What makes people pursue new goals even when they're in their mid 40s? I think the answer lies in the desire to create a difference in the world when you yourself have gone through many life experiences and changes. My plan for a PhD now has a bigger purpose– to make language skill development for adult learners more effective. The first half of this year saw some good work in terms of my thesis development; May 2024 was the most productive. After I returned to Dhaka in July, though, research work was halted.
My year started in Kuala Lumpur and a day trip in the beautiful Portuguese established city, Melaka. When I came back to Dhaka to conduct the pilot study (conducted at a garments manufacturer company in Khagan) for a few months, I didn’t miss Malaysia much, as I knew I would go back again. After I finally came back by the end of June, however, I felt so sad leaving my dorm room at the campus with all its establishment for the temporary stay, the USM campus in Penang, Apu’s place in KL… As I look back now, it seems like another time!
One good news to kick off the new year was my moral child Sawda Khatun successfully completed HSC and started her university studies in Begum Rokeya University Rangpur. A small joy I experienced this year, and one I’d like to share, was how I randomly kept finding money in my bags. I’m not sure why, but it made me really excited. I also enjoyed deshi food after a long break, which brought a relief to my taste buds. Connecting to friend and acquaintances is always satisfying and I had one such occasion while attending the golden jubilee of Tiny Tots and Summerfield Int. School which was my first workplace. My Stamford colleagues remembered me when they published a magazine Parnassus from StrayBird and sent it to me. This kind of gestures made me feel so special!
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| The Charismatic Anjum Apa |
During my 4-month long return to Dhaka, I attended DIU Family Day and the 11th Convocation at Daffodil even though I was on leave. I also went on a day trip to Chandpur to meet the teachers of Daffodil School for a training session. I started presenting news during this time and had to listen to crap about how difficult it is to rejoin after a long break. After coming back finally and rejoining, university work consumed my time extensively with teaching 3 courses to undergraduate students, leading a few corporate training programs, preparing a draft for honors program in collaboration with Purdue University Fort Wayne, and organizing a few programs here and there (like the 14th NAQCE).
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| Work Pictures |
Even though I taught the courses before, there was new content for the 20th Century Poetry course for which I needed further preparation. What I didn’t know was that we wouldn’t be able to conduct classes and things would come to a complete halt with the students’ protest about quota. 6 days without any sort of communication with the outside world was momentous. Things escalated from mid July and reached the peak on 5th August with Hasina on the run. I went to Jahangirnagar University, and places around Uttara to show solidarity. I feel thankful for the fact that I was able to stay unharmed, since in different places, people were even dying.
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| Revolution |
The political situation is still not stable and sometimes I feel scared about the future, but people still hope for better days– life moves on with the survivors mourning for the dead. Right after the upsurge, we observed wakes, and Parisa went out a couple of times to paint the roads and walls of the city. Also, Poly left Bangladesh for University Louisiana at Lafayette. Afterwards, the country suffered from one of the worst floods ever, which meant the newly-appointed Interim Government faced a lot of bumps in managing the situation. Things started rolling again at the end of August and we celebrated Bangladesh 2.0 in September with our loved ones. Meanwhile at Daffodil Shykh Seraj Sir dropped by for shooting for Mati o Manush and we talked after ages! Talked to Harun Bhai after a long while too. It was great to know that Joyee is all grown up and studies in Medical Science at the University of Arkansas.
Apart from my regular classes, I started conducting training sessions for 5 different organizations (for example, ACI) and this put extra pressure on me. This also contributed to commuting long distances in Dhaka, having no time for myself and my thesis, and getting a terrible flu which lasted for days! Ahadnan had a terrible accident which made HRDI a bit unsettled. I continued hosting programs for the golf clubs, but still didn’t get payment for one which taught me the importance of saying NO to people.
One exciting thing that happened was to attend ‘The Untold Journey’ for Campus Radio. I also interviewed the Deputy Chief of Mission, IOM and Acting High Commissioner of Australia in BD for Campus TV. My advising 20th batch arranged a get together (kind of a farewell) where I was overwhelmed with the gifts.
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| Advising Batch |
New Skills/Interests
I enrolled myself for driving lessons early this year and managed to learn the basic stuff. Still, the thought of actually driving on the roads scares me.
On 18 October Tompy and I attended our very first marathon organized by Trail Break. This was due to Amir’s persuasion, but I’m happy that I started this. I joined 2 more marathons - UCR and BOA in December.
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| Marathon Finisher! |
I finished 3 books (Intimacy by Hanif Qureshi, Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Vegetarian by Han Kang) this year, went to visit puja mandaps in the old town after a long time and some of the sights gave me the feeling that some things never change in that part of the town. Like when I visit Dhanmondi, I feel that I don’t know the place anymore after living there for 3 years (2005-2008). Things have changed so much!
Friends
Zareen and I watched ‘Crew’, had iftar, went to Charukola the day before ‘Pohela Boishakh’, attended a Renaissance concert which brought back so many girlhood memories, and visited Helen’s place for an invitation. Tanya dropped by in October again, but Zareen didn’t come and meet us. Apparently, she’s having some sort of friendship crisis. Met Asma/Alpana and Shampa in January, Zia Bhai in April, Dr. Mustafa in July, Mahtab also came for a visit from London in November, and Bushra and Azad came from Australia in December.
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| Outing with Buddies |
Tomtom
Tomtom and I continued exploring different food joints, having sehri at a place, attending boi mela, shopping, and taking rickshaw rides. One rewarding experience for both of us was visiting Hajera Apa and her children in Bosila. She wrote a piece on this gold-hearted woman and submitted for Harvard Crimson Golden Essay Competition. But more than writing an informative essay I think meeting the children who were over the moon getting those small gifts from us was more fulfilling.
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| Hajera Apa |
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| Tompy's Achievements - Int. Language League at NSU & Scholastica MUN |
She scored the highest for the midterm exam and earned a new Vivo phone. But the greatest feat is the completion of two books, one of poetry and another a novella. We're so excited at the prospect of publishing the novella in the Ekushey Boi Mela next year! The publishing house, Creative Dhaka Publications, is a promising one too.
Family
Family gathered at my place on my birthday and Eid day which was fun, but property issues sneaked in and no matter how Raj tried to evade it, things started rolling in and we had to make some unpleasant decisions. On 12 October we went for a short trip to Shayan Resort and had a good time. We celebrated Tompy’s birthday at La Mirchi and had a fun experience there as the workers and some other customers participated in our celebration too.
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| Family |
Abbu came over a couple of times, but the last time he couldn’t climb up the stairs to come inside our place due to having weak knees. Abbu also keeps forgetting stuff. One of the painful incidents of the year was the goodbye to Khala in April. After living with us for more than 16 years, she had to go back to her daughter Rina’s family to spend time with her two grandchildren and one grand-grand child. It was a difficult decision, but I had to do it.
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| Goodbye to Khala |
Unfortunately, Baba was hospitalized during Ramadan and had to go to Birdem for a few days. Sasuma has been suffering from different ailments and appears to be shrunk in size.
Malaysia Days
By the end of April I flew back to KL first and then to Penang. The stay with Apu and V2 Bhaiya was pleasant and yummy as they always stuff me with food. I got settled in Shapla’s room when I reached campus and had a painful experience in hauling all my stuff from H06 to H51 by myself only to discover that I got my own room (no. 150) within a month! Luckily it was in the same building and the shifting was less of a trouble. Bought a fridge from Shapla and some other necessary stuff and my own room looked the best! But good times don’t last long; another student popped in in the adjacent room and she was messy with our common toilet. Apu and V2 Bhaiya came over to Penang in May to celebrate Apu’s birthday on the 17th. As usual we stayed at the age-old luxurious Eastern and Oriental for a few days and did a photoshoot. Bhasha, an ex Stamford student, came over to meet me for a while. I also attended a meeting with the Vice Chancellor of USM when the Bangladeshi Ambassador came for a visit, a piano recital and a play by a French writer. May was the most productive month as I finally finished the drafts of all 3 chapters and submitted them to my supervisor. Just before leaving for Dhaka, he was able to sit with me to give feedback on Chapter 1, and I was amazed at his scrutiny and admired how he delivered his comments. Poly had her baby girl Yusra on 30th May and I had a video call to see the newborn. It was so exciting that I cried!
Raj and Parisa came to Penang on 13th June and had a week-long trip. We stayed at a service apartment in Penang, went to roam around an age-old mansion, the Gurney Bay where Tomtom had a soothing time, Batu Ferringhi Beach, Gurney Plaza to explore Book Xcess, and finally the USM campus on a terribly hot day, thus couldn’t explore much before heading for the airport to catch our budget flight to KL. Apu and V2 Bhaiya had an addition to their family– Mimi, along with their son Milo. We spent 4 days there eating (a lot!), exploring TRX (The Exchange), Petronas Twin Towers. V2 Bhaiya cooked biryani for Eid and Raj finally gave a treat at their favorite hill-top restaurant. Spent a day shopping and Tomtom bought a very expensive pair of boots.
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| Malaysia Family |
Made friends with Kim from China, Noha from Egypt, Nabia from Pakistan, Fairos and Faris from Malaysia, Richard from Malawi, Hanif from Indonesia, Joul from Morocco and two girls from Thailand at the Bakti Cafeteria. There was almost no contact with Emina and sometimes I wonder how she is in China. Meanwhile Miao got engaged to her police boyfriend and Faris had a son. Meeting Ethan and Jacob again in person was fun too. I felt sad saying goodbye to them too as I felt this might be the last time we would see each other physically. The journey back home was distressing as Malindo had a dreadful delay. Even though they offered free dinner, it was tiring.
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| Our 2024 |
Globally the genocide in Palestine is still going on even though the Assad regime toppled in Syria. There was not a single day when news from these places didn't horrify me. Many people passed away in 2024, but a few made me more saddened like DIU Registrar Fazlul Hoque Sir, Harry Potter actress Maggie Smith, The Shining actress Shelley Duvall, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Tany’s mother, BIT’s founder principal Lubna Choudhury and our own Samad Mama. The cycle of life and death goes on with people passing away and Pikachu babies like Yusra coming in. That's life.
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