MAILBOX

Face to Face with Wasfia Nazreen
Last week's Star Weekend was a pleasant read as there was an intriguing story about Wasfia Nazreen's conquest of the summit of Carstenzs pyramid. Kudos to Wasfia, she is the first Bangladeshi woman who reached the top seven points of seven mountains from the seven continents. It is a great achievement for the nation indeed.  She is an inspiration for all the Bangladeshi women who want to break the social barriers and taboos. She has set up a milestone by continuing her project "BDon7summits" despite facing a lot of ordeals and hassles. Best wish goes out to her as she wants to open up a school for adolescents girls who would like to learn from adventure and nature. Finally, a big round of appreciation for the Star Weekend for covering this celebrated woman once again.
Samiul Raijul
NSU, Dhaka

Say Yes to Social Media
At first I would like to thank the Star Weekend for bringing to light the burning issue of social media ban through its article titled "The Power of Social Media" (published on December 4, 2015). In this article the writer has rightly shown the real power of social media like Facebook, Whatsapp and Viber. The writer has given a numbers of examples how Facebook helps to identify and arrest the culprits and draw the attention of the authority. We must agree that every invention involves use and abuse, Facebook is not an exception to it. But it totally depends on the users. To ban on Facebook is like 'For remedy of headache, cut the head off.' So, wise and pragmatic decisions are expected from the authority.  We, the whole nation, are expecting to lift the ban on other social media platforms like Viber and Whatsapp which was imposed almost a month ago.
Shah Alam Rajin
Department of English, Narsingdi Government College

All We Need is Pateince
The star weekend's article titled "Say yes to social media" (published on December 4, 2015) touched my mind as it showed me several pragmatic examples of how Facebook has become a part and parcel of our lives. People from all walks of life especially the students were making variety of comments about the ban on Facebook. Most of these comments were pejorative as they failed to get access to Facebook. Even the political leaders who banned Facebook for the public could not keep themselves from using it. However, we should keep in mind that whatever our country has done is for our own welfare. A country never wants to endanger its own citizens. If security is the concern, then we should sacrifice our simple temptation of using Facebook. To establish a welfare state, citizens must be patient and show respect to the decisions of the government.
Md Zahirul Islam Shawon
BBA, University of Rajshahi