STAR DIARY

Why such discrimination?

The other day I went to a clothing store in Chandi Chawk. As I was about to leave after finishing my shopping, I found two foreign visitors bargaining with the shopkeeper. The shopkeepers were charging them double for the same fabric that some other lady bought from the shop. I intervened and asked the shopkeeper, "Why are you lying to them?" "It is just our way of earning some extra money," replied the shopkeeper shamelessly. After a heated conversation, they were finally able to buy the fabric at actual price. They thanked me politely. "Not only shopkeepers, but the drivers also tend to overcharge foreign tourists by as much as 200%," said one of them. I don't know why we have to have this price discrimination where they charge foreign visitors more than locals. We are known for our warm hospitality and this discriminatory behaviour is surely hurting the image of our country. 

Tanzila Tahia
Dhanmondi, Dhaka

The Deceiver 

The other day, when my friends and I were chatting in the park, a good looking and nicely dressed young man walked up to us. As he approached us, he took a moment to see all of our faces, and then he promptly put forward a paper with an address written on it. His face had an innocent look to it. "I am relatively new in Dhaka. I have been looking for this address for long but can not find it," he says in Barisal dialect. While struggling with a heavy backpack, he said "Can any of you please help me find the exact location?" As one of my friends knew the address, he replied, "It is just a ten minutes walk from here." Then he explained what direction was to be followed. But the boy kept requesting my friend to accompany him as he had already been through that lane a number of times. My friend agreed and left us to take him to the address. But little did we know that it was a trap to loot his expensive mobile phone. As they reached an empty street, all of a sudden a motorbike approached them. No sooner had the pillion man got off the bike, than the boy threw away his backpack and two of them started pouncing on my friend knocking him down on the ground. The driver too got off, beat my friend heavily and broke his legs before snatching his mobile. My friend was so seriously injured that he could not stand. Immediately after the incident, the three got away in full speed. Later on, my friend realised that it was all a setup. The boy was surely hired by someone who knew about the new phone beforehand.

Samiul Raijul
North South University, Dhaka