As far as I can remember: We lived in the Manager’s House in Horipur 100MW Gas Turbine Power Plant, Narayanganj, Bangladesh. My father was the manager of that power plant at that time. It is beside the river শীতলক্ষা (Shitalak-khaa). This is a one-storied building. There was a big jute plant just in the opposite side of the wall. Once there was a huge fire in the jute storage. The fire reached the sky. It took three days and and a huge amount of water from the Shitalakkha river.
1989: There was a great flood this year.Water reached just up to the outside footsteps. If it would increase one more inch, it would overflow into our house. Fortunately it didn’t. We would go from here to there by boat. From the veranda, I used to watch the fishes flocking on our garden. I drove away the greedy birds trying to catch the fishes. We could not make any difference between our lawn and the river because that time there was no boundary wall of the power plant. If we would stand on the roof, it seemed that our house stands in the middle of the river. We used to call the fishermen from our roof for buying fishes. They used to come very close to our house by boat and threw the fishes to our roof – we also threw the money.
1990: I used to draw pictures on our wall. One day my father beat me because I was defacing the wall writing my name. From that day, I used to write my brothers name. We used to play in the small lawn outside our house. Somewhat near these years, I started learning swimming in the river. Every Friday, at 11:00AM, there were a show in TV named “The girl from Tomorrow”. We used to go to the river for swimming after watching the show. On the way to the river we always talked about that episode of the show. I am still being able to feel the emotions of diving into the river — the way I felt when the water went through my nose – or when it started extreme pain in the ears due to an excessive amount of swimming in cold water. I am still being able to hear the sound of a rowboat coming when we are in the water.
1993: I liked books with a lot of pictures. I also liked new books. From the very end of final exam, I used to start irritating my parents for new books. My favorite subject was Bengali (Because of the prose and poetry). I got admitted in a new school named “Motijheel Govt Boys High School”. The old one was “Godnile Preparatory School”. This new school was very far from my house. My parents shifted me to this new school because soon we were going to move to a new place. I was very excited with new friends in school. It was a very good school – teachers were very good except one – named Mofiz. He gave me a punishment on the very first day.
1994: I wanted to make a library in a small part of our bookshelf. All the books were listed and serialized. Probably this year we left Shiddhirganj. I can still remember the day before we left that place. I thought I needed to go to the field so that everybody can share some of my sadness. I went to the field with my football. Didn’t I notice that it was raining? Nobody was there in the field. Was it the sky who was crying for me? I didn’t have to hide my tears. It washed away by the rain. I didn’t like the new place. Boys here were too sarcastic in nature. They behaved with me as though I am an illiterate lass just arrived from jungle. I reduced socialization. I became much more self-centric and preferred to read story books just by being inside the home.
1995: Very fond of তিন গোয়েন্দা, Books by Muhammad Jafar Iqbal and Humayun Ahmed.
1996: One day, in WAPDA quater in Begunbari, Dhaka – one of my friend, Reaz Mohiuddin, (Now a teacher in Dept of Mechanical Engineering, BUET) was bragging about his knowledge in computing. I didn’t know anything. That day I started reading a book named “আধুনিক কম্পিউটার বিজ্ঞান” (Modern computer science) by Dr. Lutfar Rahman from the University of Dhaka. I started reading this; didn’t understand a word until I reached the end chapter which was something related to programming in BASIC. Then, being interested, I made my father buy me a book named “বেসিক ভাষায় প্রোগ্রামিং” (programming in BASIC) by Shawon Shuhrid. There was the start of my programming without any computer.
1997: Fascinated with my new computer. An outcome of a recent price hike of stocks in my parents’ possession.
1998: I had a diary at that time. My first article in Computer Jagat (a monthly computer magazine) was something related to keeping your program in the System Tray using Visual Basic.
1999: Started learning programming with windows API (Application Programming Interface). Made rollover buttons and non-conventional windows (e.g. circular window etc) using API from visual basic. Wrote articles in Computer Jagat regarding those. I wonder how fast I used to learn at that time! School life was finished. Left all of my school friends. No contact with most of them anymore. (Later, got some of them in facebook.). For the first time in my life, wondered how time passes by!! I used to think the ten years in school will never finish.
2000: Passed SSC. Failed in the admission of Notre Dame College. Admitted in Dhaka College. Continued to ruin my studies with unnecessary programming habits and write-ups in Computer Jagat.
2001: I liked mathematics the most. The reason was the teaching of Lutfujjaman Sir. I liked physics also. The reason was Rana sir. However, I hated Chemistry and Biology(both botany and zoology) most. The reasons were corresponding teachers. I wonder, my interest in subjects were much more influenced by the teachers rather than the topics itself.
2002: Passed HSC. Reflection of my likings in the result.
2003: Admitted to KUET. No Internet, No access to personal computer (without jostling with others in the university lab), No good reading materials, No intelligent discussions with my father, Non-cooperative teachers. No sooner had I admitted, got very frustrated and unhappy. Was thinking about quitting the university. Started smoking.
2004: Involved in an affair with Chaity. Became a little bit stable. However, performances in exams were continued to be very poor. The reason was – not studying during the semester time, not attending the class regularly, procrastination, keeping everything undone for the PL (Preparatory Leave) time. However, during studying in PL, I liked almost all the subjects. But those big syllabi were impossible to finish in very short period of time and as a result I had to leave some parts untouched. In most of my exams, I used to get full 100% marks on whatever I answered. But I used to answer only 60-75%. I was aware about this problem but could not solve.
2005: Continued the same scenario
2006: Continued. However, trying a lot improved my scores a little bit at the end. got 3.6 in the last semester. I did my thesis very enthusiastically under the supervision of Dr. Rafiqul Islam sir – in my eyes one of the best teachers in KUET (In every aspect).
2007: KUET life was finished (I thought student life was finished as well) (So fast!!!). Came back home with a lot of memories and friends. For the second time in my life, started wondering about how time passes by! I joined in a company named “Ericsson”. My job was to get on top of the big buildings and changing parts of BTS (Base Transceiver Station). Salary was 30,000BDT. There was allowance when I went outside Dhaka. What might be any better job than this for a low cgpa (3.33/4.00) student like me?
2008: Due to several rational/irrational/emotional matters (interest) I left my job as soon as my bank balance hit 300,000BDT. Paid back 172,000BDT among the 300,000 that I could save. This was a penalty for breaching the contract of not leaving the job early. I wanted to go for higher study. I wanted to go abroad because there was no opportunity for “research” (Shall I ever be able to understand this word?) in Bangladesh. I took GRE at the end of the year.
2009: Remained unemployed up to Aug. Lazy time went by evening time chatting in our favorite rendezvous. Got married with Chaity in 9th Aug, 2009. After several days, in 17th Aug, 2009 – started my journey towards USA with Chaity. The year ended without any significant work
2010: It is may. Summer vacation has started – simply NO contribution. Not even a paper. Sometimes I think, am I really capable to do research? Was the decision right that I took in 21st of July, 2008? I really wonder – how fast time goes by!!!
সময় ছুটে চলে – আমি আকড়ে পড়ে রই।
আমার বয়স বাড়ে – আমি বাড়ি না।