Dada'r Duniya

Going to the Other Side.

2008-08-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

An article about the life of south Asian immigrants, living in Bremen, Germany.

Crossing the borders of a country and going abroad is pretty straightforward; all you need is a visa and a passport. Things however get a lot more complex, difficult and sometimes dangerous when one has to stay according to the rules and regulations of the new host country and follow a new culture. When a person realizes that even the most basic activities such as eating or enjoying a party is carried out differently, he does tend to feel a little uncomfortable, or in other words, goes through a “Culture Shock”. South Asia is an area filled with different religions and languages, thus giving birth to different cultures. The European culture on the other hand is less dependent on religion and therefore, it is comparatively a lot less conservative. For example, drinking during a celebration or making out in public is perfectly normal in Germany, however, in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and even in parts of India these would be considered as an offence. Thus, it can be seen here that the amount of cultural distance between the Europeans and south Asians is a lot which unsurprisingly leads to a very high intensity of “Cultural Shock”.
“I came here in the year 1979 as a student and did my post graduation here” said Kamal, a 51 year old former Bangladeshi who now is a German citizen. He lives here with his family and at the moment owns a call shop located nearby the main station. “After finishing my studies I decided to start my own business here as I thought that would be a more profitable idea” he said. Kamal, who has now been in Germany for the last 30 years, is just one of the many south Asians who had initially come here with student visas and ended up opening call shops and other small time business stores. One of the main reasons as to why south Asians tend to start a business rather than going for a more professional approach is because for most of them survival, both in Germany and back home in south Asia receives a higher preference. Many of them came from poor backgrounds and as a result, earning money for them and their family was the most important factor for them to focus on. There are however, many others who have entered the professional fields in Bremen and have been working as professors, teachers and doctors. According to Dr. Ajoy Kumar Palit, an Indian computer scientist who has been living in Germany since 1997 and did his PhD in Electrical engineering in Bremen, working as a professional gives you a lot more stress and is a lot more hectic than doing business. “I have been working over here for the past 10 years but even today I can’t stay in peace since I really don’t know if they will be renewing my contract the next year” he said.
“In the past 30 years of my life here in Germany, I never got too close to the natives living here, the main reason behind that is because they drink and also follow a different lifestyle which I cannot accept, since I am a very conservative person” said Kamal. He however, didn’t have any problems against the Germans and appreciated many different aspects of their culture. When asked if he was ever a victim of racial abuse, he replied “Yes, but they were very less and never too serious. You won’t be a victim of racial abuse if you mix around with the right people and stay at the right place.” He also appreciated the fact that Germans are clean, rule-oriented and most importantly are strict followers of time, something that must be implemented back home in south Asia. “I had become so accustomed to the German timing that I started having problems attending programmes in Bangladesh during vacations, since its always customary to be late back home” said Kamal.
The Indian scientist, Palit on the other hand, had something different to share. According to him, in the professional sector it is very difficult for a foreigner or a non-German to progress. “If I was in India or in the United Kingdom, I could have achieved a lot more than what I have achieved here” says Palit. He did face problems at work and felt racially discriminated a few times by his fellow colleagues, at the beginning. Stating an example, he narrated a story where he was embarrassed in a party, after a senior German Professor had questioned his profession as an assistant professor because he could not speak the German language fluently. “At present things are much better and these instances are very rare nowadays” he said. Asaad Abdul Rehman, a student, currently doing his masters at the Hochschule Bremen, feels the same way and says that at times he feels a little uncomfortable hanging around Germans, even though he has never been racially discriminated before. “Till date, my boss and my professors are the only Germans I properly interacted with” he said.
There are many other people like Palit and Asad who share the same views. Even though they were never racially discriminated, they never really felt too welcome amongst the Germans. The only possible explanation to this is the cultural difference. In south Asia, people tend to get too close to each other and they usually discuss their social matters even during the office hours. In Germany however, the social interaction is different in many aspects. According to the book “Doing Business with Germans” written by Sylvia Schroll Mach, Germans tend to keep their social lives separate from their official ones; they don’t tend to mix the both of them. The culture in Germany is more specific rather than diffuse, which means that people here tend to have a huge space for public appraisal; however, they tend to keep their private life well guarded, which is dissimilar or the complete opposite to the culture followed in south Asia. Also, according to the book, Germans don’t usually talk much to strangers and prefer to stay with their close friends and family. This difference in the culture is probably the main reason as to why some of the south Asians feel a little uncomfortable around Germans.
On the other hand, it would be very wrong to generalize and say that every south Asian feels the same way about German people. There are of course, many south Asians who have integrated well and inter-racial marriages have also taken place, thus, proving the fact that not all south Asians have a rough time in Germany.“Germans are a little hard to talk to at the beginning, however, once you get to know them, they can be the best of friends” says Lal Singh, who is currently married to a German and owns an Indian restaurant in Berlin.
On the whole it can be said that south Asian immigration in Germany is still in its basic stages. All though today a south Asian living in Bremen can find all the required continental spices and other food materials and probably get information of the latest Indian movies through the internet, the number of south Asians in Bremen or in Germany is still very less as compared to the United Kingdom, United States and the Middle East.
The one thing that all my interview clients did agree to was the fact that given a chance today, they would definitely go back home. The only reason as to why they are compelled to stay here is “money”, since it would be impossible for them to earn the same amount back in south Asia. In any case, no matter how secured or luxurious the life is, people always prefer to live with their own culture and their own kind, after all “Birds of the same feather, fly together”.

In desperate need of help....

2008-07-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

There was a different feeling that greeted me to the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, this time. I didn't feel like I was entering a place where I had spent the last 17 years of my life, a place where I was born. I was sweating at the check in counter, more then the humidity I think it was the imaginary tension in the air that was the main cause. Everywhere I looked, I felt like people were staring at me, " Look there goes a Bangladeshi, there goes a murderer."

All right , I agree , I might have just exaggerated a bit in the above paragraph, but I have to admit that I was pretty scared entering the country after living abroad for 7 months, and reading about the Bangladeshi worker who allegedly killed a Bahrain national did not make things easier. Surprisingly though the check in in Bahrain was smooth, it took me just 10 minutes to get my luggage and finally after a delay of around 1 hour I got into the bus that was going to take me to Dammam, Saudi Arabia. So, there I was sitting in the bus, saying to myself, the situation is not that bad after all , maybe its just me who needs to be more calm and stop depending on the NEWS ! But then again, I was wrong. We started from Bahrain at 11 pm and reached Dammam at 4 in the morning. A route that usually takes 1 to 1.5 hours at max! What was the reason ? It was none other then the " Bangladeshis" once again. While entering Saudi Arabia, the check in post literally interviewed every Bangladeshi in the bus and the rest of the people ( Indians and Pakistanis mostly) had to wait for 2 whole hours. Of course, we cant actually blame the Saudi officials for doing that, considering the very " HIGH" reputation that the Bangladeshi laborers have in Saudi Arabia. Majority of them were uneducated and didn't even know the name of their sponsor, as a result it took a very long time for all of them to get through. Since, I was a regular traveler, I didn't have the grand opportunity to be interviewed by the Saudi officials .

The point that I really want to emphasize here is that , there were many Indians and Pakistanis in my bus who were not educated, who did not know who their sponsor was and in order to time many of them were helped to fill up the necessary forms. However, they were not questioned as severely as the Bangladeshis were. The security Check in for Bangladeshi citizens became a lot more strict after the "murder incident"( mentioned earlier) that took place in Bahrain. All right , fine lets look at this situation through the eyes of an Arab. Of course we wouldn't want murderers to enter the country, so I guess the extra security check in was acceptable.

The drama however does not end here, the Saudi government recently decided to follow a very harmful and a very confusing ( confusing to me and the rest of the Bangladeshis) theory. They decided not to renew the Iqamas or Visas of the Bangladeshis who have either just turned 18 or are not under a professional working visa. According to the system in Saudi Arabia, every person who reaches the age of 18 , needs to have a separate iqama or a visa or an identity card in order to represent oneself as a legal citizen in Saudi Arabia. This new rule is very randomly followed, majority of the applications are being rejected, some of them however , due to some LOGICAL reasoning are accepted. This move may not effect the working laborers or other Bangladeshi workers , however it happens to be a huge problem for the Bangladeshi students and youngsters in a major way ! According to sources, the Bangladeshi schools in Jeddah , Riyadh and Dammam have already received an order from the govt of Saudi to remove the A level examinations from their school , since there would be practically no students sitting for it !

The most confusing part of it all , is the fact that all this has happened only because of one person who just happened to be a Bangladeshi. This recent " kick the Bangladeshis out " move affects , not the laborers but the students. How can any of these youngsters be blamed for just a random Bangladeshi who supposedly killed ( There are again many different stories about the murder) someone. It is really sad to see majority of the students leaving what also may be the birth place for some of them, half way through their academic year. Some of them have to drop a year and many of them have to start a fresh new life in Bangladesh.

According to Bangladeshi worker , who also graduated from the Bangladeshi school in Dammam," The current problem will mostly be a temporary one and this situation may not last for more then 2 to 3 months, however the ones who have to renew their iqama during this period are severely unlucky" he said.According to an article in the the daily star (http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=46124) the Bahrain govt will be soon lifting the ban that was placed on importing Bangladeshi laborers after the controversial incident, with some conditions. Lets just hope that the govt. of Saudi Arabia learns something from their neighbors and remove the rules that have have actually violated human rights!

It wont be fair to entirely blame the Saudi Govt. for the present situation of the Bangladeshis, the embassy in Riyadh has been of "NO Importance" at all. "Foreigners from other countries can probably kill a person and still receive shelter at their own embassy, however the Bangladeshi embassy is completely opposite. They bring along with them the dirty politics outside the country and rarely answer the people's calls." said a Bangladeshi worker who stays in Dammam and also has a child who will be giving his A levels this year. " All they want to do is come to a Bangladeshi citizens house and eat" said a Bangladeshi professor, currently teaching at a University in Dammam.

Bangladeshi laborers in Saudi Arabia have been suffering for a long time, some of them don't get their monthly dues while others are cheated by their sponsors. Without a proper embassy the problems will continue to go on and many people will continue to suffer. One may however argue and say that a major problem is that the Bangladeshi laborers are uneducated and as a result tend to fall into trouble and other unwanted business. Well, then lets consider the Bangladeshis working in the U.K. or in the United States. Bangladeshi laborers are sent there as well, so how come we don't hear about all these atrocities from Europe or the United States? Why is it always from the Gulf ?

To me, it all ends up to discrimination ( I am sure majority of you would not agree with me ), I have been living in Saudi for the past 17 years and yet till date I haven't seen an Arab cleaning the streets, its always a South Asian. More then 8 out of 10 times a man working at the petrol station or a waiter working at a restaurant, or a shop keeper ,turns out to be either an Indian, Pakistani or a Bangladeshi. No, I have no problem with them doing these jobs, its money that they need for their dying family and thats what matters. However, because they are looked down upon and because they are not considered important, thats where the problem begins. Now, personally speaking, I have never been racially discriminated or faced any kind of discrimination here, I mean I grew up around Indians and Bangladeshis and my dad happens to be an English professor. However, there are many Bangladeshis out there who don't get their paid on time and as a result have to change their job and sponsor. This article from the Arab News is just one example .

" http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=111935&d=19&m=7&y=2008"

Now this post of mine is just my own thinking and my own theory based on different sources, facts and of course on my own experience. This is just my view and I would be more then glad to listen to others and correct myself. However, the one thing that I am really sure of, is that these people are desperately in need of help.

Naim.

King of all Chefs and the 'Zeit'y problem !

2008-06-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

So, Friday was just another Friday, it was just another day of the week, I had my painful ,terrible, horrible, disastrous, morning class. No the class wasnt bad, its just that the timing is a problem, no actually the timing is not a problem at all, we had classes that started at or I have to say in this case ' Scheduled' to start at 9 am back in Manipal. But, there is a difference, you see, in Germany 9 am or 900 hours as they call it, is equivalent to: ' Come to class at 8:50 and get ready by 8:55 and the lecture starts at dead 9! But, however, unfortunately, I come from a land which has a different time zone and a totally different 'understanding' of time. Now, of course there are a few rare people back home who are always punctual, like my dad for example, but they are a minority and well nothing in life is interesting if you dont generalize a little bit. So,after gaining a lot of mental strength, will power and eating a number of 'donors' ( refer to earlier posts), I have learnt to be on time. I reach class exactly at nine hundred hours! ( Makes me think I am working for the German military at times) .

Okay, now returning to the main objective of my post, the day was just like any other normal day, the sun was shining, the green grass was umm green, the trams were on time like always and my first and only class of the day started at nine hundred hours and ended at 11:30 am.
It was exactly 12 pm when Gayatri came up to me in the computer lab said that she would be participating in this international cooking contest that our university was going to organize that evening ,at exactly 18 hundred hours, I must add. I had recieved a mail about it long back and since none of my other compatriots showed any interest, I didn't bother participating. However, in the afternoon at 2 pm after my glorious nap, God knows what happened and I ended up being in the kitchen helping Gayatri with the cooking. So our initial plan, or rather her initial plan was to make chapatis and ' allu ka sabzi' ( something to do with potatos) , oh and I must add both Gayatri and I are beginners and I actually started cooking only after coming here. Any how, I figured that we'd need some chili and onions ( brainy me) and so I went out.

Tragedy struck when I came back though, Gayatri as usual had to do a blunder, she locked my room with the keys inside! And we had no other way to get in ! It was 5:30 by then and the contest started at 6 pm ! And so as usual, it was left to super Naim to save the day and well I kind of did. My super brain cells informed my amazingly brainy mind that the window to my room was open ( I realized that only after sitting idle for 30 minutes though) and as a result , I went out in the garden and realized that my super sexy body just wasnt sexy enough to climb up. However, where there is a will there is a way and I with all my confidence, motivation , devotion and strength, went and asked the Mexican living upstairs to climb the window ( even though some other people know a different version of the story claiming that I climbed the window, I dont mind) . And so , after the door to my room succesfully opened up, everything was " Chaotic" and till date I really dont know what we actually did cook.

Due to some academic reasons, I wasn't able to attend the cooking contest and I had to go meet my partner regarding a project. I did come to the cooking contest right at the end , half expecting to meet Gayatri there ,when she came up out of nowhere and said " Naim , I won !!". Tears, " Khushu ki asu", emotional music from behind ? Of course not ! We both started laughing like crazy and people around were staring at us ! Till date , I really don't know what happened, or how it happened, all I really know is that we won seventy euros and I got my share !

So what actually happened there ? I have thought a lot about this matter and as usual even when not needed, I came up with an explaination leading to another great theory of mine. You see, Indian food in Europe is like an orgasm, a very 'hot' one and therefore Europeans get turned on very easily as soon as they hear " Indienne " (This is just my theory and if you are a European and dont agree with me, then you are as usual a minority!). But that doesn't make any difference, doesn't make my first cooking contest victory taste any bitter!

And so, in order, to celebrate my victory with my fellow blog readers I have decided to end this historic post with few of my all time favourite quotations.

Have a hungry day !

"If only it was as easy to banish hunger by rubbing the belly as it is to masturbate."
~Diogenes the Cynic

"No man in the world has more courage than the man who can stop after eating one peanut." ~Channing Pollock

"A nickel will get you on the subway, but garlic will get you a seat."
~Old New York Proverb

P.S. In case you are wondering about the title of this post , 'Zeit' in German , means time.

Naim.

Dream world and the Theory of Origin...

2008-06-01T05:08:00.000-07:00

And so yet another day passes by, today was just like any other day, except for the fact that I am not lazy enough to write something. Its funny, am supposedly a to-be journalist and writing seems to be the most painful thing at the moment. People usually lose interest in what they actually are supposed to do when they take drugs or take a drink probably, I know,I probably sound lame now ,but hey that’s my theory , my thinking, you can have your own and since this is my paragraph, my writing I can say anything I want to and I don’t care what you think about it, its just my own thought. So anyway, where was I, oh yes, losing interest in writing, well no I don’t take drugs, neither do I drink, though I don’t know how long I can live like that since its definitely going to get harder in the next year in Manipal. So yeah, the reason I didn’t write anything for the past 3 months or so is probably because I was too lazy and maybe because I became too conscious about what people think about me. Yep, those are the two main reasons, the latter being the more appropriate one. As a result of that , I imagine all day long and never let it out of my mind, I feel like my mind isn’t just me and that I am being watched by people all day long, laughing at what I write, laughing at what I think and what I do. But what the hell, I guess it’s time that streak has to come to an end and let myself out again, yeah, the Paris trip helped me a lot! A lot more about that later by the way. So yeah, today was a special day, just like any other night, I was with my headphones and music. Enthralling my imaginary audience with my imaginary voice and real music from the computer. Today was a different level all together though, I think my band made it big time and we started playing at bigger shows with bigger people and we grew almost flawless with each and every performance of ours. Nothing seemed to be wrong, I was perfect with each and every guitar solo and so was the other guitarist (don’t want to name him). Together with my bassist, keyboardist and drummer we rocked the entire Manipal. Yep, good times, as usual we ended the concert with the all famous “ Sutta “ song, after all it was a farewell programme and well we needed to end with a song that everybody would always remember and cherish ! Sutta seemed to be perfect, after all every other guy in Manipal smokes, I may be an exception, but yeah smoking does bring in some effect. All my band members were high, along with the other students, and I was playing the guitar. I wasn’t singing though, the song was sung by one of the outgoing students, yeah it had to be done that way since everybody knew that song and he wanted to sing it so badly. That was good in a way, helped me concentrate on my solo , even though in “ musical terms” the Sutta solo is supposedly very easy. So yeah the concert ended with a bang , or in other words ended when I realized that the small room that I am living in actually turned quite hot and I had to open the window. God, never thought Germany could actually get this hot, but hey that’s good in a way, all my half sleeves would have gone to a waste if it wasn’t that hot. So, yeah after coming back to reality, I realize that I still have a lot of work to do and as usual, I ‘think’ I have a lot of time and don’t feel like doing anything. Just go to your comfortable bed, and take a nap my mind says, the bed here after all is way more comfortable than the one in India, maybe even more than the one you slept in for the past 5 years in Saudi Arabia, Yeah I think it is more comfortable than the one in Saudi, especially the pillow, you can actually hide your head in it. But wait a minute; let’s talk about something else today, before falling into my usual routine and going to sleep. Let’s talk about something that has been puzzling me for the past few weeks in Germany, and it all started thanks to Asad , when he said that he has no country , no origin and belongs to the world created for human beings. Agreed, he calls himself crazy, and asks me not to pay much attention to his thoughts, but hey I tend to disagree more than often, and I’ll do it now too. Actually I don’t disagree more than often, but I just said that since I thought that would sound cool, anyway coming back to the topic, let’s magnify my life a little, yes I know you guys may think , there naim goes again, talking about himself, his values , his thoughts, his views etc. Well, in that case what I wrote at the beginning of this paragraph will be required to redeem again. So where was I, yeah , Naimul Karim, born In the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, however is actually a Bangladeshi national or in other words Bangladeshi by passport, currently studying in Germany for a semester and is continuing his higher studies in Manipal, India. Well, doesn’t that sound awesome? I know that does, that’s the only reason why I use the exact same statement in almost every presentation of mine here, gives quite an awesome first impression. See, all my life I have lived in Saudi and always acted or maybe was and still am a patriot or in other words loved ,preferred, chose, turned towards and supported my country that is , Bangladesh. Even though I don’t know shitt about Bangladeshi politics, I don’t know anything about how bad the economic situation is in Bangladesh, but I always dreamed to better my country, yeah I know, too many clichés coming up, anyhow, after finishing my school studies in Saudi Arabia, in an Indian school I must add, I decided to go to Manipal in India and do media studies. My goal behind that may seem childish or as people say over-imaginary, was mainly to come back and do something good for the media in Bangladesh. Sometimes I feel like laughing when I look back at my dreams and my plans. I want to work for the media in Bangladesh, and yet I can’t read or write Bangla, I wanted to improve the situation in Bangladesh without even trying to know about the major problems we face. The only thing that I honestly and truly did was to support the Bangladeshi cricket team, which as we all know is another story all together. So, I can’t call myself a true Bangladeshi, neither can I call myself an Arab, I mean even though I really enjoyed the food and the luxuriously lazy life in Saudi, I definitely don’t want to spend the rest of my life there, Germans follow too many rules for my liking and well India is just too big and has many different cultures to master, I don’t know how people can call themselves a true Indian, when all they know how to speak is their own regional language! So, where am I from? Where do I belong? Maybe I am looking at all this with a different and a wrong angle, or it may be a bitter realization. Or maybe my mind is going through a transition from a dreamy-Childish state to a mature-adult thinking system? I loved one of the lines Asad had told me and I guess is the most appropriate time to quote him. “The world is a place made for human beings, I wish to travel everywhere and to every country. Whoever said that I can belong only to one country? Doesn’t this world belong to me? Am I not as much of a human being as the Americans or the Europeans are? “My answer? Well, have you ever heard of that filmy dialogue, asking you to listen to your heart when your mind gives up on you? The world is mine, and no matter how many more borders man plans to draw on it and divide us, we still have the same origin. Sure, I definitely have a soft corner for my country, after all, I grew up that way, we all grew up the same way and that is probably the only reason why I feel that deep inside I’m still a Bangladeshi, even though I know very little about it,I still feel proud when any other fellow mate does something great, but never to such an extent so as to detain a person just because he is from the other side of the line. No I’d never do that.
I had once told my intercultural communication professor, that I don’t have a culture, since I really don’t know where I belong. To that she replied “You have a more refreshed culture which is way better than having a single culture to follow. “ I guess, that sums up what I really wanted to say , though very vaguely written and only a fool with a lot of time in his life would read this, I still feel satisfied, just to have written everything on paper and let my mind out. Feels good.

Beautiful Berlin...

2008-04-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

" The world is not a bad place after all" , these were the words that kept on ringing in my head when I was viewing " The Story of Berlin" , a small exhibition depicting the history of Germany, showing us how many innocent lives were taken and how many beautiful wonders were destroyed. Yeah sure, I'd definitly say Berlin was beautiful if you had asked me about my trip, but getting to know the history of Germany in a lot more detail was a little depressing. Of course I did hear about the " Jews getting murdered" , the setting up of the Berlin wall, world war 1 and 2 etc. before hand, but I guess it was the exhibition that actually made me realize how bad the condition of Germany was after the second world war. Then again one may compare this to the situation in Southern Asia , when India got independence or when millions of refugees were left homeless during the 1971 war ( birth of Bangladesh) and say that the situation in Germany was far better, to which even I agree. There was atleast complete employment ( or hidden unemployment rather) during the early 80's and 70's in Germany, but when you come to know the way , one man, expressed his hatred for a particular community by killing more than a million people , a million innocent people who were at fault only because of their religion, it does feel sickening. Yes, Hitler, that's the evil-minded killing machine I was reffering to.
Unsurprisingly today's generation in Germany dont like to talk about the war at all, they see it as a shameful thing and blame their parents for starting the World war on both the occasions.

The second world war ended , Germany had to pay a huge price and got divided amongst 4 countries. The Berlin wall was then erected to prevent people from the Eastern side of Germany to go to the west, which led to the development of Western Germany and created a void gap with their eastern compatriots. According to one of my Proffesors, in 1989 when the Berlin wall was finally broken down and Germany was officialy united, there were long lines at the grocery markets in W.Germany, showing how underdeveloped the Eastern side was as compared to the West. He also said that while the people from W. Germany could buy a car in 7 minutes, it took almost 7 years for a person in E. Germany to own a car. Because of all this, the unification in 1989 was not exactly a smooth one and lots of problems were faced by both sides. So yeah, at the end of it all this is the reason why I felt that the world presently isnt a bad place after all, which is however a very ironic thing to say considering all the wars that took place in the recent past

Apart from getting to know the history of Berlin, we also got to see a number of museums and many other monuments , including some very tall buildings. The view of the city was amazing from the top. Berlin is more of a recently developed city and is termed as a " Mordern City" since it was bombed heavily during the second world war and is now building its way to a new future. There were around 4.5 million people before the war in Berlin, however after the war , that number went down to 3.5 million and as a result Berlin is an unusual metropolitan city with lots of empty spaces inbetween. We also got to see the " reichstag" or the Parliament house, which I have to say was very cleverly designed. Its like a crystal ball with circular flights of stairs inside which could take you to the very top. The parliament room is situated below the spiral staircase, indicating that the people of Germany are higher than its Parliament.

We also got to see a monument which had no name and no meaning but was dedicated to the millions of Jews that got killed during Hitlers regime. According to the monument's architect, one could perceive his own meaning and his own thoughts after viewing it. The monument had around 2700 blocks and below it a Jewish museum type thing was built. We were also taken underground into a nucleur protection chamber, which was built to protect the people of Berlin, incase of any nucleur bomb blast. It seemed pretty funny to me since only around 6 thousand people can be accomodated there , which is like just 1 % of the entire population. Basically all we did was walk , searched for monuments , explored the really beautiful city and most importantly took pictures.

So all in all, a great trip, something that I will remember for a lifetime and yeah for pictures please log on to my facebook profile.

Until next time,

best regards

Naim...

Willkommen to Bremen ( Germany)

2008-04-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

So, after all the running around, all the trips that I took to the different parts of India, just for a simple visa for Germany, I have finally made it to Bremen( let me take a breather). The first words that I said after reaching the Frankfurt airport was ' Phew, we finally made it', but of course that wasnt to be the case, as God had something else planned for me and my compatriots. Another problem was awaiting us as soon as we reached the Frankfurt airport, no nothing regarding the visa or anything, but it was slightly due to the absence of mind ( to be polite) or in plain simple words, due to our stupidity that we actually kinda got lost, funny ? I dont think so.

See what actually happened was that I had liquids in my hand bag ( all the gel , shampoo and other things to maintain my handsomeness) and since we had like a 3 hour gap till our next flight to Bremen, Gayatri ( one of the other 2 compatriots) and I decided to go back and deposit it as luggage and since we had a lot of hand bags, we gave them to Aparna ( the other one) and asked her to wait right outside the check in and went wherever the person directed us. What we didnt know was that it was going to be impossible to return back to the same place and we had to check in from some other place , leaving aparna with all the handbags to check in alone ! Gayatri and I probably saw the entire airport 4 times in those 3 hours ! Searching for that same place where we left aparna. We actually thought we would miss our flight, but at the end Aparna or I should say Super Aparna, some how managed to carry all the handbags and reached the gate just before the flight was going to depart. Wahhh kya baat hai ! Bharatia naari ki jay!!

Anyway after that ' Adventure At the Airport' we reached Bremen at 2 pm and reached our accomodation. Its pretty good ( has to be , we pay 250 euros for it ) , we have all the necessary things; oven, micrwave, washing machine etc. , everything except a Television and the all important internet. So I have to come all the way to university every day to use the net, anyway its fine at the moment.

Okay so enough of personal details ( as Raaga had once said ' do not display your personal information in your blod ! ) and more of Bremen. Well Bremen is a nice place, its pretty clean and green. Its got one of the best football teams in Germany called Werder Bremen and so there is a lot of security whenever there is a match about to take place. Its just like what you see on TV, the entire place decorated with the team flags and everybody wearing their team's jersy and the pubs filled with people watching the match, lots of fun. Didnt really get to know too much about german culture ( except for the fact that they dont wash their ass after shitting ! they just clean it with a tissue paper and take a bath later ! whoaa isnt that cool ! Later i realized its a European thing!) since almost everything here is more or less globalized ( or Americanized ). Didnt get to taste German food as yet, but I do know that there is a huge variety of German bread and well Bremen is known for its drinks but unfortunately I dont drink ( or dint start as yet hehe) so dont have much idea, but yeah I do see people carrying packs of 'becks' ( a drink incase u illiterates dint know)everywhere here.

There is also this sandwhich called the Döner , which is actually turkish and is a complete rip off of a shawarma, so you can guess, how happy i was when i came here. I ate it 3 times last week , which is a lot considering the amount of money I get from the university. The centre of the city is called Domesheide and then there is another place called the hauptbahnhoff or the main station, these two places are like the main places in Bremen. People go there during the weekends since all the discos and bars are present there.

There is also this river which passes through Bremen and its really beautiful, you can go on boat rides over there, something that I still have to try. Well Bremen, is a small but a beautiful place, I still have to explore a lot more, but I think I have covered the main areas here. For more details log on to my facebook profile and check out the pics!
I will be going to Berlin on the 26th of this month, so I guess that will show a lot more of Germany, the capital after all has to be good!

I guess thats it for now, the four of us live in the same building which has like 6 rooms and we cook and all live happily ever after! heh isnt that how u always like to end ur posts ? a cliche !

Anyway thats all for now, and yeah am also missing manipal a lot ! mainly because of the food, cant wait to go back to Saudi or Manipal and hog like a pig !

Naim

Ramadan Karim !!

2007-09-21T04:51:00.000-07:00

Anddd Ramadan is finally here ! !! ok , i started of with an " And" cuz i wanted to sound exciting, since thats how ramadan usually is u know, exciting, filled with parties, amazing offers at the restaurants and many other " good " things ! Well atleast thats how it was for the past 17 years in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. But now I am in india ! My first Ramadan in India and believe me it is wayyyyyyyy different. I dont mean to sound like a complain box or anything, but honestly speaking its not like home. Its more of a struggle here though and I guess that gets you more determined to fast. So this is what i do here, at sun set , for iftar, I just go to this small dhaba in front of my college or to this place called KC ( kamath circle) where there is a restaurant ! They also give u free food at the mosque, but its not worth it cuz u gotta walk all the way from here to the mosque and that is like REAL FAR. So anyhow, after that small meal , I wait till 7 30 since my food mess opens from then onwards and i try to hog as much as i can from there, but surprisingly i dont feel hungry there as well. For sehree, in the morning, I just have fruits or at times order food from outside . Yesterday, though I went out to the 10th block , to the night canteen along with my nigerian mate Usoro. The food was kinda cool there, I had like 1 burger , 1 chicken frankie and a musombi juice ! Oh musumbi juice is liek my new favourite drink here ! I love it, its so refreshing and umm tasty ! Damn all this talk on food is making me hungry ! arghh better stop the foody topic here. Ok my daily routine during ramadan hasnt changed much , except for the fact that i stopped going to football practice out of sheer laziness. I reach class just , i repeat JUST on time, cuz i sleep late ! lol.. umm and oh i also started practicing table tennis. There is this guy in my hostel called Sankhya, a senior from MIT, plays really good, so i practice with him. I must say that even though im playing tt after such a long time i still am in an OKAY shape ! lol.. ok other thatn that, after TT we all hang out at KC once again, at the basketball court. Sometimes we all go out for dinner, but thats reallly rare cuz half the time everyones broke , including my self ! hmm soo well i guess thats all what i do during ramadan here, right now its 5 40... only 5 40 ... have one more frikking hour to wait and i guess will go to cafe coffee day today, feel really verrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry hungry today donno why. Anyhow thats all for now, till next time

adioos

Manipal here i am !

2007-09-10T02:32:00.000-07:00

OK so firstly I am really surprised that I am actually updating my blog ! But I have so much free time here that I am FORCED to do this ! my class starts after another hour and since the net here is worth 10 rs per hour Iwant to use it to the fullest !!! anyway lemme jusst start describing manipal !

Ok life in manipal is basically like a movie ! yes it really is ! I mean, the average age of people here is like 21 and you see students everywhere. The place is very green , filled with trees, it actually is in the middle ofa jungle. Its a very small place so most of us walk everywhere. Atleast I do, I walk to college, to my hostel, to the mess etc etc. Another thing about manipal is the rain. It rains like HELL here and im surprised the place isnt flooded yet. So an umbrella becomes a part and parcel of your life here. The food, drinks and everything is quite cheap here, not that costly but money flows like water! If you take out a 500 rs note here its bound to get over by a week or lesser. Any how other than that , there are a few places worth going to. According to some second years, the place gets boring after one year but others have different opinions ! any how im still quite new here and have many places to visit. Most of the guys go to Manglore or udipi during the weekends, cuz thats like an hour away from this place. There are around 12 thousand students here in all and i guess there are around 20 colleges here. KMC ( kasturba medical college) and MIT ( manipal institute of technology) are the main BIGGIES. lol my college ( MIC ) and the rest come after these two colleges. We have a small campus as compared to kmc and MIT but its wonderfully designed and has almost everything we need. Video lab, radio lab and amazing shaq ( common room) etc. Other than that, u can like make friends easily here, cuz its a small palce and u tend to get to know people very easy. Studies part, well we still didnt get much to do here, but i guess all the tests and assignments will start from next month onwards. we have 50 marks internals and 50 marks terminal exams ! unlike the rest of the colleges we dont have sessionals so that is kinda cool. My daily routine is like this, I go to college at 9 am in the morning, and then come back at 1 to my mess for lunch. And then we have class again till 5 in the evening. After 5 it gets kinda tentative. We either have football practice, rehearsal for some club or show, or i just go and sleep at times, or maybe go hang out with friends. At 8 pm we always meet at KC ( KAMATH CHAKRA) , its basicaly a place where all the students come to just for...... lol i really donno why, just to hang out i guess. Anyways its still fun. At times we go to some clubs and all. I didnt go to many as yet. umm.. and what else, well thats pretty much it till now. Its a lot of fun and well hope everything continues to go on well. oh yeah and i forgot to mention the subjects that im doing for the first year. We have 5 subjects, " Reporting and Writing", English, Introduction to computers, Cultural History and Human Communications. We also have this movie screening period once a week where we watch art movies. its really good and this week we watched this movie called " Graveyard of the fireflies" and it was an amazing. Well thats it then, and im really sorry i cudnt contact everyone the last few days !! there are 2 reasons to that. 1. i am lazy, 2. i have become very kanjoos here so im waiitng for my roomie to get a laptop and then maybe i can come online every day !

so until the next time !

Naim

My Last Bow...

2007-08-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

Its 5 am in the morning here and I am still awake, don't know why though. I guess I didn't want to sleep my last night in Dhaka, I didn't plan it before hand but it was always in my mind. It feels good to be blogging again though, once again after a long gap. Once again, I never planned not to blog for such a long time, but it was just at the back of my mind, to post something just before leaving Bangladesh. So yeah, I'm finally leaving Bangladesh, going to Manipal to study. hmmm.. mentioned that many times in my earlier posts right ? Funny title right ? My last bow, I am not exactly sure from where i got this title. Oh yes, from Sherlock Holmes, it was the title of the chapter where he supposedly dies. The author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, wanted to end his " sherlock holmes " series but due to public pressure he brings Sherlock Holmes back in " The return of Sherlock Holmes". lol dont worry I m not planning to kill my self or anything. Anyway, where was I, oh yes , I 'm leaving tonight at 11 30 pm, going to go to Kolkata first and from there to mumbai and take a train from there to Udipi, which is like 10 minutes away from Manipal. So as you can see its going to be one hell of a ride. To say that I'm really excited, will not exactly be the truth. I'm confused ( which u can already find out by reading the beginning of this post) , hmm i guess its just a big change in my life and the realization just hit me. Well, I just pray to God that everyting turns out to be fine. Funny, the song " poth chola " has so much more meaning now.

So I guess, its uni time now , hopefully everything goes fine and i just hope that every thing I'm doing and going through will have its price in the future ! sooo this is Naimul Karim, and here's my last bow.

cheers ?

naim .

P.S.- I was drunk while writing this post.. lol , and hey my conditions not that bad as it sounds ! i m just a bit confused.. but then again i m verry excited to start uni !! inshallah it uni life will rock and i hope the road i have chosen will lead me to the right way.

A Day Worth Writing On !

2007-07-04T13:37:00.000-07:00

So finally, I can dedicate a whole post entirely on how my day was. No, it was not the usual boring day today of which I probably complain in each and every post of mine.But today , was a rare day filled with events, surprises and felicitations! It started the same way as it always did, i woke up at 12 pm , which I guess is earlier then my previous records, something to be proud of ! My sister had a concert at IUB ( Independent University of Bangladesh) , well not exactly a concert but yeah she was requested to sing for charity by one of our family friends. I really didnt want to go to the concert at first, because I wasnt very fond of the idea that I had to wake up earlier then my usual timings. But then my sister was going to perform and she also told me NEMESIS was going to perform as well. Now if there is one band, after Artcell, that I really want to see perform , then thats Nemesis! I was totally blown away by their performance last summer and I really wanted to see them again. So anyhow, as I mentioned earlier, I managed to break the routine , cut some valuable hours of sleep and finally wake up to go to the concert. This concert was organized by the members of the group called " Hope". Hope is actually a wonderful organization that was formed by the students of IUB. I am not exactly accurate on the details about this organization but from what I have heard, it collects money for charity and helps the poverty ridden children with their education. The auditorium wasnt that big, but it was big enough for the number of people that came. Basically , it was an acoustic concert with no drums or bass. Just one acoustic guitar was used and I have to say that it was quite enjoyable. Some performers from Bangladesh's leading band " pentagon " performed as well. My sister got up at the end and performed five songs, of which I liked " leaving on a jet plane " by John Denver the best. Well she always sings that song so I guess she had enough practice before hand to make it sound really good. But unfortunately , I did not have enough space in my N 73 to record that song !
Sadly, due to some problems, Nemesis could not perform! I guess I still have to wait for another concert. Anyhow, the show was a success.They managed to collect a little over 3000 taka for charity.

So after the concert, my sister and I , we both went to KFC for a very late lunch. Man , ever since I landed in Dhaka, I really wanted to eat at KFC. Not because I had never eaten there, infact back in Saudi , most of our gatherings and parties ended with dinner at KFC. So it wasnt much of a big deal. The reason however, as to why I really wanted to go to KFC was simple. For the last 5 years I have seen all kinds of FC restaurants in bangladesh- AFC,BFC,CFC,DFC,FFC etc. and believe me I am not exaggerating here. Each of the above restaurants had weird full forms, for instance CFC stood for California fried chicken, FFC- Fortuna fried chicken and the more popular BFC- Best fried chicken. Its just like that over here, you dont get many branded restaurants to eat at. I think the only few branded ones are Pizza hut, KFC and baskin robbins i guess. ( Forgive me if i missed any other ). We also have a DominoUs instead of Dominos. So as you can see, due to the above reasons I was just dying to go to KFC. So we both went to KFC and there another surprise was just waiting for us. We met Jaber, Mohsin, Nasheeth ,Tanveer, Parvez and the rest of the Saudi gang ! It was an amazing Coincidence. We were just busy hugging each other, shouting and doing crazy stuff. I also remember getting a number of stares from the surrounding environment! But that did not matter , it just felt amazing to see them after a long time. We then took pictures and went on to have lunch. Honestly speaking, the food wasnt as great as in Saudi but hey atleast we finally have the real FC restaurant, KFC!

After that , I came home watched the movie " Honeymoon Travels". It was really very funny , I still did not watch right till the end so I hope people who have will please shut their mouth and not tell me anything about the ending ! I then started packing because my sister and I are going to join my parents and my younger sister in Chittagong.We are going to leave at 8 45 am i guess, thats like approximately another 4 hours away ! Damn I love staying up late !

Today is also the day when the DASA scheme merit list came out. Its really heartening to see almost all my friends getting admission into various NIT colleges. Rahul, Nithin, Antony, Tony,Sybil and Nikhil , all of them got into NIT calicut, and I am glad because Calicut is 6 hours away from Manipal, so hopefully I can visit them during the semester breaks! Jithin and Shilpa got into NIT Warangal .I am especially happy for Rahul, he worked so hard during school time and he finally got into NIT C , something that he always deserved ! So congratulations to all you guys, and hope I can atleast meet some of you in the next 3 years .

So I guess thats it , nothing else happened today, in my life atleast. I still have a few things to do before going to chittagong. I think I need a shave , because I dont want to shave once I go there ( for all u evil minded people, i am talking about shaving my face nothing else) , I also need to get a book to read in the bus , I need to store some songs in my mobile and I need to recharge my phone! Damn I have to do all this within 4 hours. I better start working now ! So, I guess the next time that I can come online again will be on Sunday, when I return from chittagong. I hope to write a wonderful post , filled with pictures , on my village. Until my next post! cya !

cheers,

Naim

P.S. - Its the 4th of july ! well actually its 5th now , but anyways, happy belated independance day to America, hope you guys can finally get rid off Bush next year and a very very happy Birthday to Saima ( mafat) , god knows where u are ! i hope u do come to the cafe atleast on your birthday! anyway happpy 18th birthday once again!

A Tribute To Communication Technology

2007-06-29T15:30:00.000-07:00

I am not exactly a person who is regularly in touch with the latest technological developments. I think I can depend on Sharbeen ( my School friend or in other words a tech-guy) for all the latest happenings in the world of technology. But nevertheless, I have to say that with all the latest developments especially in the communications sector, only a fool will not be impressed. Bluetooth, Infrared, the mobile technology, internet, googleearth etc. All this may be quite old right now, after all the world is developing very fast, but if you look at it in my way , you will definitly understand as to why I am making a very big deal out of it . I mean ten years back,who would have thought all this was even possible ? Transferring files from mobile to mobile or having video calls and conversations were probably only shown in futiristic movies ! The reason as to why all this development looks extra amazing to me is probably because I have grown up in a family with siblings six to seven years older to me , which is almost like a generation gap.

When I was young, the only means of communication that I saw my siblings use was the telephone! I actually remember my sister having a tough time applying to colleges and unviersities because we did not have an access to the internet that time. I remember my brother calling the universities to check on them just because we could not e-mail them. It was either the telephone or the postal system, both of which had its own problems. I dont remember if we ever owned a fax machine, so I doubt my siblings ever used that. In other words, it was almost an impossible task to search and apply for the appropriate university. Looking at them, I really did not want to finish school ! The application process to the universities seemed so problematic , confusing and hard back then. Well, they finally did get admission in Bangladesh, it was easier there because the application was probably submitted by hand. I think it was 2001 back then and till then my siblings never used mobiles! To own a mobile was something really very amazing to us at that time ! And thats one of the reasons why I remember my brothers face when he got his first mobile set, it was a low priced alcatel, but even then he was so happy that he came to me and actually gave me a hug !

I think that was also the year when my siblings got introduced to " Broadband" one of the fastest internet connections. This reminds of a mail that my sister wrote to me 6 years back. She was like " Elin , broadband is so cool, you can actually stay online the whole time" And back then I was mesmerized! I also remember, that when I was 11 years old , my friends who had access to the net used tell me all kinds of stories. They used to narrate stories about going to America, Disney land and meeting stars like Shahruk Khan and Salman Khan through the net! I have to admit I was a dum kid back then and unfortunately I believed them. As a result, accessing the internet was one of my greatest dreams!

6 years have passed by since then, my siblings have completed their undergraduation in Bangladesh and I was finally done with school in Saudi Arabia. Of course , I comparitively had a much easier time searching for universities as well as applying for them. The websites were always just a click away, and I never had to wait too long for their replies. In other words, communication technology has taken a huge leap in the past 5 years. I also, got my first mobile, a Nokia Ngage, when I was in the 10th grade, which was again much earlier than my siblings. That was mainly because, as time passed , the distribution of mobiles had improved so much that almost every person, every child had to own a mobile.That trend once again showed the improvement in communication technology.

Looking at my childhood, it is not a surprise as to why I fell in love with the internet, the idea of reaching the outside world just by sitting in your own room and clicking the mouse was just amazing ! When I dont go online for a day or two I feel like I havent read the newspaper for a week or in other words I tend to think that I have fallen behind everyone else in the world!

So,this post , is just my way to thank all the people , who have worked for the development in the communications field because I am sure that millions of people out there have benefitted from it.

Umm so .. thats it for today, the day was the same except for the fact that I was blind for 16 hours! ( broke my glasses). Well thats all , until my next post !

Cheers,

Naim.

Horrible Match, horrible instructions and welcome back to blogging !

2007-06-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

Seriously , if I knew updating my blog regularly was going to be such a huge problem , I would not have started one ! I know , its been a long while since I last wrote something useful or rather anything at all. I guess I did not have time, or maybe I was just too lazy too write down another long essay and then spend another half an hour editing it. Anyways, I am back once again, I probably did not blog for a week or maybe more but hey the good news is I have got a lot to write about. Well atleast I think I do, I mean many things happened this week, I got my New mobile and started loving it more after I got used to it, I realised that even though my tight pants now fit me I still didnot lose much weight and I also got the FINAL CONFIRMATION LETTER, thats how they wrote it , to Manipal !

Nowadays, whenever I go near my dad he starts giving me instructions and all. Its not exactly irritating but its just funny ! For instance today he asked me not to roam around with the Indian rich Kids, I may have a bad influence. So what am I supposed to do ? Roam around with Indian beggars and rare international students ! He also asked me not to go outside Manipal , dont go to Banglore or Manglore , just stay inside Manipal and do everything ! HA ! That is soooo not possible. Anyways, I understand his concern, I guess all fathers are like that but my dad is too worried.

One one side dad is giving me weird " not going to happen" instructions and on the other mom still believes i can stay ! Today she was asking my dad , isnt it possible to refund the money that you sent ? ha !

Well I guess I am being a bit unfair and exaggerating a lot ( thats how I love to write btw) . They still do support my decision to go to Manipal and well they seem to be fine with it. But for now , I really need to start jogging and working out ! starting from tomorrow , or maybe day after or I could start fresh next month ! God knows when I will . Apart from that I really need to buy a guitar , learn a few new chords and a number of new songs !

So yeah now that i finally did recieve everything required to go to College, I think I should start getting a bit scared ! But surprisnigly I am not ! I guess I still didnt realize the importance or the difference in living there.

Bangladesh started off their tour in Srilanka today , and they did so in the most dreadful way ever ! So , therefore I dont think I want to talk about cricket right now ! I just hope Kushal doesnt pop up and start teasing me ! ahh and just when I said it , here comes Kushal !

Anyways i guess I 'll rap it up right now, I dint write anything much ! but what the hell atleast i started writing again !

cheers

Naim

Thank you dad for being there.. Happy Fathers Day !!

2007-06-16T14:22:00.000-07:00

Once again I welcome you all to my world ! And once again nothing new or unusual has taken place in my daily routine so there isnt anything worth mentioning about the day. However, Aparna has suddenly decided to leave Saudi Arabia and go to Banglore , her flight is on Thursday I guess. Well I dont know if I should say adios to you aparna, because you have just moved a step closer to Bangladesh and Manipal, two places where I will be spending the next 3 years of my life ( inshallah). So anyways, all the best appu and hope you have an amazing flight with amazing meals ! Please do tell me about them when you reach there. So other than the " Aparna leaving news" we have the grande finale of the La Liga on Sunday. It has to be another exciting night ! Any of the three teams can win the championship! Its also going to be David Beckham and Robert Carlos's last game for Real Madrid and I do hope that they can walk away with their heads held high ! All the best to the Madrid team. Right, lets also not forget we have Barcelona and Sevilla, two teams who equally share the chance to win the La liga with Real Madrid. It is going to be one hell of a night !

So moving on, how many of you actually know that today is " Fathers Day" ? Sure, I bet most of you didnt even know that ! ha ! So thank me for reminding you all ! Actually honestly speaking, even I didnt know that today was supposed to be fathers day. It was Sheena who reminded me through facebook. I know that most of us, especially us guys, we are comparitively closer to our moms and there is nothing wrong with it. Its just natural and as a matter of fact our prophet (PBUH) had once said that the amount of love for our mother should three time more than the love for our fathers. I am not that good in exact Islamic quotations, forgive me for that, but I am sure that that was what he meant.

But nevertheless, that doesnt mean that we should stop loving our dads ! Of course not! And I think its a huge shame that we actually fail to remember the importance of this day ! Especially me , because i think my dad has had a huge influence in my life. I lived alone with my dad for the past 5 years and it is said that the age period between 10-16 requires very good grooming. That little span of life decides how a person's future is going to be. So i can actually say , that my dad groomed me single handedly and looking back at those 5 years i dont think there was even a single moment when i had to regret living without my mother.

My dad is an English professor and works double shift. He has classes both during the morning and the evening. Inspite of all that he used to come home cook lunch , take a small break , asked me about school and my plans and then go back to college again. He also had time to drop me for tuitions, trainings and any other place that i wanted to go to. He also did a lot more which I have to agree got me a bit spoilt ! hehe. But, I really didnt realize how much he worked for me back then, but now that I am here in Bangladesh with my mom and siblings I do feel his stress. I mean me being a lazy ass didnt help my dad at all , but inspite of that he never complained. I guess my dad was like air to me, you know what I mean. You cant see it, but you really need it and you only understand its importance when its not there.

So dad , I just hope that you are in good health in Saudi and that you come home soon and stop getting tensed about us here in Bangladesh ! ha ! Thats another thing about my dad, he just can never stop getting tensed ! Always worried about my mom and us . Thank you dad for everything that you have done and I really miss you today...

Hehe sorry guys i think i got a bit too emotional back there, but hey thats just how i am !

So , have a nice day and hey dont forget to give your dad a hug today .I know it may sound weird to some of you out there but trust me it feels really good . Thank you once again for reading my blog and until the next time you log on to my blog ADIOS.

cheers,

Naim.

What is your future "engineering plan "??

2007-06-14T14:01:00.000-07:00

My days at the moment are very very boring and since I only sleep, eat or watch TV all day long, I have decided not to write anything about my day today. I was just wondering about this incident which took place at school once . It wasnt much of a big deal and some of the readers may think that I am actually making a big fuss over nothing. Any how, here it goes.

So, my final exams of the 12th grade got over ( AISSCE, CBSE exams. It comes under an Indian board for those of you who dont know) and I decided to visit school for some reason. I think Shaeq wanted a cd filled with pictures taken during hangouts and school hours. So anyways, we went to school and i gave him his required things. But we still had to wait there for 4 more hours since the KG busses left at 12 PM and that was our only transport back home. So one by one we met all the teachers and all of them asked us the usual question, " Which entrance exam are you coaching for ?'" Shaeq and the other few guys who were there with me had a ready answer. Some of them said AIEEE, and others mentioned some different engineering entrance exams. And when my turn came all I could do was to give a worried smile and reply " sir , I am not going for engineering". The immediate response that came from most of the teachers was this " So , are you trying for medical then ?". Once again that smile crept upon my face and I replied " No, I am going for mass communications" and then comes the funniest part, the shocking look on almost every teachers face as if to say " What ? Mass communications ? What in God's name is that ? "

Not that I have anything against engineers or students studying dental. I mean, hey you guys form an amazing part of the community, hats off to you people! But unfortunately or fortunately my mind was never fit to be in the technical side of life. I could have gone for engineering and maybe even get a good job in the future with a very high salary , that is of course after hard work. But I dont want to waste another 4 years or so studying something which I really am not interested in.

Now many of you who arent in the Asian or South Asian community may be confused as to why I am making such a big deal out of this. Well let me just state a small example which supports my cause. My school is called International Indian School of Dammam , IISD in short. We have a huge population of around 13 thousand students studying there. out of which approximately 300 students graduated this year. And I think we had around 200 students who were in the science section alone ! This small observation shows us all how demanding, subjects like engineering and medical are. Almost every parent dreams that one day their child is going to be an engineer or a doctor. So from the above it is quite obvious as to why my teachers gave me " the look" when i told them that I wasnt going to go for either of those two subjects. And this also made my decision to go study Mass communications a very difficult one. I always loved writing , speaking , communicating with people, coming out with creative ideas , making videos etc. and all this clearly showed me my way. I was just scared that my dad wouldnt agree, but at the end he did and I was delighted at his response !

Hey once again, I have nnoooothing against Engineers or doctors, they save lives man how can I have anything against them ? The only thing that saddens me is that when parents say that I want my son to be an engineer , a doctor ! Why not a mainstream journalist or a director or maybe even a writer !

Many of you may be confused with my title today " What is your future engineering plan?" Well one of my teachers asked the same question once and I found his assumption very funny.
So, after a lot of thinking and persuation I have chosen my subject and my path. I just hope that I have done the right thing and chosen the correct path and I also pray to God for his help.

As a wise person had once said " Team work is what we need" and this quotation really does suit my post today. For the world to run , we need an equal number of engineers, doctors, journalists, reporters etc. and that my friend is teamwork !

So I sincerely hope that my post today does not offend any one and I also hope that no teachers or anybody for that matter, asks such a question first up to any student planning to pursue their higher education.

Cheers

Naim.

Let the Planning Begin !!

2007-06-13T16:20:00.000-07:00

Right, so my admission in Manipal has almost been confirmed. Dad called today and said that he was going to make the money drafts today and send it by tomorrow morning. So, now i seriously need to start planning. I need to buy many things and I also need to learn many things !! I guess mom is going to teach me to cook, not that its a must, there will be a food mess in the hostel. But still its better to be safe ! And then I need to learn the drums. Yes, I'll probably ask my sister to contact someone. I just want to learn an instrument before leaving Dhaka, that will be cool. Then I also need a mobile, I hope dad does bring the one i asked him too. Computers are avaialable there, so i dont think I need a laptop straight away.Besides its costly and i dont have much time, so i think it will be better buying it after the first semester. My decision to go to Manipal may not let me go visit Saudi Arabia anymore. Thats bad, not that I love the life there but I was born there and I just want to go there and renew my visa atleast for another year. So any how, I do hope ican get a week's holiday in october. Well, that can be dealt with later. I need to buy clothes as well and the very important " alarm clock" is required ! Man, i have to do everything on my own there, it will be a huge challenge. Lets hope I am ready for it . Anywas manipal is still one and a half months away, so I still have little time left.

Today was just another ordinary day, the surprising thing was that it did not rain today ! Thats supposedly good because the last few days it rained a lot ! Well lets hope a rain-less day will help the roads to dry out. I have to wake up early tomorrow, got a Quran class ! So i guess thats it, I just played Play station, Listened to music and slept all day . Lets hope tommorow is a better day !

cheers !

Naim

2007-06-12T15:00:00.000-07:00

Another day passes by in Dhaka and here I am again planning to bore you all with my usual boring routine. Well , today was a bit different though. As usual slept early in the morning ( 4 am ) but then I had to wake up at 8 because I slept in my brothers room by mistake and he woke me up. And then I came to know that Ashfaq and aunty were coming over, sooooo i cudnt sleep. Anyways, i spent the day basically trying to be awake hehe. Played Pro evolution soccer with him .. Hez quite good but needs more experience... i won all the matches lol.. it was fun playing competetive PS2 after a long time though. Then we watched a movie... actualy he watched a movie.. I was online learning more abt Manipal instutue of comm. He watched Tararumpum i think.. blah.. i dint like the movie.. " Typical indian movie" lol.. Umm so after that we just went out a bit and then basically he continued playing PS2 and i continued my research. Honestly speaking, the research changed my mind completely, now I really want to go to manipal. The campus looks brilliant and the courses , internships and everything looks like a lot of fun. So yeah I am not that frustrated as i was before, I guess i will go to manipal. Anyways, I went to sleep as sooon as ashfaq and aunty left. Dad called many times after i woke up and i told him I wanna go to manipal.. lol.. um so i stil have time till Saturday .. letssee what more games my mind plays with me ! Other than that , just stayed online as usual , chatted with friends and blah blah blah. Tomorrow I'll probably go to the British Council with my sister, though i donno why i am going and i do hope i wake up early ! Oh and i also got looads of pics of manipals campus, andthey looked quite impressive. Any how , no football matches today soo nothing interesting to write today lol. Until my next post ! adios !
cheers

Naim

Decisionless Decision Day

2007-06-10T18:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very very important day. Looads of events took place, Federer lost the French open to Rafael Nadal, Asia thrashed Africa 3-0 ! and Mohammed Rafique had an amazing match with figures 4-65 ! Plus yesterday was kinda like the DECISION day...on whether i shud go to manipal or not. I hate to agree but my brother made some very valuable points which made me think all night... I am soo confused now.. I donno what to do ! There are soo many points to focus on...man i cudnt even sleep the night.. just kept on waking up on the thought of going to Manipal.. My mom is understandably sad because of my decision! Man.. manipal is very good agreed, education is good, Chix are hot , campus is also good but the thing that i fear the most is that I am a Bangladeshi ! how can i just go to India and study. Yes thats my real fear ! Yeah i know it sounds a bit weird, but thats the plain truth. I am just a bit too patriotic ! Everytime I think of studying in India, I have this afterthought that I may not be coming back to Bangladesh, I may not be able to support bangladesh in cricket matches with all my heart, I may not be jumping with joy for all the little achievements that bangladesh achieves. ...But then again i can come to bd back after 3 years... but i just dont know .... everything seems to be hacing a fault now.. nothing straight.. if i stay here in bdesh... everything will be fine..ill get good food.. mom will take care of me.. ill live .. arraam se...but.. i wont be able to study mass comm here then... will have to study english ! arghh... lol man i talked to loads of people for advice... but i guess the best advice that i got was from Sunny Bhai... He told me that .. " In life u have to take some decisions on your own, thats what makes u a man"... thanx bro ....Man i just hope that.. i still am mentally able to come back to bangladesh ...I just hope everything goes well...

An irritating night followed by a very exciting one !

2007-06-09T16:48:00.000-07:00

Right so here I am typing my first post of the blog. Actually this is kind of like my second post, my first post which was filled with loooooooads of stuff could not by uploaded because of some problems with my internet connnection. Anyhow, first things first, Thank you aparna for introducing me to Blogging ! I was introduced to this many times before but I just did not have the time to start one and also me being a lazy ass did not help much. Well last night was quite irritating because of many reasons ! I waited for a Real madrid match which actually took place tonight ! Plus as i mentioned earlier my first post didnt make it to the blog and I was also bored staying up. However tonight, whoaaaa , this was probably the beeeest night ever !! No , I know what you are thinking, I didnt Bang any girl, neither did I call any strippers ! I enjoyed pure FOOTBALL ! Seriously, I was like jumping up and down , up and down ! i cant describe the whole match here ! but yeah here is a link from goal.com. This ought to make me remember this night often ! http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=324268

The day was umm quite sporty actually, loads of sporting action around. The french open, Afro - ASia cup, La liga.. so yeah i pretty much sat in front of TV the whole day.

hmm nowadays, the only thing that I think about the most is about my university ! Damn, i dunno if I should go to manipal , or stay here with my family. Well honestly speaking, I want to go to Manipal, it would be great, a totally new experience plus I will atleast learn to rely on myself ! But yeah, lets hope that my parents dont have any problem. I just hope that my Mom is ok with it, I mean i know she doesnt want to leave me again for anotehr 3 years, so she definitly doesnt want me to go to manipal. So , I am still thinking.. hmm. I just hope God helps me out with this and that whatever path I take in life, it turns out to be good. I have huge dreams you know, newayz.. its 6 am and i think I ll go to my sisters comp and watch a movie !! and then probably sleep the whole day ! lol, well thats all ! keep waiting for the next post ! hope that will be soon

Cheers

naim