BDCommunity Presents - The Weekly Turni

15/09/2020
পহেলা আশ্বিন ১৪২৭
The Weekly Turni


Editorial


This weekend I spent quite a bit of time at home. The week was exceptionally long, and the coming one will be brutal in terms of workload, I was promised. With that in mind, I was senile, sitting at home, not doing much. As I write this editorial, several things about age and childhood are randomly swimming in my mind. Perhaps it all started after my friend's daughter said she wanted to be a unicorn when she grew up. I said kudos to that! Let the fire burn from within.

I always enjoy Salvador Dali's work quite a bit. Not only his paintings are without any boundaries, but also consuming his work makes you believe that anything is possible.

"At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since."… Salvador Dali

I wish we can all say the same thing. I think we all start with the 'fire within' but with time, either it burns out, or someone repeatedly says that it's too farfetched and maybe advise us to focus on more reasonable goals. The trouble is that is if the fire dies down, it is hard to re-kindle. It is typically the older and wiser folks around us who try to extinguish that fire. It is not their fault. It is just that they themselves have been burned before, perhaps, so all they are trying to do is to protect us from not getting burned. It's only natural. However, the downside of that wisdom is twofold. Not only we don't get burned, but also, we forget what's on the other side of that fire. Simply because we fail to cross it or let it burn. I always believed one simple thing; that there are no wise old men.

As I read Hemingway for the first time as a kid; I still remember what he said:

"No, that is the great fallacy: the wisdom of old men. They do not grow wise. They grow careful." Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

At the same time, I am not the person who makes any generalization. I have seen old men in my life who never imposed their wisdom on me. Only provided the direction to that door. I opened it myself and walked through it. As I am beginning to consider myself as an old man now, I am always careful, so that I don't make the same mistake I have seen other old men make. There is a common feeling that when your kids are born, and especially as they begin to grow up, you start to feel old. But there is a saying that when they leave for college, you begin to feel young again. So, I am hopeful, that my younger days are around the corner.

I am right in the middle of my half-life. আমার অর্ধেক জীবন…

-editor


This Week's Feature -- Evergreen Tonic


In search of enlightened people (আলোকিত মানুষ চাই)

There is hardly any kid from the 90s or the 80s who hasn't had goosebumps to the words" 'আলোকিত মানুষ চাই,'" meaning, we want enlightened humans. Our childhood was shaped with a bus roaming around the cities, with these words slammed on its windows. @deepu7 takes us on a "ride" in this post in search of enlightenment.


Although the British period railroad tracks have expired its lifetime, our former railway minister is still relatively young at the age of 70. Shattering the dreams of thousands of jobless philander, he got married to a 29-year-old glamorous girl in the presence of more than 700 guests with the colorful lighting on both sides of the Dhaka-Chittagong highway. Although many have denounced the subject with humor and sarcasm, I don't think he did anything wrong, even though the bride is a little younger. Because age should not be an impediment to awakening the inner youth of a person. He might have been influenced by the below line from the famous song of Bangla movie!

ষাট বছরে ফের যৌবন এলো

Railway Minister is a man from afar; I have seen my old grandfather staring at Hindi films' beautiful matrons while watching TV. Nonetheless, immediately after, he has managed himself contemplating the aspect of religious constraints. The only reason for this is that even though his body's various sensitive organs do not respond appropriately at this age, the age of his mind is 18. Here the age of eighteen is used metaphorically. The central aspect is that even though the body age increases, the human mind remains young forever.

I am personally aficionado of Abdullah Abu Sayeed Sir and am influenced by his many words. That is why his words have come up in my numerous writings. He was once asked how he is so energetic and lively in this old age. He replied that he always avoid passing his valuable time with aged people. He wanders with all the youthful people. So he is influenced by young people and gets the enthusiasm from them.

Numerous times the surrounding atmosphere influences people to think themselves abandoned. I am giving an example here. Color is an exciting object that largely controls the human mind. You will find yourself feeling quite refreshed after wearing a colorful outfit. Many people choose light colors when buying clothes for their elderly parents. So you are signaling to your parents that they have become aged. Many older people in our country are reluctant to wear colorful clothes despite wanting to because they wonder what people will say! So in many cases, you are your own obstacle in staying forever young.

Instead of looking at biological age, motivate yourself by looking at people who have done many impossible things in old age.

Two gentlemen named Christine Brown and Yuichiro Miura have climbed the Great Wall of China and Mount Everest, respectively, at 80. Furthermore, Frank Schearer, a 100 years old young man, became the oldest water skier globally.

So I want to say like Sukant Bhattacharya-

তবু আঠারোর শুনেছি জয়ধ্বনি,
এ বয়স বাঁচে দুর্যোগে আর ঝড়ে,
বিপদের মুখে এ বয়স অগ্রণী
এ বয়স তবু নতুন কিছু তো করে।


Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?(Sonnet 18)


Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimmed;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow' st,
Nor shall death brag thou wand' rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to Time thou grow' st.
So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.


Tattletell Teletalk


Steve was having a bad day. He went to Mcdonalds, ordered a big mac, and got a Salad instead. What happened to his big mac? He asked the waiter. In return, the waiter turned red like a newborn Russian and insisted on him munching the salad. Or else... the waiter also threatened to hit him with a pair of pig-balls he was waving like a flag.

Steve ate his salad and went to his workplace. The doorman was browsing Facebook and wouldn't let him in. "Use the fire escape.", he insisted. "Or don't get in."
Outrageous! Steve was the boss, after all! Can't he just fire the guy?

Using the fire escape bruised his suit and threw him in a bottomless pit of depression. He went to a laundry service. Seeing him enter, the manager came rushing with a broomstick. "Get out!" He shouted! "We don't offer services to the homeless!"

Even more depressed, Steve decided to go home. His gardener was mowing the lawn like a sloth trying to crawl highland grass. "Hurry it up," Steve urged. The gardener got furious! If Steve didn't like his mowing, he could do it himself. Steve looked at the gardener and stared at his face for a good two minutes, puzzled. Then he slowly turned and went looking for a five-star hotel.

With beaten pride and swollen ego, he ordered the presidential suite. Cost him a fortune, but, hey, he really felt good with the decision! Sometimes you had to make yourself happy.

Following the bellboy, he entered the suite. What is this? A tiny room with no window. Now Steve was angry.
Seeing his angry face, the bell boy smiled. 'You are no president, are you?'
Then he closed the door behind him.
Steve could hear his footsteps slowly fading away.


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Lethal Dilemma


Warning: This is not medical advice.

There's a saying for viral fevers,

If you take meds*, it'll last for only 7 days. If not, it will stay for a whole week.

*refering to antibiotics mainly

While the SARS CoV-2 complicates things a bit, the general consensus is still the same. Antibiotics do not kill viruses, period.

Before I proceed, I'll address the first wave of questions that are likely to be popping into your heads right now to put you all at a bit of ease. "Then why are Covid patients being prescribed antibiotics? Do we not need antibiotics? Are we getting wrong treatment?"

No, you're not getting the wrong treatment. At ease, my friend, at ease. You'll find out all in the end.

So seasonal fevers, huh! Everyone has been coming down with it, and legend has it, @linco is patient zero of the BDCommunity. I can understand the panic surrounding fever, given the current pandemic. But we need to understand the Sars CoV-2 did not come and kill the rest of the Rhinoviruses (common cold) and influenza viruses. They still exist and are even more likely to be causing the seasonal fever.

So the moment you're down with a fever, you don't have to panic. But exercise caution. There's no harm in isolating yourself for a few days to keep the people around you safe until we can be sure it's nothing sinister. We have all experienced the bitter aftertaste that lingers around, and it's ubiquitous to lose appetite. I'm gonna sound like an "old man" now and say, but you still gotta eat something, son. Maintaining hydration and replenishing electrolytes is quite essential. You may have noticed the profuse sweating every day when the fever subsides. Guess what you're losing in the sweat..? Fluid and electrolytes.

I think it is a good time to remind everyone, Dengue season is approaching in the subcontinent. Understandably everyone is preoccupied with the Covid-19. But we all remember how deadly the last dengue season was. So chop chop! You know the drill! No stagnant water puddles around the neighborhood, no dirty water-filled plant tubs in the balcony. Let those mosquitoes make love, but not gonna let them conceive! (okay, this is scientifically inaccurate, but it sounded funny!)

Above all, be like @zayedsakib and take antibiotics only when your doctor prescribes you. So why do we prescribe antibiotics to COVID patients?

Antibiotics, by definition, works against bacteria. The SARS CoV-2 gives us a hard time as it is. The body is already having quite a difficult time fending it off, unlike the common cold. Now imagine, on top of the Sars CoV-2 infection, you get a secondary bacterial infection of the respiratory tract! The medical term is secondary pneumonia. When that happens, things get out of hand pretty quickly. So the antibiotics are prescribed to not really treat anything at all; it is to prevent a secondary pneumonia. No, I'm not making this up! We call this Prophylactic use of antibiotics.

But.....but but but but! Taking antibiotics suggested by your next-door neighbor, who heard it from some guy at the corner tea shop, who, in turn, was taking medical advice from his uncle's dog, is NOT the way to take prophylactic antibiotics! What you have to understand is, every country has a different microbiota. Meaning the strains commonly causing secondary pneumonia in Bangladesh are not necessarily the same as in Panama, for example! Hell, even in the same city, different patient profiles are susceptible to different organisms. The uncle's dog might be brilliant, but trust me, it doesn't know which antibiotic to prescribe under what circumstances!

-Doc


Epilogue-পিঠাপুলির দেশে


Photo Credit


In English, the title is pronounced something like "Pitha Pulir Desh Bangladesh" it's a traditional saying which remarks on our country's tradition. In English, meaning it is "the country of cakes," but it's not the usual cakes you may see in the city's beautiful shops. It's the traditional food in our rural area. Which is best made by the hands of village women. Day by day, it is losing its basic features. Our ma-Khala (mother and aunties) best know how to prepare these.

Winter is coming within a few months. Everything will be covered by the foggy weather. Dewdrops fall in the leaves. We are trembling in the cold. That is the perfect time for these foods. The shimmering cold weather in the morning and the hot Pitha Puli is very much enjoyable. There are various kinds of Pithas(cakes). Different in shape, color, ingredients, and taste. Their names are also too fascinating. Let me write some of them in Bengali names: Bhapa Pitha, Chitoi Pitha, Nokshi Pitha, Pakan Pitha, Patishapta Pitha, and so on. There are too many of them. They are too much fascinated by the look and also very much delicious.

In the winter season, in the villages, there remains a festive look in the houses in the morning. Because these tasted best if they served hot, and everyone enjoys them early in the winter morning. There remains great fun.

Imagine a morning in a village along with your grandparents. You are enjoying these foods served hot. Ah! What an enjoyable moment. Nowadays, many people live on selling these Pitha Puli in random public places in the cities. Actually, in a way, it is keeping these traditional foods alive and familiar with the city people who may don't know how to make or forget these traditions. We also organize a fair of these Pithas to make this valuable tradition familiar with the children. It's our first and foremost duty to preserve our traditions and pass through the next generation.


End Notes


Instructions to Get Featured


This here is our piece de resistance. So, to promote engagement and a little self-branding, we have come up with an initiative that we simply called Featured. And we are very excited about this portion of the magazine.

Every week, one talented author will have the opportunity to contribute a piece for the magazine, while showcasing one of their best posts. The willing writers will have a chance to add to the magazine a few words about any topic that they choose and be a 25% beneficiary of the magazine.

How to Get Featured

The first step is, you have to decide whether you want to get featured or not. Once you've made up your mind, you have to apply by submitting one of your articles from last week. We have a wiggle room for quality content if they are older than seven days. Choose the piece you deem to be your best work for the week, as this will play a significant role in you getting featured or not.

Application Window

There will be a two-day period to submit your application. It must be submitted by dropping a link to your post in the #Featured-Magazine channel on the BDCommunity Discord Server. Once the application window has closed, @linco, @simplifylife, and @zayedsakib will choose three authors from all the submissions. The featured author for the week will be announced during the weekly voice meeting. They will then have two days to complete their piece for the magazine and submit to the officials.

The author who gets featured in the weekly magazine will be set as a 25% beneficiary, meaning 25% of the magazine's liquid payout will go to the featured author.


Flash Contest


Put down a phone picture of your para/city in the comments below. Along with a few sentences that, in your opinion, describes what we humans like to call Home. The best one wins:)

Leave a meaningful no less than 100 words comment below about the topic, and the most meaningful one will win 5 hive:). You can enter as many times as you like. Leave the tag #BDC in your comment for it to be counted as an entry. Only one person will be chosen as the winner.

Last Weeks Winner-@notacinephile


Do not forget to join our next weekly hangout at Friday 10 PM GMT +6

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