STAR DIARY

Photo: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

GENDER DISCRIMINATION

A few weeks ago, I was on a rickshaw near Kawran Bazaar and I saw a disturbing incident. A group of young professionals were standing near an office building and smoking cigarettes. There were two women in the group and unsurprisingly, they were attracting unwanted attention. Suddenly, the group had a bucket of water thrown on them from an adjacent residential building and looking up I saw a well dressed woman and a child standing there holding a bucket on the second storey balcony. She started yelling at the group about how shameful it is for women to smoke and it reminded me once again how much of a role gender discrimination plays in our society. Men can smoke anytime anywhere but when a woman does it, it's considered vulgar. Has anyone stopped to think why that is? 

Junaid Islam
Dhanmondi, Dhaka

UNDER YOUR NOSE

A month ago, I was trying to sell my sofa set online and had a few perspective buyers. A couple was amongst them and they wanted to come over to look at it. As they seemed like decent people from what I gleaned from our phone conversation and their facebook profiles, I asked them to come over. On the day of their visit, they were punctual and pleasant and were pleased with the sofa set and said they needed time to think about it. A few days later, the wife called me saying she wanted a second look to which I agreed ofcourse. She came over and after exchanging pleasantries she asked to use my bathroom. I showed her in and went into the kitchen to fix tea. When I returned she was gone, as was my expensive watch that I left in my bedroom, diamond earrings and gold bangles along with some cash from my purse. I filed a GD with the local police station, but there hasn't been any trace of them. They're phones are turned off and facebook accounts de-activated. Needless to say, I have learned my lesson about trusting strangers!

Zareen Rahman
Banani DOHS, Dhaka