I Am Asif

[লেখাটা বৃষ্টি নিয়ে, তাই ব্যাকগ্রাউন্ডে বৃষ্টির সুর থাকলে মনে হয়ে মন্দ হয় না, কি বলেন?  তাহলে হেডফোন লাগিয়ে ,পাশের প্লে বাটনে ক্লিক করুন ! সাথে এক চা হলে আরও ভালো ] এশার নামাজে যাওয়ার সময় বৃষ্টি ছিল না। বৃষ্টির লক্ষণ ছিল, তবে লক্ষ্য করার সময় ছিল না। নামাজের মধ্যেই ঝিরঝির শব্দ পেলাম। বুঝলাম, আজ বাসায় ফিরতে দেরি হতে পারে।  আয় বৃষ্টি ঝেপে... নামাজ শেষে মসজিদ থেকে বের হওয়ার জন্য আমাদের মুসল্লিদের বড় অংশের মধ্যেই প্রচন্ড একটা তাড়া থাকে। কবি আমাদের অন্তরের কথা জানতে পারলে হয়তো লিখতেন, অস্থিরতা বৃদ্ধি পাইতেছে, অন্তর জ্বলিয়া যাইতেছে, মসজিদের ভেতর যে আটকা, সে কি করিয়া শান্ত হইতে পারে .... As expected, নামাজ শেষে মসজিদের গেটের কাছে এসে দেখি অনেক অস্থির মুসল্লিদের ভিড়, বেরোতে পারছে না। বাইরে ঝুম বৃষ্টি। আটকে পড়া ভাইয়েরা অসহায় দৃষ্টিতে বৃষ্টি দেখছে। গেটের সামনে দোতলায় উঠার প্রশস্ত সিঁড়ি। আমি কয়েক ধাপ উপরে উঠে বসে পড়লাম, ঠিক স্টেডিয়াম বা সিনেপ্লেক্সের গ্যালারিতে বসার মতো। কারণ বৃষ্টি আমার কাছে একটা enjoyable জিনিস, একটা Source of entertainment । তবে রাতের বেলায় ...

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...

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...