Star Diary

Photo: Prabir Das

Trust No One

In our fast-paced, scary world, people are afraid to even greet one another with a smile, trusting each other is a far-off dream. I realised how little trust we have in our fellow human beings when I experienced something similar in my life. I was getting quite late returning home from work one night, and didn't have a watch with me. My cell phone was turned off because it ran out of charge. In desperation, I walked up to a middle-aged man walking in front of me, and politely asked him for the time. Surprisingly, instead of answering my question or stopping to consider it for even a minute, the man ran from there. It seemed as if he thought that he was about to be mugged and thought it best to run from that place in order to protect his life. I just couldn't understand what just happened, but I don't blame the man. It is easy to turn a cynic in this unpredictable city.
Probir Das
Chittagong  

Space for Books

Last year when I visited Bangalore in India, I went to a bookstore in one of the largest shopping complexes of the city. The store also had other chains spread all over the city. It was well-decorated and spacious, accommodating a huge collection of books, which were diligently categorised and organised. The bookstore had every genre of books, from fantasy fictions, to romance novels, science fiction, bestsellers, biographies, journals and many more. Chairs were set in different corners of the store for readers to go through the book that they would like to purchase in a relaxed manner without any interruption from pesky sales assistants. It is sad that even though many shopping malls have emerged in Bangladesh over the last five years, we don't find such bookstores which offer such a relaxed atmosphere and range of books for readers to choose from. While there are a chain of garment stores all over the country, retailers seem allergic to establish trusted chain of bookstores that would offer readers the choice and luxury provided in countries abroad.
M A Akad Masud
Department of Management Studies.
University of Chittagong