Ninad's first EID

Ninad had his first EID on 28 July, 2014. It was Monday, so a working day for me. But I took one day off from work to spend this day with my family and friends :)

The day started very early. We woke up around 7 AM in the morning, freshened up ourselves and got Ninad ready as well. He was wearing his Eid panjabi which he got from Shanila's mom just couple of weeks back :)

At 08:15 we started from Olari heading to Vantaa Eid Jamat. We took 3 cars with us - mine, Drishty vai's and Gagan's. It's half an hour drive in a very busy time of the day. So the road was busy but we managed to be there on time.

There were separate places for men and women in the hall. So I left Ninad with Sharmin and went to men's side. The whole ritual took almost an hour. After that we left the place and along with many of our friends headed to Otaniemi, Shobuj's place.

We had our breakfast in Shobuj's home. It was really heavy for a breakfast. From there we went to Mortuza's place to have tea. It was a very hot day. So we were seating underneath our cloths and Ninad was wearing only his diapers at some point. Thank god he is not an adult :D

From Otaniemi we came back to Olari. Sharmin was finalizing preparations for the guests, I was taking care of Ninad. When Ninad fell asleep I went to Drishty vai's home and had lunch there. They had more than 25 guests. I came back home and then Sharmin went there because all her preparations was well taken care of already. At around 5 PM people came to our place.

We had around 20 guests in total. Ninad woke up by that time already. He was a bit suspicious seeing so many people at a time. Everybody was so full after heavy breakfast and lunch but they have no choice but to eat in our place again. What can you do? It's Eid day :)

We didn't serve food as soon. We gave them some time to digest what they have had already by then. So we offered coffee only. By this time Gagan, as a game master, arranged Mafia game among the guests. They were playing and from the scream we could easily get that they were enjoying a lot. Around 7 PM we served the food. It looked like they were a bit hungry by that time already. So could eat quite well :)

From our place people headed to Ahsan vai's home to have tea again. From there to Hasan's place to have snacks. Around 9 PM we headed to Shaikat vai's place for final dinner. Five cars headed to Muurala. We stayed there couple of hours and had our dinner there. Ninad was going everywhere along with us, except from Drishty vai's place, amazingly :-S We came back home around midnight while he was sleeping already.

This time the Eid day was full of house hopping with many people together which gave us a taste of Eid we used to have back in Bangladesh. Ninad is so young to understand the idea but he was also, at least, busy the whole day :) It was his first Eid and we enjoyed together as a family. I hope Ninad will get the social aspect of this kinda day when he will grow up.
 



Programming Solution

Lost my wedding ring :(

Yesterday evening turned to be a very sad one because I lost my wedding ring. Yes, you read it right. I really lost it :(

It was a perfect evening - the sun was shining, temperature was 25 degree Celsius and gentle breeze was blowing all over. I came back from work, had coffee with Sharmin and then wanted to go out. We agreed to go to Kirkkonummi lake to have a swim. As we decided we jumped into our car and headed to Kirkkonummi.

As we reached there we set our picnic mattress on the grass and I was the one who went to water first. Sharmin was looking after Ninad at that time. I was swimming for a while. Suddenly I felt something went off from my finger. I took my left hand out of water and yes, my ring finger has a whitish ring mark on it but no ring is there.

I stood there still and look for the ring with my feet first for few minutes. Then I tried with my hands for few times; every time as long as I can keep my breath under the water. But I couldn't find it :( After trying for so many times I came out of water and told Sharmin about it. She is better swimmer than I am. So she went to the water while I showed her the place. She also tried many times but no luck for her either. She came out of water too without any success :(

I could not believe it. I just lost something extremely valuable to me. Something which you cannot value by money. That was a precious symbol to me. Since I got married I never took it off for a single day. It was always with me. Since I have lost 3-4 kilos of weight it felt a bit loose on my finger but that doesn't mean it has to get off while I am in water :( That is not fair :((



Programming Solution

Summer vacation starts from today

My two weeks summer vacation is starting today, within an hour :) Feeling quite happy about it. I have already taken 1 week of my summer vacation but that was not really a holiday. We travelled to Sweden to apply for Ninad's passport. This time there is no work plan. It's just holiday and enjoying about it :)

Gagan, along with his family, is coming here tomorrow. Hoping to spend some nice time with them in our tiny house. It's gonna be interesting to see how it turns out with 2 very active kids in a small apartment with their lazy parents; fathers to be precise :P



Programming Solution

Bought a car

Since I have enrolled into driving school I have been looking for a car from time to time. But I started looking for one heavily from 2 weeks before my driving test. Somehow I was biased about German car. So I was looking for mostly Opel and Volkswagen because other German cars, such as Audi, BMW or Mercedes, are totally out of my capability. Just few days before my driving test I found one Volkswagen Golf MK4 2002 station wagon model which seems quite good. Also not very far from my home, around 30 km. We have talked to the owner of the car over the phone with the help of one of my colleagues, Mika. From the conversation it sounded suitable for us. So we decided to see the car in person.

When we went to the place and had a look at the car it also looked pretty OK. Mika had a test drive for 15 minutes and he said that it was fine. We checked the service manual and looks like they have been doing servicing of the car in a scheduled manner. There were few spots on the car which the owner already mentioned over the phone. Well, it's more than a decade old car, it can't be without any spot :) We agreed on the price and made the deal.

It was Wednesday, 11 June, when we went to pick up the car. It was just 2 days after I have got my driving license. Now I had to drive it back home because Mika will drive his own car on the way back. I was a bit nervous but finally jumped into the driving seat and started the car, my first ever car :)

I drove the car to my home. Called Sharmin to come down. She was amazed to see that I was driving it back home. She thought may be Mika would drive it here. I was smiling and said that at least I didn't have any accident :P We, three of us - Sharmin, me and Ninad, had a small ride for few kilometers and came back to the parking place. Then some of my friends came to see the car. Everybody did congratulate me for getting my first car. I was also quite happy :) Well sooooooooooo happy :D

Here goes one picture of our car :)

Programming Solution

Got the driving license

I never had a driving license in my life, neither in Bangladesh, nor in Finland. But exactly 2 weeks back on 9 June I got my first ever driving license here in Finland :)

I have started my driving lesson on 17 March this year. The theory lesson was finished in 3 weeks but the practical lessons took quite long. We had to take at least 18 hours of practical lessons. At the end of 18 lessons my instructor told me to take few extra lessons because I might not pass the test. So I took 3 extra lessons and then appeared in the test 2 weeks ago.

I was a bit nervous the previous day but on the day of test I was not tensed at all. I just took it normally and it went pretty well. I was talking with my examiner and looks like he was happy with my driving. So he approved me as a driver :) It did sound very sweet when he said that after my 30 minutes long test. Now I am legally allowed to drive here in Finland and also anywhere in the world, I guess :)



Programming Solution

Ninad's first abroad trip

Last week Ninad had his first trip to abroad. I mean outside Finland. We went to Sweden to apply for his Bangladeshi passport.

Unfortunately there is no Bangladeshi embassy in Finland. The nearest one is in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. For a newborn baby you have to apply for a new passport. Everybody knows that. But what I didn't know was the baby has to visit the embassy to show his face. So, eventually, all three of us (Sharmin, Ninad & me) went to visit Stockholm on 4 June.

We took the Vikingline ferry from Helsinki on Wednesday at 17:30. We reached Stockholm around 10 AM in the morning next day. From the harbour I took a taxi and went straight to the embassy. We submitted his application within an hour. I didn't expect it to be that fast. Apparently there were not many people in the queue. On the way coming back we took the metro. It took a while to come to Slussen. That is the nearest metro stop from harbour. We had our lunch in McDonald's and around 3 PM we started walking towards the ferry. It left the harbour at 4:30 PM Stockholm time.

This time the trip was very different since we had a small kid with us. We couldn't go to the dance floor or to the music room. Most of the time we were with our son. On the way to Stockholm the weather was quite nice. So we went to the deck for couple of minutes. I remember, last time before this one, Sharmin and me spent couple of hours on the deck :) But this time also it was not bad at all. We were sitting in the hallway beside the window, enjoying the archipelago. While coming back from Stockholm, the weather was a bit gloomy. So we didn't go to the deck. We stayed inside, having coffee and gossip. Ninad was also happily excited. He was so interested about the seagulls and looking at them constantly. On that night we also slept better.

This is Ninad's first ever trip outside Finland. He is so young to realize it but we were excited instead :P We didn't take many pictures but still here go some from those 3 days :)

 The journey started in a sunny day :)

 In front of our room, 5121

 Happy beside window :)

 On the open deck, it was very windy

Looking at the seagulls

Busy playing in the game room for kids :)

I liked that octopus :D

 Inside the embassy of Bangladesh, why he is so happy :-S

 In front of the embassy building

 In Stockholm metro

 Walking towards the ferry, in Slussen

 Boarding the ship for coming back. Ninad was amazed to see that doll :)

Came back to Helsinki. That's a new ferris wheel in Helsinki harbor.

Programming Solution

Sea fishing in Tammisaari

Last Saturday we had a sea fishing trip in Tammisaari. It was planned few months back in our fishing club at work. They said it would be jigging in Tammisaari sea area guided by a professional fisherman. Finally it was arranged by Ericsson LMF fishing club and I am very happy to be one of the participants in this trip.

We were 8 persons, including the guide. 2 boats were arranged. Antti took his own boat, another one is owned by our guide. It's more than an hour journey from my home. I jumped in Juha-pekka's car at 7:40 in the morning and headed to Tammisaari. On the way we picked up Juha Ilmala and Mikko. We reached Tammisaari around 9:20, 25 minutes earlier than the schedule :P

Finally, Antti and other guys came around 9:45. By this time we, the first troop, took coffee in a coffee shop. Antti put his boat in water and was fixing everything for the trip and all of us were waiting for our guide. He came around 10 O'clock. I noticed that his boat is bigger than Antti's. He provided wheels to us those who have not their own. Also he provided a nice jacket for me. Then he put his boat in the water. By the way, our guide's name is Peter Lahti.

It was decided that those who don't have much experience will go in guide's boat which means I, for sure, will go in his boat since I have no prior experience of casting or jigging. 5 persons got in to Peter's boat, and 3 persons in Antti's boat. Then we started and Peter was showing the way.

Peter took us in some place and we started jigging. I threw my first ever angle to the sea. I was feeling a bit excited. After almost half an hour we got our first fish in our boat. It was Thomas who got it and it was a medium size pike. we were moving from place to place. Finally I got my first ever fish with jig and again it was a pike, around 1.25 kg, smaller than what Thomas got. I was very happy to get it anyway :)

Time was passing by and there was not many success in our boat. We heard that in Antti's boat they got 2 big pikes, both over 4 kilos. I got a bit jealous but that didn't help much. Finally around 3 PM we stopped in an island for lunch.

Our guide brought salmon soup for all of us. I don't know if it was due to the environment and company but that was one of best salmon soup I have ever had. The sea wind also made me very hungry, so I took twice. Half an hour later we left the island and again started jigging in different places.

I was seeing other people getting some perch or pike but I was not getting anything. It was almost 6 PM and hadn't caught a single one after my first catch. I was getting frustrated at the point. Finally the moment came and I felt huge tension on my jigging rod. The rod was too much bended and I was struggling like hell. Our guide screamed "It must be a big one". Finally we saw a bit of it and yes, it was big :) Peter took the fish from water with landing net. It was really big and I was smiling ear to ear :D We measured the length, it was 93 cm long. I took couple of pictures with the fish and then released it.

I was so happy to get that big pike. The frustration was gone and all the hours I spent suddenly felt meaningful. After this catch I got two perches. That was all for me. I got 4 fishes in total. We finished around 8 Pm and headed to shore. While coming back home I bought 8 perches with me. It was a long tiring but totally enjoyable day for me. New experience, lot of learning and doing at the same time. Looking forward for the next fishing trip. Ohhh, I am going to have dinner with some fried perch today :P

Waiting for our guide to arrive

Preparing Antti's boat

Set off from shore

Our guide, Peter Lahti, driving the boat

Our first catch of the day by Thomas

My first ever fish with jig

Stopped to this island to have lunch

So happy to get a pike-perch (Kuha in Finnish)

Antti's biggest catch of the day, over 4 kilo pike (Hauki in Finnish)

Juha Ilmala's biggesh catch of the day, another pike

Juha-pekka's biggest catch of the day

Here goes my biggest catch of the day. The smile tells everything :)

Programming Solution

Window seat challenge

We had to change our seating arrangement at work. Our team is going to start in a new business area along with several other teams. The management decided to put all those teams quite close to each other. So a new area has been furnished to accommodate all those teams.

Now the question is which team will seat beside window and which team will sit beside aisle? Well, we could have a raffle draw but we are not that boring people. So we decided to have some events to choose the winner, runner up and so on to decide who is going to choose first, then second and so forth. Actually it was Kari Erola's idea and we agreed right away.

There were four teams and each team was asked to propose one event according to their strength. Since my team mates saw me playing table tennis they suggested that we could propose table tennis. So from our team it was table tennis double games. 3 other proposals from other teams were fast chess(5 minutes each side), foosball, and noble game of running.

In each category the gold winner gets 7 points, silver 4, bronze 2 and 4th place team gets 1 point. In table tennis, opponents were chosen by lottery. 2 losers will play for bronze and 2 winners will play for gold. The chess also went the same way. Fusball was in round robin fashion. Games were 5 minutes long. Winner gets 2 points, loser gets 0. If it's tied each side gets 1 point. At the end of the round robin the points are accumulated which decides who won gold, silver and bronze. The running was really interesting. You have to run 150 meters, open a can of beer(non alcoholic), drink it and run back that 150 meters. There one representative from each team.

I participated in all the events from our team. In table tennis and foosball I had partners but chess and running I had to do alone. The first event was chess. I managed to get the bronze there. Then table tennis and of course we won the gold since it was our strength :P Then come the foosball and after the round robin our team won bronze again. Among the 3 games I played in only 1.

The last event was running and we went outside. The rule was explained and we 4 went to the start line. With the ring we started to run and suddenly realized that I haven't run sprint for a long time. After 10 seconds I found myself the last guy there. I reached the beer can point at last when all 3 runners were already drinking from their can. I opened my can, took my first sip and the first guy already took off from there making his can empty. I was thinking I have to drink this faster. So I took a big sip, still couldn't finish it. Then a small third sip made the can empty and I started running back while the other 2 guys were still struggling with their beer. I ran as fast as I could since I knew that they were fast runners than me. But finally I could manage to finish as second :) It was pretty tough and I was totally out of breath after the run. But I enjoyed it so much.

After all the event the points were calculated and it seemed that our team ended up being second with 15 points. The champion team got 18 points in total. All in all, it was a nice 2 hours event full of fun. After the event we went to the new team area and choose the place one by one according to the position in events. So we haven't got the window area but we choose the next place after that. But it was not about the seating area. I don't think people care that much about the seating area in office but it was just having some fun in a very busy afternoon which made everybody compete, support, fight and laugh. One thing I will remember for a long time. I forgot to bring running shoe, so I was very unhappy that I had to run with my boots on. Then suddenly Jarmo took off his shoes and told me to try those because they were like sneakers and obviously softer than mine. I tried but they were so loose. His feet are bigger than mine. Interesting, never thought that my colleague will give me his shoes to wear :P



Programming Solution

Trip to the most southern part of Finland

In this easter holiday we had a trip to Hanko, the most southern part of Finland. It was Sunday and some of my friends wanted to have a long drive. We were also interested. Since we don't have a car we just jumped into one my friends' car. We were 13 in total and went with 4 cars.

On the way going there, we had 3 cars. But, Shohel vai and Shahrukh vai joined us in Hanko beach. It was 116 km from our home, so pretty long drive. The beach in Hanko was nice, it's sandy and quite long, the longest I have seen in Finland. We spent couple of hours in the beach - had snacks, gossip, and played a bit of frisbee golf.

On the way coming back Hasan proposed to go the village Fiskars. He said it's a nice small village where the famous Fiskars company started their journey. We had time in our hand and sun in the sky, so decided to give a visit to that place. To our amazement the road to Fiskars village is very nice - ups and downs with lots of bends. It was a bit challenging for the drivers but enjoyable for us who were sitting behind :)

We spent half an hour to the village. Just walking around a bit and then headed back to home. It was a nice day out with nice weather. Here go few pictures of the day:

 Just reached the beach

Pushing the pram in sandy beach is not so easy :)

A part of the beach

The group sat on a high land to have some snacks

Now the photographer, Wali, is among us :)

Very happy for sun-bathing with jacket and cap on :D

The color of the water and sky was very nice 

Family picture :)

Best portrait of the day :)

In a restaurant on the way to Fiskars. We had a stop over to have some lunch.

That is the road to Fiskars village

In the village already

It's pretty old, isn't it?

 The trees look beautiful in dusk light, even without leaves.

Programming Solution

Herwood deshi badminton tournament 2014

Last month a badminton tournament among the Bangladeshi folks has been arranged in Tampere. It was a whole day event on March 15. The idea of the tournament was as following:

Interested cities give names of their players for both single and double games. 2 single players and 2 double teams. Players play with other city players and collect point for their own city. At the end total points collected by all players of a particular city will be that city's final score. In this way the best city in badminton will be decided.

Along with badminton there were table tennis tournament as well. In badminton Tampere became the champion while Espoo being runner up. Table tennis was individual competition. Shaikat vai became champion there and Mohsin became runner up. Also women were playing badminton.

Aside from sports there was a small food fair. The food were prepared by the women and sold for a small amount of money. The day was full of event and everybody seemed to be very much enjoying it. We stayed in Tampere on that night and came back the next afternoon.

I have only one picture from that day. Here it goes while taking our runner up trophy in badminton for Espoo.

Programming Solution