Friday 29 June 2007

A Tribute To Communication Technology

I am not exactly a person who is regularly in touch with the latest technological developments. I think I can depend on Sharbeen ( my School friend or in other words a tech-guy) for all the latest happenings in the world of technology. But nevertheless, I have to say that with all the latest developments especially in the communications sector, only a fool will not be impressed. Bluetooth, Infrared, the mobile technology, internet, googleearth etc. All this may be quite old right now, after all the world is developing very fast, but if you look at it in my way , you will definitly understand as to why I am making a very big deal out of it . I mean ten years back,who would have thought all this was even possible ? Transferring files from mobile to mobile or having video calls and conversations were probably only shown in futiristic movies ! The reason as to why all this development looks extra amazing to me is probably because I have grown up in a family with siblings six to seven years older to me , which is almost like a generation gap.

When I was young, the only means of communication that I saw my siblings use was the telephone! I actually remember my sister having a tough time applying to colleges and unviersities because we did not have an access to the internet that time. I remember my brother calling the universities to check on them just because we could not e-mail them. It was either the telephone or the postal system, both of which had its own problems. I dont remember if we ever owned a fax machine, so I doubt my siblings ever used that. In other words, it was almost an impossible task to search and apply for the appropriate university. Looking at them, I really did not want to finish school ! The application process to the universities seemed so problematic , confusing and hard back then. Well, they finally did get admission in Bangladesh, it was easier there because the application was probably submitted by hand. I think it was 2001 back then and till then my siblings never used mobiles! To own a mobile was something really very amazing to us at that time ! And thats one of the reasons why I remember my brothers face when he got his first mobile set, it was a low priced alcatel, but even then he was so happy that he came to me and actually gave me a hug !

I think that was also the year when my siblings got introduced to " Broadband" one of the fastest internet connections. This reminds of a mail that my sister wrote to me 6 years back. She was like " Elin , broadband is so cool, you can actually stay online the whole time" And back then I was mesmerized! I also remember, that when I was 11 years old , my friends who had access to the net used tell me all kinds of stories. They used to narrate stories about going to America, Disney land and meeting stars like Shahruk Khan and Salman Khan through the net! I have to admit I was a dum kid back then and unfortunately I believed them. As a result, accessing the internet was one of my greatest dreams!

6 years have passed by since then, my siblings have completed their undergraduation in Bangladesh and I was finally done with school in Saudi Arabia. Of course , I comparitively had a much easier time searching for universities as well as applying for them. The websites were always just a click away, and I never had to wait too long for their replies. In other words, communication technology has taken a huge leap in the past 5 years. I also, got my first mobile, a Nokia Ngage, when I was in the 10th grade, which was again much earlier than my siblings. That was mainly because, as time passed , the distribution of mobiles had improved so much that almost every person, every child had to own a mobile.That trend once again showed the improvement in communication technology.

Looking at my childhood, it is not a surprise as to why I fell in love with the internet, the idea of reaching the outside world just by sitting in your own room and clicking the mouse was just amazing ! When I dont go online for a day or two I feel like I havent read the newspaper for a week or in other words I tend to think that I have fallen behind everyone else in the world!

So,this post , is just my way to thank all the people , who have worked for the development in the communications field because I am sure that millions of people out there have benefitted from it.

Umm so .. thats it for today, the day was the same except for the fact that I was blind for 16 hours! ( broke my glasses). Well thats all , until my next post !

Cheers,

Naim.

Monday 25 June 2007

Horrible Match, horrible instructions and welcome back to blogging !

Seriously , if I knew updating my blog regularly was going to be such a huge problem , I would not have started one ! I know , its been a long while since I last wrote something useful or rather anything at all. I guess I did not have time, or maybe I was just too lazy too write down another long essay and then spend another half an hour editing it. Anyways, I am back once again, I probably did not blog for a week or maybe more but hey the good news is I have got a lot to write about. Well atleast I think I do, I mean many things happened this week, I got my New mobile and started loving it more after I got used to it, I realised that even though my tight pants now fit me I still didnot lose much weight and I also got the FINAL CONFIRMATION LETTER, thats how they wrote it , to Manipal !

Nowadays, whenever I go near my dad he starts giving me instructions and all. Its not exactly irritating but its just funny ! For instance today he asked me not to roam around with the Indian rich Kids, I may have a bad influence. So what am I supposed to do ? Roam around with Indian beggars and rare international students ! He also asked me not to go outside Manipal , dont go to Banglore or Manglore , just stay inside Manipal and do everything ! HA ! That is soooo not possible. Anyways, I understand his concern, I guess all fathers are like that but my dad is too worried.

One one side dad is giving me weird " not going to happen" instructions and on the other mom still believes i can stay ! Today she was asking my dad , isnt it possible to refund the money that you sent ? ha !

Well I guess I am being a bit unfair and exaggerating a lot ( thats how I love to write btw) . They still do support my decision to go to Manipal and well they seem to be fine with it. But for now , I really need to start jogging and working out ! starting from tomorrow , or maybe day after or I could start fresh next month ! God knows when I will . Apart from that I really need to buy a guitar , learn a few new chords and a number of new songs !

So yeah now that i finally did recieve everything required to go to College, I think I should start getting a bit scared ! But surprisnigly I am not ! I guess I still didnt realize the importance or the difference in living there.

Bangladesh started off their tour in Srilanka today , and they did so in the most dreadful way ever ! So , therefore I dont think I want to talk about cricket right now ! I just hope Kushal doesnt pop up and start teasing me ! ahh and just when I said it , here comes Kushal !

Anyways i guess I 'll rap it up right now, I dint write anything much ! but what the hell atleast i started writing again !

cheers

Naim

Saturday 16 June 2007

Thank you dad for being there.. Happy Fathers Day !!

Once again I welcome you all to my world ! And once again nothing new or unusual has taken place in my daily routine so there isnt anything worth mentioning about the day. However, Aparna has suddenly decided to leave Saudi Arabia and go to Banglore , her flight is on Thursday I guess. Well I dont know if I should say adios to you aparna, because you have just moved a step closer to Bangladesh and Manipal, two places where I will be spending the next 3 years of my life ( inshallah). So anyways, all the best appu and hope you have an amazing flight with amazing meals ! Please do tell me about them when you reach there. So other than the " Aparna leaving news" we have the grande finale of the La Liga on Sunday. It has to be another exciting night ! Any of the three teams can win the championship! Its also going to be David Beckham and Robert Carlos's last game for Real Madrid and I do hope that they can walk away with their heads held high ! All the best to the Madrid team. Right, lets also not forget we have Barcelona and Sevilla, two teams who equally share the chance to win the La liga with Real Madrid. It is going to be one hell of a night !

So moving on, how many of you actually know that today is " Fathers Day" ? Sure, I bet most of you didnt even know that ! ha ! So thank me for reminding you all ! Actually honestly speaking, even I didnt know that today was supposed to be fathers day. It was Sheena who reminded me through facebook. I know that most of us, especially us guys, we are comparitively closer to our moms and there is nothing wrong with it. Its just natural and as a matter of fact our prophet (PBUH) had once said that the amount of love for our mother should three time more than the love for our fathers. I am not that good in exact Islamic quotations, forgive me for that, but I am sure that that was what he meant.

But nevertheless, that doesnt mean that we should stop loving our dads ! Of course not! And I think its a huge shame that we actually fail to remember the importance of this day ! Especially me , because i think my dad has had a huge influence in my life. I lived alone with my dad for the past 5 years and it is said that the age period between 10-16 requires very good grooming. That little span of life decides how a person's future is going to be. So i can actually say , that my dad groomed me single handedly and looking back at those 5 years i dont think there was even a single moment when i had to regret living without my mother.


My dad is an English professor and works double shift. He has classes both during the morning and the evening. Inspite of all that he used to come home cook lunch , take a small break , asked me about school and my plans and then go back to college again. He also had time to drop me for tuitions, trainings and any other place that i wanted to go to. He also did a lot more which I have to agree got me a bit spoilt ! hehe. But, I really didnt realize how much he worked for me back then, but now that I am here in Bangladesh with my mom and siblings I do feel his stress. I mean me being a lazy ass didnt help my dad at all , but inspite of that he never complained. I guess my dad was like air to me, you know what I mean. You cant see it, but you really need it and you only understand its importance when its not there.


So dad , I just hope that you are in good health in Saudi and that you come home soon and stop getting tensed about us here in Bangladesh ! ha ! Thats another thing about my dad, he just can never stop getting tensed ! Always worried about my mom and us . Thank you dad for everything that you have done and I really miss you today...


Hehe sorry guys i think i got a bit too emotional back there, but hey thats just how i am !

So , have a nice day and hey dont forget to give your dad a hug today .I know it may sound weird to some of you out there but trust me it feels really good . Thank you once again for reading my blog and until the next time you log on to my blog ADIOS.

cheers,

Naim.

Thursday 14 June 2007

What is your future "engineering plan "??

My days at the moment are very very boring and since I only sleep, eat or watch TV all day long, I have decided not to write anything about my day today. I was just wondering about this incident which took place at school once . It wasnt much of a big deal and some of the readers may think that I am actually making a big fuss over nothing. Any how, here it goes.

So, my final exams of the 12th grade got over ( AISSCE, CBSE exams. It comes under an Indian board for those of you who dont know) and I decided to visit school for some reason. I think Shaeq wanted a cd filled with pictures taken during hangouts and school hours. So anyways, we went to school and i gave him his required things. But we still had to wait there for 4 more hours since the KG busses left at 12 PM and that was our only transport back home. So one by one we met all the teachers and all of them asked us the usual question, " Which entrance exam are you coaching for ?'" Shaeq and the other few guys who were there with me had a ready answer. Some of them said AIEEE, and others mentioned some different engineering entrance exams. And when my turn came all I could do was to give a worried smile and reply " sir , I am not going for engineering". The immediate response that came from most of the teachers was this " So , are you trying for medical then ?". Once again that smile crept upon my face and I replied " No, I am going for mass communications" and then comes the funniest part, the shocking look on almost every teachers face as if to say " What ? Mass communications ? What in God's name is that ? "

Not that I have anything against engineers or students studying dental. I mean, hey you guys form an amazing part of the community, hats off to you people! But unfortunately or fortunately my mind was never fit to be in the technical side of life. I could have gone for engineering and maybe even get a good job in the future with a very high salary , that is of course after hard work. But I dont want to waste another 4 years or so studying something which I really am not interested in.


Now many of you who arent in the Asian or South Asian community may be confused as to why I am making such a big deal out of this. Well let me just state a small example which supports my cause. My school is called International Indian School of Dammam , IISD in short. We have a huge population of around 13 thousand students studying there. out of which approximately 300 students graduated this year. And I think we had around 200 students who were in the science section alone ! This small observation shows us all how demanding, subjects like engineering and medical are. Almost every parent dreams that one day their child is going to be an engineer or a doctor. So from the above it is quite obvious as to why my teachers gave me " the look" when i told them that I wasnt going to go for either of those two subjects. And this also made my decision to go study Mass communications a very difficult one. I always loved writing , speaking , communicating with people, coming out with creative ideas , making videos etc. and all this clearly showed me my way. I was just scared that my dad wouldnt agree, but at the end he did and I was delighted at his response !

Hey once again, I have nnoooothing against Engineers or doctors, they save lives man how can I have anything against them ? The only thing that saddens me is that when parents say that I want my son to be an engineer , a doctor ! Why not a mainstream journalist or a director or maybe even a writer !

Many of you may be confused with my title today " What is your future engineering plan?" Well one of my teachers asked the same question once and I found his assumption very funny.
So, after a lot of thinking and persuation I have chosen my subject and my path. I just hope that I have done the right thing and chosen the correct path and I also pray to God for his help.

As a wise person had once said " Team work is what we need" and this quotation really does suit my post today. For the world to run , we need an equal number of engineers, doctors, journalists, reporters etc. and that my friend is teamwork !

So I sincerely hope that my post today does not offend any one and I also hope that no teachers or anybody for that matter, asks such a question first up to any student planning to pursue their higher education.

Cheers

Naim.

Wednesday 13 June 2007

Let the Planning Begin !!

Right, so my admission in Manipal has almost been confirmed. Dad called today and said that he was going to make the money drafts today and send it by tomorrow morning. So, now i seriously need to start planning. I need to buy many things and I also need to learn many things !! I guess mom is going to teach me to cook, not that its a must, there will be a food mess in the hostel. But still its better to be safe ! And then I need to learn the drums. Yes, I'll probably ask my sister to contact someone. I just want to learn an instrument before leaving Dhaka, that will be cool. Then I also need a mobile, I hope dad does bring the one i asked him too. Computers are avaialable there, so i dont think I need a laptop straight away.Besides its costly and i dont have much time, so i think it will be better buying it after the first semester. My decision to go to Manipal may not let me go visit Saudi Arabia anymore. Thats bad, not that I love the life there but I was born there and I just want to go there and renew my visa atleast for another year. So any how, I do hope ican get a week's holiday in october. Well, that can be dealt with later. I need to buy clothes as well and the very important " alarm clock" is required ! Man, i have to do everything on my own there, it will be a huge challenge. Lets hope I am ready for it . Anywas manipal is still one and a half months away, so I still have little time left.

Today was just another ordinary day, the surprising thing was that it did not rain today ! Thats supposedly good because the last few days it rained a lot ! Well lets hope a rain-less day will help the roads to dry out. I have to wake up early tomorrow, got a Quran class ! So i guess thats it, I just played Play station, Listened to music and slept all day . Lets hope tommorow is a better day !

cheers !

Naim

Tuesday 12 June 2007

Another day passes by in Dhaka and here I am again planning to bore you all with my usual boring routine. Well , today was a bit different though. As usual slept early in the morning ( 4 am ) but then I had to wake up at 8 because I slept in my brothers room by mistake and he woke me up. And then I came to know that Ashfaq and aunty were coming over, sooooo i cudnt sleep. Anyways, i spent the day basically trying to be awake hehe. Played Pro evolution soccer with him .. Hez quite good but needs more experience... i won all the matches lol.. it was fun playing competetive PS2 after a long time though. Then we watched a movie... actualy he watched a movie.. I was online learning more abt Manipal instutue of comm. He watched Tararumpum i think.. blah.. i dint like the movie.. " Typical indian movie" lol.. Umm so after that we just went out a bit and then basically he continued playing PS2 and i continued my research. Honestly speaking, the research changed my mind completely, now I really want to go to manipal. The campus looks brilliant and the courses , internships and everything looks like a lot of fun. So yeah I am not that frustrated as i was before, I guess i will go to manipal. Anyways, I went to sleep as sooon as ashfaq and aunty left. Dad called many times after i woke up and i told him I wanna go to manipal.. lol.. um so i stil have time till Saturday .. letssee what more games my mind plays with me ! Other than that , just stayed online as usual , chatted with friends and blah blah blah. Tomorrow I'll probably go to the British Council with my sister, though i donno why i am going and i do hope i wake up early ! Oh and i also got looads of pics of manipals campus, andthey looked quite impressive. Any how , no football matches today soo nothing interesting to write today lol. Until my next post ! adios !
cheers

Naim

Sunday 10 June 2007

Decisionless Decision Day

Yesterday was a very very important day. Looads of events took place, Federer lost the French open to Rafael Nadal, Asia thrashed Africa 3-0 ! and Mohammed Rafique had an amazing match with figures 4-65 ! Plus yesterday was kinda like the DECISION day...on whether i shud go to manipal or not. I hate to agree but my brother made some very valuable points which made me think all night... I am soo confused now.. I donno what to do ! There are soo many points to focus on...man i cudnt even sleep the night.. just kept on waking up on the thought of going to Manipal.. My mom is understandably sad because of my decision! Man.. manipal is very good agreed, education is good, Chix are hot , campus is also good but the thing that i fear the most is that I am a Bangladeshi ! how can i just go to India and study. Yes thats my real fear ! Yeah i know it sounds a bit weird, but thats the plain truth. I am just a bit too patriotic ! Everytime I think of studying in India, I have this afterthought that I may not be coming back to Bangladesh, I may not be able to support bangladesh in cricket matches with all my heart, I may not be jumping with joy for all the little achievements that bangladesh achieves. ...But then again i can come to bd back after 3 years... but i just dont know .... everything seems to be hacing a fault now.. nothing straight.. if i stay here in bdesh... everything will be fine..ill get good food.. mom will take care of me.. ill live .. arraam se...but.. i wont be able to study mass comm here then... will have to study english ! arghh... lol man i talked to loads of people for advice... but i guess the best advice that i got was from Sunny Bhai... He told me that .. " In life u have to take some decisions on your own, thats what makes u a man"... thanx bro ....Man i just hope that.. i still am mentally able to come back to bangladesh ...I just hope everything goes well...

Saturday 9 June 2007

An irritating night followed by a very exciting one !

Right so here I am typing my first post of the blog. Actually this is kind of like my second post, my first post which was filled with loooooooads of stuff could not by uploaded because of some problems with my internet connnection. Anyhow, first things first, Thank you aparna for introducing me to Blogging ! I was introduced to this many times before but I just did not have the time to start one and also me being a lazy ass did not help much. Well last night was quite irritating because of many reasons ! I waited for a Real madrid match which actually took place tonight ! Plus as i mentioned earlier my first post didnt make it to the blog and I was also bored staying up. However tonight, whoaaaa , this was probably the beeeest night ever !! No , I know what you are thinking, I didnt Bang any girl, neither did I call any strippers ! I enjoyed pure FOOTBALL ! Seriously, I was like jumping up and down , up and down ! i cant describe the whole match here ! but yeah here is a link from goal.com. This ought to make me remember this night often ! http://www.goal.com/en/articolo.aspx?contenutoid=324268

The day was umm quite sporty actually, loads of sporting action around. The french open, Afro - ASia cup, La liga.. so yeah i pretty much sat in front of TV the whole day.

hmm nowadays, the only thing that I think about the most is about my university ! Damn, i dunno if I should go to manipal , or stay here with my family. Well honestly speaking, I want to go to Manipal, it would be great, a totally new experience plus I will atleast learn to rely on myself ! But yeah, lets hope that my parents dont have any problem. I just hope that my Mom is ok with it, I mean i know she doesnt want to leave me again for anotehr 3 years, so she definitly doesnt want me to go to manipal. So , I am still thinking.. hmm. I just hope God helps me out with this and that whatever path I take in life, it turns out to be good. I have huge dreams you know, newayz.. its 6 am and i think I ll go to my sisters comp and watch a movie !! and then probably sleep the whole day ! lol, well thats all ! keep waiting for the next post ! hope that will be soon

Cheers

naim