Badal vi got his Ph.D degree

Yesterday was a great experience for me. It was Badal vi's dissertation for his doctoral degree - the highest academic degree. He has achieved his PhD(Doctor of Philosophy) degree yesterday. His thesis topic is "Governance in practice - decentralization and people's participation in the local development of Bangladesh".


The dissertation(some call it defense) started exactly at 1215 afternoon. 3 guys entered into the auditorium - Badal vi, his supervisor and his opponent. At first Badal vi gave a speech for around 15 minutes which is the summery of his thesis. It was clear and organized. I liked his diction as well. Then his opponent(this is how they call him. You can also address him as the examiner) stood and in brief described what this thesis is all about. He took around 5 minutes. Then all of them sat and the opponent told Badal vi having a smile on his face that they can start now. So the most difficult part started. Its the discussion part. The opponent is an expert in this field. He came from UK just to conduct this dissertation. He is a professor of Manchester University. Its more of questionnaire by the opponent and answer by the defender, for instance Badal vi in this case.


As the discussion session proceeded we started to feel how well the opponent studied the whole book that Badal vi wrote as his PhD thesis. Its a book of 207 pages. To me the most amazing thing is my name is mentioned in the preface of this book along with few Bangladeshis living in Tampere; feeling so proud :D


I enjoyed the discussion very much as I came from Bangladesh so as the context is well known to me. Badal vi was answering the questions very nicely. We came to know that he invented a new methodology to collect information from grass root people by sampling. He claimed that while he was doing his field work during his PhD he used this methodology and its totally new. The opponent also agreed on it. We had many gossiping with Badal vi before. We talked with him about many things, about his thesis as well. He never told us that he invented such a nice thing. He named this methodology as "Local cultural appraisal". I myself also think it will work nicely in special situation.


The discussion lasted for 2 hours. The professor asked many questions, commented on many points, mentioned critics as well. Badal vi has to defend all of those. Can you imagine an extreme level expert professor is asking you what you have done for this 4 years, not an overall asking rather he is asking from every point of view and bit by bit. I don't know how you people feel about it but I may collapse in that situation when I know this opponent can make my 4 years' work invalid if he thinks its not good enough. I don't know how Badal vi was feeling but I was feeling thirsty during that dissertation when the opponent was asking him a critical question.


It was difficult, it was charming, it was exciting but the final thing is Badal vi saved his PhD. Thanks to Allah that he did very well. I really was feeling happy while hearing the professors addressing Badal vi as Dr. Asad. Well Badal vi's full name is Mohammad Asaduzzaman.


We had cake and coffee after the dissertation. Badal vi invited us to attend the dinner party in the evening. We went there exactly at 7 pm. As I was seeing almost everybody in suit and tie I felt that I should bring one suit while coming to Finland for this kinda party. Badal vi's opponent was also present, his supervisor as well. Some senior professors as well from his department, also some of his colleagues and of course we, the Bangladeshis who are always with him. Badal vi welcomed everybody. Then one of the senior professor started the party by opening a champagne bottle. it was served to everybody. I never tasted champagne. I was thinking if I will take it or not. Finally I didn't. May be I will take if of the Bangladeshis in our table would take.


Everybody was gossiping and then the food was served. As a Bangladeshi I like spicy foods but here the foods are not spicy. So I kinda didn't enjoy the food very much except the soup and beef. But there were lots of foods - soup, rice, vegetable, prawn(big size), salmon, chicken, beef, unlimited wine, juice and finally ice cream and coffee. Before taking coffee Badal vi thanked everybody to come to the dinner and asked his opponent to say something. We didn't know that this guy is that much humorous. He was making fun with Badal vi and somehow told that he didn't come here to kill Badal vi. After the opponent the supervisor and another senior professor gave very short speech each. Then Badal vi ended the party by saying goodnight to everybody.


This was a nice opportunity to me to attend the whole activities. This is my first time in this kinda event. I really enjoyed the whole day. Thanks to Badal vi for inviting me and over all CONGRATULATION BADAL VI(as a matter of fact I forgot to congratulate him yesterday :P )






From left the opponent from UK, Badal vi's supervisor and Badal vi





Badal vi is presenting the summary of his work





After the dissertation another professor is congratulating him





In the evening, the dinner party





Some of Badal vi's colleagues





The opponent was also there





Opening of champagne bottle to start the party





Before the food was served, we were waiting :P




Programming solution

Our iftar these days

Before ramadan starts I was a bit tensed how my iftar would be this year. Throughout this month I enjoy iftar most. After the whole day fasting it gives me tremendous pleasure when I take the first sip from the glass of lemonade. I thought these sweet things of iftar I left back in Dhaka. I thought this year it wont push through in that way but I am lucky enough to get some good Bangladeshi brothers here in Tampere. They decided to take iftar all together. As a result during this ramadan everyday we, 7 or 8 people, take iftar together. We prepare the items by ourselves. Almost everyone participates doing that.


The iftar takes place in different places on different days. Everyday we try to prepare something that we used to eat while in our contry. May be the taste is not so good but I think preparing and taking the iftar together helps a lot to fade the intensity of missing the real iftar that we used to have.


Here are some pictures of our iftar. That was in Taslim vi's room.





These were our items for that day's iftar





Distributing the CHOLA. Shaikat vi doesn't look so happy with the quantity :D





Another close look to the items. mmm... looks really delicious :D





Farjan vi is making dua before iftar. But why is he looking at the camera and also smiling a bit !!! :-S





And finally everybody is waiting for the exact time to take iftar.




Programming solution

I started a part time job

This morning I have started a part time job in Tampere city center. Its a metro newspaper distribution job. Everyday 3 hours - from 0700 to 1000 and 5 days a week. The place is in front of a shopping mall. There are 2 bus stops as well. So many people pass by that place in the morning. My task is to offer them newspaper. The newspaper was totally free. My responsibility is to distribute 500 newspapers everyday.


The first day's experience was good. Today the newspaper company gave 200 small packets of cornflakes to give the first 200 people. I found finnish people are so eager to take free things :P the first 200 papers finished within 30 minutes while the rest 300 papers needed 100 mins to be distributed. The company gave a nice white full sleeve shirt today. I think that will fit me very well :D There is a jacket that I have to wear while doing this work. The color is so bright, it will pock your eyes. When I wear that I am glowing and may be you will be able to see me even if you go to the moon :D


I found that basically older people are the main customers of this free newspaper. They took it so eagerly. In case of younger people if you just offer them with a nice smile in your face they usually don't deny to take one. So distributing it is not that much difficult. The only problem is the cold weather. When I started today it was +5 C and that made my palms and face very cold. So how about when it will be -20 C ?? :-S I think I need some real good warm cloths at that time.


The bottom line is I liked the job. Its not so tiring and the duration is not so long. In fact its finished within 2 hours and 15 minutes. I found the work interesting. Its a new experience for me :)





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Biking weekend

I passed the first weekend here in Tampere and it was really nice beyond my expectation. On Saturday night we had dinner in Badal vi's home. After dinner we were planning to go biking on the next morning. 4 guys agreed to go for that. So the next morning Morshed vi, Taslim vi, Rajit vi and me went for biking.


We started around 11 am. Our main destination was 2 lakes in Tampere. Those are not so near from where we are living; around 10 kilometers away. Rajit vi and me don't have bike but we managed from some other Bangladeshi guys. The roads of Tampere are not so plain. Tampere was a hilly area long ago. So the roads have many jig-jags. Its a bit difficult to bike in Tampere. Your thigh muscles have to be strong enough :P


At first we went to the first lake. There is a small beach. Only few people were around. May be we were very early and people were still sleeping as it was weekend. We had some snacks there, took some photos and headed for the next lake.





This is on the way of going to the first lake. I used the red bike. Its a nice bike with 21 gears.





I am along with Taslim vi and rajit vi on the nice bridge.





This is the first lake we visited. The water looks like the sky.





Having some snaps on those rocks





Another one, me alone





Looking at the map, how to go to the next place



From this lake we started for the other one. We stopped at a place at the middle as the place was very nice. We had few snaps there as well.




This is Tampere tower. I heard that this is the highest tower in nordic region. There is a theme park at the base of this tower.





Those yellow flowers caught our eyes and we didn't miss to take it though its almost out of focus here :D





The statue is very nice as well





Rajit vi looks sleepy. May be he was very tired after long time biking :D





The whole gang here. The four guys. Everybody is squeezing their eyes dur to the hot sun at that time.


From here we went to the other lake but at that time the battery of the camera was out of charge. So we couldn't take any picture of that lake. This next one is a bit smaller than the previous one but to me it seemed more beautiful than the previous one. Hopefully we will go there again and at that time our battery will be charged fully :D




Programming solution

A trip to the city center

Many of my friends wanted to see my pictures here in Tampere. Yesterday I went to the city center to have my bus card issued. I went there along with Rajit vi. After getting my bus card we were roaming around. Tampere city center is not so big but it looks like a city as you will find many people walking, shopping, doing their stuffs and getting in buses. While in the city center I had my camera in my bag. So it was time to have some pictures. May be I will upload more pictures later. Because I will go for a city tour today arranged by the university. For the time being just have a look at these few ones.





This is before going to the city center. A corridor in the university. You are seeing the cafeteria name ZIP behind Rajit vi. I think this is the smallest cafe among the 3 in the university





I am in a park in the city center





A nude statue in front of a church(!!!). Rajit vi was so eager to have a picture having the statue behind him :D ;)





Another place. Behind me you are seeing the mayor's office.





Another shot near that mayor's office





This is the stree in front of the building where I am living right now. I took this after coming from the city center.




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I am in Tampere now

My last post was from Abu Dhabi Airport. After that I could not go online for a long time. Its been almost 4 days that I am in Tampere. I reached here Sunday night around 8. But it was not possible for me to creat a new post.


In Abu Dhabi Airport I somehow passed the whole 14 hours. Good that I didn't vomit or faint there. I had to drink coffee to sustain with my very bad headache. While getting into the flight from Abu Dhabi to Brussels they checked me very well top to bottom. They told me to take off my boots, belts, my favorite wrist watch, my wallet, my waist bag. They also told me to bring out the camera off my bag. Then I had to put all those things in a tray, put that tray, my hand bag and my hoodie on the conveyor belt. When those things are scanneg and perged off the other side so many things I had to collect. I put the hoodie on one chair and I was fixing the other things. When I finished fixing all those an attendant of Etihad told me to get in the plane hurriedly. So I just started walking towards the plane fogetting my hoodie behind me. That is how I lost my hoodie in Abu Dhabi airport :(


This aircraft was bigger than the previous one from Dhaka-Abu Dhabi. In this flight also I didn't get window seat. It was night. I tried to sleep but I didn't succeed well. I think I slept only for an hour in the plane. Then I started to watch movie. I selected a funny one I forgot the name now. It helped me to pass the time. There was a Belgian family beside me - 3 young girls and their parents. The mother was asking me where I am going and for what. I was gossiping with her at the end of my flight. Finally the plane reached the Brussels airport.


Brussels airport is a huge one. I had to walk and walk and walk to find the exact gate for me. I had a 4 hours break in that place. Good that I found some free big benches which helped me to have an hour nap. After the nap I freshened up and was waiting for the plane to arrived. It was an aircraft of Finair. When it arrived I found that its a very small plane. But this time I got a window seat. So I could see the taking off well. It was a short trip and I enjoyed it as it was bright morning and I could clearly see the outside. The flight arrived Helsinki around 0325 pm local time. My friend Atique was in the airport to receive me.


I was with atique for about an hour and half. Then I took the 0505 pm bus from Helsinki-Tampere. It took almost 2 hours and 45 minutes to reach Tampere. Morshed vi was present in Tampere bus station to bring me to his home. When I came his home other Bangladeshi students living in Tampere came to meet and greet me. Its really nice to have native people in this far place of the world.I was very much tired on that night. So I went to bed early in Morshed vi's room after taking dinner along with other Bangladeshis.


The next morning I registered myself in the university. I was having few sessions with guide students and other officials. The orientation program is going on throughout this week. Everyday a different schedule. On Friday there will be a city tour with the guides. May next week I will sign up my courses. For the time being I am trying to manage some accommodation for me as I haven't got any yet.


The weather is comfortable now. Its not very cold. The temperature is usually in between 15-20 but the weather is very unpredictable here. It rains without any notification. Right now its very sunny. May be it will rain within 30 minutes again. I found the finnish people very nice; the are helpful and cooperative. For the time being this is my updates here. Hopefully I will update you again soon :)





Programming solution

I am in Abu Dhabi airport

Right now I am in Abu Dhabi airport. I am just trying to pass the 14 hours' long break. Looks like time passes like a turtle. I have to pass 7 more hours for my next flight if it wont be delayed. I am taking Etihad Airways and I already have seen their Paris flight was late by 4 hours. Well, I hope mine wont be delayed.



The Abu Dhabi Airport is very nice. I am having a bad headache since I landed here. Still I took my camera off my back pack to take some pictures of the airport. Unfortunately after taking only one shot without fixing anything in the camera the battery went off. So I couldn't take any more picture. It would be easier to pass the time with my camera but its not possible now. At least its better that I am getting free internet browsing facility here. I can use it as long as I want but the problem is you wont get a chair in front of the pc. You have to use it standing. More over each and every pc logs off once in every 15 minutes. You have to log in again. I think they arranged it in this way to prohibit a single person to use the internet for hours and they are pretty successful. Using it for more than an hour is really difficult. As I am writing this post my waist started to ache already. I will update you people again I don't know when and from where :)




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5 Things: Its’ a Tag!

This is in response to Rafi's post. I didn't read Tanim's post but I went to Rafi's blog and found it. I like the topic of this tag. So I am writing in my blog. The rule goes like this, "All the readers who’re reading or commenting this post, have been tagged! If you like it don’t forget to answer the questions in your own blog."

5 things I hate most:

• Hearing lie from close persons
• Dirty toilets
• A television that is on with very high volume
• Finding close friends careless about me
• Being late when everything was scheduled earlier and time was fixed
  

5 things I want most:

• I want to meet very special one to me as soon as possible
• I want to return to my country with a strong back up
• I want to have a trip in pacific ocean in a yacht having my partner beside me
• I want Bangladesh to be in such position so that a first world country's employer wont think his Bangladeshi employee will be very happy getting 1/4 salary of a first world employee even though he(the Bangladeshi employee) has the same potential
• I want my close ones loyal to me
  

5 things you will find in my room (aside from me and my pc):

• A stack of books nicely organized in a shelf
• 4 bamboo flutes on the book shelf
• A thick mattress on the floor which is my bed and you will find a hollow in it as I sit there while using pc
• My dart board with 2 darts on it with very bad targets
• A box made of wood for the visitor to sit on
  

5 things I am currently doing:

• Preparing to go to Finland
• To spend as much time as I can with my family/friends/special one
• Reading "Deception point" by Dan Brown
• Watching Indiana Jones 1-3.
• Trying to get rid of extra fat around my belly and waist

Programming solution

Last roof top party in Jashim's home

May be it was the last party on Jashim's roof top. We had many events in this place and before leaving the country I wanted to add one more. So I decided to gave them a dinner treat about my going abroad in this place.


We had much difficulties last night. The weather was very bad, raining almost the whole day. It became worse when the power went off at 0730 PM and it came around 0930. We couldn't grill the chicken over coal as we needed electric fan for it and there was no electricity at that time. Finally we fried the chicken in oil. It was not bad either.


The menu was fixed kacchi birani and chicken grill with salad, sauce and soft drink. As a desert we had sweet curd. We wanted to do everything under the open sky but since evening it started to rain heavily and we were forced to go inside the stairway and fixed our burner in a small place over there. There would be a music system if it didn't rain. After dinner may be some of us would sing as well but the rain and power failure ruined everything. Still I hope everybody enjoyed it. At least the food was not so bad :D


Lets have a look on the party





Marinating the beef and chicken





It was left for 2 hours in that way





Khalid is chasing Jashim with the metal net. Having some fun





This time Jashim with a big dead branch of a tree. Khalid is not around :D





Tasnim and Shishire(he is the only one outside my area) had a great hand in beef for kacchi birani





I am trying to blow the coal. Due to rain it was very difficult. Razib gave the greatest effort but it didn't push through finally





Taking the food on the stairway as it was raining so heavily at that time





Everybody is looking at the camera




Programming solution

Its great to have good friends

Friendship is one of the sacred relationships in this world I think. A good friend is a precious gem for your life. There are many ways how one can be a friend to other. I don't wanna talk about those things. What I wanna tell here is I am feeling great to have few very good friends.


Throughout my life I have very small number of friends. Well, I have many friends in fact but the number becomes small when it comes to good friends. But I am not unhappy for that as I found those few persons really good to me.


For more than a month I have been preparing myself and my stuffs to leave my country for higher education. I was having very hard times to do this and that. There are so many stuffs to fix. I had a small business here that needed to be closed and it caused many things to do. My friends helped me out to do those things as I had a job until end of July. I also got my friends around me while preparing things for my going abroad.


If you don't have a millionaire father you will find every penny important while your are preparing yourself to go abroad. So many scattered stuffs cause you a good amount of money. I was also feeling that while do shopping and other things. At that time my friends came forward to help me.


It started with Shujon. One day he was asking me if I need Tshirt while in Finland. I said of course I do and many in number. Just after that he told me to buy Tshirts of my choice and he will pay for those. I was a bit amazed to hear that. Few days later Jashim asked me if I had bought jeans. I told him that I have bought one and I need one more. He told me to buy it and he will pay for it. I was amazed again. Later Tasnim asked me how is my shopping going on. I said its going well. Yet to buy few things. He was asking what else. I told him different things and among those he told me he will buy me a sports sandals. Again I was amazed.


I know about them very well. Right now none of them is in good financial condition. Yet they wanted to help me and the most important thing is they told me before I bought those things which really helped me to save some of my money. I have got gifts from my relatives. They came to my home on last Friday and gave me different things but I already have finished my shopping and now those gifts are just extra stuffs to me. If the weight barriers doesn't allow me I wont bring those.


I always got support from my close friends. I found them always beside me. This time again I found how supportive they are to me. These days they call me every now and then - where I am, what I am doing, if I can meet them. Their attitude makes me feel how good we are to each other and how they will miss me while I wont be available. I will miss you, my friends ;-(




Programming solution

Got my passport with resident permit

I told earlier that I am waiting for my visa to be issued in my passport. For that I needed to submit my passport in the embassy of Finland in New Delhi but this time I didn't go there to submit my passport. One of the senior brothers from my graduating school went there to submit his and his wife's passport and I just send my passport along with him.


Rajit vi(the senior brother) submitted my passport in the embassy and without any hassle they issued the resident permit in my passport and returned it to him. Last Thursday I have collected my passport from Rajid vi's home. He returned from India on Wednesday midnight. So now I am having a passport with Finnish resident permit by which I can visit any country belongs to European Union :)




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Farewell from village

Last week I went to my village to meet my relatives. I am going to leave Bangladesh mid August, so it was a kinda farewell from them.

It was a very short visit - only for 2 days. I was running from one place to another without any break. I met almost everybody that I should see before going. They wished me good luck. Some of my aunts cried which expresses their love for me. Actually it is not only for me; they feel the same way for any of their relatives. Iknew it, still seeing them crying melted my heart. May be they wont remember me much but they want me to be fine always.




Programming solution

A bad farewell

Last Tuesday was my last working day in Bording Vista Limited. So its my farewell day. Unfortunately it was not a good farewell for me. Really not at all.


For the long visa processing thing I couldn't tell the management in proper time that I will leave in August. In the employee handbook it is written that if any emplyee wants to resign he/she has to give at least 1 month's notice. In my case I could give only 2 weeks' notice. Our project was frozen from July 10 to August 10 as our client is from Sweden and they are on vacation in summer for one month. So I thought it wouldn't be a problem as I don't have any work other than browsing and chatting during this one month while in the office. But as I told them they didn't hear any of my situation. They were just pointing out one thing that I am breaking the rule. As they were telling me that I am breaking the rule I decided to point out one thing in which the management broke the rule. It is clearly written that in every 3 months there will be an appraisal meeting with each employee but for last 6 months there was no appraisal meeting in our office. I pointed to this and for my amazement our CEO, Jan, turned into red. He couldn't answer properly and so did our GM. May be after this they became mad at me and told me to leave on that day. Later, in August, they will give my release letter.


I didn't think that they would do something like this. If I could guess earlier then I would think of some other ways which would be tricky but safer for me. Anyway, now I have finished with Bording Vista. The only thing that gives me pain sometimes is the bad farewell at the end of day :(





Programming solution

My resident permit in Finland is approved

I have got a confirmation email from the embassy of Finland, New Delhi. They said my resident permit has been approved and I should submit my passport for issuing. This mail finalized everything about going to Finland.

I should be very happy upon reading that mail but I don't know why I couldn't be that much. It kinda made me sad. Strange human mind :)




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Happy Birthday Shujon

25 July is Shujon's birthday and we had a gathering this morning. This time he gave us a breakfast treat in a very famous restaurant name "Ghoroa Hotel" in Motijheel.

We 6(Shujon, Jashim, Razib, Khalid, Tasnim & Me) started around 0730 for Motijheel. As we entered the restaurant we found it so much crowded. We managed to get a table which was not big enough for 6 persons. Anyway, we managed somehow.

The menu was mouth watering. I am not telling it here for I don't want you people drooling right now :D When the bill came to our table we amazingly found the price is cheaper than other restaurant compared to the quality. We were impressed.

Happy Birthday Shujon and again thanks for a very nice breakfast :)




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Unlimited fried chicken party

Yesterday afternoon there was an arrangement of unlimited fried chicken for everybody in our office. Our General Manager donated the party. He declared "you can take as many chicken as you want".


More than 100 pieces(I don't know the exact number) of fried chicken came from BFC for around 25 persons. I don't like fried chicken much yet I took 3. Tanvir vi swallowed highest number of chicken. He took 8.


There were soft drinks and lots of Danish chocolates. Our CEO returned from Denmark after his summer vacation bringing an enormous number of chocolates with him. As a whole the party was a fun :)




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Sunny vi and Nabila apa's farewell

Last Thursday was the last working day of Sunny vi in Bording Vista. His wife, Nabila apa, left a week earlier. Both of them are going to USA to complete their masters in Arlington University, Texas. In the afternoon they arranged a treat for us on that day.


At work Sunny vi used to sit just beside me. We worked in the same team, Bording Combination. So we were very close as we worked together for almost 6 months in the same project. I like sunny vi as a coworker. Nabila apa was in another team yet I was in good term with her as she has good relation with everybody in the office. I respect her for her good quality to mingle with everybody equally.


I don't know why for last few weeks the distance between sunny vi and me increased. It seemed to me kinda invisible distance which can be felt only but still we are good friends and very helpful to each other. They are a very nice couple. I wish them all the best in every steps of their life in future and hopefully we will be in touch even though being a long distance apart. Well, to tell you the truth I kinda envy this couple :P Good luck sunny vi and nabila apa :)


Here are few pictures of their last working day in Bording Vista.




Sunny vi and me





Sunny vi, in between Tanvir vi and me





The Bording Combination team. Mizan vi, one member of the team, is absent there





Here is the couple; taking gift





Unwrapping another gift box.





Nabila apa is playing nintendo on that day. Look at her face; so serious :D





Programming solution

I lost the quarter final match

I was already in quarter final in our Bording Vista wii tennis championship. Yesterday was my quarter final match against Andalib, one of the interns in our company. I lost the match by 3-1.


The match was planned as 5 set and each set is based on best of 5 game. I lost the first 2 sets, then won the 3rd set and then lost the 4th set again. So Andalib reached semi final and I am now out of the tournament.


I think Andalib is the best player in our office in wii tennis. He is the probable champion of this tournament.




Programming solution

The cruel money matter

All of you know I am preparing everything for going to TUT this August. Going abroad always concerns money. I needed a huge amount of money to be deposited in my bank account to prove that I won't die due to lacking of food while in Finland. That is only a show money. I don't have that amount of money, nor my family does. As a result I had to borrow money from several persons - from relatives and also from friends.


While I was borrowing I had bitter experience. Well, you always will have in such kinda cases. I found asking friends is easier than to ask your relatives while it comes to money. I found people are not so willing to lend money. May be they are giving but not so willingly. It becomes more painful when you get it clearly(if you have some gray matter inside your skull its not so difficult) that the person you are asking has the money for sure and he can give you without having any problem yet he is trying to avoid. I went through all these kinda situations.


Now, another thing may happen to you when you ask someone to lend money. In this case you will find the person is willing to help you though he is having problem. You need money badly, the whole thing will be stopped if you wont get that money and at the same time you know if you take that money he will have hard times. So what will happen then? I think you will be jeopardized. And when you decide to take the money you will feel so bad, so down. Unfortunately I went through this situation as well and I decided to take the money :(




Programming solution

Breakfast treat from Jashim on his Birthday

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Jashim
Happy birthday to you !!!

Today, July 4, is one of my close friends, Jashim's Birthday. Yesterday Razib and Khalid had a plan and they let us know. Finally it was decided that we would go to Jashim's home very early this morning to wake him up from his pleasant sleep. There was another inner plan. You will know it in awhile :D


As our plan we (Razib, Khalid, Shujon, Tasnim and me) went to Jashim's home around 0730 am this morning. He woke up with an irritated look in his face. For sure he wanted to sleep longer today as its Friday. We wish him very happy birthday and then went to a restaurant to have our breakfast. This was our another plan, to get a fresh breakfast treat from him :D


The restaurant is in our area; just few minutes walk from his home. It was not so good yet we enjoyed the breakfast. We were burping after eating a lot but only Jashim was like this :@ and asking "who is the culprit to generate this idea?" :D Anyway Jashim, we had a good time just for few bucks :)




Programming solution

WII tournament in Bording Vista

Today I have joined office after a week long holiday. I took one week leave from the office for the India stuffs. I found most of the Bording Vista staffs in a cheerful mood today. They are excited about the upcoming event, in fact the first event, arranged by the staff association. The nintendo wii tennis championship will start after 6 o'clock today. For the time being only tennis is selected as the game.


So much gossiping is going on about the championship. The fixture is finalized already. A poll is created in our sharepoint2007 based intranet site. People are giving response - who will be the group champion. They are trying to keep their team mates ahead of others. Everybody is entertaining. Looks like our staff association is going to be successful to arrange their first event :)




Programming solution

Came back to Dhaka after the first ever abroad trip

On Wednesday midnight around 0230 am I came home after the long tiresome trip to India. The total trip was around 80 hours and I didn't halt anywhere for a single day. I was running from one place to another without any break and finally finished the whole thing just within 3 days.


I posted my last post from a cyber cafe near the New Delhi train station. At that time I already finished the embassy stuffs, booked the ticket and waiting for the train to come to the station. After posting that I had my lunch in a fast food shop and then got in the train station. The Shealdah Rajdhani express started at 0445 pm. All the things were same as the train in which I came to New Delhi. Again I enjoyed the train journey and reached Calcutta the next day(Wednesday) around 11 am. My bus to Dhaka was at 1230 pm. I took the lunch in Dhakai restaurant named Kasturi. The journey to Dhaka started at 1230.


I reached Haridashpur, the Indian border around 4 pm. The immigration and customs formalities took around 2.5 hours and then I got in another bus from Benapol, the Bangladeshi border. This time the bus was a business class RM2 model Hino. So the journey was comfortable than the previous ones in bus. On the way there was a ferry journey for around 20 minutes. I went to the roof top of the ferry. The wind was blowing so heavily. The cold wind made me calm. It was around 11 pm night. The night was so nice.


Finally I reached Dhaka around 2 am. It looked like a dead city. I was a bit afraid to come home at that dead of night yet I took a rickshaw by the name of almighty and came home around 0230 am. So at this point the long journey came to an end.


During this trip I couldn't roam around much. All the time I had to carry my bag containing all my cloths and documents. It was a bit heavy. So most of the time I tried to sit in one place :D During the trip I noticed few things :

1. Calcutta seems more dirty than Dhaka to me.
2. People of Calcutta are very economical, in fact miser. I heard that before but now I saw it real.
3. New Delhi is a very nice city - clean, less traffic jam. Most of the roads are very wide.
4. Indian people smoke rarely. I didn't see anyone smoking in public. Smoking inside the train station is even not allowed at all.
5. Indian railway service is much better than my expectation.
6. A nice thing of Indian people is they like to use their own product. You will rarely find Japanese or American cars in their street. Even in case of consumer products they don't depend on foreign products. Great virtue for a developing nation :)




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In abroad for the first time in my life

Right now I am sitting in a cyber cafe in New Delhi just beside the train station. This is my first ever trip to outside Bangladesh.

I came to Delhi to submit my visa application in Finnish embassy. You people know that I have got admission in Tampere University of Technology(TUT) and then I decided to go there to have my masters degree. It's a pity for us that there is no finnish embassy office in Bangladesh. So I had to come to India as New Delhi is the nearest high commission office from Dhaka.

I reached Calcutta yesterday around 1 pm. I somehow managed a Rajdhani express sleeper class ticket from Calcutta to New Delhi ;) It was a long train journey, around 18 hours but it was nice. I slept on my bed for almost 9 hours. It was air conditioned and their service is very good. The ticket is so expensive. So I was looking forward to check their service but they impressed me totally. They provide all the things we need. From blanket to pillow with brand washed pillow cover, 2 bed sheets(also washed and so clean). The food was also good. They provide sufficient food for a single person. I don't have enough time but I am just telling in short.

6 pm : Snacks; Item : sandwitch, one piece of sweet(shonpapri), chocolate, a packet of chanachur and tea
8 pm : Appetizer; Item : 2 toast with butter and thai soup with tasting salt and pepper
9 pm : Dinner; Item : fried rice, hand made bread, daal, chicken curry(2 pieces), salad, fried fish, pickle, yougurt and finally ice cream
8 am : Tea with cookies.
9 am : Breakfast; Item : 3 piece of bread, butter, jelly, a banana, egg fry, french fry(very small amount) and soft bean(motor_shuti shiddho - very small amount)

I enjoyed the train journey. I have finished the stuffs in Finnish embassy. I came back to the station and got the same class ticket from New Delhi to Calcutta today at 0430 pm India time. Its very much expensive but again I took that as I am impressed by the speed and also by their service. I will reach calcutta around 11 am tomorrow. Till then bye. I will update you people later :)




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Hoping to go to India tonight

I am hoping to leave for India tonight. I am going there to face the Finnish embassy as there is no Finnish embassy in Bangladesh. I have managed the bus ticket earlier but the funny thing is the visa is not yet in my hand. Hopefully I will get the visa around 5 pm today and my bus is at 1030 pm :D


Right now I am in a hurry. I have to go to the insurance company to get my health insurance papers. Its not yet done :P The application form and all other documents that are supposed to be submitted in Finnish embassy has to be fixed soon. The whole process is a very hectic one. I will try to give update here from time to time :)




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Nintendo wii in Bording Vista

Its an amazing news for us. Nintendo wii in our office Bording Vista. We heard about it long ago, around 3 months back but we were not so hopeful. We heard about massage chair 7 months back and that is not yet arrived. So we thought nintendo wii will be like that, wont show up within 7-8 months but we were wrong.


Last week suddenly we found our CEO was checking something in the small conference room with 2 remote like white colored thing. The LCD wide screen was showing some gaming options. Then we heard that nintendo wii is now in our office and we can play it without hampering our work, recommended by the authority after office hour.


I tried the gaming console. I was expecting some more reality in it but still its so nice, some said awesome. These days few staffs go home very late who used to go very early before. They are becoming fan of nintendo. Playing game with that is really fun :) Here is a video from youtube to have a look what nintendo wii really is.







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Staff association in Bording Vista

A staff association is formed in Bording Vista. There was a formal meeting about it in our office on last Wednesday. In the meeting the constitution of the association was described. The monthly amount of money for subscription is fixed. After that the active management committee for this year was selected.


The main purpose of the staff association is to arrange social events so that interactions between the employees will increase. It will arrange yearly 1 or 2 big events like a picnic or tour outside dhaka. There may be 1 monthly small event like watching movie in cineplex or gaming contest after office hour or in weekend. There is another category of social events called random event which can be arranged any day at any time. Random event can be birthday celebration of any employee or something like that.


The monthly subscription fee for each member of the staff association is 200 taka. To raise the fund Bording Vista authority will provide another 200 taka montly for each employee which means 400 taka will be deposited to the staff association account each moth for each member.


The idea seems very nice to me. All of us are waiting to see the outcome of Bording Vista staff association :)




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Our project manager quit

I think you people remember Martin(the guy with very heavy hand :P ). He was our project manager in the project DMP6 Management Console. I said "was" because he has quit his job last week. He got offer from another Swedish company. So right now we are going without a project manager. May be within few days another project manager will be assigned.


Right now its our talk among the DMP project team members how our new project manager will be. Martin was a good project manager. He is very sound technically. It was nice to work with him. We are hoping our next project manager will be like him.




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Last lecture of Randy Pausch

Few days back I got a link of a video. I was having hard time to watch it in the office. Yesterday I managed time during my lunch hour and watched the video. I found its the last lecture of a professor of USA who is having pancreas cancer and will die within a month. This video is a reprise of his last lecture to his students in the university. The lecture is nice and it made me somewhat emotional. I wanna share it and hope everybody will like it.

Click here to watch the video




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I watched Movie in Modhumita hall after a long time

On Friday last I, along with Jashim went to Modhumita movie theater. There was a 2 movie show in 1 ticket. The first movie was Transformer and the second one was Hulk.


It was quite a long time I haven’t been to Modhumita to watch movie. It was my favorite movie theater during my college days. It was very near to Notre Dame College; just 15 minutes walk I guess. So I used to go to Modhumita very often after the classes end. It is the first theater in Bangladesh to introduce dolby digital sound system.


The show started exactly at 6 pm. I found the air conditioner was not working well. It was a bit hotter than it was supposed to be. Then the great shock came to me. The sound seemed so poor, no sign of surround sound. Just think you are watching a movie like Transformer and there is no surround sound. We ended Transformer in that way. After the intermission Hulk started and this time the sound was good and we were getting surround sound effect but the picture quality was so poor, so dark. When the show ended we left the theater hall with a heavy heart seeing the quality of Modhumita hall these days which was our favorite movie hall just a decade ago :(




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Got acceptance letter from TUT

Yesterday afternoon I got the acceptance letter from Tampere University of Technology(TUT) in international masters' degree programme in information technology. They selected me for the subject Communication Engineering.


Most of my classmates applied in different foreign universities for masters programme. I was very lazy in doing such thing. Some of very close friends were pestering me to apply but still I didn't. Finally I could manage to overcome my laziness and applied in one finish university and that is TUT.


I sent my documents at the end of March(Shishire helped me a lot to do that). Rafi brought me the recommendation letters from 2 of the teachers of my graduating school. Shahan brought me the transcripts and the certificates attested by the registrar. What else did I do then :-S just wrote the statement of purpose?? :-S I think so :D Anyway, the mail just made me happy as I was having a bit inferior complex within me upon hearing many scholarship news among my friends.


I am not sure yet about taking the offer and going there. There are many constraints; I have to consider all those and make my decision. I may go to TUT or may be not but its a pleasure to get this kinda news even though its not a scholarship :)




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My blog's page rank decreased :(

Yesterday I have posted a new post after 10 days' interval. I haven't noticed that my blog's page rank is decreased by 1 in this 10 days. I am not that much aware of the reason for what page rank is increased or decreased. Still I was happy when I saw my page rank increased and fixed at 4. Its been more than a month that my blog's page rank was 4. I just noticed that its now decreased by 1 and fixed at 3 again.


I don't know why this is happened. Is it because I didn't write anything in my blog for 10 days or for some other reason? I am not sure. I don't know how google gives this page rank. Anyway... I am hoping I can see my blog's page rank 4 again soon :)




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My eardrum has been reformed

Last Wednesday I saw the ENT specialist again for my ear treatment. Since Monday I was hearing in my left ear. Before that I was not hearing in my left ear since my eardrum has been burst. I was hoping that its getting better but worried at the same time if the doctor would say something bad.


The doctor examined my ear and told that its very well now. A new thin eardrum has been reformed at the place of damage. I am so happy hearing that. He said I no more need to use any medicine or ear drop. He just gave me a vitamin and told me that the new eardrum will take few months to be strong as before. He told me to be careful for 3 months. Going to pool or bathing without putting cotton inside the ear is strictly prohibited. For his instructions I missed one of the get togethers of IUTians in water kingdom but I am not sad for my ear is getting well now :D


So from this thing I learned few things :

1. We have to be careful while having colds for several days with clogged nose.
2. We have to be careful while cleaning our ear; better don't clean it at all.
3. If somehow the eardrum has been burst it can be reformed under proper treatment... really cool :)




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Mourning for Haq sir

Last week, on Wednesday one of our school teacher named Abdul Haq died in a road accident near Tongi (may Allah rest his soul in peace). He was one of my teachers from high school. I heard the news last night and I was feeling extremely sad.


To tell the truth I was not fond of Haq sir while I was a student of high school. I didn't undergo many classes conducted by him. The classes I got with him he seemed a very strict teacher. After passing my high school I got chance to mingle with him personally. At that time I used to go for dawa of Islam for several times and for few of those trip he was along with us in the group. While in those trips I came to know him better. As a person he was very simple; no luxury in his life at all. One of his good quality was he could cook very well. While in dawa the day on which he was included in the cooking team we used to become so happy as we knew that the food would be very much delicious.


If I didn't mingle with him personally I wouldn't be this much sad as I am now. Last night I really felt bad and I was so sad for several hours. He was still less than 60. I wish no accident will take life of such kinda nice person anymore.




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I have a haircut in an air conditioned salon :D

For the first time in my life I had a haircut in an air conditioned salon on last Saturday. I used to have my haircut in a roadside barber shop. Those are named like "Shubol hair dresser", "Haji salon", "New style hair dresser" and so on. Those are cheap and dirty as well. You will see many calendars and posters in those kinda barber shop. Most of the posters have picture of guys with funny hairstyles. Sometimes there are pictures of hindu guru with long hair and a trident in his hand I don't know why. Sometimes you even find pictures of kids where they are reading The Holy Quran though it's a bit rare these days. I never got why those kinda pictures should be hung in a barber shop :-S


Anyway, the last last time I had my monthly haircut I went one of those kinda roadside barber shop. While I was going under the dressing process I smelt something very stinking. It seemed someone was farting there and he might not defecate for 2 days. From that day I decided not to go any roadside barber shop anymore to have my haircut. I have my haircut only once in a month and I can spend 100 taka for it while the roadside barber shop takes 20 taka only :D So this month I did as I thought. I went to a nice and clean air conditioned salon and I liked it.


The salon is near my house. So it wont take much time to go there. I thought they would take at least 70-80 taka for a haircut but for my amazement they took only 35. Yea I am not joking; that's their rate for a haircut. I was really astound about it as their service is really good. I forgot the name of the salon. I think from now on I will have my haircut in this salon :)




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Be warned while you have clogged nose for several days

How many of us treat colds as a serious illness? I think very few but trust me you should take it seriously while you have colds and and totally clogged nose for more than 3 days. It can be disastrous. If you have runny nose then its not a serious matter to think about. Be warned if your nose is totally clogged for several days.


I was having colds for 5 days and my nose was totally blocked. I couldn't breath through my nose; I used to perform my respiration through my mouth. last last Sunday morning I woke up with extreme pain in my left ear. It seemed that my ear would burst. I couldn't sleep anymore after 3 am. Around 9 am my left ear started to bleed. Being so worried about it I went to see a doctor, an ENT specialist. After examining me properly the doctor said that my ear drum has been burst. I was not sure if I heard him wrong. I asked him again and he said it again and bad for me that I heard it correctly first time. I became much worried but he assure me that it would be fine again under proper treatment. He informed me having clogged nose for 5 days caused the damage to me. It creates pressure on the ear drum and finally it burst. So take it seriously when you have colds with blocked nose. Do something to unclogged your nose. Better see a doctor soon.


I was googling about it and found it true. You can even break your ear drum with a cotton bar. So if you have habit of using cotton bar be careful while using it. Its better if you don't use that at all. Look at the pictures you will get how wax blocks your ear and how possibly you will break your ear drum if you are not very much careful while using it.





This is how wax can block your ear.
No need to clean that at all(recommended by specialist)






This is how your ear drum can be broken.
So be careful always






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A very bad "Pohela Boishakh" for me :(

Today is the "Pohela Boishakh", the first day of Bangla calendar. Every year, this is a very joyfull day for me even if I don't have special activities. Without any reason I am happy the whole day. I may not go to the fair but I go out to see my friends and gossip with them.


This year its totally different. I stayed home the whole day. Its a public holiday in our country yet I didn't go out. The reason behind it is I am very much sick for days now :( Yesterday morning I woke up with an extreme pain in my left ear and since yesterday afternoon it started to bleed. I saw a doctor in the evening and he, without bringing any expression in his voice and face, just said that my ear drum has been burst. I was stunned to hear that but the doctor told me not to worry about it. It will be ok under proper medication. I am under treatment now. The bad thing is the bleeding hasn't stopped yet. That is why I was in home the whole day even if its "Pohela Boishakh". I was sitting and lying all the day and I am so bored. So its not a good "Pohela Boishakh" at all for me :(




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Orange Vs Clementine

Do you people know both orange and clementine? I didn't. Those are of same type but not identical. What we see in Bangladesh we call it "Komola" in Bangla and from my childhood I knew the english of "Komola" is "Orange".


Few days back when we were given fruits around 11 am in our office as there was Jonas, the swedish trainer, he told that its not orange. We were surprised. We knew for a long time that its orange and he is saying its same as orange but something else. Then he went to wikipedia and showed us the difference. We saw that there is another fruit named "Clementine" which is exactly what we call "komola" here. Orange is something different from clementine. For so long time we were eating clementine and thought we were eating orange which is not true actually. Its amazing.


Both of those came from same Genus but their Species is different. Their common Genus is Citrus. Species of orange is Sinensis and Species of clementine is Reticulata. So their scientific names are correspondingly C. sinensis and C. reticulata.


I think most Bangladeshi people don't know about it. If you wanna know more about it check the links Orange and Clementine. If you look at the pictures carefully after enlarging you will find the difference.




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Life is beautiful

The title of my post is same as a famous hollywood movie. That is one of my favorite movies of all times. In that movie it is shown how beautiful life can be even in a disastrous situation. recently I also felt how beautiful life can be.


I have been suffering from fever and colds since yesterday afternoon. I had clogged nose and terrible headache. I came home in the afternoon as it was not possible for me to continue my work in that situation. At night it worsen. I thought I would take paracetamols after taking dinner but unfortunately no paracetamol was available. My parents are in Bogra for some family stuffs. So nobody is in home to take care of me. I called my mom and showed my grief for there was no medicine. She asked me what happened and I replied "Just a bit fever". She asked me if I went to office and I told her that I went but came back in the afternoon. From this she came to know that my fever is bad now. Otherwise I wouldn't leave office early. I cut the call.


I was not feeling well. I went online just to talk with Liz for awhile. I was having hard time to sit on my bed. I talked with her for few minutes. I just saw her crying. Seeing me that much sick she just cried as she cant do anything about it. I was proud to see that. I signed out early as the fever was getting worse with time. I went to bed and our door bell rang. I opened the door and it was our building caretaker (for your information we live in a rental house. Its not our own house). He was standing with few packets. He gave me those and said that my father called him and told him to buy me those. I saw there was apple, clementine and paracetamol tablets. All my sadness went away and I felt lot more better after getting those. It gave me feeling that life is so much beautiful.


I don't know what happens to other people but in case of me I want much more care while I am sick. I want someone dear to me will sit beside me and gossip with me though I will talk less. He/she will ask me how I am feeling and will touch my forehead to get my temperature. I crave for someone's company while I am in that situation. Last night I was so sad as I found myself alone and nobody is beside me even to talk with me. When I saw Liz crying and then got those things I just realized that there are people to think about me, to care about me. Ahhhh.... life is really beautiful.





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Getting older

I was going to office this morning. I usually take a bus from a nearby place of my home. There are so many bus services like - anabil, salsabil, tasico, kopotaxo, blue bird and so on in that route. This morning I was a bit early in the bus stand. Standing in front of the bus counter I was looking at the end of the road from where every bus shows up. Several buses came but I didn't take any of those for those were so much crowded. Then a salsabil bus came and it seemed a bit free. So I bought the ticket and queue up for the bus. When the bus came to the counter I saw another salsabil bus at the end of the road coming towards the counter. By that time I already grasp the handle of the bus but as you know when two buses of same route come back to back usually the latter is less crowded. So I decided to leave the first one. The amazing thing is I was still holding the handle. The man behind me was shouting at me and told why don't I get in. I said sorry and left the door and let him get in the bus.


I was thinking about this event after getting in the latter bus. Why I was holding the handle of the bus even after I had decided to take the other one?? Am I getting older to act fast?? Ohh... of course I am getting older but the thing is I should leave the handle as soon as I decided to take the other one. Why didn't I do that? Am I not aware of my surroundings?? My reflex was good enough from my childhood. Looks like its getting slower unlike before.


People grow older with time. Nobody can resist it anyway but its not so nice to see the effect of getting older within you :)




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