| UST | Luna |
|---|---|
This is an editorial that I will enjoy writing. This is an editorial that I will remember for a while. This editorial is about the intertwined exhibition of human behavior during a tiny financial doldrum. No, this is not a crash, not for the crypto or the general market. It is just a crash for a single coin. Granted it was the number three stable coin a week back, but still it's just coin, do I say WAS? Well we will get to that at some future time, for our immediate purposes, it is not important.
It's the human element of the story that is interesting to me. There are many people in the crypto world who were affected, that is no surprise. People always get pulled into, whenever there is a calamity in the stock market or now crypto market. I remember Bitconnect quite well. I remember the YouTube videos of Trevon James and Craig White. Many of you are old enough to remember those, but most of you are probably too new to crypto to even know about that crash. But again, that will be a different story for another day. The reason an event becomes close to your heart is when your loved ones get affected. At BDC, multiple people lost money, and they started on it AFTER seeing the start of the crash. Two of our most trusted lieutenants lost money. It doesn’t matter to me that they lost money, because that fact never bothers me. If you are a trader, at some point in time, you will make a bad trade. That fact that bothers me is that these two fell into the trap that we typically discuss we won’t fall for. The trap is getting into something unplanned and without understanding it.
Yet, as the leader said, the show must go on. And it will. But I always think about how we could have avoided this. And not only I don’t have a solution, I also do not like to prescribe one. If I think about our lieutenants, they are both learned and with keen minds. They are perfectly capable of handling and providing mitigation in future. So, I will actually look upto them for guidance regarding how they will navigate this troubled waters of crypto trading and how they will guide others and pay-it-forward.
When a ship capsizes, the captain of the ship has to take the responsibility. I am neither the captain of this ship, nor this ship has capsized, but if there is some failure somewhere, it lies within me and only me, somehow. One way or the other, I haven’t been doing my job that I was supposed to do. Maybe I wasn’t communicating all the tricks of the trades and the mind games properly. I plan on changing that. I know most of the tricks of the playbook, and I promise I will communicate as much of that in public as I can, and then rest will rely upon the randomness of the system.
This is the central illusion in life: that randomness is a risk, that it is a bad thing ...Nassim Nicholas Taleb (the god of Black Swan Events)
A man who was completely innocent, offered himself as a sacrifice for the good of others, including his enemies, and became the ransom of the world. It was a perfect act.— Gandhi
Who knew the noblest characteristic of a human life can be so brutal. Devoid of empathy, who knew a sacrifice would bring that much pain— leaving an incurable wound in someone’s heart for eternity.
Sometimes a sacrifice is what you need to make to bring peace to the earth. Sometimes it’s your life that has to be sacrificed to put a smile on other’s face— your life, only once you can afford to have it; will you be okay to lose it for social belief and custom, to bring a difference to someone’s life?
Hard to believe the Rainmaker is being sacrificed for what he believed sacred in his whole life.
Isn’t it more horrifying than the death itself?
But that’s life— sometimes you gotta pay the ransom with your life; nothing can be greater than that.
Author - 
We are also delighted to announce two honorable mentions of the week.
| Authors | Highlights |
|---|---|
 @trifecta-tt | A Soul to Nurture |
| - | - |
 @becca-mac | I fell |
-- by 
-- by 
-- by 
It seems that I've forgotten how to write.
Even the thought of it brings forth a devastation bigger than the Atlantic in me. But it is the truth for me these days, no matter how hard I try to deny the fact.
Words have just... left me. Every day, I open a new docs file, only to stare at it blankly for an hour or so. The chase I do behind my thoughts these days all ends in vain, as I always come back empty-handed. As I've never been able to write forcefully, what now comes out are bland, unstructured pieces of thought that make no sense to me.
I've always written based on my emotions and emotions alone. And even though I'm brimming with barrels of depression and frustration inside me these days, they just don’t turn up on my page.
Writer's block is a cruse that I face more often than I would like to. It's like a plague in my brain, eating away my thoughts, feeding on the despair and growing in size day by day. Because believe it or not, just constructing this wee little piece took me more than two days, and that's not something I'm happy about, as it's always a touch and go for me and my pen.
I’ve recently finished reading Kafka on The Shore by Haruki Murakami, and one of the main concepts of the story was that storms must be fought for true growth, and sorrows must be born. The twine of fate will spin, and in the end, everything will follow through as they are supposed to.
So that's what I am doing. Not really putting up a fight – mind you– but slowly walking, through the storm that has started within me.
-- by 
He and the lamppost are getting acquainted with each other. They have spent more hours together with one another than anywhere and with anybody else. Who is he kidding! He's not here to make friends with a lamppost! He has more pressing matters to deal with. The lamppost is just the perfect spot for him to lean, rest, observe, and mostly hide.
Yes, he cannot be seen.
The darkness, the broken bulb has kept him in the black of the night to everyone's eyes. Not even the moon shining above was helping to provide a guise of his. Even his silhouette is barely visible. If it was a highway than a narrow road in some quiet neighborhood, then the light of the lamppost would have been replaced and he wouldn't be here. But all had worked out to his advantage and he can pursue what he was here for without appearing suspicious.
It has been 3 days since he has been scoping this area. The houses are farther away from each other leaving hefty spaces in between. There are a few lampposts around the place but only a few of them are functioning, and only a few of those non-functioning give him the perfect view providing him a disguise. In his state of vision, he can scope out the neighborhood along with the house right in front of him.
A boy has just rushed towards the front door of the house; he recognizes the boy - he lives in that standard-looking house with his parents. After a few minutes, the lights of the boy's room switched on. He kept watching intently as the boy moved around his room and sat down on his desk. He remained at his position, carefully watching what the inhabitants are doing, and also remains vigilant over his surroundings. Three days he has spent here, waiting patiently, observing, analyzing every step. He was so close that he can almost touch and taste the satisfaction. Being too close has made him feel ecstatic. They say the thrill of a chase is more profound than acquiring it and he knew just why they say that. As the boy still scribbling over something, he observes. Tomorrow - he'll make his move tomorrow - yes, he will.
His target within his grasp.
-- by 
You can't just take your DSLR or your smartphone camera and shoot a film.
Digital cameras took over the world many years ago. Still, some puritan film directors use hefty mechanical film cameras with reels. Those film cameras produce a sort of vivid and contrasty look to them. No matter what digital camera you use and how much you edit them in post-production, you cannot exactly match that particular look of film cameras. That doesn't mean it's the only way to go.
Digital cinema cameras are fine as well, and they are dominant. While they don't have the look of a film camera, they can produce cinematic motion pictures pretty well. They have a very high dynamic range, soft image creation, and their images can be taken nearly to those film cameras.
Well, that first statement you read isn't technically true. Nothing bars your way of picking up your phone and shooting something. However, whatever you shoot, will not look like a film. Films, as they are used to be made, have a certain mechanical look to them, and if certain conditions are not met, when you see a film shot by a DSLR or a phone camera, you can sense that, even when you cannot put it into words.
DSLR footages are too sharp and crystal clear. People would think that's a good thing, and it generally is. But not for films. Also, people tend to shoot in high FPS (frames per second), and that results in buttery smooth videos, and again, you'd think that's a good thing, and it generally is. But again, not for cinema. Anything sharp and shot over 24 fps isn't cinematic. Films feel like films when they are shot with high dynamic range, have soft picture quality, motion blur and some fine grain noise in frames as well.
This is why when Faruki makes cinema, people complain, "e ki banaiche, natok natok lage!"
-- by 
My audiobook journey started with Breakfast at tiffany's, a book I was not particularly looking for or familiar with. But nevertheless, the experience was pleasant enough, and it set me out to look for more. And that’s how I stumbled upon “Thérèse Raquin”. The credit, of course, goes to mum along with the title audiobook stock market. A burden he has to carry from now on. So, now back to the book.
Thérèse Raquin, what a marvellous way of portraying the seven deadly sins. Even though the beginning of the story struck me quite boring, urging me to give up on it countless times, in the end, all the fight to break through the initial boredom to get on with the book was truly worth it.
If selfishness had a book about it, undoubtedly, this would’ve been the one. Each character had their own unique self-centred view of life, each holding their unique thread to create the dominos effect. In the beginning, I was particularly rooting for Thérèse as her decision to blend in with the dull life, creating a perfect façade to survive the crucial reality long enough to grasp the desired freedom, was truly admirable. But life rarely goes as planned, isn’t it?
The ability of the author to portray the internal turmoil was the main reason behind this profound admiration of this book. How grief, with guilt and disgust, shaped the fate of everyone involved, how intense forbidden desire seems to numb the mind, how a single action in the heat of a moment could snatch the treasured tranquillity and in an instant, how the long waiting longing become venomous poison. All of these could be found in a tangled mess of selfishness and cowardliness. Sometimes it makes you laugh at the character's stupidity, and sometimes it sends shocking waves of reality.
If I had to choose a favourite part of the book, I would pick the ending without a doubt. There is a satisfying pleasure to see its beauty, the display of pure acceptance, the execution of events that felt like a poem, a dramatic gesture, a perfect end but mostly the beginning of an unsolved mystery.
-- by 
পর্ব-১
মাঝিদের একটা জনসভা হচ্ছে। সেখানে হাজির হয়েছে দূরদূরান্ত থেকে আসা নানান জাতের, নানান পাতের মাঝি, আড়তদার ও এই ব্যবসার বিভিন্ন ব্যাপারীরা। সবার মাঝে বসে আছে মনিও। সে মাঝি সমিতিতে যোগ দেয়া নতুন মাঝি।
উচ্চশিক্ষিত হয়ে সকাকারের চাকরগিরি করতে মনি নিজেকে কিছুতেই রাজি করাতে পারেনা। সে জন্য সে বিভিন্ন জায়গায় বিদ্যা বেচে দু’পয়সা রোজগার করছিল। আর তার মাঝে হারানো প্রেতাত্মার মত এদিক সেদিক উদ্দেশ্যহীন ভেসে বেড়াচ্ছিল। হিসেব করলে দেখা যায় বছরের অর্ধেক সে চাকরি করলে, বাকি অর্ধ-বর্ষ বেকারই থেকেছে! মনি দক্ষ আর কাজের মানুষ। সেজন্য তার এমন চাকরীর মেয়াদে অনিশ্চয়তার ছায়া সবসময় ঘোরাফেরা করলেও, চাকরির বাজারে মনির কদর ছিল।
কিন্তু এখন তার সেখানেও আর মনযোগ নেই। চাকরি জিনিসটার প্রতিই তার সবরকম আদর-আহ্লাদ চলে গ্যাছে! আর বাকিসব তরুণ তরুণীর মত তার বহুদিনের সখ, ছোট একটা ব্যবসা করা। এরপর সেটাকে একটা নির্দিষ্ট আয়ের জায়গায় নিয়ে যেয়ে তারপর দিন রাত কেবল বই পড়ে, ভ্রমণ করে ভবঘুরে শাস্ত্র রচনা করবে।
কিন্তু পর্যাপ্ত মূলধনের অভাবে সে স্বপ্ন অধরাই থেকে যাচ্ছে।
এহেন অনিশ্চয়তায় থেকে মনি বড়ই দুশ্চিন্তায় পড়ে শেষ চাকরিটাও ছাড়ার পর। তবে কী সরকারিতে চাকরি নেয়া ছাড়া আর কোনো গতি নেই! আর ওরকম অনিশ্চিয়তার মাঝেই কাকতালীয়ভাবে দূতের মত হাজির হয় তার বন্ধু আলী। প্রসঙ্গক্রমে মনিকে মাছের ব্যবসার উপদেশ দেয়। যদিও আলী অনেক আগেই টুকটাক এই ব্যবসার ব্যাপারে বলছিল তাকে, চাকরির ব্যবস্তার কারণে বিশেষ মনযোগ দেবার সুযোগ হয়নি ওর তখন। এখন যখন শেষ চাকরিটাও ছেড়ে দিল ত্যক্ত বিরক্ত হয়ে, সিদ্ধান্ত নিল আলীর মাছের ব্যবসার বুদ্ধিটা একবার ঝালিয়ে দেখবেে।
সভার মূলতবি শেষে আলী সবাইকে উদ্দেশ্য করে বললো-
“প্রিয় মাঝি ভাই ও বোনেরা। আইজকা আমাদের মাজে একজন নতুন মাঝি যোগ দিছে। তারে সবাই বরণ কইরা লন।”
আলীর শিখিয়ে দেওয়া মত, সবার সামনে নিজের ব্যাপারে সংক্ষেপে ব্যক্ত করলো মনি। মনির বক্তব্য শেষে সবাই তালি দিয়ে সমস্বরে স্বাগতম, শুভকামনা জানালো ওকে। মনি অবাক হয়ে ভাবলো এ কোন দেশ, কোন জাগা! কোথায় নতুন মাঝি আসায় তাদের দুশ্চিন্তিত হবার কথা এই ভেবে যে ব্যবসায় ভাগ বসাতে এলো কেউ; তারা দেখি বরং খুশী! মনির মুহুর্তেই পছন্দ হয়ে গেলো এই ব্যবসা।
এর মাঝে করিম ব্যাপারীও তাকে সাধুবাদ জানিয়েছিল। প্রথমে তাকে মনি চিনতে পারে নাই। পরে আলী তাকে জানায় যে করিম ব্যাপারী মাছের বড় ব্যবসায়ী। তার আছে নিজস্ব খাঁড়ি আর আড়ত। তিনি ব্যবসা করেন বড় বড় ট্রলার নিয়ে। শুনে সে ভাবলো আহা সবাই কত উদার! এখানে।
একে একে আলী তাকে পরচিয় করিয়ে দেয় একই এলাকার আরো কিছু বড়-ছোট মাঝি, মাছের আড়তদার, বড় বড় ব্যাপারী, নৌকা, ট্রলার মালিক সমিতিসহ অনেককেই। সকলেই আন্তরিক, মনি ভাবে।
সভা থেকে ফেরার পথে সে সিদ্ধান্ত নিলো এইখানেই সে তার সব শ্রম, মেধা ঢেলে দিবে একজন প্রকৃত মাঝি হয়ে উঠবে। আলীর উপর তার পূর্ণ আস্থা আছে। আলী বলেছে অধ্যাবসায় থাকলে, সে পারবে। মনি স্বপ্ন দেখে একদিন তার ট্রলার ব্যবসা না হলেও অন্তত নিজস্ব একটা আড়ত হবে। সে একজন ছোটোখাটো ব্যাপারে হবে। তখন আর মাছ মারতে হবেনা। কেবল ভবঘুরে শাস্ত্র রচনায় মনোনিবেশ করবে। অথবা তখন মাছ মারলেও সেটা হবে সখে!
ঘুমানোর আগ পর্যন্ত এইসব স্বপ্ন জল্পনা-কল্পনা মিলিয়ে মনি মাঝি বেশ পুলক অনুভব করে। তার মনে হতে থাকে চাঁদ আজকে একটু বেশীই উজ্জ্বল। মনি মিয়া বহুদিন পর এমন প্রশান্তি নিয়ে ঘুমাতে যায়।
একটা হাসি তার ঠোঁটের কোণে ঝুলেই থাকে। দুঃখজনকভাবে, তার সে হাসি বেশী দিন স্থায়ী হয়না।
-- by 
The clock passes, ticking away,
making opportunities sway.
The loaded time causes me to ache,
I do not accept what it says.
I am tired of crying,
wasting hours from life.
I yearn to live, live
while happy and satisfied.
I have no time to turn and gaze,
let my past overtake,
I have no time to sit around and procrastinate,
weather to feel or not to feel.
But, I do. I do sit around,
talking away my worries,
my tiresome melodies,
that you care to listen,
to waste your time away,
to give me a moment from your time.
While your token is treasured by me,
I yearn for it longer to hold it dearly,
with passing time, my yearns for you
reaches a cord, now I agonize.
The passing time doesn't stop,
doesn't take a break, then should I?
Would I not be wasting time?
Do I not have work at hand?
Should I be listening and dancing away?
If wasted time is not wasted,
would the hassle be at stay?
My vision smiles at me,
I think too much which feeds its melody.
I dream of bruises and scars,
chains of terrifying nights,
just to prepare myself not to cry again.
Why do I take so load?
Why do I blemish with every step I take?
The concerning hour smiles at me,
I am neither a game nor a pawn,
trust yourself and make your pace,
name it yours and embrace.
Wounds will heal,
reveal its darkness,
accept the process,
admit we are flawed.
No work of humans is flawless,
only perception builds it.
No time of yours is wasted,
you are trying to build your place.
In this passing time,
I care to waste it away on you.
I care to hear and bear your worries,
I care to build us together in this debris.
If the time ever cares to make it known,
to share, that moments only pass away,
that the sequence will forever stay,
so, shape your heart to give in to time.
To learn from promises,
to learn to stick around,
to learn to listen and bear,
to never think you waste time again.
Until so, the clock passes ticking away,
making opportunities sway.
The loaded time causes me to ache,
I would not accept what it says.
-- by 
Never did I realise a soft melody would hide such a chaotic world behind the lyrics, the composition, and everything in between.
Rebirth— a song featuring a slow tempo has so many stories to share, and so many subjects to relate to. Call it a mournful tune that reminds you about the loss. Call it the melody that stirs up the romantic YOU; the feeling never gets old and never runs out of options.
Crank up the volume, and the mix of keyboard accompanied with the plucking of the acoustic guitar will hit every nerve sending a pulse to the brain. Enhance the bass a little; the soundwave will overpower your hollowness or, sometimes, deepen it further— making it a subject to behold.
A slow but steady tune coming from a set of fine-tuned violin, cello, and viola creates an atmosphere so intense that it enters your mind as a snake breaks through the water with its head slightly raised above the waterline, spreading the wave as it passes. Then the guitar starts playing— so humble and precise that it summons the god of tranquillity— wrapping the listener with its stable yet delicate tone of sadness.
As the song continues, words unfold the mystery of love and that of the lover. Think about your loss; the song will intensify your mourning. Think about the love you cherish for your loved one, and you will find reasons to love even more— it’s relatable in every god-knows-why way— so relatable that you forget what the lyric entails; you simply stop breathing and let all the cell of your body consume every note torn between the sharply tuned strings. With every tap on the keyboard, the melody owns you a bit by bit— eventually, makes you surrender yourself to the addiction of intensity like the protagonist embraces his nemesis throughout the plot.
That’s what Rebirth is all about— nothing that you seek but everything your heart longs for.
Thank you, POTF.
--
We're at the business end of the season. By now, leagues have shaped up, if not entirely. In fact, it's down to the wire now. Look at the premier league. Only 2 games remaining, and still, three teams are fighting for relegation. Three teams fighting for two spots in the top 4 race. And well, the title? Still, Liverpool and Manchester City are fighting it out. The last matchday is on the 22nd of May. And we still don't know who will participate in the champions league next season.
At the end of the season, every team plays their heart out. Even a few weeks ago, Everton looked set to be relegated. But they pulled through with some unexpected results. Beating Manchester United and Chelsea is something that nobody saw coming, and now, they sit two points clear of the relegation zone. It looks like one of Burnley or Leeds United will be going down.
Also, a few weeks ago, partly because of this loss to Everton, Chelsea looked shaky. Arsenal and Tottenham were hot on their heels, and it was looking like Chelsea would crash out from the third position. But that is a distant memory now as they picked up a win at Elland Road while Arsenal was being, well, Arsenal. But there is credit due to them where it counts. Arsenal, after all, had made a tremendous turnaround this season. But if they choke at this moment, all their efforts throughout the season will get undervalued.
And it will all be because of Tottenham.
Now Tottenham themselves have their story. After a bad start to the season with Nuno Espirito Santo, they appointed the former blues boss Antonio Conte. After that, Tottenham has also picked up their form. And as a result. They scored a win against Arsenal just yesterday, which put them just one point behind Arsenal. So if Arsenal slips, then it will be game over.
Interestingly, Tottenham had also fixed the premier league title's fate a couple of weeks ago.
Liverpool and Manchester City were going neck and neck for the top position. But Tottenham now holding Liverpool to a draw helped Manchester City secure a three-point lead. So now their fate is in their hands, relaxed.
As things stand this season, we're likely to go to the final matchday with many things unsolved, just as that famous 2012 league win of Manchester City, with Martin Tyler screaming on the horizon, "Aguerooooooo!"
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