Year of Rewrites

I am gonna go all cliche and talk about the year that is about to end. I know it is very overrated, but when you look back on New Years Eve, you realize the person who woke up on New Year's day and the person who is looking forward to another brand new years is different. The difference could be all most negligible, the difference could make all the difference (see what I did there?),but it is there, hanging in the chilly December air,waiting to be acknowledged. It's funny how much life could change while our beautiful little planet completes one rotation around it's very average star. One year is not even close to a fraction is cosmic time,but enough to rewrite our live

I remember waking up on January 1, 2014 thinking "Wow,I'm leaving Bangladesh this year. But I still have 7 months left." The next thing you know, I'm on the plane,leaving Bangladesh forever. I feel like I have talked about this a lot, but it never seems enough. Moving halfway across the world was obviously the star event of the year,but lots of other things happened to. I had lots of changes to cop with,lots of sacrifices to make, this year has been a year of sacrifices. You know,the typical American Dream. It sounds really crappy,but you know, I chose this. Chose to make the sacrifices,chose to rewrite my life in the mere hope that it would help me in the long run,that I would be one step closer to achieve what I want in my life. 2014,the year I chose to grow up. And the biggest lesson of this year, achieving your dreams come with a big price. The price sometimes seems like bigger than what you get in return. But then you remember who you want to be,and you realize the sacrifices are a part of becoming that person.

That being said,let's hope 2015 brings me closer to my dreams and you to closer to yours. At the end, all we can do is work hard and hope.
Let's hope I survive the dreaded Junior year.
Happy New Year.
-Mourin

Excellence Without Arrogance

I just found out about this whole MBTI thingy, which basically categorizes all humans in 16 different personalities based on 4 traits. While it is kind of impossible to categorize the whole human race in only 16 groups, the result I got describes me an awful lot. This test described lots of things about me which I knew were there,but never really looked into it. I think everyone should take a look at it (I have been bothering my friends lately,telling them to take the test). SO,here you go,I'll just give the link to whoever interested in finding about themselves a little more.

Click here for the test yo

Okay,now y'all know what I am gonna do. I'm gonna bore you with my personality for a while. You can skip to the next paragraph if you want,but I don't really recommend that. Cos I'm fab. Hehe.

So,I am an INTJ. Which is, Introvert, Intuitive, Thinking & Judging (BTW,this Judging is different from Judgmental,just sayin'). Apparently this is the Second most rare personalities(The other is INFJ,rarest in Men), and the most rare personality in Women. Can we just have a round of applause for the me? Of course we can.

INTJs are the most strategic,and are also known as The Mastermind(That's me,hue). There are loads of other awesome stuff about us,but let's talk about something else. You would probably better understand INTJs if I mentioned some of the fictional INTJs which include Greogory House from House M.D (gotta love that guy), Walter White from Breaking Bad( such a badass,that guy), Jim Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes (did someone say the greatest villain of all time?). Notice a pattern here? While all these guys are awesome,they suffer from EAS,aka Extreme Arrogance Syndrome (okay,I just made that up). Also apparently every internet page which describes INTJs, never forget to mention the fact that INTJs are arrogant. In other words, I am an arrogant piece of crap.

As my friend Johny would say, I have a counterargument.

I,for myself,think that no human being has anything to be arrogant about. I mean,look at us. We are so small,so insignificant,we have loads to be proud of for sure,but nothing to be arrogant about. Just check this Video out, and you will see. We do not know anything really,the little knowledge we have goes back to the last century and so,and I don't see the point in being arrogant about that. Being proud of yourself is one thing,treating people like crap and making them miserable just because you think you are better than everyone else is something totally different. And totally wrong.I mean did you even see the video? We have to pretty damn arrogant to call ourselves the only high intellect species compared to what could be out there.

Let's just talk about Greg House,okay? I mean that guy is awesome,got some serious talent but he is arrogant as crap. I mean,I love him and all but he seriously gets on my nerves sometimes. He is not necesarily a horrible human being,but he is horrible to people. And he is just miserable,really. I feel sorry for him (Calm down Mourin,he is fictional.) And let's just say starting to make meth( cook crystal) when you find out you have cancer is NOT logical,I don't understand why an INTJ would do that. (Maybe it just provides a really awesome plot,but still).

As an INTJ(or just a human), I have some arrogance in myself,I wouldn't lie. But I keep it to myself most of the time,unless I'm being sarcastic ( Apparently,that's an INTJ thing too). I was taught to be humble,by my family,my culture,my religion and my conscience. I think modesty is one of the best quality a person can have as a human being. I think,people who have thorough knowledge of their abilities and knowledge are not arrogant at all,because they know there is so much more they can do, even if they are the best in what they do. "Excellence without arrogance is the best kind of excellence"-(A fellow INTJ from a group,idk if he quoted someone or not,I am sorry). Don't get me wrong,I am not saying you should be humble because then people will like you. I am anything but a people pleaser. You should be humble because that makes a better learner, a better forgiver, and overall,a better human being. And I think that's what we all should aim for. After all,there is nothing more pathetic than arrogant ignorant little us.

-Mourin

Happy Holy-days

So Christmas is here,so are candy canes,Christmas lights, trees and other Christmas decorations. This is all fairly new to me,mind you,I believed Santa was real until I was 13 and I didn't know enough Christians to tell me that he is some made up funny old man. At this time we had Winter break in Bangladesh, and with like 3% Christians, I never saw Christmas decorations and stuff before. And now I am just absolutely fascinated by them. Seriously though,Christmas lights are beautiful. I was talking to my friend who is Jewish,and we were basically whining about how we both wanted Christmas decorations and our parents wouldn't let us buy them. Y u do dis parents ;-;

On that note though, to all those people who thinks Christmas decorations are only for Christians, just think this through. Christmas lights or trees are not even related to Jesus or what Christians believe. It's just a western tradition through which certain companies make money. And so far,it's been working pretty well for them. I am sorry if it offends anyone,but I had to mention this cause I have been seeing posts related to this on Facebook,and it just pisses me off when my fellow Muslims say we can't wish Christmas to our Christians friends. I mean,get a life. Just because our beliefs are different,doesn't mean we cannot share the joy of this season.

I can understand why would people act like this. Just last week,we had people going around singing Christmas songs at our school,and this Jewish kid felt really bad and he ran crying to his Counselor.
I am ashamed of laughing(just a little bit,sorry) when I heard this. I realized later that just because I can adapt more,doesn't mean other people do too. And being part of minority can be frustrating too. But the thing we all need to understand is regardless of our religion, nationality we are the same. Before I am a Muslim or Bangladeshi, I am a human. Religion, Nationality, Ethnicity,these distinctions were created by ourselves. While we are somewhat bound to these, and cannot change who we are, we can certainly work to reduce the tension. There will always be difference between us, but being a human doesn't necessarily mean abolishing all the differences,but understanding and respecting these differences. There is so much more to this world than being caught up on the fact that who gets to buy Christmas trees and who doesn't. And as some smart person who I cant find on the internet once said, "What unites us is greater than what divides us."
If you find who that guy was,please let me know. That guy is awesome.

Until next time then. And Happy Holy-days, no matter what you are celebrating. Whether it is Christmas, Hanukkah (is it over already?) , winter vacations, or just nonstop Netflix.
-Mourin







Happy Holidays! Wishes from ELL group!
Lets name countries : China,China,China, China, Bangladesh, Spain, Korea,China, Israel, Georgia, Japan, Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, Brazil and random kid on the floor.

Is it just me or there is too much Asia in this picture? LOL.

A Third World Country

It's 16th December, about 43 years ago, a brand new country was born through a bloody c-section. Okay, I am very bad with metaphors. I mean, a bloody war. It's the country which was referred as the "bottomless basket". It's the country which brings the image of people living below the poverty line, children dying of hunger, high corruption, work conditions similar to those of Industrial Revolution,and just all the other horrible things associated with a third world country. Yes folks, I am talking about Bangladesh, the country I was fortunate enough to be born in. There has never been a day, since I have realized what patriotism is, I haven't felt grateful to be born in the most sacred land there ever was,is and will be.

I'm making this far too much dramatic than I intended. Oh well,I am South-Asian,what do you expect? Haha.

We were discussing Industrial Revolution in our History class the other day, and our teacher asked, "Why do you think the parents agreed to send their kids to the factories, even after knowing the horrible conditions?" So people started giving various answers, and this kid says, "Maybe they didn't care about their kids much." And I'm like, "Watt. You kidding me bruh?" (I didn't say that,obviously) And my teacher is like, "Oh well you bring up an interesting point. Maybe the parents didn't care about their kids the way we do now,specifically American kids. I mean, you could say that..the parents of say...Bangladesh,don't care about their kids like that." And I'm just sitting there in utter amazement. He is my teacher,and I respect him, and I'm sure he just meant to give an example, but that statement was shocking. It literally shook me. I stared at him for a few moments to make sure I'm not hallucinating. Is that the kind of things people think about when I say "I am from Bangladesh"? That my parents can't care less about me, and I was destined to work in a textile mill if I did not move here? Well,crap.

I just have one thing to say about that statement. Money does not affect love, I'd love my parents unconditionally even if they didn't make enough money to survive. I would be filled with bitter feelings about life of course, but that would not affect my love. Just like my country being poor doesn't affect my love. Just like the City I was born in being the 2nd most unsustainable city does not affect my love for it. My love does not depend on some paper pieces, I'm sorry.

You never know how you will miss the smallest things about your country until you leave your country. Not the country as a whole, but you will miss the smallest details you took for granted.

What I miss about Bangladesh?

Crows. My friend sent me a voice message, and I could hear Crows in the background. And I was filled with this zeal which cannot be explained. Crows are annoying as crap,and I miss them. I miss the heat.The humidity. The constant feeling of needing to have a shower. I miss the electricity cuts. The huge window beside my bed through which sun would annoy the Flourine out of me. I miss Azaans( Call for prayers) 5 times a day. I miss the comfort of being surrounded by people who speak Bengali.The time when I didn't have to pay attention to get what people are saying, the time I didn't have to translate my thoughts to another language. No matter how good I am in English, it is not Bengali, it is not the language the college kids died for (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, Google International Mother Language Day). I miss the rain. Not the rain of New England, the rain Tagore wrote songs about. I miss the winter mornings, when the Sun would peek through the fog late, and I would sit in the beautiful sunshine with a mug of tea and Bhapa Pitha (A kind of rice cake,made during the winter). I miss sitting beside my grandma in the kitchen in our ancestral village as she makes breakfast for us in the stove made of clay. And thousands of other things. Just the horrible things associated with a third world country.




Anyways, Happy Independence Day everyone! I guess we all agree on the fact that nothing tastes better than Freedom. Except of course, Bhapa Pitha. LOL.

Until next time then.

-Mourin

From Dial Up to Wifi

YAY. It's my birthday!! About 16 years 1 day ago, I was born with the help of a c-section. So you can understand that I am smart by born because I didn't have any intention of coming out to this crappy world. (JK Trolling). I am not making this post about my birthday anyway, I am not THAT important of a person.

So yesterday, my school's wifi was down for like 2 and a half hour and it literally was a MESS. No attendance taken, no online homework done, no nothing. And when it did return, everyone was so EMOCIONADO (HA! SPANISH 1 BRO). I mean,excited. And I was like, no internet for two hours and we are dying. But the thing is, this whole internet thing didn't start too long ago. I was talking to my friend about the time when we first got our internet connection. She was really surprised when I told her I first got my internet connection around 2008. I know I know it was REALLY late, but the thing is I haven't always lived in America. When we got our internet connection in 2008, it was relatively a new thing in the third world country I come from and love, and we were the first ones to get it. I remember I was in 4th grade, and in the middle of the year some men came to my house and put some wires around the house, and put some more wires outside the house. Granted, it wasn't superfast 50 mbps wifi connection, just an old fashioned dial up connection. The ones which are connected to the telephone and you cannot use the telephone and internet together. It seems like it was a 90s thing in United States, but folks it was JUST 6 years ago. Yuss, I know, unbelievable. I remember my father going to Google and telling me that I can search for anything here. And I also joined the Internet Revolution by looking up Spongebob Squarepants (Like a boss) (or not). I cannot fathom how much it has changed since then. In Bangladesh, thanks to the mobile operators, lots of people have internet. I dont really know about the rural areas though, but in the capital everyone has internet. I know it might sound strange why is that a big deal for me, but imagine, 6 years. And a country of 140 million people. Its fascinating how fast it has spread. In the mere period of 6 years, we have gone from just meeting Google for the first time to not being able to live without it. It is not ALWAYS a good thing, but as an internet addict teenager, who am I to talk?

My friend however, has always been used to internet. She can't really remember when she first got it, probably like 1st or 2nd grade. She wasn't born in the States though, she happens to be from Korea. I think I consider myself fortunate for the fact that I can remember when I first got my internet connection. It is just another reminder of the things we do not appreciate enough. And how life is different as we go around the world. I think somehow I know life more than my peers, and it is not ONLY because I have gone from Dial Up to Cable to Wimax to Wifi. But because I have met so many different kind of people, visited so many different kind of places that my vision is not limited to one horizon. Or it could just be me being obnoxious. Who knows?

P;S:To add to that, I have this fascination with travelling because you see so many different colors of life. One of my life objective is to become a hippie and travel the world. Seriously, you will learn much more than you have learned in 12 years of school.

-Mourin

Our Hamartia

I am a huge fan of Greek mythology, thanks to the Percy Jackson series. This series has made me love the eerie weirdness of Greek mythology. Recently I finished reading Percy Jackson's Greek Gods which covers the basics of Greek mythology. While reading, I noticed something important.

If we look at any religion or traditions, all of them suggest their God is perfect. But, Greek mythology walks the path less taken. All of the Gods have some flaws in them. Greek heroes are known to have something called "Hamartia",their  greatest flaw. All the heroes including Hercules, Jason, Odysseus and also Percy had them. But I would say,the Gods aren't very different either. Zeus has his uncontrollable lust for women (And let's just agree, this fact made up most of the Greek mythology). Hera, the queen herself has her vengeful personality and not to mention Athena, my favorite goddess of Wisdom, has a totally unwise ego. I am not trying to insult the Olympians here, but I'm just saying that now that we know a giant tortoise is not holding the Earth (except maybe it is,who knows?) and the Earth and the Earth is not flat (it looks like it tho), it is safe to assume that Greek Gods do not exist. I think the Greeks pictured the Gods in themselves. They realized that we humans, are not perfect. They figured even the most powerful person have some weaknesses of his own, and the wisest person is not wise all the time. And this gave birth to some of the strangest mythology of all time. Really, if there is anything Greek mythology teaches us is that no one is perfect,and it is okay not to be perfect. Our imperfection makes us who we are, and our Hamartia is part of us.