STAR DIARY

Online Harassment

Last month my sister got married and we hired a group of professional photographers for the event. Days later, they uploaded an album of their wedding. While we were quite excited finding our pictures, my sister was not really happy. In the comment sections some people, both men and women, said such mean things that they would never say face to face. Some people commented on her skin colour saying how thick sheets of makeup and heavy lighting could not make her look fairer. Such comments made her depressed and brought an incredible amount of stress into her life. We have talked to the page about our concerns, what we need from them and how they can help. They blocked those abusers right away and put a post saying any person making abusive comments would be banned from the page. How long do we have to be the victim of online embarrassment? Why can't we address the attackers through the legal system?

Arifa Meeta
Khilgaon, Dhaka

Photo: Star File

The Cruelty of Fate

A few days ago while returning home from my class party, I was very happy remembering all the fun that we had that day. Somewhere around the Gulshan signal, a little boy of five or six caught my attention and made me very upset. He only had one leg, and was wearing the shabbiest clothes. This is a common scene in Dhaka; street children scrounging for a living everyday, even at festivals and special occasions. I was surprised to see the child was not living at the mercy of others; rather he was collecting scraps, such as bottles, used papers, and other wastes to earn his livelihood. Seeing him, I was thinking how different my childhood was from the one imposed on this young boy. I am fortunate enough to go to a good school and to be given every thing I ever need. I realised that at times I would get upset about such petty things while this child had to be satisfied and happy with little food in his stomach. I could feel tears well up in my eyes and while I understood how lucky I actually am. 

Maliha Tasneem Khan
Sunbeams, Dhaka