junk foods and soft drinks these days. In fact, children are more vulnerable. But please don't get me wrong, I'm not totally against the consumption of junk foods & soft drinks. I also like them very much! The bottom line is that all foods can be bad or good depending on how you take them. With too much, even the most healthful meals become dangerous. But combined with other foods, junk foods can be an enjoyable part of every meal and a good source of nutrition. If soft drinks and other sweets are taken as part of a balanced diet, they won't harm you ! Nazmus Saquib
Notre Dame College Motijheel, Dhaka Why John Kerry?
I would like to ask the readers of this newspaper why they're so impressed with Sen. John Kerry? What experience does he have to qualify him as president except being a Senator (one in a hundred) for twenty years with little to show for it?
Niraj Agarwalla
Boston, US
Repair the road
I hope the government of Bangladesh will soon repair the flooddamaged roads as they have got money from abroad.
The road from Sylhet to Gulapgonj/ Beani bazar is completely damaged and due to negligence of the local authorities , the conditions are getting worse.
Please look into the matter.
Jabed Ahmed
Gulapgonj, Sylhet
Self complacency: A political malady
The letter "AL's Self Complacency" by Mr. A Hussain on October 15 has drawn my attention. I agree with him that the modern political culture has changed a lot. But the Self Complacency he has mentioned is not a problem of the AL. It's a political disease. No party -BNP, JP or Jamaat -- is immune from this disease. Everybody says "Janagan Amader Shathe Ache" (People are with us). They all try to sell everything in the name of people. Self complacency is there because hardly does any party practise democracy to choose leaders. In an atmosphere of self complacency the leaders unfortunately remain in the dark, as the sycophants enjoy the fruits. Mr. Hussain has asked the AL to give up secularism. I think as one of the oldest political parties , it would be difficult for the AL to deviate from this particular ideology. Our Liberation War was not a religious war; it was a war against a force which oppressed us economically, politically in the name of Islam. It is a sign of great hope that the AL still sticks to secularism, although it has been threatened since the early 90's. Our people were always religious, but they were never communal.
Bars were disallowed by AL forefathers, although they were secular in thoughts. Islam forbids wine strictly, but what the age of religion is witnessing today in Bangladesh is really confusing. These religious people are enjoying the sufferings of fasting Muslims by increasing prices of food items during the month of Ramadan. It is not a problem of the religion ; it's a problem of the followers, because they do not practise what Islam teaches.
It is not possible for the AL to give up certain values adopted by their forefathers, as it is not possible for Mr. Hussain to throw away the traditions his forefathers taught him. Kamaluddin Ahmed Shamoly, Dhaka
Gas supply
The Bangladesh government signed many contracts with foreign investors in the past but sometimes they fail to keep their promises. This is perhaps because they become too eager to sign a contract without really understanding the responsibility that they have to shoulder in future.
Recently I have been visiting many factories in Bangladesh who have gas- run generators in their possessions. Because they don't get uninterrupted electricity at their industries and to get cheap electricity they install gas generators. And I was surprised to know from them that due to non-availability of gas pressure they fail to run their generator to produce electricity throughout the day. Consumers of gas
have the right to get uninterrupted gas supply to their industries. But in reality that does not happen.
The gas supply authorities or the government should first address the local problems before assuring the new consumers of uninterrupted gas supply for a long period, as desired by Mr. Ratan Tata of TATA Group, India.
Syed Towhid Hossain
GM Kazi Farms Group, Dhanmondi, Dhaka
Flood damage estimate controversy
My attention has been drawn to the recent debate in the country as regards the assessment of the damage caused by the floods this year. The debate originated because of the wide variation in the assessment presented by the Flood and Disaster Management Ministry that was corroborated by the UNDP in its global appeal for aid (damage estimated to be around Tk 43 thousand crore), and the one made by the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) in its Rapid Assessment of Flood 2004 (between Tk 11.4 thousand to 15 thousand crore). The debate around the flood damage estimate that we have seen over the past few weeks could serve as a very good case study of how politicians, donors, experts and also the media tend to react when 'conventional wisdom' is challenged by the civil society actors.
I have followed this debate very closely, and I am somewhat bemused and also frustrated by the way the discourse has evolved. Now that the World Bank ADB Joint Mission has come out with its own damage estimate (to the tune of about Tk 13,000 crore), which is close to CPD's damage assessment, it is interesting to see how these various actors have reacted to the changed scenario.
It is also instructive to recollect the performance of the Food and Disaster Management Ministry which had trashed CPD's estimates at the time without having any clue about what it was talking about and caused some embarrassment to the government. The finance minister disassociated himself from both the Disaster Management Ministry and the UNDP, and the international auction of Bangladesh's misery in the name of Flash Flood Appeal. The UNDP Resident Representative, who castigated CPD as a 'downtown outfit, with people sitting in air-conditioned rooms', and boasted about the in-depth assessment exercise that had supposedly informed GOB/UNDP estimate, has found it convenient to keep mum this time around.
The same experts who expressed doubts about CPD's estimates are now telling us that "assessment of damage is not important, what is important is rehabilitation!
There is a lesson to learn from all of this, for all of us isn't it?
Mahmud Hasan
Circular Road, Dhaka
Worse than refugees? While reading a newspaper (Daily Yomiuri, Japan) yesterday I came across a picture of an unveiled picture of a young Afghan lady showing her voter ID in her hand with a gleaming smile. It read that she was casting her vote for the first time in a general election. No wonder! But, she was in a refugee camp somewhere in Pakistan. I felt completely awed. A country torn apart in by every kind of chaos and disarray. But, albeit, they are at least ahead in an important aspect of the rights of its citizens. Probably this is a direct influence of the American command in Afghanistan. Yet, those refugees having cast their vote for their election home will have better reasons to fight over the leadership in future,
and who knows, this simple sense of pride might trigger their journey home a bit quicker.
And where do we stand? The people of the country who are living abroad with a green passport, how are we linked to our country other than the relatives and the near ones that we left behind. The expatriates do remit a large amount of money, but it is indeed for the same. Isn't it time they include the expatriates, who are still with the home passport be allowed the voting right, since, to my knowledge, there isn't a place on earth where we do not have an elegant branch of our leading political parties. I wonder what these people fight over from such far away places when they even don't have the very basic right, whatsoever.
Khurshid Meher Tonmoy The University of Tokyo, Japan
Flawed argument
This is in reference to the letter from Jamil Ahmed, Houston, Texas. I was not comparing the Christian cross and Jewish skullcaps with hijab.
If you read my letter again, you will see that all I was pointing out was that there was a factual error in
Cantara Wali Ruhi's letter of October 4 where the writer stated "The cross bears the sign of a particular religion, so why not ban that?"
Arshad Khan
On e-mail
***
Mr. Arshad Khan was only trying to show that there was a factual misrepresentation of France's law by Ms. Cantara Ruhi. France has banned all religious symbols from their public schools. People, who think that their religious rights are being curbed by the French law, can go to private schools if they wish. If people want to follow their religious traditions in their private homes, on streets or in their religious places, French people have no problem with that. Jewish skullcaps, Christian crosses and Sikh turbans are equally important for many religious people and may have been hurt by that law. But the law was created for greater good! Do we want France to be ruled by the laws of Bible or secular laws that respect all religions?
Dev, Boston, USA
A bit unrealistic
I kept my eyes on the online voting
of a well-known Bangla daily for the last many years. Most of the voting topics pertain to the existing political problems of Bangladesh. And obviously if we give explanation on any current political problem, we have to mention the name of two major political parties-- the BNP and the Awami League. Since this is the yes/no voting system, in most of the cases, if we vote for yes it goes for one of them and if we vote for no it goes for the other. Perhaps everybody in Bangladesh has observed that the results of the censuses go in favour of the Awami League and against the BNP. Don't think I'm a blind BNP supporter .
There was a census on the strike at Dhaka University. I am hurt and extremely shocked to learn from the census that my dear Sonar Bangla is the land of people of whom nineteen percent still support the strike to ruin the Oxford of the East.
Saifullah
Ontario, Canada
Student politics
It is very frustrating to see how our leaders are systematically destroying our future. It's a known fact that the so-called student organisations do nothing for the students.
The student leaders are nothing but elite "mastans" with political protection. They are more interested in keeping our educational institution closed, staying away from exam halls than doing something to strengthen our education system. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the reasons for such behaviour. The reason is pure economics. A strong functioning education system will make these organisation and the leaders useless. All the "business" they generate from being a "student leader" will go away. How are they going to support their family of four (i.e., wife and 3+kids) and lavish life style? They can't get a job because they spent no time in the classroom. They never had to study for the examination. They never learned anything that would benefit them in a "normal" life. So we, the common students, have to pay the price.
It's almost 14 years since I graduated from DU. I lost three valuable years of my life, thanks to our politicians and university teachers. Now that I am in the US, I can see clearly how far behind we are compared to India, China, and even Pakistan! In India and China and the rest of the world, students know when they are graduating, and they start planning for their future life while they are in college. Those who plan to study abroad for higher education (e.g., Masters or PhD) start preparing while they are in the second year of their study. They target attending foreign universities as soon as they graduate.
Now let's consider our situation. We don't even know when we are graduating. Therefore, our students cannot even plan for their future. We have to wait until we graduate and then figure out our next course of action. Those who plan to go abroad for higher education are on average 4 to 6 years behind their peers from the rest of the world. That's without even considering the deteriorating quality of our education. What is most frustrating is to see that nobody cares! Not our politicians, not our national university teachers, nor our intellectuals. Because their children are not affected. They send they send their kids to English medium schools and foreign universities.
Sherif Saeed
Lawrenceville, US
Inside New Market
I had the privilege to visit Dhaka New Market after a long time when it became a must for me and I could not have skipped. I was startled to see the people inside it and their number has increased to a large extent. It is a market and of course you do expect people to gather here for buying the necessities. But what really hurt me was the people with motorcycles inside the market and going with quite a good speed. Another thing, which could not be neglected, was the street Romeos. They were passing remarks at every girl or woman who passed besides them and some of the remarks were beyond tolerance. I have been to so many places in the world and never found or seen such rascals roaming inside the market where you find it difficult to go to shopping with your wife, sister or daughter. These guys are relentless and they are quite large in number.
So many different police teams have been deployed to improve law and order. Can't we expect to have a better situation in Dhaka New Market?
B Hasib, Dhaka