2018 went on a flash. I feel nothing much happened in my
world; it’s the same old, same old. However, Parisa’s world was a happening
one. I started the year with a workshop with 2 of my colleagues at BELTA
Conference. It was quite a success where we presented ideas of alternative
assessments which we learnt from our 2017 online course. There were about 40
participants and we were given much credit for disseminating the ideas. But
that was all in terms of academic work this year. I kept knocking at other
doors and was not much successful. Now I am waiting for a result which will
come out in Feb 2019 and will decide on what to do next.
Parisa, on the other hand, stood 4th while being promoted to
class III. Moreover, her biggest achievement this year was participating in the
Math Olympiad (English Medium) and obtaining the 7th position. She made us
proud. The regular programs at school, for example, International Mother
Language Day, Science Fair, UN Day, Halloween, Christmas etc were held and she
participated in all the programs either by painting, doing group work,
presenting, trick or treating, singing etc.
Friends are the breath of life.
I ensured that she doesn’t miss the
Art Summit and Book Fair in February. She thoroughly enjoyed the Asian Biennale
Art Fest and Dhaka Lit Fest (Tilda Swinton’s reading was a great treat) too.
Parisa at the Exhibitions
One
very important thing that happened to her was Saniyat dedicated his 4th book to
Ammu and Parisa; she tried to read a poem but left the job helplessly as it was
full of complex Bangla words. She excelled in English far better than in
Bangla, but she improved than last year. Extra-curricular activities also went
on – occasional cooking class at Fantasium and pottery painting at Clay
Station, regular piano, art and Arabic (started this year) lessons. We also
enrolled for swimming and cycling sessions at School Plus and successfully
completed the programs. Such accomplishment was felt when we could do it! This
eventually led to the buying of a new cycle. We also had a reading-race with
the Harry Potter series and I think Pori went bit ahead of her age when she
finished the huge volumes. She also had interest in Nancy Drew and Secret Seven
series. In September she participated in Protigga Foundation’s program as a
volunteer for the first time. The experience was special for her too as she
learnt to do things in a group, took care of smaller kids, and received a
certificate as appreciation. I hope this venture of Brishty works out.
Cycling, Swimming, Volunteer Work, Going Out
In April on Pahela
Baishakh I gifted new attires to family members and had a vaat-vorta meal at home. I always give
effort to make things right. But things took a downslide with Baba with all his
new plans. Nishu got married in May and we had a huge family gathering. I met
Amma and others at the program, but as usual no conversation was held. Abbu
kept meeting us whenever he came to Uttara for paying a visit to the tenants.
His love and adoration for Pori is ever growing, and her participation in Math
Olympiad made him proud. He bought the rest of the Harry Potter series when he
heard she started reading the novel as a prize. But towards the end of the year
a disc in his spine started giving trouble and it didn’t allow him to move much.
He bought fruits, books, summer dresses etc for Pori and nothing for me. But I
guess that’s how things are now and I know he loves me specially after I heard
what Kachi Chacha told me about Abbu’s feelings after seeing my new-born face,
‘etto maya lagey.’ I shared this with
Mami saying I miss him more now and regret the fact that I cannot be with him
when he is sick. Well, life doesn’t give you everything.
Birthdays took place this year with surprises. My one was
low-key but I got beautiful flowers with little notes written in English placed
at my university table with no name. Months later Takwa told me it was hers.
Some students always go a little far. Akhi also surprised me by giving me a
framed painting done by her and it reminds me of the song ‘Starry starry night’.
Birthday Gifts
Ma and the whole gang came to surprise Raj on
his birthday, but he received them very normally; the same thing happened on
Ma’s birthday. It was evident that Ma has become emotional with the passing of
time because she kept taking photos with everyone and saying things like, ‘I
might not be with you…’ Roshni’s birthday was a bang which was held at Krua
Thai. Ashaz and Subha’s joint birthday celebration brought a big change in
Brishty’s house though everybody missed Boro Khalamoni. But Parisa’s birthday
was the most fun-filled. I gathered all at Hook and Cook and took Parisa there when
she had no idea that something was happening on that day. We ate, sang karaoke
songs, laughed, chatted and enjoyed. She said this was the best birthday ever,
but I am sure I will be able to make the next one special too. I love to do things
for her.
Birthdays through the year
We went to Grand Sultan in May with Labiba and family. It
was such a grand experience! Two very special things happened in June – her
first TV appearance and our trip to Bali. She played the keyboard and cooked
fruit salad for the screen in a program titled ‘Kids’ Day Out’ for Eid. But we
couldn’t watch it on the TV screen because we were out of the country. Raj
didn’t like Bali much but we enjoyed the trip to the full extent, covered Gili
islands too. Raj, Pori and Nadira had trouble with the food there but everything
else went well on that 8-day trip. We had a little accident and excitement when
Asma was about to miss the tourist bus for the safari tour. I shopped too much
and had to pay the credit card bills in the following months. Raj went to
Thailand during Qurbani holidays and
I had the excitement of going to Qurbani
Haat with Jico and gong.
Bali Group Pics
In August we went to Brahmanbaria to pay a visit to Baba’s
grave and afterwards went to Dream Holiday Park.
Outing with Relatives
I had a fantastic outing with
the outgoing batch of our department at Zinda Park which was filled with
delicious home-cooked food, games and laughter. The visit to ‘golap gram’ was also soothing.
Outing with Students
The
regular programs at Daffodil went on – convocation (Registrar Sir gave us a
treat at Xinxian for the MC job), foundation day, orientation program, English
Reunion, Family Day… We shifted from Google Classroom to Moodle as our LMS.
There was also a building shift in Uttara for which students suffered a lot. Ayasha’s
resignation was a sorry thing to happen. Things bad happened at the TV station
too – people got sacked, drop off was stopped. I took up the challenge of
conducting live talk show, Late Edition, for 3/4 times, but then stopped. My
ties have become frail now.
Colleagues-Friends
The ex students popped up now and then, for example – Samira
came from the UK for a visit, so did Tajia from Malaysia, Faria paid a visit
before she has her first baby. I attended Tiny Tots’ Manzur’s wedding, Sauhardo’s
(Stamford’s Nazir’s son) first birthday, Stamford’s Saif’s wedding (the
yummiest kacchi I had), Stamford Club
Day Program, and it’s always good to meet the old ones and catch up. Tanya came
from Iraq to Dhaka on holidays and we girls met, fought, ate out, had fun. Arpi
continued living in seclusion, met her couple of times, strongly felt she
detached herself from worldly affairs but found peace.
Friends are the breath of life.
In October Durgapuja
arrived and this year I covered many temples including Jogonnath University,
Dhakeshwari, Shakharai Bazar, Ramna Kali Mandir and for the first time had the prashad (khichuri) at Baba Loknath Temple.
Puja Diary
In the same month Pori received
the long-awaited Nintendo Switch and she was hooked onto it. Now her favorite
is Smash Bros and Fortnite. Just to make people understand how much she is in
love with Switch – she named the Switch as the only thing she would take out
with her in case the house were on fire to answer my hypothetical question. Her
creativity at writing or composing things took a turn as she went for digital
mediums like Recolor for painting, Pivot or Gacha for story making, but also
composed a few songs which she listed in her notebook. I shout at times when
she is engrossed in gaming and blame Switch or mobile games whenever I feel
like. But I guess there is no way to leave the digital world behind; we watched
number of films on the big screen this year including Avengers, Fantastic Beasts,
Ralph Breaks the Internet, Bumblebee etc. I guess Raj’s personal interest was
primarily important in buying the Switch and I will never forget the shock I received
when I actually came to know its price after assuming this would cost me a few
thousand. Pori cracked a joke on me by saying that she loves to play with me
because it gives her a chance to have a good laugh. She cracks jokes at us
(specially me) like anything. I get amazed at her wit and sense of humor
sometimes. Chatting with her is never boring and educational too as I learn
useful information of the gaming world which I can use in conversation with
others. She is also growing a physical sense of things. Her enthusiasm for
trying out things continued. Pori was super enthusiastic on the Family Day held
in December and participated in every event she got a chance to. Her
disappointment at not winning was evident but I am always happy to note that
the feeling doesn’t linger with her for long. She earned gift coupons and
bought me a beautiful set with 100/-. The real family day took place on the
last day of the year. We had a barbecue party on the rooftop. It was full of fun, laughter and frolic. Everyone shared their expectation from 2019 and their new year resolution. Pori said she wants to have better grades and she wants to spend more time with family and friends. I said I want new challenges from 2019 and I want to spend less and do new things in the new year. But on the very first day when I saw a text from Burger King saying the 3rd burger is free with the order for 2, I started planning to eat out. So like every year the resolution goes in drain...
Family
