Star Diary

BEHAVING RESPONSIBLY

Last year I went to Chittagong and visited the Parade Ground, a vast playground enjoyed by the people living in the neighborhood as well as the students of Chittagong College. As I went there, I was impressed by the developments to turn it into a better recreation centre which included a sprawling walkway around the playground. It seemed a clean well maintained place, and nobody had much to complain about it. The place was buzzing with youngsters playing cricket, football and other sports. There were many health-conscious people jogging or walking on the walkway while many youngsters were found playing different sports. I thanked the Chittagong Development Authority in my mind for their effort. However, two weeks ago, on another visit to Chittagong I found a different scenario of the very same playground. All the spiked grills serving as the boundary to the ground were locked. There was dust and decaying leaves everywhere. The paint on the grills was peeling off at places. People were using a corner of it as a urinal. I found that the whole place was ruined by sheer negligence. Why such dramatic change? I was unofficially told that this was a result of some people's personal grudge against the authority. I wish we could let go the grudges and bitterness to make the world a better place.
Mahbubur Rashid
Bashundhara Residential Area,
Dhaka

LET'S NOT WASTE IT!

The other day I visited my cousin living in Gulshan. As I went to her kitchen to get a glass of water, I found both the stoves on. On the other hand, we the residents in Rampura have been suffering from the gas crisis this winter, like every year. There were days when we had to rely on store-bought food, restaurants and alternative methods of cooking. In our area gas comes at around 7 am in the morning, that too at a very low pressure. We need to rush to finish cooking. While we keep ranting about the shortage in gas supply specially during winter, we too need to act responsible while using it. Equally wasteful is the practice of leaving your tap open while washing your clothes. We often tend to forget that natural resources like these are limited and we need to be careful while using them.
Farhana Nowshin
Rampura, Dhaka