Child artists paint for you
Art Exhibition at Sir John Wilson School

It was a warm afternoon at Gulshan 2, when the Art Exhibition at Sir John Wilson School kicked off. Sponsored by Pubali Bank limited, this initially began as an Art Competition in which kids from Play group to Class VIII took part in. A warm-hearted welcome introduced the special guest of the event. A certain Nana Lye, an artist of German-Australian decent, who (almost) makes a living out of art. She spoke some words regarding what art is, which, according to her, is an expression.

And so the ceremony officially began with four children performing piano solos. Zaima Ahmed played Ode to Joy; the popular French song On the Bridge of Avignon by Ramisa Shabab, and Shariqa Akbar played My Heart Will Go On, who many will remember is a theme song from the romantic movie “Titanic”. And at least, but definitely not the least, and also my favourite, was Galway Piper performed by a talented Farhan Sattar.

After that, the host of the show called out the 10 finalists each from 6 groups- A, B, C, D, E and F. Each group consisted of two classes and all of them were assigned a different topic of their own to draw on.

Playgroup and Nursery made up Group A. Group B was KG-1 and KG-2, while Group C was Class 1 and Class 2. Naturally followed by Class 3 and 4 in Group D, Class 5 and 6 in Group E, and finally Class 7 and 8 in Group E. Among these groups two particular students received particular attention. Mashrika Mehnaz of Playgroup, and Maliyat Anika Noor of Class 5 were given the Special Merit Certificate.

The winners and runners up, along with their designated topics, are as follows:
A: My House
Winner: Yasin Abdullah (Nursery);
Runners-up: Fareeza Rashid (Nursery)

B: My Friends
Winner: Zarif Ayman Mahmud (KG1);
Runners-up: Parsa Akhtar Chowdhury (KG1)

C: My Countryside
Winner: Munaiba Ahmed (C2);
Runners-up: Rayan Chowdhury (C1)

D: Book Fair
Winner: Md. Hafizur Rahman (C4);
Runners-up: Ajme Bin Chisti (C4)

E: Festival
Winner: Pradeepta Sarkar (C5);
Runners-up: Samiha Zaman (C5)

F: Kite Festival
Winner: Noshin Nawar Ahmed (C8);
Runners-up: Saiyara Mahmud (C8)

The principal announced that they would like to move out of their current building, and onto a new and better compound. So comes the reason for the exhibition. The paintings were on sale, and the proceeds would go on to be the funding for their potential new school. The drawings would be sold as framed or non-framed, and if someone wished, they could ask for a digital version and it could possibly be provided, although no one had thought that far that thoroughly.

The exhibition officially opened, and would remain open for around two weeks or so, so if you want to grab yourself cute colorful drawings of village life, as seen by the children of Sir John Wilson School, then you can march on up there and see for yourself if any of them is to your liking. Most of the drawings were quite adorable, brimming with activity, life, color and seasons.

Quite a lot of people showed, and the ceremony was a full house, with plenty of cheering and clapping for the winners and performers. All in all, a successful and a more cheerful little event couldn't have been found much where else. A warm congratulations and thanks to the staff of the school, and particularly to the talented young artists of tomorrow.

By Emil

“Apu apnar mobile ta theika ekta sms kori?” I turned my head in shock only to discover my maid standing behind me beseechingly asking for my cell phone. When I asked her if she knew how to sms, she was quick to answer that not only sms, she also knew how to transfer pictures by mms even. This piece of news did not leave me shocked but appalled at how a 14-year old girl who could not discern her alphabets properly but was familiar with some of the most complex functions of the cell phone.

When I related this to a friend of mine, she laughed at me for being so naïve and told her account of the story when she nicked a maid's cell phone to check out its contents. What did not the phone contain ranging from pictures that would easily put the local models out of their job to sms filled with mushy stuffs. If that was not enough, another friend related how her chauffeur wanted her to download some songs in his iPod (probably not the real one or you never know!)

After these incidents, I realized that probably it is us who are moving backwards as time moves ahead. Nowadays when two-year olds know how to take videos with cell-phones, their parents are just learning how to send an sms. It is not a new scenario to see an owner to have a 5000 taka Nokia phone while her young driver has a hi-tech one complete with internet and all.

Call it technological divisions or whatsoever but this is approaching fast in our society. A domestic help will know head-to-toe about cell phones or other gadgets but refuse to learn the basic education (read increase in illiteracy rate). Today's kids are more interested in playing virtual games or finding entertainment through other technical devices whereas their parents were more into the 'output mode' (defined by a Yahoo! Research) which is seeking recreation from outdoors, creating and organizing. The current generation, be it educated or uneducated, are moving towards the electronic simulation i.e. the 'input mode'. They just want to be fed with everything but when it comes to innovation, they are just not interested.

There is the other side of the argument as well. You might say that there is no use in this fast-paced world if one is not updated with latest technology. In the modern day, operating cell-phones and internet not only makes communication faster but a lot easier. In our country, you'll find very few technicians who are actually educated about their job.

So where do we stand? Maybe somewhere in the middle where having knowledge about electronics is equally important as having day-to-day ideas about life (a few days back I realized I could not untie a knot which my mother did in a matter of seconds). Eventually it is a combination of both that matters.

By Faria Sanjana

After the somewhat recent bridging of the West and the East, things have changed. Call it overexposure of the media, thirst for having more, willingness to be like each other, or maybe just an overall plane change in human nature. The exact definition of what a girl does to get a guy notice her has changed. It's not exactly “playing coy” anymore, is it? We're talking about drastic measures. I know it's hard to get that one “serendipity” accidentally perfect guy in this world, and so you have to take some measures so that you get the nearest there is. But how far exactly are you willing to go?

The measures can start from mild to obsessive limits like Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia nervosa, Binge eating, compulsive over eating: starving yourself so that you are thin enough for people to notice you. Maybe even to actually look more attractive so that you can get that guy's attention. It is true that in most cases, the reason for such drastic measures include real crisis and depression, but recent studies have shown that because of incredibly low self esteem and harming affects of the celebrity obsessed media, teenagers all over the world are resorting to such alarming measures to enhance how they look.

Don't look at me like that, but somewhere along the line, most girls do something relative to get attention. Probably not up to the point of an eating disorder, but close.

Okay, let's forget the disorders; what about backstabbing? Manipulating friendships, backbiting about your own friends, breaking up friends' relationships to kick start your own. Then there is lying to your parents, losing your self respects, excessive body exposure with virtually non existent clothes even though it goes against your religious/self beliefs, not caring about STDs(sexually transmitted diseases), smoking, drinking because someone else thinks it's cool…and…you know the drill.

Milder actions include spending disgusting amounts of time in the beauty parlour to enhance one's beauty and in the process missing out classes and important relationships like family. Yes these might seem foreign to some, but then they'd just be naïve if they thought things like this only happened in movies and “other countries”. It happens in Bangladesh too.

A few stories (true):
*Names have been changed (sadly) to protect privacy.
1) Fahim* came to Bangladesh from USA and he needed some “chickies”. While eating out in American Burger with his mother, his need for the fag pulled him and so he went outside to smoke. There he saw this pretty girl being teased by some guys. Playing hero was in his genes, and so he “saved” her and got her number. For the next few months they were “in love”. He proposed to her, she said “yes”. He said he was going to marry and take her to USA with him when they were old enough. This was said at her house in front of her whole family. A few weeks later, he left, never to contact ever again. A friend emailed him and asked when he was going to marry her because she said she'd marry no one but him. To this, he laughed and said, “haha, tell her sure, I'm always there for her, to cater her every need, only I won't be marrying her! You can do whatever you want with her man…!”------. Comment by writer: Give us a break!

2) Nafis* needed a girl and so he asked a girl out. She'd been in love with him forever, so she said yes of course. She was hot, but he needed more to show off his friends. So he told her to shed off some clothes and wear tight garments. They broke up in 3 months.

3) Rishad* met her in a carnival party at University. She was a stranger, but they exchanged numbers. (Possible reason is that they both had “cat eyes”). Sadly she had a Bf, but apparently they weren't on good terms. So Fuad and she, they went out for 5 days (highly physical relations included), and he was falling in “love” with her. By the end of the 10th day, he dumped her. When his friends asked him why, he said he was scared his long term steady Gf, might find out.

4) She was crazy about him, he thought okay let's use her. They had a good time for a week, and then he dumped her.

All the above stories are, as I've mentioned before, true. Disgusting right? Now, let's see… Are you willing to stoop so low to get this? I don't think so. I know not everybody is like these guys, but is self harm worth the effort? I may like the opposite sex but I do know that I love myself. Why would I want to kill myself for anyone?

That a person could waste so much time talking on the phone, backstabbing friends, wasting away not only the phone bill, but also a lot of precious fun, study and family time for something that's not at all worth it is beyond me. Why would a girl do this to herself?Serendipity means “accidentally good; fate”. So let the serendipity guy come how he's supposed to come: accidentally. Meanwhile, take care of yourself instead of doing self harm. You know you're so much more worth than any one of them that come by!

Nuzhat Binte Arif

A new music school in town

On April 26, teachers, parents and students of the Music Planet School, got together to celebrate the inauguration ceremony of the new music school, located on Road 95, House 4, Gulshan 2.Gulshan 2. Previously, the school was a part of the Omni Music School. Popular amongst the young music lovers in the Gulshan and Banani areas, both the teachers and the students decided to stay on even when the school authorities decided to establish an institution on their own. Students learn the piano, violin, drums, guitar, keyboards, bass and also get voice training at the school. “We also have teachers for the sitar and the tabla,” says Saifuddin Saki, the Director of the Music Planet School. “We are also going to start with classical dances very soon.” According to Saki, since the beginning of the school, Saki had always enjoyed the enthusiasm young people would show towards music and also their sheer dedication towards the art. “Now I want to establish this institute into a full fledged organisation dedicated not only to music training, but also creating professional musicians who can eventually play in bands and musical groups in the future.”

It was a wonder to watch the several performances at the ceremony held at the Spectra Convention Centre. Present at the show were eminent musicians and guests, namely, Farooque Wahid, the advisor to the school and also the violin teacher, Omar Khaled Rumi advisor and guitar teachers, eminent musician Naquib Khan as the special guest and Farir Ergin, the Ambassador of Turkey who was the chief guest.