I Am Asif

কয়েক ঘণ্টা তো হয়ে গেল প্লেন ছেড়েছে। কোন শহরের উপরে এখন আমরা? গন্তব্যের দেশটার সীমানা ভেদ করেছি, সেটা জানি, আর গন্তব্য শহরের বেশ কাছাকাছিই আছি, সেটাও বলে দিচ্ছে আমার সামনের স্ক্রীনের লাইভ ম্যাপ। এয়ার ট্র্যাভেলে এই চ্যানেলটাই আমার সবচেয়ে প্রিয়।   একটু পর পর তাকাচ্ছি আমার পাশের জানালা দিয়ে। নাহ, নিচে এখনও ঘোর অন্ধকার। আসেনি এখনও সেই শহর...   কিছুক্ষণ পর, বাইরে তাকাতেই চোখে পড়ল আলো, কালোর মাঝে অসংখ্য বৈদ্যুতিক আলো। সামনের ডিসপ্লেতে চোখ বুলালাম। এই তো! অপেক্ষার পালা শেষ। আমার নিচেই এখন সেই নূরের শহর, আমার স্বপ্নের শহর, শান্তির শহর......   এই শহর যখন প্রথম চোখে পড়বে, তখন পড়বার জন্য বিশেষ একটি দুআই আছে! অনেকক্ষণ ধরে প্র্যাকটিসও করে রেখেছি। জানালায় মাথা ঠেকিয়ে, চোখ বড় করে তাকিয়ে পড়তে শুরু করলাম...... ও আল্লাহ ! এইতো তোমার নবীর শহর ! একে আমার জন্য জাহান্নামের আগুন থেকে রক্ষার, শাস্তি আর খারাপ হিসাব থেকে নিরাপত্তার মাধ্যম বানিয়ে দাও ! (ভাবার্থ) কি আশ্চর্য দুআ! আমাদের ঈমান, আমল, তওবা, কান্নাকাটি, সব তো জাহান্নাম থেকে বাঁচার জন্যে। দুনিয়ার জীবনের সফলতা...

[ Continued from Part 1. Click on the photos to get larger views in a new window, there you can also drop your comments on the individual photos.] The World Peace Stupa (Pagoda) is another popular destination in Pokhara. Part of the attraction is the large gleaming white structure of the pagoda with a golden statue of the Buddha at the very top of the hill, but it also draws people being one of the key vantage points providing stunning views of the Pokhara landscape. The drive up to the top was pretty scary indeed, our sturdy old jeep was twisting and turning its way upwards over the winding hilly path, the road only a bit wider than the vehicle itself. Had to walk up by foot for about 10 minutes to get to the peak. But just like in Sarangkot the previous day, the weather wasn't on my side. But here I had a good chance of putting my newbie photography skills to the test, trying out some real Panoramas. The result wasn't so bad. Panorama of the World Peace Pagoda. Cou...

This just shows how good I am at procrastinating, it took me a month to start writing a blog post about my Nepal tour. At first I thought I'd make a really descriptive post, but I'm just too lazy for that. So I thought I'd make it a photo blog instead. Makes the job much easier for me since many of the shots are already uploaded in G+/Picasa . Click on the photos to get larger views in a new window, there you can also drop your comments on the individual photos. My father is the kind of a person who doesn't wanna wait for something he's decided upon. It might be really hard to convince him into something, but once it's set in his mind, he just can't wait. So when one fine noon he casually informed me that they (my parents) are going to Nepal within a few days and I should let him know if I wanted to accompany them, I knew it was just a matter of time, and a very short time at that. So I was off to making a list of places to visit :D. Also, since I didn...

I don't think there could be any better month to end this year. December, or the second half of it, has been jam packed with three very significant events, probably for my life. First of all there was the three days I spent on a jamaat, this time with my dad! Those who know me (or the unlikely souls who read my blog) know pretty well that I try to spend some time of the path of Allah regularly. I've been wanting very badly for a long time now to take my father with me some day. He's been eager a few times as well, but health issues and other mismatches were getting on the way. Finally thanks to Allah we went out together on a jamaat on the 16th and spent the next three days in the environment of a masjid. A long awaited wish of me and my sister has been finally fulfilled, Alhamdulillah. Then came the biggest family event, ever. The place where my father and my uncles grew up is the native village of Fuljhury, in Pirojpur district of Barisal. There, the more than a hundre...

Although I’ve seen a few of my cousins get born and grow up a little, but since they didn’t actually stay with us I never really got to handle a baby before. We all needed a big change in the family, and this big change comes in the form of a tiny little boy! Yup, he’s small, believe me, like a pet. He’s the first baby of my sister cum friend. We’ve all been waiting for this little bundle of joy for a long time now, and when he came to us two weeks ago, instantly the youngest member of the family became the most popular one! As I’ve said before, I’ve had no previous experience with babies. The first few days I couldn’t even carry him properly, as soon as he came to me he would start to cry. But in a few days, when he first slept on my arms for more than an hour, I got to feel something I’ve never felt before. It was really amazing. I now have some sort of idea about how my uncles and aunts must feel for me; since I’ve grown up in their hands from an age my nephew is in now. He’s bee...

Last thursday my mom and dad left the country for Saudi Arabia to perform The Umrah and visit the two most beloved cities of the Muslim world. At first they've gone to the golden Madina Munawwarah, where they are performing their Salaats in Masjid e Nababi, the beautiful mosque which was the mosque of Prophet Muhammad (S) in the dawn of Islam, and they are conveying their Salaam to our beloved Nabi (S) who is lying there. After about a week inshallah they'll head towards Makkah Mukarrama and perform their Umrah and dazzle their eyes with the site of The Holy Kaaba. I'm really happy that my mom and dad have taken a break from their busy lives and went to the two most peaceful places on earth. But honestly speaking, I'm really disappointed and jealous that I'm not with them. We all went to Umrah back in 2002, and those five days were the most memorable days of my life, and the most pleasing. I always thought that whenever again my parents would go there, they'd...

My father has an attraction for gardening, and since coming to Uttara, driven by his enthusiasm for it and with the help of a gardener, he has utilized our roof and some portion of land on the front of our house to grow all sorts of flowers, fruits and vegetables, all thanks to The Almighty Allah. The latest addition to the wide array of stuff that our garden has produced, are grapes! I don't know much about gardening, but I know that growing grapes is not an easy thing to do. But Allah's bounty seems to be abundant for my Dad's garden, and now quite a lot of grapes are growing and they seem pretty healthy. I took some high resolution photos of the garden yesterday which you can take a look at. This is not the season for flowers, but you can see some photos previously taken of the beautiful flowers which grew in the proper season, although not so high quality. Click on the images to see more.