Hijackers and muggings are nothing new to Dhaka or to Bangladesh for that matter. We all know someone who has been the victim of such a situation. IF you are extremely blessed (like moi) you could have also been a victim yourself.
So naturally, you can expect your attacker to surprise you on the street, on a dark night, and take your mobile/cell phone, cash, watch and any jewelry you might have on. What you don’t expect is them coming right into your house like old friends, drinking tea and gossiping, and then tricking you to willingly donate your valuables. But a new generation of con artists is working closer to home, using ingenious strategies to attack middle aged single women - usually mothers of expatriates - who live alone.
I first heard of a case like this when it happened to our neighbor. We have a nice lady who lives with her old mother next door. Her sons live abroad and so essentially it’s just the two of them in that house. One morning when our neighbor was at work a car pulled up at their driveway and a young woman entered their house. She went straight to the living room and requested to meet the mother- who was alone at the time.
This woman introduced herself as friends of our neighbor’s sons. She spoke confidently of their acquaintance and claimed to know at least on of them very well. When she had established herself as a friend, she spoke of an emergency for which she needed some cash money.
Our neighbor’s mother, an innocent lady, was easily fooled into believing the woman to be a friend of her grandson. Ready to help, she gave the girl all the cash there was in the house at the time, which the latter was very grateful to receive. With many thanks and promises of paying the due, she left.
When my neighbor came home and heard what had happened she immediately called her sons to confirm whether they indeed have a friend who matched her description. They did not. She realized that her mother had been fooled! But there was very little she could do about the matter, except ensure that no one came home when she was away.
I was telling a cousin about this when she related a story - a perfect twin - that happened to her mother-in-law. A girl had turned up when her mother-in-law was alone, claimed to know her son and left with all the money in the house. And if that wasn’t enough, I heard of two other cases where the same thing happened, except the con-artist wasn’t successful.
In one of them the elderly lady called her daughter in Canada to confirm if she really did have a friend and receiving a negative answer, she asked the criminal to leave. And in the other, the son was in town when the con-artist came.
At least two of these two incidents happened way back in the 90’s so it’s hardly a ‘new’ felony. But the common link in them all is the children of the victims, who all live abroad. So it naturally leaves me to believe that phone lines are being tapped here, somewhere.
I didn’t fight my way to the top of the food chain to be a vegetarian.
Honey, I Formatted the Kid!
Multitasking: Screwing up several things at once…
One picture is worth 128K words.
My reality check just bounced.
If at first you don’t succeed, skydiving is not for you.
Mary had a little RAM- about a MEG or so.
We are Microsoft. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
General Brain Failure. (A)bort, (R)etry, (I)gnore, (O)h.
(A)bort, (R)etry, (P)retend this never happened…
Brain over - Insert coin
(A)bort, (R)etry or (G)et a stick and kill it.
If at first you don’t succeed, put it out for beta test.
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
I can’t remember whether
I’m the good twin or the evil twin.
People who say you can’t buy happiness
just don’t know where to shop.
Join the army
Travel the world,
Meet interesting people
And kill them.
Age is a very high price to pay for maturity.
I am having an out-of-money experience.
If you’re having a bad day and passing by (in which case, feel free to lemme know what poured water from the Buriganga on your day) then feel happy about this: my fridge/le frigo is back. Many moons ago, I might have leaked on the subject of their taking away my beloved fridge to tinker with. Now it’s back. Whether she’ll work as well after having her nari-bhuri shaken up is anybody’s guess. But we always hope for the best, don’t we?
Meanwhile the postal service is getting on my nerves. Feel like an idiot for defending it (at least it works, I had claimed). A letter from college has arrived a month late. QED, I missed a June 25 deadline. Curses!
Not that it needs a mention, but my air conditioner seems to be working with extra zest today…I’mfreeezing. Jealous of sexier fridge? Likely.
Speaking of cooling, I watched An Inconvenient Truth for the billionth time. I can never tire of that movie it seems. I wish more people would see it. It’s life-changing in a way which isn’t I-went-to-religious-conference-and-am-now-a-freak. And this kind of life-changing is always welcome. My strongest recommendations for Al Gore’s movie.
With the thread of cool, I was clearing out my rather sad music collection and came upon Take a look around by Limp Bizkit. Hehe. Was a looong time ago, Hi skooL! ~is how we spelled it then. Hehe..yes yes, go ahead! diss me!
I’m afraid I shall never be quite the same again. That’s what happens when you realize that you’ve lost three hours of your life…that will never come back. Evidently, Love Story 2050 has left an indelible mark on my memory. How can there be so much bull shit in one film?
India’s first full fledged sci-fi film has truly gone to the dogs. The action sequences are reminiscent of Power Ranger SPD on Jetix. A team of blind chickens have worked on the FX, evidently. And the story…zomg. Lets not go there at all.
The hero looks like a really bad Hrithik Roshan double, Priyanka Chopra is shockingly ANNOYING and there is pink teddy bear that I wish I could set on fire. Horrible horrible film.
Now you know what Shania Twain meant when she sang: “That don’t impress me much, uh-huh, yeah.”
Verdict: Love Story 2050 should be shown at maximum security prisons where prisoners will be shown the film thrice, back-to-back, to pay back their debts to society.
Today I learned that there are more embarrassing things than buying underwear with your mum. No - it’s not buying boxers with your dad either. It so seems that my college expects to find a pack rat carrying the next pandemic that will end life as we know it on Earth. Hence, to prevent such a noble cause, they have sent an exhaustive list of required vaccinations that I need to take before I set foot on the land of sugar and honey.
Did I tell you about the time when I fell down the stairs and broke my chin? Not scrape, not bruise..broke. Well, let’s just say the doctor who was trying to sew me back to one mouth got a generous serving of my kung fu antics.
So there I am sitting in a paediatrician’s office. Wait, what? Yep, a paediatrician’s office..because mother couldn’t find another doctor it was back to doctor-mama. Only I had to open a new file. And sit with my mother.
The patient before me was nine days old. The one before it was a month. In the waiting room with me were other parents holding on to their wards, each ranging from less than foot to a foot and half in height. Needless to say, I felt right at home. Lol. The things I do!
Thanks to Wikipedia I found out that the Mach3 blades I bought by mistake today will work with my Turbo. Apparently, there’s a difference of..err..five microfins..w/e that is.
Anyway, “All Mach3 blades are interchangeable between the three products in the range, so it is possible to use the Mach3 Turbo blades on a Mach3 razor.” so, phew. No exchange business. I hate going to exchange things..
Every time I get cartridges for my razor (I use Mach3 Turbo, in the stone ages, I know…) from the States, I get a comfy shave. The blades are really good and work very smoothly. BUT when I buy them from Almas, or practically anywhere at home, they’re not half as close. At Tk.510 for four, you’d think they’d sell some real stuff. I guess I’ll just forget the ” ORIGINAL IMPORTED” seal on the top of the pack. Bleh.
Here’s a fake one:
And what it really should look like:
Can you tell the freaking difference? Well, once you use them, you can of course. But they look nearly the same…Since I’m a totally useless creature, I’ll supply a link to a site dedicated to fake blades, from where these pics are from…hehe. Here it is!
Here’s an invention (more like a discovery, if you ask me) that promises to make brushing my teeth easier. The back of this new toothbrush will redirect water from the tap into the brusher’s mouth…provided he’s left it wide open in a suitable position. Here’s a pic:
Savvy? The Brush and Rinse is def a produce that makes you go..why didn’t they think of that before. Right now I just bring my mouth under the tap and swallow some water, which calls for some bathroom aerobics. When I buy this new brush, I can use my dance moves to move my neck a few inches to the right and drink from my personal fountain. Life will be easier. Not as easy as I’d like it though. Hope the inventor makes a million off his invention. If they made that much money off Crocs, the Brush and Rinse def deserves more!
It’s not unexpected but disappointing all the same. Spain deserved it all the way, though…good for them. They won every single match me thinks. The Spanish joy knew no bounds obviously..just look at them throw Luis Aragonés into the air! “Put him down!” said the commentator. Rightly so. The man’s 69 for crying out loud! Imagine if the poor dude had a heart attack from that. Hehe.
Not to spoil the victory mood for anybody but I found this really weird answer given by Luis to the question of his apologizing for rascist comments about Henry back in 2006:
Now what could that possibly mean? hehe..talk about weird! But it’s hardly all that important now..the Spaniards go home €23 million richer for being the European champions. Damn! That’s a lotta money. Hard earned since they had to win every single match to take away the maximum prize. If Germany won they’d get only €22m. But apparently the real winner is UEFA since they make a tidy profit of billions (cost €234m, €1.3b sponsorship..do the math, I’m to lazy to do it) according to the world cup blog.
How bout we start our own championship? 
Well in any case, the spotlight’s on for the World Cup in 2010. Germany! (I never stop hoping, do I)
Most middle-class parents raising families in the last half-century probably did it with four figure (or less) salaries. Especially if they held a government job or were teachers etc. And yet, somehow they made it with six or seven children living in the same house along with grandparents and assorted family members. Sometimes money may have been stretched thin but at least their lifelong struggles aren’t going unpaid.
Their children grew up, completed university and began working in (surprise!) the private sector. Even entry-level jobs in private companies for people who hold a degree can be more than just four figures. And if by a stroke of luck and heaps of hard work you land a job in a mobile operator company your life might be set.Since the eighties, at least a few sectors in Bangladesh are booming.
If they couldn’t put their children through school, some have taken the risk of investing in their kid’s future by sending them abroad in search of work. And, boy, has that worked.
So these days, some aging parents are baffled by the stupendous salaries their children are bringing home. Maybe in the context of our present world, with inflation, money buys less than ever before but the sheer size of the pay check can still be shocking to someone who bought his wife’s wedding saree for Tk 100. Let’s hope they’re proud, not just of their children, but of themselves too for never compromising the education of their kids. For giving the next generation a better life in Bangladesh and abroad, they’re winners.
Not to sound like a middle-age homemaker but Help! My house is being attacked by ants! They’re everywhere…a continuous red stream of red dots moving along the walls, on the floor…everywhere. Bah! They attack anything and everything.
She’s in Walkout, a HBO production based on real events in East LA in 1968. Students who felt that the system was oppressive and unfair to them because of their heritage decided to stage a Walkout to demand equality and fairness. It’s a good film and I’m glad I watched it. But, forgive my lack of judgment when it comes to pictures..maybe I could have picked better pictures of her :S
This week I decided to cover all the great comedies from the past. Besides, I figured it’d be a good idea to stock up on some funnies before heading to more depressing times in college. Hence, I searched Google for the greatest English comedic movies ever made and surprisingly didn’t end up with expected results. None of the lists were consistent, at least not the American ones. But a few made it on every list, the first being Marlyn Monroe’s Some Like it Hot and a 1980s film ‘Airplane!’.
We had to go to Basundhara city on Thursday so I picked up five movies that the stores had: Some Like it Hot, Airplane!, There’s Something About Mary along with two collection DVDs.
Since then I’ve watched Airplane! and Some Like it Hot. I didn’t laugh out loud, but they were funny enough. Some chuckles along the way. Actually, these movies probably had the original comedic moments that have been replayed and copied in so many movies to follow that the situations have now become clique.
This scene always gets me laughing…From Rush Hour 3..the movie wasn’t so good, but this situation was hilarious:-
Dojo Master: May I Help You? Carter: I’ll be asking the questions old man. Who are you?
Dojo Master: Yu.
Carter: No not me you!
Dojo Master: Yes I’m Yu!
Carter: Are you deaf?
Dojo Master: No Yu is blind!
Carter: I’m not blind, you blind
Dojo Master: That is what I just said.
Carter: You just said what?
Dojo Master: I did not say what, I said Yu.
Carter: That’s what I’m asking you!
Dojo Master: And Yu is answering.
Carter: Shutup!
Carter: You!
Dojo Master: Yes?
Carter: Not You, Him! What’s Your name?
Dojo Student: Mi.
Carter: Yes You!
Dojo Student: I’m Mi.
Dojo Master: He’s Mi and I’m Yu.
Carter: And I’m about to whoop your old ass man because I am sick of playing games!
YAY! Germany won. Woot! Everyone loves an underdog victory but this time, the Turks were hardly the underdogs. They’ve played spectacular matches and everyone had their doubts about Germany since the latter ambled through. Still, they’ve won me lots of bets with friends and that makes me a happy man! But the unusual, and effin annoying thing during the match was the frequent disruption of the live feed. I’ve never experienced that before in an international match. Very strange. And very nerve wracking too. Oh who cares. So my bet is it’s a Spain v Germany final and (probably) Spain will win but (hopefully) it’ll be the Germans.
Saving up Transformers for the Cineplex totally paid off. I went with friends from French class and had a blast. Previously, I refrained from watching movies like Pirates of the Caribbean and Spider Man because I didn’t want to spoil the theatre experience by watching it on DVD. And it has always worked out because, somehow, the big action scenes are always much sexier. Only my review is a generation too late. Lol. But I’ll do it anyway!
So Sam Witwicky (spelling?) is your average Joe teenager, in love with the school hottie (Megan Fox!!!) etc. When he goes to buy his first car, it seems like the car has chosen him instead of the other way around. What appears to be a broken down Chevrolet Camaro is in fact Bumblebee moonlighting as a car. It’s not long before Sam finds out that his car can convert into a walking, talking alien robot. And there is a whole race of robots who can turn at will into ordinary machines. Thus begins his adventure as he, thanks to his grandfather’s relics, finds himself in the middle of a tug of war as the two alien races of Autobots and Decepticons turn Earth into their personal playground. Their goal is to find the All Spark, a cube which the bad boys want in order to rule the universe because it can turn any mechanical object into a transformer. The rest is simple movie madness.
From my neophyte POV the basic story line falls apart at two places. First the waning significance of two military personal played by Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gisbon is a cause for irritation. The film begins in Qatar where these two first come across the Decepticons and survive an attack to locate the All Spark. The location and situations shown serves to make the movie more relevant. Towards the end, however, I see no reason for their even being in the film. Other characters like the hacker with a nice Australian accent etc seem to have been cut off with a rusty knife.
The human facet has been emphasized in the film to (I’m guessing) make it less corny but that sometimes comes at the expense of the alien robots. Hardcore fans might lodge some complaints in that department but have you seen Megan Fox? I always thought she was a Lindsay Lohan replacement but this movie sure changed my mind.
The robots look cool and not one bit corny. There are no other great looking cars however. The actions are pretty good too - I was happy with them. The performances are exaggerated. The movie does tend to get a little juvenile at times but then you can see the director’s hard work to tone it down.
So Transformers was, in one word, entertaining. I enjoyed it. Was it memorable? Not so much as you’d have expected but it does contain the usual garnishes one would expect-the excellent action, funny one-liners including variations of the tag line ‘More Than Meets the Eye’ and the generic humorous moments. The movie is also, thankfully, very current which is exemplified by Sam’s accounts on eBay (as Ladiesman217) and his mother’s male chihuahua dressed in feminine stuff.
Still, it’s got rough edges but that seems to be that just seems how movies are made these days. Casino Royale style. The script, as I’ve said, contains a few kinks and genuine fans might get disappointed. But if you can turn off your brains for two hours, I can promise you you’ll enjoy the sexy Megan Fox and the sexier Autobots.
If you haven’t YET seen the movie, it’s running at Star Cineplex in Basundhara City!
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