Star Diary

Chit Chat with Elesia

I was returning home after visiting my brother who lives in Rampura. On my way back in a bus, I saw two foreigners along with a child of around nine or ten years sitting in front of me. The girl looked at me and I waved at her, and started speaking to her. I thought that the little girl would not be able to speak in Bengali and so I asked her questions in English. However, to my surprise, she replied to all my questions in Bangla! She told me her name was Elesia and when I asked her who the men sitting beside her were, she told me with a winning smile that the person sitting next to her was her uncle and the other man was her father. She further added that her father was of Nigerian origin, which I had presumed at first glance, and that her mother was a Bangladesh. I asked her how was she able to communicate with her father as he did not know Bangla, and she replied tongue-in-cheek, that they spoke in English with each other. Within a short span of time, we became good friends. After a while I had to get down at my stop, and so I finally said goodbye to her. But I don't think I'll ever forget my little friend with the broad, beautiful smile.  
Md Zonaed Emran
Banker

Unethical TV ad

During the Eid holidays I had the chance to stay at home and spend some time with my 15 month old son. Although he is too young to understand the programmes aired on the TV, he is fond of watching the cartoon “Doraemon” on a local satellite channel. While watching the cartoon with him, I was shocked to watch an ad playing repetitively during the 30 minutes show, which relayed the message that kids should have candy first thing in the morning, after getting up from bed, even before brushing their teeth, and also during school hours, lunch breaks, for evening snacks, and before going to bed. The ad is very colorful with catchy jingle playing in the background designed to lure children into convincing their parents to buy that particular brand of candy for them. The sad part is that the ad is run by a very well know company, which has a good reputation in the country. The management who are calling the shots there should have the bare minimum business ethics to not promote unhealthy habits, particularly to impressible young children. My boy does not understand the words of the ad, but I am sure that if he did he'd try to make me buy the candy to add to his daily diet.
Tarek Rashid
Niketan
Dhaka