If you could travel to any location in the universe–where would you travel and why?
The place I’d like to visit is Reykavik in Iceland. Iceland is one of the peaceful countries of the world. It is successful in staying out of world’s major conflicts, which makes it a very attractive place to visit.
The only headlines it hit is the collapse of the Icelandic banks a few years ago.
It is one of the stunning places of natural beauty.
Visitors from all over the world travel to the land of “Fire and Ice”,they go there to see its raging volcanoes and huge glaciers, as well as its unique cultural attractions in the capital Reykavik.
My only reason to want to visit this place is there is no conflict, which means it is safe I therefore find it very appealing to visit!
Tell us about a time you did a 180 degrees —changed your views on something , reversed a decision, or acted in a way you ordinarily don’t .
I was watching a ice hockey game. My favorite team was not playing so well in that particular year. Rather than stick to my decision of going for my favorite I changed and rooted for the team I never liked.
I changed my mind because my favorites were playing a lousy game, what was worse they started to fight, which lengthened the game.
I disliked their tactics so I changed and went for the team, who were never my favorite .
How do you manage your online your online privacy? Are there certain things you do not post in certain places? Information you’ll never share online? Or do you assume information about you is accessible anyway?
I like blogging, and am not interested to register on Facebook, and other things out there.It serves me no purpose, I am doing fine without getting involved with the social networks.
I write as much as I need to about myself , I feel good this way. I’ve been told I can increase my followers if I’m involved with the social networks. At this moment I have enough followers anymore will take up too much of my time, which will be unmanageable.
I do not assume anything, who knows me and who doesn’t is not my concern.
I have a few good friends who are bloggers, I enjoy reading their post and hope they like mine.
When forced with confrontation ,do you head for the hills or walk straight in?Was there ever a time you wished you’d had the opposite reaction?
This incident happened when I was about eight years old. I was playing with my friends during a recess break in my school. We stopped playing for a few minutes, one of the girls younger than us, came running to us, she had an orange she was unable to peel, she handed it over to my classmate to remove the skin.
My classmate took the orange and started peeling it, I thought wow, she’s actually helping the girl, this classmate was not known for her good deeds. she was always mean, so I was amazed to see the change in her. After peeling the orange she threw the orange on the sandy playground. The little girl started to cry. I was appalled by this behavior. Meanwhile my classmate left, I was angry and I said,”( badtameez) ill-mannered.”
Someone went and tattled to the classmate, what I had said. She came immediately and asked me,”Did you say I am ill-mannered?”
I replied, “Yes” I’m not sure what her next move would have been, the school bell rang and we had to return to our classrooms.
I think about this incident even now and feel, not all the kids are innocent, some are really mean!
Sure,you turned out pretty good, but is there anything you wish were different about your childhood?If you have kids,is there anything you wish were different for them?
I love revisiting my childhood, I had the best time in my life. I worried about nothing. My favorite pastime was playing with my siblings.
Studying always took a backseat in those days.As long as I did not flunk out it was fine with me. My parents did not have a whole lot of expectation from me.
I lived a life of pleasure, eating, singing and playing just about summed up my life those days.
Then everything changed, my father died, we had to leave our comfortable home and move away to my parents homeland. I disliked everything about it, too many cousins, aunts uncles who made it their business to tell us what we should and shouldn’t do.
Although the vendors, the milkman, and the ad of movies was a novelty for me. This was something I liked and appreciated, it told me there’s more to life than, cousins, uncles and aunts.
Looking back on those days, I wonder what kind of a student I could have been, if I concentrated on my studies a little more. My teachers never told me I was stupid, they were happy with my work. They probably would have liked me better for working harder and I could become my teacher’s pet. Even now this thought does not agree with my personality.
In the end I’d only say, I like what I did. Nothing can equal the pleasure I had as one would say,”it was a blast!”
Tell us something most people probably don’t know about you.
I have two names, one is Ranu which is a nickname, my family members and close relatives call me Ranu. Most of my relatives do not know my second name.
My second name is Chaman, my classmates and my school friends call me Chaman.
I do not have too many friends, because I’m not outgoing. I like spending time at home. I dislike going out in the evening, sometimes I’m forced to go out.
Rice is my favorite food. I love spicy food, I avoid eating bland food.
I love vegetables, but I do not care for fruits.
Among proteins I enjoy any kind of fish. I am not fond of chicken, I eat it. I find chicken tasteless, no matter how many different spices I use to cook it, I do not find it that good. Beef is my favorite meat. I can cook it many different ways.
I love learning languages, lately I haven’t tried to learn a new language. I find Spanish easier to learn than French.
I am very fond of music, my favorite singers are Mohammed Rafi, Lata, Tagore, Talat Mehmood and Celine Dion. Celine is a French Canadian singer, the rest are from India.
My favorite pastime is blogging, reading novels in three languages, the languages are: Bengali(my mother tongue) Urdu I learned to speak, read and write in school . I have tons of novels in English.
Right now I’m reading, “The American Dervish”, I read almost all the books written by Paolo Coelho.
I spend a lot of time with my feline friends : Gabriel and Raphael.
Write about your first name . Are you named after someone or something? Are there any stories or associations attached to it? If you had the choice, would you rename yourself?
My first name is Chaman, it means a garden in the Urdu language. The only story I know about my name is it was suggested by my father’s very dear friend.
No I’d never think of renaming myself.
A garden always suggests something beautiful.Whenever I think of a garden, I see the images of beautiful flowers. I know there are all kinds of gardens and they all depict something awesome.
We all have complicated histories. When was the last time your past experiences informed a major decision you’ve made?
Fortunately for me I really didn’t have complicated histories.
I was twelve when my father passed away, all the decisions regarding where we’d settle was made by my Mom. She thought there was no reason to stay away from our homeland, therefore we packed our bags and left.
We settled in a small town, it provided everything we needed such as schools and colleges. After graduating from high school I registered in the local college, completed two years and decided to go to Dhaka city to complete the rest of my education.
Things could have been complicated if my two brothers refused to pay my tuition and residence fees but they were very co-operative, they paid my fees regularly, all I was expected to do was study. I kept my end of the bargain, and successfully completed my education without any problems.
I did not have to make any major decision like quitting school to get a job.
Situated on the banks of the river Buriganga, is Dhaka City, the capital of Bangladesh. In year 2011, it’s population was 16 million, it is the ninth largest and 28th most densely populated city in the world.
The climate is mild in winter and extremely hot in summer. The monsoon season gives some relief , it cools off the temperature to a certain extent.
After partition in 1947, the population has grown more than the city can handle. With the increasing number of people one would expect the transportation should improve, it hasn’t. There are a large number of the population who drive without a license. driving schools do not exist, but life goes on.
I left the city after my marriage and occasionally visited it because of the expensive air fare.
In 2010 I went to Dhaka for some personal reasons. When I got out of the building to find my brother, what I saw around me was not only unbelievable but scary too.Inside the building passengers with valid tickets are the only ones who are allowed to go in. Outside there are thousands peeking in, may be they came to greet their family members. Some that were there did not belong, they ranged from pick pockets to kidnappers to other miscreants.
I cautiously came out and looked for my brother, there were beggars a plenty asking for money, cab drivers came forward asking me if I needed a ride home. Then there were young boys with their cell phone volunteering to let me use it if I wanted to call my family members.Amidst all this chaos it was tough to stay calm.Thankfully I spoke the local language. All these people realized I was not just a visitor, but a bona fide citizen.
After crossing the hurdle of getting out of the building in one piece. Next my brother had to tell these people who were crowding the place to get out of our way. I finally got inside my brother’s car, the ride from the airport to my brother’s home was another obstacle I had to overcome.
The roads were blocked by all kinds of traffic, the car was crawling, even then it seemed it was a trying experience, just when the driver thought he’d speed up, crossing in front of him was a herd of cattle. The driver had to let them go, but the cycle rickshaw driver thought it was an opportune moment for him to overtake the car.
We had probably gone a few yards, when to our dismay we found behind us a huge public bus roaring in, the driver stopped on the side, unfortunately there were several other buses following the first bus driver one after the other, each of these buses have one guy who yells out, “move on the side.”
Then there are personalized chauffeur driven cars, the drivers are extremely arrogant, because they don’t own the vehicles they drive like lunatics, the feeling is if it is damaged the owner will fix it. If one had to deal with one mode of transportation, it probably would not be that bad.
The types of transportation are private, public, and personalized vehicles . The primary ones are a) pedestrians, b) cycle rickshaws, c) transit and non-transit.
Transit mode is motorized public transport system which includes bus,small motorized vehicles e.g, cars, and light vehicles such as three wheeled cycle rickshaws which can have only one or two passengers. There are very few lights, most of the time they do not work. The traffic is mostly controlled by traffic police.
Personalized services are taxis, auto rickshaws are three wheeled mechanically operated vehicles , its body is manufactured locally, the chassis and the engine are imported. Next there are human haulers these are small four wheeled contraption hauled by humans, used mostly to carry various kinds of goods.
Dhaka city is also known as the ‘Rickshaw Capital Of The World’, there are four hundred thousand cycle rickshaws moving on the streets of Dhaka city, along with all the other modes of transportation.
When I finally reached my brother’s home, I realized how difficult it is for the people who live there, or may be they do not think about it because they are used to it.
I was not used to it, when I lived there, the population was manageable. There were not that many cars, buses or auto rickshaws. Life was simple, very few people owned cars. It is completely different now.
I live in a small city. There are private cars, buses. What’s more people obey the traffic signs.
Sabethville 
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