2022 - a year of love, growth & progress

Family

2022 became special for so many reasons. In case of Parisa, she became a teen with varied interests in volleyball, karate, acting, debating, writing fictions, and piano. ☺ Parisa had her first experience in debating in April at Language League, but then she took up Model United Nations organized by A Foundation, then Scholastica and again A Foundation. Now she's being chosen as Campus Ambassador for BIT in A Foundation's moderated caucus. She learnt volleyball quickly and participated in a competition at AISD by the end of September, started her karate lessons in August but then gave a break for mid exam, and coincidentally she is going to perform in Shakespeare's As You Like It (a text I teach in my Shakespeare course at DIU) in 2023!!

She surprises me with her steadfastness and approach towards things, though her expression of emotions doesn't match mine. But it has a positive side. I savor the rare moments when she comes and hugs me and says 'I love you'. In my case, a giant leap is enrolling myself in a PhD program at USM (yes, finally!). This time I submitted a proposal which is of my interest and from my work area unlike the MPhil proposal which was far fetched. The prospect of going away from family even for a short while is a bit unnerving 😓 taking into consideration the financial constraints that we'll be facing but at the same time exciting. 2022 was also an FB free year for me and I consider it quite an achievement! Staying away from social media isn't an easy decision. Interestingly in the physical world, I celebrated my birthday with 4 cakes! The usual birthday celebrations in the family continued though Raj's one was low-key with us and Jico, Rana at Sao 26. Parisa's birthday was spent with her friends; this time I didn't cook anything or order a special cake. Eid celebration went to a peak with Mami's gift of an expensive Aarong shari.💥 Shopping with her is quite an experience! We had Qurbani with Poly's family like the previous year. Wedding celebrations also took place - Mukit got married, I couldn't attend the wedding, so we took them out to a Trouvaille dinner. Jico got hitched again in May only to be divorced again within 2.5 months. 😔 Samiha got married to a doctor in December and I couldn't make it either. 

The year started with a visit from Liza from the UK, Nishu and then Halum & Azad from Australia, Dr. Ahmed Mustafa (met him for the very first time), Emrul from Australia & Zisa from the USA. 

Friends & Family from Abroad

Parisa got into trying out new recipes and baking. She also stepped out of her comfort zone to try out Korean, Japanese dishes. Her tolerance for spices also increased. Her love for anime grew which was manifested by attending the Animecon, buying animes, reading and watching them. I watched Fullmetal Alchemist & Attack on Titans with her and started Assassination Classroom. In the academic field she scored poorly in Bangla and Mathematics in the first session of class 6, so we hired Orbeen as a private tutor for her who did an excellent job with math and science in 6 months! She improved so much that she came 2nd while being promoted to class 7 and came 9th in the Math Olympiad in November. But then things didn't quite work out with Orbeen and we had to put her in a coaching group. Luckily, she got accustomed to the different teaching techniques and became an independent learner. Can't say how proud I'm when I see her studying on her own, researching for debate motions, going to school alone…. 💙

My HRDI jobs became demanding and revenue oriented. Started going to corporate houses (SGS and ACI Ltd) for conducting English courses. I think a few white hairs on my head are due to this pressure. Involvement with HRDI grew with iftar gathering, birthday celebration, eating outs etc. Shajal went away in May for his PhD and had a little bit of trouble in managing things. Moreover, I made myself productive by conducting some value-added workshops under the HRDI banner on news presentation, breathing and mindfulness, and English for professional use.

I went back to Stamford to conduct a workshop on news presentation and nostalgia hit hard by visiting the Shiddheswari's old building. One sad news was Rumana's demise in December at such an early age leaving two kids with Oli. Academically this year also became a milestone with my first Scopus publication. Will remember the Google Meets with Subrata and Poly to finalize the paper. Physically, I could do a moderate arm stand in yoga. The excitement I felt after doing it for the first time was evident with a shriek. 

One heartbreaking news of the year was Halum and Bossy's divorce. Came to know about this in April from Halum, and Bossy came for a visit in December only to talk about things when they were finally done. Another divorce rocked Dhaka which was Tania Apu's. She came to our place for the first time and we got along pretty well. Tanzu got another reception in June only to leave for Australia. Attending the program was a better experience than before because I didn't cry this time! Raj's love for Marvel didn't diminish and we watched Thor Live and Thunder, Wakanda Forever etc in the theater. Tanya came in August and the 3 of us got back together and did some roaming around in the city. Friendship at this age has its strains, but I am happy that I could reconnect with Arpi. It was numbing to know what she went through with Aunty’s sickness during Covid, her own physical problems, struggles of Nabiha and especially 😔 because I didn’t know any of these. But everything is healed with time. 

Department got busy with arranging programs like the seminar on Post Modernism, English Olympiad, accreditation etc. My reception for the Olympiad in 2021 was given in March. My students created alternate endings to Shakespeare's plays that we studied and a few were excellent productions! Shakespeare Production (Merchant of Venice Alternate Ending

I hosted a show on TV on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth's passing away in September which was special as an ex-ambassador joined. I continued hosting programs for the golf clubs, hosted AUAP Change Together at DIU etc. People like Sakib, Mainul Bhai, Rubel, Rebekah Apa, Nahin left jobs and went to new destinations and hopefully for better prospects.

Went to watch 12 Angry Men at the theater and felt really good experiencing live theater after a long time. World Cup Football took everyone by storm and Raj was jubilant at Argentina's win. 💥

Things didn't go well with Baba as the meetings over property left a bitter taste for everyone. Raj's family also went through some financial and sickness related hiccups. However, the year ended with a reinventing yet cold trip to Narail making memories with warm hearted people of Niloy's family. 

2021 - a year of losses & gains

When I titled this as 'a year of losses and gains, I didn't just mean monetary loss/gain, but meant the passing away of loved ones and gaining new relationships, new meanings to life. 

Well the year started with a fantastic Galaxy Note 10 Lite gift from Raj and this was very special because he never gave me any mobile devices before. I also got a new laptop and when I started using the new Lenovo, I couldn't believe how I survived the online classes, meetings etc with the old tortoise-speed one for a year! Raj treated us at Hong Bao on the occasion of getting a bonus and at Thai Emerald on our anniversary. Cheers to his changes (he still continues to be nagging and annoying though...)! He also started going to the gym and the result is now pretty visible. Raj is up for a slow-mo video on a beach being topless. 😝 I am not even that much motivated about yoga like he is for the gym!

Sattar, Yasmin and Nawal in 2021

All our birthdays, Eid days were celebrated at home at a small scale. But family and friends came over as usual. Jico was extremely happy as we threw a big party on his birthday. Auronjoni celebrated her 50th birthday with us which made us feel very special. Another special thing happened when Nabiha also celebrated her birthday at our place! 

Birthdays

I particularly was moved by Forty Rules of Love written by an Egyptian writer though it took me many days to finish the novel. I had a haircut and colored my hair (a long awaited wish fulfilled) but ruined the quality of my hair in the process. But in the family things were strained with Baba, my brother and his wife, and I left it as it is after creating a ripple. In the other family Tanzu got married on 22nd January and it was an emotional experience for me seeing her in the red attire... and not to mention that I cried at the wedding! I could fix things with Amma but I didn't put that effort. Abbu did alright but had a little accident towards the end of the year which caused a nosebleed and he stopped walking outside. Choto Fupu had a terrible highway accident. I had a little accident on day after Eid while going to Sasuma's place in a cng. The experience was scary...

We started the year with a family picnic in Gazipur. Afterwards I went to Brahmanbaria with Poly on a special occasion and loved the warmth of the people there. It was the chilly winter time with shorisha flower, hot cup of tea and pitha. Felt like going back to village after ages and it reminded me a lot of Dadu Bari. We had short visits to 'golap gram', sunflower field and here and there...  

Trips

Hassib's Ammu, Quamrun Nahar Madam, Faria's husband, Mou's husband passed away. These losses were untimely and sometimes I was shook to my bones... 😔 Dilruba left for Sweden. In the pet world Chimty lost her new born kittens once and then ended up having only Nero during her second pregnancy. Our house has become a shelter for cats and we also babysat a neighbor's cat! We lost TT, then Maya on 9th November. I can't erase the ashen tongue and the look on Maya's face as we found her dead in the morning... 😭 Khala was terribly upset. She also had her doctors' visits frequently as her health deteriorated due to high diabetes after Ramadan. 

Maya ❤

Apart from all these upsetting experiences, we carried on, tried to find happiness in little things... Our cover of 'ek paye nupur' was a hit! Our Song The foundation day program of the university took place online but I had to travel to the city campus to host it live from the media lab on my birthday. 😓 That created quite a rush because I had guests coming to my place! But right at 12 midnight I got a great surprise from Poly and Ibti. It was hilarious too!

Parisa hit puberty, and the talk with her about the birds and the bees was smooth. Surprisingly, she just had one obvious question! We watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and thoroughly enjoyed the series. Doing things with her is really fun! Raj and I both got vaccinated, but it was very impactful for Raj after his first dose. Vaccine Impact Raj also managed to get hold of a PS5 and an Xbox, and this made home a heaven for both him and Parisa. I found it quite interesting to see that Raj took interest in home decor (but it was mostly done because of setting up those gaming consoles). 

I had a depressing time early on in the year but the department assigned me with this heavily loaded English Olympiad program and  I had to pull the whole show off in 2 months dealing with 900+ participants from Bangladesh. Thanks to two youngsters of the department - Mahmud and Sakib, without whom it would have been impossible. 

The Flyer

Campus reopened after 19 months on 9th October, and physical classes started which was a great challenge. Even during the online classes I was surprised at the showering love of the CSE students. These are little rewards of teaching. ☺ I had a trip with students to Tanguar Haor. This was also special because Parisa accompanied me, and a lazybones like her survived the sun and the painstaking trip! 👏I am glad that she decided to go out again towards the end of the year and spent 3 days in Cox's Bazar with us. Her school also opened for physical class but once a week. She started having home lessons with Zubaer to improve her results. I continued to teach her Bangla and it was sometimes a desperate task! It was surprising to see her getting interested in the Halloween program at school and her appearance with makeup surprised me a lot! My daughter is growing up! Sometimes I marvel so much about her wit, beauty and talent that I ask myself if a mom should do it. 😛

Things changed a lot at the station and I had to suffer mentally due to some drastic decisions taken by the new ED. Though things were worse at the station, things turned up at the university - I got involved in proctorial committee work, then was appointed as the Additional Director, HRDI on a special day - 7th November. I hosted 3 programs for the golf clubs; it also felt like going on to the stage after years as all activities were suspended due to Covid. I also got involved in a great project of storytelling and the first shoot was done on 20th November, till now we have two episodes (1st episode and 2nd episode). I hope one day my dream for giving voice over for animations will come true too.

I met my school friend Helen, Stamford colleague Farhana and it felt that after ages I went out with Joy to visit the puja mandaps...but there was a turmoil in the country during the time and depressing news got out about the desecration of the idols in different places. Antara came back after 5 years to celebrate puja with her parents and in-laws, and it was great  to catch up with her. I met Niloy first time this year (though I taught him first in fall 2020) and the bonding between us was amazing at the beginning, but soon we discovered - it is because we're indeed very similar in nature; he is a great soul and this I would consider as one of my gains this year. I've a son! 

Pagla Niloy

I also met Ayara's mom at Parisa's birthday and it was amazing to see how she raised her girl through lot of troubles. These human connections/relationships make my life worthwhile. Parisa continued her friendship with Farina, Nabiha, Ayara and MAK, though the boy created some tensions in the group (puberty is to blame I guess)...Parisa met and bonded really well with Raya even though their craziness over Genshin Impact is sometimes annoying. She continued her endeavors at digital art and her works actually showed gradual improvement. I hope she earns in dollars for her work! 😁 She also took an interest in cooking (snack items mostly) and most of her dishes turned out really goooood! She picked up anime music in piano and her playing also showed improvement. I don't want to comment on her music taste... it's a mixture of many things at the moment and I don't like quite a few. We watched couple of good movies which got out this year - Raya and the Last Dragon, Shang Chi, Boku no Hero Academia. Her taste buds had a change and now I have a new buddy in trying out variety of dishes. Gelatissimo and Chatime have become a favorite of both Parisa and me. She also got her bank account open at Prime Bank and I can now take loans from her. 😜

Parisa's Birthday

When I started writing this to sum up the year 2021, I thought may be I wouldn't have so much to write, but here I am finding the year as yet another significant one for our family bringing new changes...and that's what life is all about!