LIFE AS IT IS

Location: St. Cloud, MN Facebook Page                              

It's holiday season again, and I miss being home. I go to shopping malls and watch people shopping frantically for themselves, their friends and families. I myself don't really have anyone to give holiday gifts to here in the U.S. I don't have anyone to give me gifts either. I used to buy gifts for family during Eid times when I lived in Bangladesh. So, the Christmas season reminds me of Eid celebrations back home. I miss my family more than ever when I see people shopping for Christmas gifts, buying carts full of grocery items for Christmas dinner or decorating their homes with Christmas trees and lights. Sometimes, it's difficult being an expatriate, especially when you see people around you celebrating such religious occasions with their families and friends. You think of the people you left behind. I remember how Dhaka used to be decorated with little white and colorful lights before the Eid times. My city looked beautiful. The malls were always overcrowded, p...

Instead of having just one life, many of us these days have two lives - a real life and a virtual life. At times, it becomes difficult to separate the two. Sometimes, the virtual world takes over and our real life is left in shambles. Yes, this virtual world can give us good friends and good times, provide us with love and mental support in times of need, and work as a vent after a long, busy day. I am talking about networking sites, forums and Facebook groups.  However, as a member of one such online group, I feel that there  is a strong need to live both of these lives of ours, especially the real life, because that’s where a person has to return eventually… I took a 3-day break from my virtual life and in those three days, I walked every day, started reading a book, danced to music, followed the news, and talked with old friends over the phone. I connected with people who I can see, touch and hear. It felt good, it felt refreshing. I felt alive. I love the virtual world ...

Cooking at home is not always a pleasurable experience. You have to stand in front of a hot stove, do mental calculations before adding oil, salt and spices and in the end, if the taste of the food does not meet your expectations, you feel dejected. But home-cooked meals are and can be so much healthier, if you carefully choose your ingredients and their amounts. I see my friends and family eating out a lot more than they used to 5 or 10 years ago. Dhaka now has more restaurants than any other time in its history, and this can be one reason why people lunch and dine outside so much more frequently than they once used to. But are restaurant meals healthier than home-cooked meals? Most likely not. Yes, lunching or dining outside with friends and family is a wonderful experience, but having several restaurant meals each week is perhaps not. Here are some of the reasons why: When you cook at home you can control the quality of your food. You know exactly what ingredients in what quan...

I was watching an episode of Satyamev Jayate on YouTube last night. While watching it, I suddenly remembered my 2007 trip to India. I was taking part in a 6-nation youth leadership program. As part of that program, we paid a visit to a girls' orphanage in Faridabad, the largest city of the Indian state of Haryana. At Arya Kanya Sadan, we had a lovely time with little girls, who even danced and sang for the guests. We played with them, talked with them, hugged them and laughed with them. I was told that some of these children were abandoned by their parents because they were "girls" - their parents wanted male children and therefore abandoned them after their birth. I was thinking of these little girls a while ago and wondered where they must be now. Many of them are now in there teenage. I hope and pray that life showers them with tons of love and happiness. *This blog was written 2 weeks ago.

Air travel is rarely a pleasurable experience for me. I especially dread long flights. The idea of visiting Bangladesh excites me, but the number of hours to be spent inside an aircraft dampens my spirits. I am not that tall but even so, my 5'6" body frame cannot sit comfortably in an airplane seat. I turn and twitch during the entire duration of a flight, and wonder if plane seats are becoming smaller. I eye other passengers and feel a pang of envy -- many people enjoy long stretches of sleep on long flights, but I never can. My in-flight agony has doubled, or perhaps tripled, in the last two years. Flying in the air with a two-year-old is anything but enjoyable. My husband, who is my daughter's favorite parent, suffers endlessly when we travel. Watching his in-flight plight stresses me out even more. My toddler almost goes on a hunger strike when she is traveling. We returned completely untouched trays of meals to air hostesses in the past. When my child is awake...

I watched the short film below some time ago and could not hold back my tears. I saw my child in this little boy. I saw my daughter's face in the face of this child. We live in a cruel world. I don't know the maker of this film, but I express my gratitude to him for this work of his.

My daughter started her pre-school yesterday. Well, yesterday she was at the school for just 15 minutes - it was more like a short ice-breaking session with her two teachers, Jeanne and Amy. Today is her official first day at school. I am a little worried because she cannot take her teddy bear to the classroom - "Telly" is with her all the time and it might be difficult for her to part with it. I cannot imagine how how quickly time flies. I still remember the time and day I first held her. She will turn 2 years on September 17. It seems as if she was born only yesterday, but no, almost 2 years have gone by while I was busy raising her and seeing her grow from an infant to a toddler. She is attending the Montessori Learning Center in Wilmington, DE. The 40-year-old school have amicable teachers and a comfortable environment. I hope she enjoys her time at her pre-school. I am happy for my girl. No, I don't think it will hurt me much to let go of her and see her grow i...

My husband, daughter and I returned home yesterday after a 2-day trip to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania. I was visiting the Poconos after 9 years...!! The mountains cover a 2,400 square miles area. The views from the Poconos are breathtaking, the air is fresh and you feel close to the heaven once your are on the top. Here are a few clicks from the short trip.

Sometimes all a mom needs is a comfortable pillow under her head...

The gratification comes from not just beating the #2 guy but from being better than everyone else in the competition.      style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

Motherhood has instilled in me a different type of emotion, an emotion whose existence I was unaware of in those pre-mommy years of life. Today, when I see suffering children, turbulent emotions rupture my heart. Sometimes, I shed tears in silence. I ask myself if all this emotional overflow is because of my new identity as a mother. Perhaps. Every child deserves a happy childhood. But to millions of children around the world, "happiness" is a word that carries little or no meaning. Many a child’s childhood is snatched away at such an early age that they never know what it feels to go to school five days a week, eat three good meals a day, or sleep without having to worry about their houses being blown up by enemy troops. In any conflict, it's the children who suffer the most. When I see images and video footages of living and dead children of Palestine and Syria, I sit still before my computer and know not what to feel. Sometimes I wonder what I myself would have ...

Smiles and the sorrows will think twice before coming near you.      style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

We celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr here in the U.S. yesterday. We cooked special food, talked to our families back home and watched TV at night. It was not a day too different from a regular day except for my husband went to the mosque for his Eid prayer and took the day off. But Eid in Bangladesh used to be so different. We would visit and call relatives and friends, watch special Eid programs on TV, eat loads of good food and collect salami/eidi (a monetary Eid gift from relatives older than you). Here, Eid comes and goes by and in some years, we don't feel that it really came. Sometimes I wish I lived in a mega-city like NYC or Chicago, where you can feel the festivities around the occasion. We thought we would visit NYC this time, but changed our minds later... perhaps, we will visit NYC next year, when my daughter will be almost three. We did not cook much this time around - saffron polao/pilaf, chicken roast and a salad followed by firni, a traditional rice custard cooked with...

There are times when everything seems meaningless. We live in a dismal world, where war, poverty, death and violence make headlines. When I think of the comfort I enjoy in my every day life, I cannot help but thank the Almighty. This morning, everything suddenly seems meaningless. I know I am rambling but sometimes, you cannot find the right words to express what you feel deep inside. I am thinking of the children that are dying every day in Gaza. I think of their parents and what they feel. I wonder what a child feels when he/she hears that his/her father/mother/sibling is no more. I ask myself, what would I have done if my daughter died a similar death? Would I have been strong enough to survive the grief? I think of the lives that we are losing in the air. The unexpected and deadly plane crashes are leaving thousands of people without friends and family. I cannot imagine what those passengers felt when the planes caught fire and lost their control. I wonder what the friends ...

People have often called me a tomboy. A tomboy? But I could not and cannot not care less when people call me a tomboy. After all, what does the word mean? A girl who behaves in a boyish manner? A girl who does not fall under the "socially-constructed" definition of how a girl should and must behave? I am sorry but I cannot be what I am not. After all, these socially-constructed definitions are man-made. And man-made things change over time. If I do not like wearing a lot of make-up and jewelry, I wonder how it bothers others. My favorite possessions are my watches, not my bracelets or bangles. But that's the way I am. I wear very little jewelry because I feel suffocated when I wear too much of them . I do not have anything against anyone. It does not perturb me when I see girls wearing make-up and jewelry. As a matter of fact, most girls look more beautiful when they wear make-up and jewelry. It's just that I don't feel comfortable wearing them. Yes, I do we...

It's easier to irritate me than to hurt me.      style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

I was reading a friend's note on Facebook this morning - it was about a truck driver who was kind enough to give her a free ride when she got stranded in a new place. Her story brought back the memories of a day in Carlisle, PA. It was the summer of 2005 and I was attending a tri-nation youth leadership program on the campus of Dickinson College.  One evening, a group of us went out for shopping. We walked to a shopping plaza, which was about a 20-minute walk from the campus. On our way back, we got caught in the rain. I think there were four of us in the group. We were standing on the pavement, getting drenched and praying that someone would stop his car and give us a ride back. We had no umbrella or cell phone with us. We did not even know that rain was coming and all of us were in the U.S. for the first time. As we waited, a taxi driver stopped his car in front of us, asking if we needed a ride. We were so glad that he could spot us in that heavy rain. After he dropped us ...

Sometimes I feel like sitting by a river and doing nothing When I say doing nothing, I don’t mean doing nothing though. I mean I want to dip my fingers and feel the cold water, I want to pick a leaf that fell from a nearby tree, Look at it, run my fingers on it, press it against my cheek, And then float it down the river.  Then watch the leaf float, float and float...

Sometimes you wake up in the morning and the dream from last night lingers on - it takes some time and effort to bring yourself back to reality.

Potty-cleaning occupies such a large part of my life nowadays that it's no wonder the first word the letter, P, reminds me of is "potty." My husband and I first started to potty-train our daughter after she turned one. We went through a lot after that - we braved many storms. And at one point, we simply gave up. Every child has his/her own growth chart. Some babies learn things earlier than the others and vice versa. When I heard that the daughter of a friend was potty-trained at 18 months, I felt I should make that happen too. I asked my friend for tips, she gave me a bunch of them. But I was not satisfied so I went to parenting websites for additional potty-training tips. I tried them. I tried many things, which included, but were not limited to, decorating my daughter's potty with stickers to make it appear appealing to her, and buying a musical potty, which screamed, Yay! when the sensor felt the heat of weewee and poop. Everything failed! I talked to my bio...

The aroma of dates, spicy chickpeas and fried food prepared from lentils and vegetables is missing in the air, so is missing the ambience of Ramadan, but life goes on - we fast like we did when we lived in Bangladesh. But some things are not the same as before. Muslims are fasting for more than 16.5 hours here in the U.S. state where I live. Ramadan is so different away from home, where work starts late and ends early during this holy month. Here, on most days, we skip suhoor/sehri, the early morning meal. We eat our last meal at 11 p.m. and go to sleep. But in Bangladesh, eating sehri with family was an integral part of Ramadan. We would drag our half-asleep body from bed to eat sehri with other family members. The early morning meal was followed by chitchat over steaming cups of tea until the muezzin's call for Fajr prayer echoed in the air. Eid-ul Fitr shopping almost always began before Ramadan. Here, Eid comes and goes by and most years, we do not gift ourselves new cloth...

We changed four cities in the last five years. Exciting, it may sometimes sound, but "changing city" is a stressful affair. We hired movers the last two times - the movers are a blessing but it does not mean that you can relax in a couch while they work. You have to be with them in case they have a question, or need help with something. Once you are in the new house, you need to clean every nook and corner of it to make it livable(!). The property managements' definitions of cleanliness almost never match mine. What a sad thing! So, I usually have to start with the bathrooms, followed by the kitchen, bedrooms and then the living room. Then my husband and I fret over where we should place our bed, the dresser, the couches, the floor lamps, the rugs, etc., etc after they arrive. Should we place the TV in the right or left corner of the living room? Or should we just mount it on the living room wall? Then the size of your new house also matters. Our new apartment in ...

If fame makes you want to fly then you are probably not worthy of fame. The word, modesty, exists for a good reason.

Very few things are as soothing as the sound of rain at night.

There are days when I wish I had nothing to do. A day when I will not have to leave my bed after my daughter wakes up at 6:30 a.m. in the morning. A day when I will not have to read aloud for half-hour to feed her just 8 spoonfuls of oatmeal. A day when I will not have to run after her after she poops and refuses to let me change her diaper. A day when I will not have to pretend to be a singer in order to make her go to sleep. On some days, I do not even feel like washing the dishes after a meal or preparing a lunch for myself. On those days, I just want to spend time with myself, and no one else. We have too many days in our lives when we push ourselves to do things that we do not feel like doing at that moment. On some mornings, our tired bodies and minds (even though we just woke up from an 8-hour night sleep) tell us to skip work. But we cannot do that, because if we did that then there would not be any money to pay rent, buy food and health insurance. I don't have to worry...

We like to be surrounded by people, who praise us.

For most of us, it is difficult to digest a criticism, no matter how constructive it is.

Yesterday, I was reading about an app called Yo. The app allows you to send and receive just one word, Yo! I don't know who to call crazy - the app developer or the Yo users. Why do you need to develop an app to send and receive just this one message when there are hundreds of messaging apps already available out there for free? And those apps allow you to type any word, literally any word of your choice, and not just one special, particular word that the app developer himself has chosen.  We have reached an age when tech lovers are developing apps for anything and everything. I even saw an app that tracks your daily bowel movement. I was like, seriously?! The app developers have somehow found out that there will always be users for their apps, no matter how bizarre they are. But I should not be joking about Yo 'cause it already has more than 50,000 users. These 50,000 people love the word, Yo, for a reason not clear to a not-so-bright person like me. The story does not end...

ঠিক সময়ে ঠিক কাজ করিতে কাহারও মনে পড়ে না, তাহার পরে বেঠিক সময়ে বেঠিক বাসনা লইয়া অস্থির হইয়া মরে। -একরাত্রি, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর      style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

Went to a celebrity's facebook fan page & saw a fan addressing him as his God. What a crackpot!

Only a person who has tended to a sick baby knows how much patience and energy the task demands.       style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

When your baby sits beside you and falls asleep, resting her head on your shoulder, you know that motherhood is a very special blessing.       style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

There was a time when I really wanted to be a grownup, but that was some two decades ago. After I entered my 30s, the idea that I was ageing suddenly sunk in. I compared my old photos with my then-recent ones and realized that a decade had gone by while I was busy finishing college, working full-time, getting married and becoming a parent. When I look at myself in the mirror, I see a mature face -- I see blooming white hair here and there on my head. No matter how much we talk about graceful ageing, the idea of witnessing one's hair turn gray can actually be depressing. My hairline receded a good half-inch in the last 10 years. I can foresee it receding by another couple of inches in the next few decades, permitting I live another few decades. My thick hair is thinning with age. Every time I make a ponytail, I can feel the reduced volume. I often check in the mirror if I am developing laugh lines, a term that I was not aware of even a year ago. You see my vocabulary is gett...

It's amazing how celebrities and their personal problems can affect the personal lives of their fans.

Bangladeshis should stop eating formaldehyde/formalin-treated fruits and fish to teach the traders an important lesson. The country needs a social movement, where everyone must participate. These traders won't have customers to sell their supplies to if people don't buy from them. I myself would rather not eat than eat something that has poison in it.

We sold our daughter's crib via Craigslist last night. The father of the child came and picked it up. The mother could not come, but she was the one who was communicating with my husband about the price, pictures and condition of the crib. The mother sent my husband a thank-you email today. I was in tears after reading it. It's the little things in life that count, and make us feel once more that this world is not a bad place after all. Here it is below (I did not make any changes to it except removing her contact info): Hi, Hope you are well. First and foremost I want to apologize that I was not able to make it last night to pick up the crib, I really wanted to meet you and personally thank you. I am so happy to see my daughter sleeping in a beautiful and most importantly safe crib. Your generosity about reducing the price for us and adding extra items have touched me, I went to sleep last night with a huge smile on my face, I had a hard time falling asleep; because...

War takes away a child's right to a carefree childhood. I am at a loss for words every time a story of violence sweeps the media.      style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"      data-ad-client="ca-pub-1412858923217987"      data-ad-slot="2221625556">

It's hugely important for parents to introduce fruits and vegetables to a child at an early age. Growing up, vegetables were part of our daily diet. It began at breakfast time with round rotis and a preparation from mixed vegetables. Then during lunch time, vegetables were a must too. Lunch began with spinach or some kind of leafy vegetable, a single or mixed vegetable preparation, meat or fish and dal (pulses). Here in the United States, however, daily diet relies heavily on meat and carbohydrates. Children grow up eating calorie-packed burgers, fries and pizzas. Parents are not to be blamed alone - healthy foods are more expensive in this country. Meat costs much less than vegetables. In large families, parents are more worried about filling their children's stomachs and hence, resort to chicken, red meat, bread, pasta and canned foods. It's a sad scenario. I feel that there is often a lack of awareness too. Many parents do not even understand the benefits of eating f...

Bangladesh needs a social movement against traders, who use formalin/formaldehyde in food. These people are killing us & our children.

I eat ice cream year-round, but why does it taste so much better during summer?? :-)

The problem with living on the top floor: blistering heat during summertime. Air conditioners are sweating to keep us cool.

When I first started writing for newspapers, I used to write with pencil and paper, then I switched to a desktop computer after my family bought one. Today, I write from my cell phone. Some transformation indeed!

Expect respect from others when you can give them their due respect.

Summer, I love thee.

It's okay to wait, but it's not okay to wait too long for anyone or anything.

There should be days when you will not have to do anything - a nothing-to-do day.

You can show little skin and still look hot/cool. It's about how you carry yourself and your clothes.

Have you ever gone on a pleasure trip with a baby? A vacation with a baby may sound dreadful but if you plan well and ahead of time, it may not be as bad as some of us tend to think. There was a time when I could pack bags for a vacation in one hour. But things began to change after I became a mother. Today, my daughter gets priority over everything so naturally, packing her belongings comes first. We have to remember to carry so many things with us - diapers, wipes, clothes, shoes, water, feeding bottles and food always comes first. Then comes the body wash, body moisturizer, toys, nasal aspirator, dish soap, bottle brush, towels, toothbrush, toothpaste, bowls, spoons, diaper-changing pad, first-aid box, etc. It's a long list. Most of the time, I try to make a checklist days before our vacation date because it saves time. I glance over it when packing and it really helps. There were times when I forgot to make a checklist and on every single one of those trips, I left behi...

It's foolish to take one's politeness as his/her weakness.

I have been living in America for more than five years now, and although I lived most of my time here in frigid Minnesota, no winter seemed longer and snowier than the current one. I almost went into a state of depression, and I began to reminisce about the mild winter back home, where trees do not stand bare head-to-toe and streets never hide under a foot-deep snow. There is one American state, however, that people say feels just like Bangladesh -- it's Florida. Located on the southeast of the U.S., Florida has earned a global reputation for its round-the-year good weather. Nicknamed the "Sunshine State," Florida's tropical weather attracts tourists in millions from home and abroad. When I first visited south Florida three years ago, I thought the plane landed in a second Bangladesh! The heat and humidity in the air reminded me of one and only one place, the country that raised me. My uncle picked us up from the airport. The entire time in the car I looked outs...

So many times in our lives we make ourselves do, say, eat and wear things against our wish.

Friends are like favorite denim - the older they get, the dearer they become.

আমার মেয়ে, আমার পৃথিবী।

One of the worst things about being an expatriate is you miss the weddings of your loved ones back home.

It hit me last night that I am not "growing up" but "growing old." Thinking about aging, it was difficult to digest the idea that my hair will turn white, my skin will develop wrinkles and my spine will bend and no longer help me walk upright.

Any man who ever loved me, loved me unconditionally.

Being a mother changes so many things in a girl's life, so please don't "judge" a mother for what she chooses to do - you have not been into her shoes.

When you fall in love, you just fall in love - you do not want to know if you are going to fall on rocks or a bed of grass.

One must never forget the price one's forefathers paid so he or she can grow up in a free land. Long may our flag wave!

Hopefully, this winter weather will come to an end sooner than I think.

Age is a number and therefore, we need to treat it like a number - the same way we treat our house number, apartment number, phone number or passport number (something which most of us never remember)!

Sometimes you are happy for no reason - you are just happy!

Please don't judge me, and I will not judge you.

Have you ever traveled back in time? From sitting at the dining table over breakfast, have you ever felt your surroundings suddenly beginning to shift? Have you ever experienced that you are no more in the present? I might have sounded a bit poetic but we all, from time to time, hold the hand of nostalgia and travel back in time. The older I am getting, the more I am missing the days I left behind. Not that I want to change the life I have had so far, but I do sometimes miss the carefree childhood days when the main worry was to be able to watch the afternoon cartoon on BTV, or finish homework  as quickly as possible on Wednesday nights to be able to watch MacGyver. In winter, I would just wait for the afternoon time so I could rush downstairs and play badminton. I looked forward to going to school on weekdays 'cause school meant friends and fun. As we grow up, our tender shoulders are hardened by worldly duties. Our hearts are hardened too, so things that made us cry at on...

I cannot digest the idea of buying a concert ticket for Tk. 50,000 or Tk. 1 lakh. Some expenses do not make sense to me. No, it is not about affordability alone. I can afford a Louis Vuitton purse but I have not been able to make myself purchase one because that would be a senseless expense. In a country where people do not have food to eat and clothes to wear, spending $1,000 or more for a concert ticket makes no sense to me.

We live in an age where we have too many unhappy people. The world is much more technologically advanced, communication is easier and faster than it  ever was, many of the countries that were once poor are doing better economically, millions of people are doing better professionally and financially than their earlier generations, and yet we have so many unhappy people around. We are still looking for the answer to that one question: what really makes a person happy? It's probably true that happiness is a relative term.

A wool carpet will shed like there is no tomorrow! Think twice before making an investment in a wool carpet.

Some people remember a favor forever, and others forget it in the blink of an eye.

If you see too many coincidences then it's probably safe to say that they are not coincidences. 

Happiness is helping a friend in his pursuit.

When people misunderstand someone/something, they usually understand sooner or later that they misunderstood.

Sometimes I want to go back to my past and slap myself in the face.

There is a difference between "you can" and "you think you can."

I live in a world, where I file my nails a day after I clip them. *Guys may not understand what I am talking about, girls certainly will.

The problem with taking photos with babies is you look older than you generally do.

Clipping my nails is a luxury, clipping my baby's nails is a necessity - tale of a mother.

Some people do not know how to dispose of gas balloons. I went to throw the garbage and a gas balloon with "Happy Birthday" written on it came floating toward me from the trash chute. Freaky!

Patience is a virtue. It certainly is but if you are a mother then you know that passing a test of patience is not easy, not at all. My daughter is my instructor for the course Patience 101. She tests me on my patience level several times each week. Most of the time, I pass with flying colors. But then there are times when I fail. On those days I remind myself that failure is THE pillar of success.  I lose my patience with my child when she refuses to let me eat peacefully. She wants a bite of everything that I eat. It is normal but I feel stressed out when she won't eat the food but bring out the half-chewed food from her mouth and rub it against the floor. Sometimes, she will just bring out the food remains from her mouth and give it to me.  I lose patience and sometimes scream when she does not let me write or work on the computer. She will want to sit on my lap and when I take her on my lap, she wants to be down on the floor again. When this cycle repeats itse...

Happiness in life comes from small things. For instance, when a friend sends you a song and tells you that it reminded her of you. Or, when a friend sings for you on the phone. Or, when a friend calls you innocent (although now I am not sure if it came as a compliment or an alert!). Or, when a friend comes from a different state just to spend a few days with you. Happiness in life comes from small things...

I have always wanted to write about this but I was being lazy. Then after a post went viral on Facebook I thought that it was high time I wrote about my personal experience and thoughts about child delivery. The post that went viral on Facebook was a blog post by an English woman (married to a Bangladeshi man), who gave birth to her daughter at a top-tier hospital in Dhaka last September. Technically, she did not give birth to her child; the attending doctor forced her to have a Caesarian section. The baby was only 35 weeks old at the time of delivery and weighed 2.5 kg. The premature baby went through some of her roughest days right after coming into this world. Have you ever wondered why so many babies are now born through C-sections in Bangladesh despite the medical advances of the recent decades? Our parents, aunts, uncles, our friends and we ourselves have come to this world through a natural childbirth process. So, why suddenly we are seeing a shift from what has always been...