Star Diary

The Other Side of Humanity

I was walking down the streets a few days back with my father. We were going towards an ATM booth, when I saw a women, a vagrant if you will, sitting in the corner of a shop with a canister in her hands, hoping that she would get some money from a benevolent citizen. It is common to see such helpless people in our country, and I am rather concerned for them as well. I thought of giving her all my money, but people said that if you give them money they stop searching for real work, preferring to continue begging for alms. The woman was very old, around 65, by the looks of her wrinkled body. However, that day was different, a man walked by her carelessly with some of his friends. I knew instantly that he was a wannabe “cool kid.” They all held fizzy drinks in their hands. Suddenly, the man didn't want to drink anymore. The bottle was half full then. They were beside the vagrant at that time, and he went out and gave the old woman the beverage. How could one think off doing that? This might be considered as a sort of charity but it is also inhuman! She might catch a serious disease because of that! This is the evil side of humanity; we have forgotten the meaning of good will, spiritual kindness and actual help. We should have the common sense to learn the true meaning of kindness, humanity and real charity.
Rayan Rabbani
Student
Scholastica, Dhaka

Photo: Prabir Das

Ramadan Happiness

I heard the ring of the doorbell on one afternoon and when I went to open the door, I was greeted with a smile and tray filled with food, iftar from our neighbours. We hurriedly shifted the food to our own bowls, as we knew that the tray and dishes were needed to send iftar to other places as well. This custom of sharing iftar with others delights me as well as the different treats that we get to taste when we break our fast. As a kid, I remember carrying trays to different floors of our building with an amplified feeling of responsibility. I grew up and the onus then shifted to my younger siblings who repeated the sequence with the same delight. And the tradition is vibrant even today! Indeed the holy month of Ramadan comes with a baggage of excitement for us. The aforementioned dimension of 'caring and sharing' is just one example of the changes and extra efforts that we willingly make to encapsulate the purity of the occasion. My driver, Jamal uncle, curses less and uses his free time to pray Zuhr in the mosque, something he wouldn't do even a month back. There exists among people a general consensus of helping each other out, perhaps to ease the strain and stress on those who fast. Ramadan truly brings out the feeling of compassion, spirituality and communal harmony amongst people living in busy cities. It's not even restricted to Muslim, believers of other religion gladly join in the sobriety. It has becomes a festival of peace and it feels so tranquil that I wish that it were perennially Ramadan in Dhaka!
Tasnim Jara
United Nations Youth Advisory Panel