Setting up Jaunty Jackalope

Like many of my previous attempts, I've set up Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) through Wubi in my laptop to wiggle around a bit. I have found the following links very helpful to set up my system properly and thought to share them in one place.

• Wireless:
  Unlike Intrepid Ibex (8.10), which for some esoteric reasons, made a mess with the wi-fi settings, wireless netwoking works like a charm in Jaunty. I booted into the new installation, pressed the wi-fi switch of my laptop, opened the wireless connection applet and configured the network by just entering the SSID (if your system is password protected, you'd need to enter that along with choosing the encryption type). After that, I had no problems with wi-fi connection.
  
  
• Sound:
  The first problem that you will face up after installing the new system is that there is no sound output out of the box. Apparently, they have almost overhauled the sound configuration system from the previous version. Follow this excellent article by UbuntuGeek carefully and you'd be able to set up sound for your system.
  
  
• Third-party Applications:
  As always, HowToForge has their 'The Perfect Desktop' article for Ubuntu 9.04 that will make your system a complete alternative to Windows with all necessary softwares. Set up the Medibuntu repositories as described in the article and then download your necessary packages through Synaptic Package Manager.
  
  
• Resizing Virtual Disk Space:
  After installing all my necessary softwares, I found my virtual partition crying for hard disk space. At first I became frustrated but after some Googling, came up with this helpful Lubi Virtual Partition Manager. Download and install this deb package, specify the new virtual partition size and wait for a while as it copies all the stuff from the old virtual disk to the new one. Note that, in your physical hard drive you need free space as much as your new disk size as this will perform a copy instead of a replace operation. After all contents have been copied, log into your Windows system, go inside :\ubuntu\disk folder, delete/rename root.disk and rename new.disk to root.disk. Now you can enjoy the increased disk space in your Ubuntu system.

These are the changes I have made so far to configure my system. I will try adding more tips as I face new problems with Jaunty. Till then, enjoy the Jackalope, the fastest Ubuntu distro so far in my opinion.

Dhaka to New York

It was my first aeroplane journey. So far, I had travelled solo only once, a one day round trip to Sylhet, culminating in my fateful meeting with three muggers. I was sad to leave my motherland for an extended stretch of time. I was anxious about how my parents will handle leaving without me. I was (and still am) mostly concerned about what kind of job I'll get in USA. All these thoughts registered little on my mind of my impending flight.

As scheduled earlier, I reached ZIA by 6pm and was way early for my flight. Rana uncle had already managed an acquainted official to handle my boarding passes. Though I was told I'd receive two boarding passes (Dhaka to Dubai and Dubai to New York), I only got the imminent one due to some security issues. Dad filled out forms for me and I passed immigration without much hassle. The next hurdle for me was the customs check before boarding. Thankfully, Rana uncle crossed security borders and managed another helpful acquaintance of his to look after my customs process. I was sitting at the terminal waiting for the plane to arrive, marvelling at the gigantic Gulf-Air plane that was boarding at that time. A couple of phone calls from Mom, Dad, Abir, Lablu and Nijhu kept me occupied to pass the time. I duly boarded in the Emirates flight at 8:25pm and bade my family goodbye via phone.

I got an aisle seat on the right hand side of the middle column, near the back of the plane. My co-passengers were mostly Bangladeshi workers in Dubai. I noticed with surprise that most of them were hardly bothered by the instructions to fasten/unfasten their seat belts at proper time. Thankfully though, they showed me the where the remote control of the TV was. Previously I had heard lots of praises about the beautiful Emirates air-hostesses and I should mention that none of those were exaggerating. After everything was set and done, the plane seemed to taxi at a very slow pace. Later I came to realize that it must have taken a long winding route to reach the main runway from the terminal (guessing ZIA is not a spacious airport). Afterwards, I felt a sudden mild thrust which I would like to compare with a nitro boost in a racing car. As previously advised, I plugged my ears with my fingers during the takeoff to prevent the buzzing noise and the plane gracefully left the soil of Dhaka.

After the plane was air-borne, there wasn't much to do. At around 9:30pm, we were offered dinner. I was greatly satiated by the servings. Later, I managed to catch some sleep as I always do in a moving vehicle. At around 12:45am, I woke up and waited for the plane to land.

Much to my dismay, the plane landed 10 minutes late. We had to get down from the plane and board on the shuttle to reach the terminal building. I was mostly tensed if I'd be able to collect my tickets, check-in customs and be able to board on my next flight in so little time. I boarded the shuttle to leave the plane in a hurry. Just before entering the shuttle I had a small taste of the heat of middle-eastern climate. The shuttle was void of any seats. Though I was tensed, I could not stop marvelling the enormous size and vanity of Dubai Airport. The huge multi-storied terminal building waiting in front of me with its mazes.

I got down from the shuttle in a hurry and then rushed to find the appropriate counter. To my relief, I had only two persons in front of me in queue. The total time to collect the boarding pass took less than 7 minutes. I started for my terminal and then to my dismay, had to stand behind around 150 people to get past the security checking. They made me take-off my shoes, belts and glasses - any metal object I was carrying in my body. After getting past the security, I started running to my destination with my shoes unlaced and my unbuckled belt in my coat pocket.

What followed could only be compared to the journey through Crystal Maze - my favorite reality show from my teens. I went through numerous tunnels, descended three stories and then ascended two more to find my terminal gate. The queue contained 20 or so people in front of me but I was relieved thinking that at least now they won't leave us behind. After a while I was let through, got down further through a lift and boarded the flight to New York.

This time, I had the leftmost seat in the middle column, again at the back side of the plane. My co-passenger was a Bengali from Kolkata and there was an Indian girl across the aisle. I couldn't find any place to stash my carry-on and a cute east-asian air hostess helped me (For some reason I always find Asians more attractive, but that's another story). They waited 15 minutes more for all transit passengers to board and then started to take-off.

This flight's take-off was much smoother, even with a shorted run-up. I went to sleep after a while and was awaken after some hours for another full course meal. The food in this flight was better and was abundant in variety. Though I was tempted, I didn't taste any liqour thinking Rosie Fuppi and Fuppa (aunt and uncle) would be able to smell it. After meal, I shifted between sleeping, and watching movies (12 Rounds and partially Watchmen and 7 Pounds) in the flight.

I was awake with the glimpse of sunlight while the plane was over France and then followed my largest spell of dawn so far. I went to the restroom once to brush and take a leak, but as habituated, couldn't do anyting else.

Just an hour before reaching New York, we were served breakfast and then appropriate forms to pass the immigration. A couple of minutes before landing I got the glimpse of the shores of New York and experienced another smooth landing. I rushed to get ready to get down but had to wait a while before the long queue in front of me got down.

May be it was morning, or may be it is true, but JFK didn't impress me as much as Dubai. I came out of the tunnel and starting jogging through to reach the immigration. It helped eventually, along with the fact that an officer spotted a couple of Bangladeshis like me with Diversity Visa papers in hand and took us to a specific counter without any others. I went past the immigration officer in less than 10 minutes in total, got my luggage clearance signed without any hassle, and then spotted a lady who was in my flight from Dhaka to Dubai. I saw her taking her bags off from the luggage rail and received my two bags after a while. I was surprised to find my luggage unaltered and also at the $5 price to rent a trolly. I decided to drag both of my bags on their wheels, followed the directions, got out of the main building and saw Sarah, Fuppi and Fuppa waiting with a warm smile. My journey was over.

Saying Goodbye

So far, this year has brought upon me a spell of anxious waits, linking one event after another. Amidst all the turmoil, I failed to keep any journal lately. Now that all the waiting is over, finally the time has come to sally forward into the glorious uncertainty. The last goodbyes have been said, the parting tears have been shed, now I am on the verge of starting my voyage.

It all started with freaking out why I hadn't received my DV interview letter at the start of the year. Then, waiting for the dreaded visa interview with a quiet tension. After the interview, it seemed like an eternity before I finally got the phone-call affirming my immigration. Everyone was happy. I visited BUET and informed my honors and masters thesis advisers, both bade me farewell happily. Finally, it came to talking to Ellis, my boss.

I was queasy about letting my Managing Director/Team Lead/Programming Mentor know that I'll be leaving the country. Not only was I breaching my 3 year contract, but I was feeling low for breaking his trust and not keeping my own words. After Ellis returned from his Thailand vacation, I mailed him last Sunday asking to talk and since our cutover (production cycle end date) has been shifted, he managed some time to talk to me after lunch. Even before I got into explaining things, he had said he knew about my diversity lottery and happilly let me go with no strings attached. The way Ellis talked to me on that day (probably 10th March) made our friendship even stronger than before.

The couple of months after that went into a frenzy. Every morning I'd get up early and then start for my swimming or driving lesson, then a hurried breakfast at some restaurant and going to office through the late moring traffic jam. The evenings were spent either on meeting old friends or shopping. In no time, I faced May 21st, my last working day in CodeCrafters. I felt mixed with all kind of emotions on that day. Like many time before, I attempted to express myself with a song for this occasion.

After I had quit office, I finally managed to take Mom and Dad to Cox's Bazar for one last vacation in Bangladesh. We got the chance to watch hurricane 'Aila' from the balcony of hotel Sea Crown. It felt very great to finally have travelled with my family.

The last few days were all spent in attending various invitations and farewell parties. Ellis' last words on Thursday (June 4th) left me choking almost to the verge of tears. While departing I received an uncharacteristic and warm hug from my ex-boss and now dear friend. On Friday (5th June), I exchanged goodbyes with a lot of my dear freinds and family members. The hardest of these all were to say bye to Nashad, Nijhu and Emin. In fact Emin and I could not help our tears that evening at all. The long 14 year friendship, of never getting detached from one another, of relying on the other on any need at any time actually came to abeyance that day. Nijhu, like his typical Floydian style, sent a simple text message packaged with all his good wishes- Shine on you crazy diamond.

I forbade Mom to cry in front of me, yet she couldn't help it when I left her with a meager amount from the remnant of my last salary, thinking how I was feeling to go apart from her for the first time in my life. Consequently, I broke down also. I feel so much ashamed thinking how much I had misbehaved with my Dad in the final days in Dhaka, yet he always stood there as the pillar, always smiling and encouraging and never faltering to show a tinge of emotion, for this and all the love and support, I am deeply grateful.

Finally it was 5pm on Sunday (6th June). I was getting ready to board on the microbus we rented for my airport trip. All on a sudden, Abir and Shiplu arrived to see me for one last time. I can never forget that last embrace from my two friends. Tears were glistening in my eyes as I said the last goodbye and left 24. B. K. Das Road, my home.

2008: A Year on Wings

What better words to describe how wonderful 2008 was for me? The Almighty Allah has bestowed upon me so many good things in life and laid so much success on my path that I can never thank Him enough for that. This was a pivotal year in my life and in reminiscence I'd like to look back at a few memorable events.

Jan-Feb Despite whining earlier, I feel I'd given a decent effort in my MS studies, which resulted in an A+ in Computational Geometry. This was a big thing for me since I was the only non-buet-teacher masters student to have earned an A+ in this subject. I didn't fair in the other two courses but I don't want to consider that as failures since my efforts in them were commensurate to my grades. I completed the huge GraphApi rewrite job at the office single-handedly. Though this did not garner any significant contribution to our product but through this I became the sole programmer to maintain GraphApi and GraphPaint libraries for our product.

March Had a wonderful trip to Birisiri with Zaman. During BCM training at the office, once I got genuinely indignant at the idiosyncrasies and strongly dissented with Tajul Bhai over lunch. This was one of the rare times when I stepped out of my character and stood up for something, for this reason, I'll always remember this among my numerous office memories.

May 6th This date needs a special mention. It was CodeCrafters 1st year Anniversary. All of us, donned in new t-shirts bearing CodeCrafters logo were getting ready to go the Sheraton for a grand celebration. Just before leaving office, suddenly I received a phone call from Dad. He was very agigatated, demanding me to come home at once. Upon querying upon the cause of this emergency I learnt that a letter from American Consular Center is awaiting me. By some utter dumb luck (again all praises to the Almighty Allah), I won the DV-2009 lottery. Upon hearing the news I immediately shared the joy through hushed embraces among my colleagues and friends (obviously not informing my boss Ellis). Though it was my first visit to a 5-star hotel, I was not in a mental state to marvel the decoration or ingest the salt less (in some ways also tasteless) food. Finally I could no longer avoid Dad's berated phone-calls and had to ask leave from Ellis in the middle of lunch to come home and collect the winning letter. Imagine what this means to me! Not only does it open a gateway to go to US (for which I was wistful at that time), but it was also my first win in any lottery and how! Earlier I used to consider myself so distant from any date with the lady luck since I even used to lose the coin toss before a cricket match all the time. Now I consider myself one of the luckiest person of 2008.

June After school I became somewhat distant from a bunch of my schoolmates. By this time, I started frequenting to Imran's place and met a lot of old friends while cheering for our team in the soccer tournament. I also took part for one half in the last match which was one of the high points for me.

July Just half a month before Minu Khala's wedding, I got diagnosed with Hepatitis-A. I had to take intra-venous saline solution and had to remain glued to bed for almost a month. Again thanks to Allah I recovered rapidly due everyone's love and care. On the whole, it was a new feeling to take complete rest after quite a while.

Sept-Oct I scored another A+ in Bioinformatics in Masters and was busy most of the time in office to facilitate multiple Index feeds in our product - CIM. This was one of the very few occasions in my work life so far when I felt challenged by the problem before me and felt I was actually contributing something.

Nov I sat for TOEFL on the 1st. The experience was something I have not encountered before. Suffering from a mild fever I had to complete my exam and by some miracle (again thanks to Allah) I scored an astounding 114 (Reading=29, Listening=29, Speaking=26, Writing=30), which is so far presumed to be the highest among csebuet alumni. I had an austere but hearty birthday celebration on 6th, first sharing a small cake with my school friends and then enjoying a nice family dinner. I had a notable contribution in painting and refurbishing our home and after a long time, started studying like crazy for the upcoming GRE exam.

Dec Just 2 days after Eid-ul-Azha, I sat for GRE on the 11th. Again by divine intervention, my exam became an utter show of miracle. I encountered only a handful of words outside what I've studied from WordSmart and billions of thanks to Almighty Allah, scored 1420 (Analytical=640, Quantitative=780). I invited Joyee and Apurbo Bhaiya on the 16th to our home and had a heartfelt chat with my best friend on the 17th like the old times. I ended the year with a bang - a rocking 3 day trip to Cox's Bazar with Nashad, Piou, Shaila, Saikat, Saad, Redwan and Ashik. We danced, partied, boozed, jumped in and out of sea, bon-fired and above all enjoyed every bit of time amidst natural beauties and old friends. This will always remain as one of the most memorable journeys of my life. Other than all this, I enfranchised for the first time in my life on 29th.

Being a believer (cannot term myself a pious or a devout yet) I've realized to accredit all the good things in my life to God's benevolence and all the hardship to His tests in this year. This is a lesson I hope to nurture in me throughout my life. One other important lesson which I've learnt may be put forth in a filmy way- Agar kisi chiz ko dil se chaho, to puri kayenaat tumhe usse milane to sazish mein lag jati hain (quoted from Om Shanti Om, dialogue picturized on Shah Rukh Khan. I later read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and found out the original quote). No one but me can fathom how profoundly this have come true in my life in 2008. This is a year that I'll always remember as one that has reaffirmed my belief over fate and has taught me to dream big again.

26

Happy Birthday to me. I've turned 26 today. Millions of thanks to the Almighty Allah for blessing me with a comfortable year and for showing me the signs of a new path. It feels like the first year of the second part of my life is gone. The new year in my life comes with lots of uncertainty and hope. I don't know what the Almighty Allah has in store for me but have firm belief over his benevolence. I don't know where I will be a year from now but I expect a number of significant pages will be turned in my book of life. Let's just say I want to ride the journey of hope and land at a more auspicious shore.

My Playstation Portable

After months of yearning, I finally have a PSP in the palm of my hands. My long research on the net and continual poaching on www.clickbd.com during office hours finally paid off. Today I've bought a modded PSP-2000, a.k.a PSP slim and lite from two young fellows at Gulshan for Tk.11500 only. Thank you ClickBD for providing us with ebay like (actually this website is a complete ebay rip-off) service. My heartiest thanks to Neaz and Mushtakim, from whom I received a beautiful silver PSP, Sandisk 2 GB pro duo memory stick, a handy carrying case and above all UMDs of Spiderman-3 and Smackdown vs Raw 2008 - the key reason behind my buying a PSP. Soon I'll start drooling all over this blog doting about my new toy. I'm already downloading ISO of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. My recent ventures may not provide me with much playing hours but I plan to update this blog with my experiences from now on.

Ubuntu Tips

All tips mentioned here have been applied to my HP 520 laptop, using Hardy Heron.

• Changing default boot option- edit /boot/grub/menu.lst
• Using Nokia phone as a usb EDGE modem- see Shihab's Blog
• Location of downloaded packages- /var/cache/apt/archives
• Change options to "Open With" menu- edit ~/.local/share/applications to add/remove .
• Update Firefox. Fix "Offline Mode" at startup bug.
  
• VLC Media Player skins directory- ~/.vlc/skins2/

My Football Match

Everyone is hyped about Euro 2008, discussing the exuberant gameplay of the Turks and the Russians and wondering how the unimpressive Germans and typically hapless Spaniards reach the final. My schoolmates are still ruing over the fact that our team, Batch-99 have conspiringly been prevented to advance to the semi-finals of Gregorian Football Tournament 2008. But for the last couple of days, all I had in mind was that I was going to take part in Batch-99's last league match against Batch-95. Though it'll sound unbelievable to many, but at the age of 26, this was going to be my first major appearance in any kind of competitive sports, let alone football.

Before this, all I ever did was cheering my team from the sideline. Once in class 6, I was sent to play as a defender and was immediately (may be after 3 minutes) substituted after I made a mess of receiving a regulatory backpass and gave away a corner for that. In class 7, I was used as a substitute fielder once in a cricket match and cost my team heavily in defeat by dropping 3 simple catches. This was all I could contribute in any sports competition during my student life. At that time I was terribly fat and had no knack for moving or running at all. So my senior years in school saw me as a spinner and occasional big hitter with a lousy pair of hands in friendly cricket matches only.

More than a decade had passed from that time and I lost a couple of pounds here and there while I grew up. I gave up my addiction to fast food and soft drinks and the strenuous BUET life made me strong both physically and mentally. During my last year in BUET, I participated in football matches between friends, bunking classes a number of times. Since my CSE-mates did not know of my disastrous sports background I could easily get to play there. Playing there I finally understood a couple of basics about "the beautiful game" and it helped my stamina tremendously. I still own a pot-belly (result of 8-hour-a-day desk job), but it's no way as round as it used to be and now I can run a bit in the field also.

Our team, Batch-99 had already lost both their matches by 2-1. Let me not go through the long saga of controversy, bad-refereeing and bad-luck that caused our advancement to semi-finals of ongoing Gregorian Football Tournament. Yesterday (June 27, 2008, Friday) was our last group match against Batch-95. At first, our friends were very hot-tempered and everyone was speculating about giving walk-over or losing by a huge margin purposely. Finally, we agreed of fielding our second team, play with a free mind and accept whatever result we could achieve. I always had a deep desire to represent my batch in my school in any kind of sports. I repeatedly requested our captain and my very good friend Abir, and he agreed to give me a chance in the match.

Yesterday was also Shantu Mama's (youngest uncle from my mother's side) first death anniversary. This made my plans a bit tough. But I could duly take part in the ceremony and very tactfully managed to prevent anyone from serving me a large helping of Tehari as I didn't want to play in a heavy stomach. I reached Saint Gregory's at 3:15 and roamed around in the playground a bit. I didn't have my own jersey or shorts, so couldn't make the starting line up. At the half-time break after 25 minutes we were leading 1-0, thanks to a crafty chip by Abir over the goalkeeper's head. Borrowing shorts from Kana Abir and jersey from Kawsar, I finally joined the center of action, replacing Shawon (nicknamed C-Vit among friends) as the left back.

The time I spent in the middle of the pitch was one of the best moments I passed this year. I saw Abir score a hat-trick, a beautiful set play from Abir to Kawsar resulting in another goal, and the funniest of all, our own players protesting to the referee after being awarded a goal for a probable handball by Kana Abir. Playing with good humor and complete disregard of the consequences, we had a thrashing 5-1 win over Batch-95, who used to be considered as one of the most formidable sports team during my school life. Regarding my personal contribution, I think I did pretty well as per my own and our team's expectations. I blocked a couple of shots, stole the ball once to thwart a attack before forming and most of all provided sound marking to the opponents' right forward. So fed up with my game he was, in the middle of the pitch he told me, "Brother, you haven't played yourself and haven't let me play either". With a broad grin in my face I confessed to him at that very moment that I was a complete newbie and just came in to have some fun in the middle. The fun I had playing for the whole second half, was not dented at all by the blow I received near the right eye, due to coming in the line of a strong shot by the opponent. My glasses flew off my nose that the player was very sympathetic in finding that for me. Abir was concerned and wanted to sub me, but I was having too much fun in the middle. So I denied and left the field a couple of minutes later along with the whole team. It was a fitting end to the tournament for us, since we secured the second place in group after Batch-97 lost to Batch-82 in the next match.

I had spent twelve years concentrating on nothing else but study. In my BUET life I had come to contact with Shabuj Bhai and my thrive for performing in stage fulfilled during CSE Day 2004 and 2007. The thirst for performing in a competitive stage in sports was left to be quenched and now I've finally had the opportunity to show everyone (also myself) that I can do it to some (though very limited) state also. After the beautiful match a day ago, now I'm sitting in front of my home desktop, blogging, with a slightly purple eye, looking forward to further challenges in sports and music, whenever I get a chance.

Too old for computer games?

I wouldn't rate myself as an addict but I do have some deep affinity towards computer games. Whether I get a chance to play them or not, I never fail to buy the new releases of FIFA, NFS or Cricket when they get released. Apart from that I have a deep desire to play WWE games. But their scarcity in the PC titles have made me buy the same edition of RAW modded by different people 3-4 times and each time I had to repent on wasting money over them. Playing Smackdown Vs Raw is one of the strongest reason why I wish to own a PSP or a PS2 some day.

I also collect first-player shooter or different movie-based games from time to time. The growing system requirements of the new releases has kept me shunned from playing them for a while. Still I was happy as I could play my most favorite titles FIFA and NFS with my Intel 945 built-in graphics chipset. But recently the water has grown over my heads when I discovered that Pro-Evolution Soccer, NFS Carbon and NFS Pro-Street are failing to run on my PC. Borrowing some money from my Dad I finally bought an nVidia GeForce MX 7200 graphics card. Being a football enthusiast I also bought a dual-shock usb joystick to perform the cool dribbles.

Graphics in my PC changed like night and day. I was so eager to experiment with newer titles that I tried Driver4 - Parallel Lines, Brian Lara International Cricket 2007, Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb all in one fine weekend (last Saturday, 14th June to be precise).

After 2-3 hours of gameplay, I felt the world was spinning. I was having trouble standing still. My eyes were trying to roll to the back of my head. I guess I broke my optical system tolerance by a fair margin moving with Indy in the ancient runes and handling the steering for the frivolous youth in Driver 4. I don't know why, but I felt my eyes couldn't match themselves with the high res 3D world of now-a-days. Don't take me as a relic, once upon a time I spent frequent sleepless nights playing Max Payne or Delta Force. But 3-4 years of graphical revolution and 8+ hours of computer work everyday took its toll over me. The next day I confided in my situation with my friend and colleague Imam who used to be a game freak once upon a time. He told me that he's also had a similar experience after gaming overnight a couple of months earlier.

I guess my 3500 tk investment on graphics card and joystick has gone to dogs. I may still have the same enthusiasm but my aging(!) body doesn't like taking this type of stress any more. Suffering from this unfortunate situation, I'm thinking of going back to my safest titles FIFA and NFS again. But the CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) disease on my hands is also creating problems against using the keyboard with so much pressure. I guess I have to keep myself restraint from playing too much till I master the joystick. I have also grown doubtful against buying a PSP because of this situation. I feel like getting too old too soon... sigh. Is the age of 26 really too late to enjoy computer games?

Birisiri

Since I've uploaded the pics of Birisiri in my facebook account, I've received lots of praise about the photos and mostly blunt admirations about the beautiful scenic setting. A lot of friends have asked me about the directions to go there, the boarding facilities, the places to visit, etc etc. This post is basically a discussion about the key facts of Birisiri tour and also a reminiscence of those sweet two days that I spent there.

Birisiri is located near the border of Bangladesh and India and almost straight to the north of Dhaka. The border adjoins Netrokona district of Bangladesh with Shillong district of Meghalaya state in India. The calm nature of the place will readily appeal to any city dweller as soon as he sets foot in the place. The place is quite secluded from urban life and the difficulty to reach there has made it hard for people to explore. But in my views that is the greatest asset of this place. Tourist facilities has not yet been developed and the road from Mymensingh to Durgapur is just a bit better than a minefield. As a result the place has escaped the poisonous grip of urbanization and is standing proudly with all her unadulterated beauty.

A common view in Birisiri - Rich green paddy fields spread to the hills in the horizon.

Birisiri is mostly about calm life and Someswari river. The broad river originates in the mountains of Meghalaya and flows into Bangladesh separating Birisiri to the mainland of our country. The river, falling into Brahmaputra, is the main attraction of this place. Anyone going there will fall in love with the crystal clear, pebble bedded, Someswari.

A view of Someswari from Bijoypur hillock, at the Bangladesh-India border.

The best way to go to Birisiri is to take the direct(?) bus from Mohakhali. It's funny that the bus owners have formed a syndicate and there is no variety of buses to choose from. In the Mohakhali Inter city bus terminal, go to the left most wing where they sell tickets to Mymensingh and go along the wing a bit farther. You'll find a couple of services for Susong-Durgapur. Book a ticket with any one of them as every hour one bus with the combined passengers of all the services will start for Birisiri. Due to the bad condition of the roads nightly routes are not allowed so the latest you can board from Dhaka will be probably 1pm at best. The bus journey will not be pleasant for people who are used to ride in Scania or RM2 to go to Chittagong or Benapole. Even it was not pleasant for me where I'm accustomed to ride in public buses in Dhaka city for my daily commute. Yes, I feel very iritated to sit or stand in a bus for 1/2 to 1 hour, jam-packed with people on all sides; but now, imagine such a journey for 6 hours at a strectch. The fare is 150 tk which I would certainly not mind giving 200 if someone offers me a better service. Don't get me wrong, I am not discouraging anyone to go to Birisiri and enjoy the beautiful place as I did. This is just a mere caution of what's coming your way.

I wouldn't encourage someone too much if he wants to take his own car since the condition of your car is surely gonna take a toll after this trip. Also, I think you need to fill your car's gasoline from Mymensingh as I don't think there are any more gas stations after that. If you have a nice strong SUV then you're good to go. Otherwise, private car owners make sure you have a very skilled driver for your journey. One other reason for my aversion against cars is that most of the roads in Durgapur are too narrow for your car and the muddy road will do you no good either. Also, most of the notable spots are across the Someswari river, so you wouldn't be able to travel a lot in your car also. The main advantage of taking a car from my point of view is that you won't need to stay in Durgapur at all. You can stay overnight in Mymensingh and then take your car to Birisiri in the early morning. There is not much to explore so you'll surely be done by 4pm and return to Mymensingh/ Dhaka.

The main hassle in Birisiri is that the only decent place to stay there is the YMCA guest house. People picky about their lavatories will find even this a bit difficult. But at 200 tk per night for a two single-bed room is more than a bargain. Problem is they don't offer early booking because they are virtually unreachable through any cell phone number that they publish. Suppose you've started from Dhaka at 11am like we did. Upon reaching there, if you find the place full with people, your'e simply out of luck. The only refuge then is in some tin-shaded hotels in Durgapur bazar which I know none of the readers will be willing to stay.

YMCA Guest House

Don't be too picky about your food either. One good thing is, everywhere in Susong-Durgapur or in Birisiri, I found mineral water and soft drinks available. Also, if you inquire about restaurants, don't go with the local people's choice. The bus stops at Utrail bazar. YMCA guest house is just to the right of it. This bazar is simply the best place to eat in Durgapur. Don't go to Durgapur bazar as your rickshaw puller will be very much willing to take you there for want of extra fare. Food is absolutely crap at that place. In Utrail bazar, go to the restaurants maintained by tribal people. You'll enjoy their cullinary expertise a lot.

Now about travelling. One painful experience is that the rickshaw-pullers and boatmen tend to ask a high price from the tourists. In our journey, we crossed the river by boat and then contracted a rickshaw to show us the whole place for 200 tk. We also met some rickshaw-pullers who'd ask 500 tk if you hire them from the other end of the river, so be careful. You can opt to roam about in boats also. They will also ask something around 200 tk so it's upto you. My inclination to rickshaw is because it's a hassle to stop the boat at every nook and corner and then you'd have to walk on foot a lot. But we could easily do it with our rickshaw. We stopped wherever and whenver we liked to take pictures or for a cup of tea.

View of Gopalpur Hill from the top of Ranikhong Christian Convent

One other must see in Birisiri is the blue lake amidst colored hillocks. Local people call it Lal Pathor-Nil pani (Red rocks-Blue water). Nearby, there's a small monument of the Hazong tribe. Apart from that, you can visit the Christian convent and school at Ranikhong and the BDR (Bangladesh Rifles) guarding Bangladesh-India border at Bijoypur. I don't feel like talking much about them as I want to leave some exploring for the potential travelers. I guess you can take an idea from the photos.

Red Rocks-Blue Water, the best site in Birisiri

What attracted me hugely to the place was the miles long green paddy fields and gentle breeze blowing over them. The beauty of the scene is simply ineffable. The calmness of life had a great impact upon me. All the hardship of travel and lodging gets vanished instantly when the beauty of the place sinks into you. I guess you'll also feel that the beauty of the place should remain unaltered, without the touch of tour entrepreneurs and travel agencies. Let Birisiri and Someswari stay as they are, without the touch of urbanization, unaltered in their glory.

An Honest Man

Tuesday, 11th March, 8:30 am. I'm sitting in the Rahbar bus with Graph Theory book in my hands. The next day I'm gonna sit in the final exam of the M.Sc course and the only time I've spent so far reading this subject is during my commute to my office. Since I have to change bus at Motijheel and want to do it quickly I have a 10 tk bill in the shirt pocket so that I wouldn't need to take out my wallet from the back-pocket and tuck it back again. Don't know why but I think sometimes that saves almost 10 seconds when an ATCL or Rajdhani is just about to leave from Motijheel and I need to get on that hurriedly. All this chattering about how I get to the office is just to say that like all other days, the Rahbar bus reaches Motijheel, I push my way through the standing crowd in the bus, immediately see a Rajdhani Express on the brink of starting and get on board of that. Finding a secluded seat, I again make myself busy in my text book.

9:00 am. I reach office. Similar to all other days, I throw the stuff in my pocket to my drawer and start working, listening to Bon Jovi's Wembly concert. Never for a moment, I find anything missing.

10:15 am. Someone calls on my cell asking if I am Tanvir Rahman (A very common mistake people make with my name). I think this may be a part of the passport application verification process so start talking cooly. After asking on which bus did I ride today the man asks me if I have lost my wallet on the bus today. I think, no way, I've just kept that in my office drawer as I usually do. Opening the drawer I get dumb-founded. It's really not there. So I ask the person where I can meet him and he gives me the address of a place near Milbarack Police Line.

I tell the incident to my colleagues (friends) and all of them smell something fishy going on. The place of meeting is from 5 minutes to my home but going there at 8 in the evening is risky so I also start doubting the person's motive. I had only 5-6 hundred taka in my wallet so that is of no importance to me. The only things I value in there was my HSBC ATM card and Quantum Foundation's blood donor card. My friends advise me to immediately block transactions through my card (though I have no trace of my account password anywhere in my wallet). I don't deny that's also my first notion but something in the man's voice makes me wanna take that chance to fetch my lost wallet from him. All my friends (colleagues) are telling me that I must've been pick-pocketed and now the gang wants to trap me into meeting them so they can beat the password out of me.

Becoming too doubtful I seek the help of Nazim. He has a friend in Bangladesh Navy and asks him to cross-check the mobile no I was given to contact with. He finds out that a woman answers the phone and claims to be the man's wife. After this incident the man phones again on Ellis' (my boss) cell and tells that if I want my wallet so bad, I can immediately take it back and need not harass his family. He tells me that he works for an ex-Police IG in Uttara and I can come to his workplace and take my wallet back. After conferring with everyone in the office I decide that his motives may be honest so I should give it a try but need to be on the qui vive at every step I take. So I take Zeon Bhai (CodeCrafters Office Assistant) with me and start for Uttara.

12:15 pm. I reach Uttara and call the man's workplace. I get told that he's out at the moment and I can wait in the ex-Police IG's home. Seeing that the home is away from the main road, I decide to remain cautious and tell that I'll wait in the street beside the taxicab I've rented. After waiting for almost a quarter to an hour, I finally meet the person. He also have come with an accomplice as he was afraid he may get into some trouble in course of doing something good. He hands me over my wallet, tells me to verify if everything is in place and asks me to give him a written statement so that I cannot make any false claim later.

This man is Md. Tota Mia. He works as an office orderly for the Dhaka Metropolitan Police and hence he lives in Milbarack Police Line. His family consists of his wife and two children. Both his children study in Jubilee School. He may not be as well of as I but he seemed to me a contended man proud of his family and his values. As a token of thankfulness I offer him 500 tk but he vehemently refuses to accept it and sends me back to my office.

I cannot deny seeing incidents of fraudulence, hijacking and murder in everyday newspaper have made me lost my faith in the inner honesty of people. Neither can I say I'm better than any of them. If I would've found a wallet lying in the seat of a bus, I'd never have touched it. Why bother about someone else's problem? If people can afford to be callous (like me) let them be that way. If I try to pick that one up, people at the bus would stare at me thinking I have intentions to pocket that wallet for myself. On such a situation I'd probably avoid sitting there and just shake that matter off my mind. I don't know how many would've taken such a step as Mr. Tota Mia and show that there's still honesty and integrity left in this world where everybody is running his/her own race and not bothering to think for anyone else's sake. Man like Mr. Tota Mia are becoming a rare bread in this fast paced city life. People like him still uphold the true virtues of human life and makes me wanna restore my faith. I may not have thanked him much that day. I was too overwhelmed by the incident and the rare show of altruism. This moment I take the chance to say my heartfelt gratitude to this good soul. Mr. Tota Mia, wherever you live, I'll never forget what you did for me on that day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

A Month's Recap

January proved to be quite a busy month for me. All the courses I've taken for my Masters are dumping loads of work in my way. My life has completely become confined in Home->Office->Home cycle and I feel like griping to everyone that I haven't gone out once in this whole month doing something for myself only.

On the 12th I had to appear in DST midterm. Since the exam was on Saturday, I had a decent preparation and since it was a 40 min exam with relatively easy questions, I performed quite well. After that I faced the Graph Theory exam on last Wednesday (Jan 30). I took a day's leave from the office to get prepared. But the tiring 2 hour exam was too much to handle with my writer's cramp. I'm satisfied with what I've answered but if could've been better. This coming Tuesday I have to give a presentation for my Computational Geometry class. I am supposed to be working on that right now, but blogging instead.

Joel Iwashige, our colleague from the US office, left on the 31st. Before that, we had two get-togethers. One was organized by my boss, Ellis Miller, in his home. We had a prolonged dinner there and took part in some silly but funny games. I was again bored with the homily about religious and moral scruples from the Americans, but the occasion was a highlight if you take into account how boring my days have become. On the other occasion, we arranged a treat in Boomers at Banani. Besides the food, I got to meet Shafi and gang after quite a few times.

I know the city dwellers will all give me an oblique look at this point, but after all these days, I finally got the chance to watch a movie at Bashundhara, Star Cineplex. Since I neither have a girlfriend, nor much contact with friends, so I went alone to watch Pirated of the Carribean - At World's End. Don't frown at me, I am completely normal and straight, I just don't socialize much. The experience and the movie both were fantabulous.

One of my bestest friends, Niaz visited my office once this month. I forgot the date, but I was very happy at this. Also, I visited Shabuj Bhai, at his MBA Dormitory a couple of times. We took some initiatives to prepared for GRE and apply for PhD together but that effort took little time to go to the dogs.

During the whole month, I spent a lot of time fantasizing between a new Sony Ericsson mobile or a PS2 or PSP. It looks like Sony is hell-bent on taking some money out of my pocket. But so far I haven't made any purchase. I don't know what I'll do in future.

Lets end this post on a high note. My another bested friend, Joyee, will come from China on the 5th of this month. I look forward to seeing her after a long time. Most important of all, a couple of days ago, I learnt that my cousin Sharmin is expecting a baby and I'm going to be a Mama (maternal uncle) soon.

FIFA 08 - ManUtd vs Arsenal

I am a great fan of EA Sports' football (American soccer game FIFA. This is one of the main reasons why I started to take an interest in football. Earlier I only watched cricket but now football has moved it to second place.

Since buying my first pc in 2002, I have played all FIFA releases except FIFA 2005 and a couple of World Cup/ Euro special releases. I do not enjoy playing with the national teams. I find that monotonous and rather dig the manager mode for club footballs. Teams I enjoy playing with (and also support in real life) are- Manchester United (English Premier League), Real Madrid (Spanish League) and AC Milan (Italian League). Most of the football lovers will frown at my choice and ask why I don't like Barcelona, the recent best team both in real life and in FIFA but I cannot explain too much reason behind my choices. They are as they are.

Now I come to the main woe behind this post. Now-a-days I don't have time to play that frequently (may be one match per day or less), so I only play EPL. The recent manager mode is cool and lets you manage the team along with those nerve wrecking matches. Since FIFA 06, I cannot perform well with my favorite club Manchester United any more. As much as I like them, I lose most of the important matches with them playing in the difficulty level as suited for me (most difficult levels I've played are Professional for FIFA 07 and currently Semi-Pro for FIFA 08). Of course you can tell me to play at a lower difficulty level but avid gamers of FIFA series can tell you how boring it becomes to play when you master one difficulty level and score 7-8 goals in every match. To me, the beauty of this game is not how many goals you score but rather how you score.

In an attempt to find an alternative, I started playing with Chelsea for FIFA 06 and 07. I kept myself telling I really like this team while my heart was always in Old Trafford. Since Jose Mourinho left Chelsea I lost all my interest from that team. When I got my hand on the new release FIFA 08, I thought I could finally start playing with ManU. But when I raised difficulty to Semi-Pro from amateur, I found it is impossible to win with this team. As always ManUtd is a 5 star team with the likes of Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo, Giggs and Ferdinand, but with this team I get beaten very badly by 3 star teams like LA Galaxy and Derby County. After getting lost and humiliated (don't get me wrong, 2-0 loss is my margin of humiliation) by the weaker teams for the umpteenth time, I finally abandoned hopes of playing as ManU.

Who am I playing as now? Have I switched to La Liga? The answer is no. I found salvage and started doing well again with a strong 4 star team- Arsenal, not star-studded as the others but very effective. I am winning most of my matches and last night beat Reading 4-0. This season Arsenal is also doing well in EPL and I think I have started growing a liking to this young squad.

From now on I'll support both the teams with ManU having the preference for head-to-head clashes. Make no mistake this policy is for real life only. When I'll face ManU in FIFA 08, I'll be very happy to tear them apart.

Bottom line of this post:
(in front of tv) Go Red Devils !!!
(in front of pc) Go Gunners !!!

2007 : A Year to Remember

Goodbye 2007. This has been one of the most important years of my life. A lot happened these 365 days in our country and around the world which will bear significant changes in the upcoming future. But for a moment, lets forget about all that and take a quick glance at how this became a pivotal year in my life.

• I turned 25.
• Completed my graduation. For one term at least, I could fight all my mental demons and writer's cramp and faired in the final term. I was finally able to climb the mountain of honors and graduated with exactly 3.75 CGPA.
  
• Appeared at only one interview and got selected. Started job after the very next day of the final exam in the last term. Sitting and blogging from the very same desk after 8 months.
  
• Quenched my thirst of traveling quite a bit. Went to Sundarbans with the whole cse batch. Those 3 days will always be one of the most memorable days in my life.
• Went to Sylhet with 2 very good friends. Learnt one of the greatest truths in my life. I am a coward and step back from danger not because I think of others but because I think of myself most of all.
• I had the great chance of appearing on stage and playing music twice. Had a significant part in arranging cseday'07 which gave me immense metal satisfaction.
• Enjoyed to the limit in graduation concert and SGHS 125 year concert.
• Had the chance to return to my alma-mater and received the same comfort and peace after years.
• Spent a lot in electronics, some wise some unwise. The most important of all the investments was my new laptop.
• Attended marriage ceremonies of a good number of my dear friends.
• I'm still successfully single and I'm happy about being so.

I thank The Almighty ALLAH for all the blessings HE bestowed upon me and made this a merry year for me. Standing at the eve of new year I can rightfully say this was an eventful and successful year for me. I don't know what will happen in the next year. I intend to continue my Masters, appear for GRE and apply for PhD in the upcoming year. Hope the new year will also bring more joys to my life and everybody else.

Goodbye 2007. Welcome 2008. Happy New Year to everyone.

CodeCrafters forever?

For more than 8 months I've been working on CodeCrafters along with my buet mates Adnan, Kajal, Imam, Nazim and Tanzil. After every second week we sit in the office in a meeting about leaving this job and join somewhere else. But so far none of us have done that. I guess the main reason behind this is not our salary or facilities but rather the pack of friendship we six have grown in the office.

A few days ago Adnan gave interview in Ericsson and got selected. He went there with a confused mind and hesitantly joined because of the pressure of their HRM manager. But finally he decided he cannot part from the pack and sent resignation to Ericsson. This is a completely revolting decision if anyone considers the job market of Bangladesh where Telecom is the most coveted industry to join for CSE/EEE grads and Ericsson being the cherry of the icing. I guess s/w junkies like me will be glad with his step but most of the people will scream and shout- WHY ADNAN? :-o

I guess Adnan is in love with his workplace and though he won't admit,to him it's- CodeCrafters forever.

Winter and Work

Many years ago we read in our Social Science curriculum that people living in cooler climate are more active than tropical people. As winter have set in quite well this time in Dhaka, I am finding this statement rather contrary to my present condition.

After quite a few months I found the good opportunity to enjoy some quality holiday time, due to Eid, Christmas and Victory day. But now I don't feel like getting up in the morning for office. Rather I enjoy long hours under warm blankets. Similarly, I don't want to study for my Masters course either. I am fighting hard to regain my typical form playing FIFA 08 in Semi-Pro difficulty and that takes up whatever time I get when I'm home.

Bottom line of this post: It doesn't matter whether the climate is cold or whether you live in the tropics. People like me are always idle :-p

St. Gregory's High School Celebrates 125 Years

Sometimes you feel you have fallen apart from somebody, keep his existence locked in a dark corner of your mind, you think may be you should go back and re-bond but never take the initiative to do so. Years later, when you finally come face-to-face you realize all the inhibition was on your part. There never was any untie of bonds. You kept yourself aloof all the time but still they welcome you with the warmest possible hug and within minutes you realized you're home.

Such was my feelings when I stepped through the wide gates of my alma-mater on Thursday, 13th Dec, 07. Saint Gregory's High School was celebrating her 125 years. I was a humble pilgrim of this temple from 1988-1999. After I had passed I barely went 3-4 times in my child-time second home. But this time I had the chance to spent 2 whole days (13-14) in my old place. I was suddenly seized back to the days I passed a decade ago. But it took me little time to come back to reality when a current student who was serving as volunteer said, "Uncle, please seat in that place instead of standing here". I felt sad realizing I am growing old.

I met lots of friends whom I see once in 2-3 months now-a-days. Specially I was elated to pass time with Niaz who has been friend with me for almost 20 years. Then there was Nadim, Abir, Pavel, Kalam, Imran, Nijhu, Emin and a whole bunch of good old buddies. The best few moments of the whole ceremony was a handshake with the greatest teacher of my life - Syed Sirajul Huq Sir and the same affectionate tap on the cheek by one my most favorite teacher of all times - Nilotpal Sarkar (Lanka) Sir.

The evening on 13th Dec saw the first official concert in SGHS's history - Lucky Akhand, Sunny Jubayer performed before the concert. Cherry on the icing was ex-President and Gregorian Prof. Dr. Badruddoza Chowdhury's song. But when LRB took the stage after a good-but-not-buet-like performance of Shironamhin, the crowd simply got frenzied. I don't remember dancing so wildly since our rag concert. Abir did a commendable job with his chair-top dance and I joined him for a couple of minutes too. When the concert finally ended near midnight, I didn't feel like coming home.

On Friday morning, I was scheduled to appear on a friendly debate. Reluctantly I woke up for bed and finally managed to take my beaten body to school. Niaz, Sushanta and I debated against some junior ex and current students of SGHS. The topic was- Past and Present of SGHS. I debated after almost 12 years but found myself at ease on stage. May be it's the effect that SGHS has on me.

After lunch at Imran's residence, we came to take part in cake auction. Azim uncle (Irfan's father) won the auction bidding 105k and gifted it to batch-99. We were simply overwhelmed. After that we had a grand photo-session on the steps of the new academic building. At a photo-session I realized what a strong batch we are as almost 60 people of our batch showed up after this 9 years. Enjoying the laser show and grand lighting I returned home humming the school theme song- "St. Gregory's boys and brothers are...."