In our part of the world, where chubby children are considered cute and healthy, parents often fret over the physical appearances of their children. There are parents who routinely feed their children burgers, fries, pizzas, pastries, etc. from the belief that these will make their children appear healthy.

The title carries the chapter’s intention. Intention to make us understand the forces or faces the dangers of being in front will hold. Most of the times when you are trying to do something good (in your own sense), the obstacle comes from some place we barely give a thought about.

I was reading a write-up by a friend on Falgun (the Bengali month that marks the beginning of spring in Bangladesh) where he compared the season and the festivity around it with Vincent van Gogh's "Wheatfield with Crows." A prolific writer, my friend's writing carried me back to the Falguni days I left behind in Dhaka.

That eighteen hour long journey chocked me like death! Billions of nightmarish thoughts have been creeping across my heart for the last eighteen hours! Pursuing higher education in an alien country where I have NOBODY was an ignorant, douche-like decision. (Didn’t listen to Mom as I was adult enough to make all the horrible decisions I want).

If you never heard of the Bangladesh Studies Network, this is a FaceBook group with their agenda illustrated in the following description.

The changes that we seek in our society, in our life is not easy to accept or get used to. People have their own habits, beliefs and responsibilities. Even though they can be bad ones, but it’s not easy to give up. There is fear inside their heart and mind. Fear of losing relations, money, freedom, civil rights and mostly losing stability from their life. They also could lose everything.

The Days of Slavery

- Nazim Mahmud

Theater artist and cultural organizer; Deputy Registrar, University of Rajshahi, Rajshahi

“Ask them to shoot you right in the middle of your forehead”, I looked up into the eyes of the speaker who prescribed such an advice. “That’ll be a painless death, absolutely painless”, said Dr. Syed Sajjad Hussain, my professor in the University of Dhaka. Incidentally, he was the Vice Chancellor of the University of Rajshahi at that time and I was simply a staff member there. So, he could crack a joke in front of me, even if it was about as serious a matter as life and death.

Remember the time when your little siblings or offspring were watching a “cartoon film” and you got stuck with the brightly colored movements and catchy music for a few minutes? Hard as it is to believe, there are a lot of reasons to get attached to the animated films, more commonly known as cartoon films.