Facebook: Why such a fuss?
Facebook – You know it; don’t you? You have seen your son hang around it for hours (or made an account for yourself). I went through the list of articles in The New York Times recently and found about 200 articles related to facebook only! Not surprising, is it? Most of the articles were antagonistic and a few others were describing how we can use facebook to upload pictures and make innovative groups and blah, blah………So, why are we making so much fuss about Facebook? After all, it’s just the usual social networking tool, isn’t it? So why paying special attention to this one site? In the past few months, I have come across many write ups/articles and talked to many facebook fanatics to find the reason for its success and the reason for people making such a fuss. Why do you love or hate facebook? These are a few answers I was able to accumulate:
Here is a medical student from Thailand:
“I love fb because it’s the only form of entertainment in the boring world of medicine plus it keeps me connected to my friends.”
A debater from San Francisco says:
“facebook connects me to people around the world’s get to develop bonds with people I admire, and believe to be my role models-debate gurus, my seniors in college, scholars and different celebrities. Facebook is the new face of the youth and I like seeing my reflection in it.”
A literature teacher from Iran thinks:
“Facebook is a forum where people from all backgrounds can meet. With it there is a no longer geographical boundary. It gives a great opportunity to people to know each other and to make them known to other.”
Well, these answers give us a sense of the fact that people around the world with different religion, race, color, creed, gender and occupation use facebook. People want to use it to stay connected. In this fast paced world, staying connected with your loved ones using telephone or writing letter is not possible. You may well think that e-mail could be useful but as this friend of mine says, facebook is more users friendly:
“Living away from my friends and moving around a lot, facebook is the only close-to-real form of communication between me and my friends in different places around the world. E-mail is not as user-friendly as facebook and it’s absolutely impossible to be on msn at the same time when you’re halfway across the world from each other. Besides that crap fb is the best thing that happened to the world since sliced bread. It’s literally a life saver and essentially a part of the very core of our existence!”
A typical facebook profile.
Now let’s talk about the ‘fuss’. Who makes it? Is it the users or those few people who couldn’t fit on to this new cyber world? Young people certainly don’t go barracking around about facebook; its few people with preconceived notion think it as ‘rubbish’. And, why do they think that way? The answer is they might not adjust to or keep up with the fast pace of the cyber world. My father (who made an account for himself after my consistent persistence) is now able to connect with his friends from college or colleagues from his previous jobs. He was against me making an account and today he himself spends about 2 hours checking his friends and writing on their wall!
Finally, facebook is an interactive website where you can meet new people, making new friends and share your feelings without having to talk or face anyone. It’s got many facilities which we don’t find in any other sites (I am not advertising, I am not paid for that!).The Notes section is a new form of blog where you can write out your feelings. You can make groups for your school, college or even office. In this way, you can always stay connected with colleagues. You can use the photos to upload all the latest pictures so that relatives from around the world can see you even if you aren’t there with them. I don’t see a reason for people to accuse facebook.Yes, if you do misuse it then it’s your own fault. So, next time you see your sons and daughters hanging around facebook for hours, think about thousands of other who are using facebook for the good. I actually went through the list of Harvard and MIT students in Facebook and found lots of graduates who use facebook too, but they never misused. So, the next time you hear a person saying ‘Facebook is destroying my child’s life’, adduce them with the reasons I have given you (even your son might be a good student and at the same time uses the facebook!). But, be alert that he should not use it intermittently twenty four hours! Please do not lose your face while using the facebook! (if you lose the face, what remains is just the ‘book’!)That’s my noble advice.
Traffic Jams in Bangladesh: A head – stabbing experience or an adventure?
The simplest form of transport in Bangladesh.Even though it's cheap and easily available,it's the root cause of Traffic-jams!
A traffic jam is an assembly of large number of vehicles close together bumper to bumper and, consequently, they become unable to move or move very slowly.Well, this definition suits perfectly to Dhaka traffic; doesn’t it? I haven’t met a single person in Dhaka so far who would not agree with me. Why there is so much traffic in Dhaka? Is it because people are getting richer and buying more cars? Well, that could be one of the reasons but the basic reason is something which is not difficult to understand.
In my four years stay in Dhaka, I have been stuck in different types of traffic-jams. So, today I wish to branch them in to three basic forms for your fun:
VIP traffic jams: These kinds of traffic jams are the ones when top political (or not even top) leaders or the so-called Advocates pass by from one or another street already clogged by heavy traffic. The basic rule is to stop all the mobile cars so that these so-called ‘political freaks’ can be safe. These types of jams are appreciated by those pedestrians who see their favorite leaders passing by. But, these jams are mostly hated by students and office workers who are getting late for their schools and offices. Well, last time I saw an M.P passing by and thought of breaking his neck, but only in imagination!
The rickshaw pullers traffic jams: Well,you know this; don’t you? In my life I haven’t seen such occupationally and physically mobile workers. From the streets of Elephant Road to the alleys of Nilkhet -anywhere where your body goes, they reach there.They are more arrogant than some students of the so-called foreign schools in Dhaka. They drive the rickshaw so recklessly that you have to pray to God so that they don’t hit your newly purchased Corolla. And, if they crash upon your car, you can do nothing, but to hit your own head. It would be useless to quarrel with them for money to repair the car (they themselves don’t have enough money to buy proper clothes). If you go on to affray with them, there is no point on it because they are as thin as a sharp pencil. So, better curse them and move on to your own business!
The brain – stabbing traffic jams: These are extreme traffic-jams where there is a chance of dying due to boredom and pollution. Well, these experiences are common to anybody who lives in Dhaka and ever dared to go to Dhanmondi or Rajerbagh.One day when I was returning from my school in Dhanmondi I was stuck in traffic for two hours! I almost decided to walk my way back home to Gulshan from Dhanmondi; a twelve kilometer walk. My brain reached to the point of bursting out but thanks to all those Bangla songs my driver was singing, I was spared from death. I guess two hours is not a very long time comparing to the maximum of six hours (which is a record) a few days back. My condolences to all those who were present in that historic moment and stuck in that Jam. Just imagine what sort of things they must have done: sleeping and snoring, Finishing a J.K Rowling Book or even walking to their destinations. Well, these are extremely dangerous conditions and can lead to death due to over boredom.
But why do not we give it a second thought? Think of yourself stuck in a traffic jam with your loved ones, or in a jam when you didn’t want to go to school or even stuck when you were feeling sleepy. Traffic can also be adventurous at times: if you can participate in the Driver-Traffic police feud. You can certainly take the side of your driver or even lend a hand or two to beat-up the traffic officer. You can also use your mobile camera to capture some precious moments: Police officer taking bribes. Well there might also be some of those desperate moments when a beggar without an eye or one of his left leg cut comes in front of you requesting for alms. If you have money, you may donate but the situation becomes terrifying when you don’t have a penny in your pocket and he keeps on begging. Nevertheless, if you wish to donate, I warn you for a huge queue of beggars being formed all around your vehicle!
All these moments are special for any Bangladeshi or foreigner who has ever lived in Dhaka. And we usually don’t understand the value it bestows. We certainly don’t understand the fact that all these incidents teach us a valuable lesson. When we see the dedication and hard work of a rickshaw puller, we should be learning a lesson: Money is not easy to come for many people in this world, so learn to save it. When we see beggars, we learn the fact that some people are not capable of buying a day’s meal and we waste food everyday. What about the traffic jams? Do they teach us anything? Yes, they do: they teach us to be patient. So, to everyone who read this piece, my golden advice is: try to enjoy these small moments and preserve it. If you are in a traffic jam, think of something which help provoke your thoughts, something that you would have wanted to think in the class but couldn’t.A traffic jam is the only situation when we can think about anything we like freely. So ENJOY your traffic experiences, friends.
N.B: The idea of writing this also popped out in traffic jams. And I have no limitations of thoughts in a jam: from the news and sports to the new girl in class-everything is thought about in traffic jams.
Disappearing Values of Mankind
Before, when human civilization began, people used to eat meat and only meat. That was the only thing available to them (as it seemed then).These people were called cannibals. Then the value of meat was what the value of rice is today. Things gradually began to change during the different stages of mankind’s history as people invented different foodstuffs including rice and other vegetables. Now the value of meat increased and was used only in the special occasions like parties. Having meat was a thing of honor and only the high class could afford having it. But after this period, things changed again and we were on our way back to the old times. Now we eat meat very often-it has become a part of our regular lives. Everyday children fight with their mothers for not being given meat in the meals. A party without meat is like a life without soul. So here is my question: Have we lost the value of meat? Are we becoming cannibals? Is the saying “moving back in time”-true? Are we…………?
It’s not just meat: We have had the similar trend in the past few decades. We are going back in time; which might just prove fatal for the human race. A few examples would describe the situation better: When the human race started, people preferred walking from one place to another. Then in the medieval ages, they invented different mediums of transport including: Rickshaws and Bull carts and eventually cars and busses. Now we have a scarcity of all those fuels needed to ride cars and other transports so we have started walking; hence going back in time.
Let’s talk about clothing: When we all started out the only piece of cloth was used to cover the basic organs of our body. Then in the medieval ages people realized the importance of clothing and developed different types of clothes. Today we are back in time: with as short clothes as before, we seem to lose the value of clothes. Today the shortest clothes cost the most.
What about language?
Well before when Adam met Eve they didn’t have a proper language to communicate. There were no rules in speaking a language: no grammar, nothing. Languages developed as time went by and people started perfecting Languages and many other languages were invented to make communication easier. Now, well I don’t seem to understand what they speak in. Words such as: brb (be right back) and LOL (Laugh out loud), have shortened the time one takes to communicate but it is not the true language. People around the world have mixed up their pure language and turned it into something else. Languages such as “Banglish”,”Arabish” and “Nepanglish” have ruined the modern generation and they seem to have lost the value of Language.
These are only few examples which give us the hint that we are truly losing the value of things around us. These things are the precious gifts given to us by Mother Nature and we ourselves are contributing to the destruction of these ‘Gifts’. So everyone who reads this my only advice: think before wasting something and understand the value it holds. Today millions of People are homeless, without enough food and not enough clothes to cover themselves. Realize what that one grain of rice you waste means a whole lot of something for someone else. Understand that the water you waste is of great value to someone else. And also understand that this luxurious life you have is something that only a very few lucky people get to have.
N.B:
This is not written just to read and forget. If you think this brings in any realization in you then please take some ‘Action’
My Dear Deleted Files !
Computers have entered into our lives.They have gradually become a part of human life.Similarly, they have begun to reflect our life quite often. Look at this story for example.
I kept on backspacing my mother. Backspacing was so vigorous that I didn’t realize when I pressed the delete button. I forgot to copy and paste her into my new folder (my new life) and soon realized that the old folder had been permanently replaced by new files. I didn’t have enough space to put her in my new folder as it was filled with new and exciting files that I could not live without. I was too busy pasting and downloading different documents but missed out the most important document of my life. I always wanted the latest stuffs but forgot that with new downloads viruses come quickly and so it did. Soon my new folder was corrupted and I was in ruins. I had lost all those fake downloads which brought up different types of viruses. Now I know the importance of the old documents; the way they cared for me even when I was careless. Now I understand why did they keep on popping me a question: Do you want to delete this folder permanently? So foolish of me not to understand these hints and now I suffer. I guess suffering is a part in every computer’s life and without suffering you never learn the methods of using it. My life is now a Pentium 1; a computer without any value. I have become a useless computer and now I wait for my end.
And now I remember all my old and dear folders (who were my life lines all those years: my father, my mother, my brothers and sisters. I remember all those people who I betrayed for the sake of some fake files. I love you all from the bottom of my heart and hope that you would forgive me for all the sins I committed.
abhinav31
