Playing and walking; a childhood memory

I spent the first 1/3 of my life growing up in the gated Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission residential area. With three parks, abundant gardens, palm trees and swing sets spread out throughout the complex, the whole area was a child's playground.

Playtime used to be from around 4pm to sun down. I was a slow-eater. Let me rephrase that. I was an extremely slow eater! I used to put food in my mouth, and keep it there. My mother would sit by me for hours, and keep telling me to chew. So when my friends came by to call me around 4pm, my mother would tell them that I was still eating! I don't exactly remember how the episode ended; whether my mother managed to convince me to eat or she gave up, and I was happy to run out to play with my friends. But I do remember that playing outside was my favorite time of the day.

We used to play so many different games. There was 'shaat chara'; the objective of which was to break the tower of 7 stacked stones with a ball. Once the ball was thrown at the target, the opposing team tried getting the ball, and hit you with it. If you were hit, then you were out. If you broke the tower completely, then you got the point. We used to play it in the park that was in the center of the residential area. And I don't think any of us ever broke anyone's windows while throwing the ball. Although there may have been times when the ball landed in someone's balcony, everyone was friendly and didn't seem to mind the occasional intrusion.

Then there were other games like 'kana machi', 'dariya bandha', something similar to hopscotch and hide and seek, and other ones which I don't remember the names of. I remember the parks being so huge that I felt it took me a long time to cross from one side to the other. The lanes were wide and I remember playing 'dariya bandha' there. We made squares on the floor and each player had to cross through to the next square, passing the opposing team member who guarded the borderline of the squares. If the guard touched you, then you were out. Sounds simple enough, but it was a lot of fun.

I used to be one of the youngest members of the group who played together. Apart from one, everyone else used to be older than me. So I didn't have much say as to what game should be played on a particular day, although I definitely wasn't shy to give my opinion. I guess once we started playing, I was so happy that I didn't mind what game we had chosen. As long as we were running around, competing and having fun, that's all that mattered.

However, after a few years, things started changing. My older friends, who were entering into their adolescence, slowly started showing less interest in playing, and more interest in walking and talking about 'stuff'. I remember being so frustrated at their newfound interest in talking for hours! What was there to talk about so much? I had no clue. Walking was for after dinner with my parents. We were losing precious play time by doing what we could with our parents later! But being in the minority, and not having many younger people to play with, I would walk alongside them. It was the most boring time not really understanding most of what they were talking about. I also got a feeling that there were uncomfortable silences when I joined in walking with them. Also, the big group we had started separating into smaller groups, and I felt even more lost as to which group to join. So I changed groups now and then, hoping that they might be convinced to spend more time playing than talking. I pretended to listen to them while my mind would be wandering off to how I could convince them to play. But most of the time I was unsuccessful in convincing them otherwise. To me, they seem to be getting meaner by the day! I left for Vienna at around that time, so I was never old enough to understand the topics of their conversation.

I think it was towards the later part of my adolescent years, when it hit me that I enjoyed talking with my friends more than playing a game. Suddenly, I understood why my older friends back in Dhaka would rather do the walking and talking than the games. And it seemed that in a strange way I reconnected with them and their perspective, which I had such a difficult time understanding back then. I really got them and let go of the displeasure which I had attached to those memories of my final days in that community. I appreciated them tolerating a kid walking with them when they had so much 'private' things to talk about. And of course 'privacy' is one of the key words of adolescence. I guess having lived in their world made me more empathetic towards my younger friends in Vienna. Memories of my childhood friends, even the walking part became sweeter :).

Webinars and job searching

For the last three days, I attended webinars (online seminar) on job searching. This is the first time I attended any webinars, and found the experience to be encouraging and helpful. As an organizer of numerous seminars and workshops back at my job as an university instructor (IUB), it made me think of doing webinars for my students back home, who are still requesting me to return and offer courses. Although I resigned when I moved to the USA for good, I know that I will always be welcomed back at my former place of work. I had served the university for eight years with the utmost sincerity, and it feels good to know that the staffs, fellow colleagues and my students still appreciate my work there. Of course, the biggest hurdle in starting a webinar with IUB would be the slow Internet connections in Bangladesh. Unfortunately, recent news about the Internet lines being disrupted doesn't help my desires. But it's certainly something I will be pondering over the next couple of weeks.


So going back to the webinar I attended on job searching, I think the gist of it all was that you have to be relatively aggressive in searching for a job. Finding a job is a job in itself. This is absolutely a new territory for me because I had been hired by IUB as soon as I completed my undergraduate program. And I never searched for any other jobs; I never felt the need to. I loved my job and the people I worked with loved and respected me. I know that I have the experience and commitment to do any job I'm applying for but it's all about marketing yourself and connections. Unfortunately for me, being a relatively newcomer to USA, I haven't had the chance to make a lot of connections yet. But I am getting there, slowly but surely :).


I am just hoping that I will find something where I will be able to contribute as much if not more than I did at IUB. I am looking forward to what lies ahead of me and embrace the challenges, and overcome the hurdles. I know it won't be easy considering the job market situation here in California, but I'm definitely going to test the water and bear the heat!

Random thoughts on Ramadan

So tomorrow is the first day of Ramadan here. It'll be my first time celebrating it in the USA. I am having a difficult time NOT imagining all the yummy Iftar food I used to eat in Dhaka. Yes, I have a newfound interest in cooking. But I don't think I'll have the patience or energy to make all the Iftar delicacies; bora (fried lentil patty), beguni (eggplant tempura but in a gram flour batter), boot(chickpeas), pakora (assorted vegetable in batter and fried), halim (meat in thick lentil sauce), kebab.... aaahhh why am I even doing this to myself thinking of all these yummy food! I actually did bring a packet of Radhuni Halim Mix which I have been saving up to make for Iftar. Marcos actually loves halim, which at first I thought was strange, because he is not a fan of daal (lentil). I guess he loves it because it's a little spicy and got meat in it! I'll definitely try to post a photo if I end up making it.

I know I'll miss my parents a lot. We always had iftar together. Abbu would buy different Iftar items from various restaurants every other day while ammu made the regular items on the menu like bora, boot and beguni. As for me, I did the eating part! I did try to buy good doi bora from time to time (fried dough of lentil soaked in yogurt sauce). I am a fan of doi bora and will try any type. But I am critical, if it's not made right. The other day, I had the chance to eat doi bora at Google Mela which was a festival of cultures and they were serving Indian food. Although every other item tasted good, the doi bora was rather disappointing. The dough was too hard and the sauce did not get absorbed at all; not that the sauce was that great either. It neither had the sweet taste that some doi bora sauce has nor did it have the spicy, tangy flavor that others have. Of course I am not a doi bora connoisseur by any means; I never cooked it! But, I do know what a good tasting doi bora should be like! I had tasted many different types from various restaurants in Dhaka. I love it so much that I also remember tasting it way back in Vienna 1994, in my last school 'Bazaar' from a Pakistani stall with my friend Flory. But sadly, that was also disappointing. One of the best ones were from a chain fast food place called 'Sticky Fingers' in Dhaka. They used to sell it only during the month of Ramadan. Unfortunately, they closed it down a few years back.

Anyways, I'm going to miss celebrating Ramadan in Dhaka. I'm going to miss the Iftar stalls on the streets, which pop up at 2pm and create a traffic chaos! I'm going to miss seeing the smile on a poor old woman's face when she receives Zakat. I'm going to miss the various Iftar get-together with the extended family members and friends and colleagues. I'm going to miss the sound of the sizzle coming from my mother frying bora in the oil. I'm going to miss the smell of chickpeas boiling in spices when my father makes chotpoti. I'm even going to miss haggling with the cook at the restaurant, to give me more meat in my halim! I'm going to miss waiting with my father on the balcony after Sehri, to hear the mosque summoning the Fazr prayer. And I know I'm going to miss seeing my whole family at the Iftar table saying a prayer, before taking the first sip of the day with the beautiful sound of the Maghrib azan in the background.

But I am looking forward to spending a full Ramadan with my wonderful husband for the first time. I want to see how he has been doing it alone for the last few years! And maybe together, we can come up with our own Ramadan traditions.

Here and Now

After procrastinating for a while, I've finally decided to begin blogging. Rather than conversing with myself, I figured it's more useful to pen down my thoughts. So here and now is when I start.

I was wondering what kind of topics/themes I should blog about: my professional background which is in communication; my recent interest in cooking; my love for travelling or my adjustment to my relatively new life in my new home. After some considerable amount of time arguing for and against every topic that sprung in my head, I came to the conclusion that I'll just blog. Period. About anything and everything. Because if I didn't start now, I'd have to satisfy my desire to be the perfectionist self and put pressure on myself to come up with the most unique idea. For today, that's not the route I am willing to take, and thank God for that!

A newbie to blogging, I was thinking of the title for my blog. At first, I used my 'official' name Munsia. But then I thought that Munsia is not the whole of me. My nickname Miti is what my family and some friends know me by. And I am strongly attached to both the names. Each name for me brings different memories and thoughts. Hence, the title.

Choosing the template of this blog was easier than choosing the title. It was the only choice I had in black! It's funny how I never realised how much I love black until a student pointed it out to me. The first day I returned to work at IUB, after completing my Masters from England, a student came up to me and said "Miss! You aren't wearing black! We were sure we'll see you in your favourite colour"! Now, I don't know if this was 'self-fulfilling prophecy imposed by others ' (if any of my students read this, I do remember what I taught you!), but I realized how much I love wearing black, and how I gravitate towards anything in the mall that is black; whether it's a fotua, sharee, jewelery or shoes. Just the other day, I was looking for a 'summer' dress, and my interest in colourful, bright dresses faded pretty quickly as soon as I saw a black and white one! Seriously, does almost everything look good in black or is it just me?

Anyways, I was thinking of writing a short post on my blog. Who am I kidding! Once I start writing, I can't stop; my teachers can attest to that! So here it goes. My first blog post. I believe it's one of the ways I can stay close to people I've left behind. It's definitely a way I can re-discover and understand more about my life; here and now, and the back then.