Advice from energy adviser

     This relates to power prices on which the energy adviser differed from the finance minister's pragmatic and realistic observation that it will go up over the next three years. The matter was reported by all the print and audiovisual media some days back. Realistically , the finance minister is absolutely correct since electricity tariff is now highly subsidised and is artificially low, which needs to be rationalised by periodic price increases. On the other hand , the opinion of the prime minister's adviser is totally theoretical, to say the least .His statement was that 'it cannot be predicted whether prices will be increased or decreased .' Unless the government wants to foot the bill , which is highly unlikely if not impossible , energy prices are bound to go up. Based on these facts of life , the advice of the energy adviser is not 'worth the paper' in which it was printed.
      With such an academic and theoretical adviser. one wonders if the prime minister gets any realistic and practical advice on energy matters. If this is so, then she may be just throwing away good money after bad. There are many qualified and knowledgeable people around on energy matters whose advice will be of far better quality than the one quoted above.

New 'falsies' are dangerously false

           Not only false, but dangerous too-this is the stark reality reported by penny from the United Kingdom, in a write -up on 'implant scandal' published in a local English -language daily on 12th January. It brings out the tragedy of false hopes and promises, and the despair of countless French women's failed attempt to glamorise.
          The history of woman's figure augmenting started with the age-old 'falsies' and today it has become a high tech , surgical procedure needing full anaesthesia and risks, all undergone in search of figure upgrading, that is transformed to 'glamour at first glance'. However the latest craze of French women via 'surgical implants' has led to large-scale medical tragedy. Their folly has added burden to the social cost of surgical rectification and cure , including spill-over to dangerous medical after-effect. The surgical implant, by choice, cost per person was reportedly $5000.00 which comes to around Tk 5 lakh. The amount is enough to provide basic feeding for a poor Bangladeshi family of five for about eight years.
        If this be the price of luxury (?) for the well to do west, then let us be poor and content within our limitations , without further trying to enhance what nature has gifted. After all, lest we forget,'pride precedes tha fall.'

Anxiety: time to create awareness

      Anxiety is part and parcel of modern life. In our day-to-day life, each one of us feels and deals with anxiety more or less but when it becomes chronic, it is a real health hazard which invites heart palpitation , muscle weakness, shortness of breath, headache etc.
     We are living a fast -paced life . Many things are at our hand which we wouldn't dream a decade ago but still we are longing for more. We are always running after one materialistic gain to another. We are too busy to spend a moment at rest. A few days ago , in the morning , I was rushing to get ready for my office, when my six-year-old son came to me and told me that he had 'good news' for me. I asked what it was. He handed me a small, old toy car as a 'gift'! I said thanks to him and thought I would put the toy somewhere before leaving home when he would not be noticing but he was too careful not to let me go out of home without his gift so when I failed to dodge his attentive eyes and took that toy car in my pocket and went to my desk my colleagues gave me curious and asking look. I spent a less tense day because of that wonderful gift of my son which reminded me that life is also for play and be a child sometime.
      It is not all about cut-throat competition and worrying about deadlines. On my office desk, I have kept that gift as a souvenir of play fulness and being thankful for whatever I already have, In Chinese there is a beautiful saying- 'tension is who you think you should be, relaxation is who you are'.