I Am Asif

The last day on our trip to The Sundarbans started on an island called Dublar Char . This is a place famed for its shutki , a kind of dried fish preparation popular in Bangladesh. Right after daybreak we got out on the land to check out the place. This area is occupied for a certain period of the year by fishermen who catch fish and dry them up to produce the shutki. So almost all the people who live here are seasonal fishermen. Now in our family, we never were fans of shutki, mostly because of its awful stench. I remember back when we were in Elephant Road, our next door neighbors used to cook shutki every now and then, and we all started running this way and that, hurrying to close all the windows. So for a guy like me, this shutki island is not the place to be. If you don’t like the smell as well, you should be glad that you can’t smell them through the photos, cuz otherwise you would have to run away from the monitor. Rows upon rows of bizarre looking dried fish are hung upon s...

Water water everywhere. To the left, right, front and back, below you, knee deep, and the rain falling from above. Waves rushing in all directions, made by the passing of the vehicles. I'm not talking about boats on a river, but this has become the scene of the busiest of streets here in Dhaka city, all thanks to just one night of relentless rain, and the horrible drainage system of the capital. Thanks to the damaged climate, this year the rain has come later than usual. Monday night's rain was the first proper rain of the Bangla month of Srabon, which is synonymous to heavy rain. The failure of the drainage system is nothing unknown to the Dhaka dwellers. But it was indeed shocking how much damage just 5-6 hours of rain can cause. The city is virtually in a standstill even after more than 24 hours. The busiest main streets of Dhaka sank under knee deep, and in some places under waist deep water, not to mention the alleys and the lower parts of the city. It is likely that ther...

After coming to Uttara, whenever its raining in daytime, and I'm at home and have not taken my shower already, then you wouldn't find me in my room. Instead I'd be on the roof, taking a shower in the rain. That's why a couple of days ago when it started to rain pretty heavily at noon, I went straight up. I don't know why, I just love the feeling of the rain on my body. Many of us believe that walking in the rain will cause fever or cold. I had the similar idea many years ago. I had a home tutor who used to teach me math, he said that this concept is nothing but psychological. Because thousands of rickshaw pullers in street are getting soaked in the rain all day, but they don't catch cold, otherwise there would be no rickshaw pullers to be found on the street the following day as they would all catch fever. They don't catch cold cuz they are not concerned about it. Since then, my fear of catching cold in rain was over, whenever I had a chance, I got myself so...

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd May were the dates fixed for the 3 day Jamaat (of Tabligh ) from our mosque. It was actually due for the last week of April, but we couldn't get our Jamaat ready. Our destination was a village called Diabari. You might be thinking that it's so far away from Dhaka, instead it's just a 15 minute rickshaw ride away from our home. That's right, there are quite a few villages very close to Uttara which may one day become part of the city through urbanization. This village is located to the immediate west of sector 12 of Uttara, beyond the vast sands. The sands are the future site of the proposed new sectors of Uttara Model Town . Anyway, I went with the Jamaat, couldn't stay though, as my classes were on. On the second day after the Maghrib bayaan, me and some other brothers were just having a chat on the veranda of the mosque, while preparing our dinner. And then, within just a few seconds, out of nowhere came the storm. As I've already ment...

The days of Ijtema are the most eagerly awaited days of the year to me. Since I came to Uttara I didn't miss attending this grand event. It's a huge opportunity to listen to the elders of Tabligh who come here from all the corners of the globe, inspiring us to work on Allah's path, spread the words of Quran and Sunnah. This year I knew I wouldn't be able to attend all three days, as the classes and exams were too heavily scheduled as we are heading towards the end of the semester. But man desires and Allah decides. Due to continuous rain and chilling winter cold, the Ijtema was cut short into just one day. I saw a glimpse of the misery of the people at Ijtema on Thursday. I went there at Asr and the scenario was totally miserable. It was raining from above, the water dripping down through the canopies. The clay roads were all muddy, making it a huge task to move around. People were finding no place even to put their luggage. At several spots I saw men removing mud usin...

This morning I woke up just like any other day at 5:50 am to attend the Fajr jamaat at 6:10 am. I went to the bathroom, and wait, something was different outside. Did I just hear the sound of rain falling? I went back to my room and opened the sliding glass window, and found that I was right. It was raining pretty heavy. Usually every year towards the last days of winter, there comes one such rainy day which turns down the temperature one final notch. It's like winter's last stand against the clock of nature. So I was expecting such a day. Anyway, raining or not, I had to go the mosque. Off I went taking up my umbrella after a long time, into the winter rain. It was chilly outside, and as it was raining heavier than I expected, I was getting soaked despite the umbrella over my head. At the mosque the attendance was less the usual, not unexpectedly. After the namaz I had about half an hour to get ready for class. When I left home at 7:15 am for the bus stand, it was still pretty...