Prepared by:

Ridwan Abrar
Junior Year Undergrad Student (Level 3 Term 2)
Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering (EEE)
Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET)

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Natural disaster, May 2006

It was an unusual disaster! A year had already passed but not a single drop of water fell from
the azure-blue sky and kissed our dry field. My father had his hands on his head and beads of
perspiration broke out on his forehead. His face had become so haggard that people of our
village often failed to recognise him. His farming profession had already gone haywire due to
the drought and the little amount of money gained from producing crops by artificial irrigation
was not sufficient. Our major support is our livestock but even that last stand is going to be
shattered today as father will sell the remaining cow to the nearest market. The money gained
will help us survive a bit longer. Death just seems one step ahead of us.

“I need your help,” said father, hopelessly sitting on the ground beside our tiny hut. It was
decided instantly that I should not go to school anymore. The sudden decision came to me as a
bolt from the blue. But I had no other option so I readily agreed with him. I heard many times at
school that ‘Knowledge is power’ but the quote should be changed and instead be made
‘Knowledge is power only after you have finished your education.’ I set off in the afternoon with
bare feet, the only shoe in the house was taken by my father.

The incessant search for work had started. I trudged along the sun-baked path, my feet seemed
to be dying of pain because of the warm path. I had to go on to get a work for a living. I begged
house after house but met with no success. Even the rich people of the village were severely
affected by this disastrous drought and nobody wanted to spend a penny for petty work which I
could do to help them. The afternoon sun seemed to be burning on my back and I retreated
back home, panting and my face was completely burned by the sinister sun.
My father had also returned after the transaction and his face also revealed the fact that he was
not very successful in his business. His face was wrinkled and he sat exactly in the same place
where I saw him last. He murmured that the buyer had given him too little money for the cow.
His face grew red with anger when he learned that I had not found any work yet. I couldn’t
understand why he went berserk and hurled rude and angry words at me. He then left off in the
blink of an eye and did not turn back at me.
I was flabbergasted! I remained transfixed with shock for a few seconds; tears wanted to crawl
out but I swallowed the tears that so much wanted to be wept. With dogged determination, I
started looking all the houses again for a work but in vain. I decided to check out the nearby
village but my endeavour brought me nothing except emptying my stomach and leaving me
exhausted. I found no work and I realised that hard work is not always the key to success. I
returned home, completely devoid of all hope, and was welcomed by a torrential downpour of
dad’s abuse who realised what had happened by looking at my face. I thought of flinging his
words back at him but I realised the gravity of the situation and remained quiet.

Our conditions kept on deteriorating. A bleak future awaited ahead of us and we ate food only
once in four days! But our tiny hope to survive extinguished when my younger brother embraced
death in front of our eyes. My mother went into coma for such a long time that I felt that even
she would pass away. Life seemed futile for all of us. The next day, as we prepared for his
funeral, a torrential downpour started, The rain had finally started but it failed to fill up the empty
well that opened inside us.

Describe a place that is very cold.

I woke up in the morning with my eyes refusing to open themselves. When I turned around me, I
was astonished to find that everything was shrouded with blackness as mysterious as the heart
of a dark forest. Somebody entered my room but I couldn’t identify him because of having no
glasses.The Sun forgot its usual routine to rise in the morning but I had a routine which need to
be maintained.

Each step I placed on the floor was horrible. I plodded slowly to the washroom; a chill ran down
my spine as my hands touched the cold water. For split seconds, I was transferred to a statue.
Washing my hands and face now seemed a Herculean task for me. I decided not to do that and
instead ran downstairs where mom was preparing the breakfast. The sudden flight did me no
good and my shivering returned.

Title: Adolf Hitler, the unrecognized patriot

Note: This is not an O level style essay, I wrote it for one of my university
assignments.

A patriot is a person who is willing to sacrifice anything for his country, whether this turns out to
be good or bad to the world as a whole. Famous examples include our freedom fighter Matiur
Rahman, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln etc.
We have all heard about Adolf Hitler, the cruel and ruthless ruler who paved the path for
millions of deaths in the Second World war. But Hitler too has a brighter side seen clearly only
by people of his country and by some expert historians. The presentation aims to deal with such
issues.
First of all, l would include some background information of this great leader. Born in Austria,
Hitler grew up in Germany and was initially a soldier during the First World War. He soon rose
up the ranks after the end of the war and became a politician. He was the founder and the leader
of the Nazi Party.
Let me explore some of the economic development accelerated by Hitler. Firstly, he was a
motivation and driving factor behind the making of the Volkswagen, a world-famous company
now. Ferdinand Porsche was the man who made the job possible. Hitler took great measures to
ensure that the cars were cheap and were available to everyone and hence the name 'The People's
Car.' Volkswagen is now the second largest automobile company in the world, second only to
Toyota. Three of the cars from the Volkswagen series occupies the top-10 spot of the best-selling
cars of all time, as can be seen below:

Hitler also ordered and had built a highly effective and efficient Highway System, known as the
Autobahn. General Dwight Eisenhower greatly admired this and had to coerce the American
Congress to build a similar one in the Continental US.
There are many reasons why the Autobahn was highly successful:
● speed limit is unrestricted
● the roads are very well maintained, checked for faults and repaired if necessary
 ● Move to the left lane if you need to overtake, stay on the right if you don't want to

Hitler focused on manual labour to carry out most of the work, because the country was
financially ruined after the First World War. For instance, the Olympic Stadium was built mainly
by manual labour because it provided jobs for the unemployed people.
Many historians agree that Hitler would be the greatest statesmen in the history of the world if he
had not started preparations for the Second World War during 1938.
Even after such major contributions to his country, he remains unrecognized as a patriot to the
world. What reason can there be behind it?
Hitler was primarily blamed with two faults: his 'Holocaust' which killed large number of Jews
and for initiating the Second World War.
The Second World War didn't happen all of a sudden just because Hitler wanted to. The financial
condition of Germany was in havoc after the end of the First World War. Added to that, the
winners of the war namely Great Britain, France and the United States imposed several
conditions on this country. The Germans were forced to demilitarize the Rhinelands, a region
between France and Germany. They also had to give up several German speaking territories and
were prohibited from uniting with Austria. The most painful thing was that they had to
compensate the winning countries for the damage that they had caused during the war, which led
to the 'Great Depression' all over Germany. Technically, the French and British people wanted to
ensure that Germany doesn't rise to power again and hence imposed this huge condition.
Anti-semitism, a political ideology which supports the discrimination against the Jews as a
whole, was not something initiated by Hitler. This has been taking place in Europe for over
hundreds of years, driven by religious ideas. The Jews were forced to live in ghettos, isolated
sections of towns, with poor facilities. They were allowed to take only a few selected
professions. The Jews were imprisoned or banished at times without any reasons at times.
Expulsion of Jews occurred in England around 1290 during the rule of King Edward I. Similar
incidents occurred in the Soviet Union, years after the Second World War during 1970-1990.
Blaming only Hitler for this racial discrimination doesn't seem to be justified.

Much of the history of the Second World War has been twisted in such a way that it seemed that
'The Allies' were fighting for a good cause and trying to eradicate evil. This has been largely
false unfortunately. The British people considered themselves as the rulers of the world, as they
were the main forces who defeated the German army in the First World War. The British were
also the people who stopped the advance of Napoleon Bonaparte, a great conqueror who wanted
to rule all over Europe. During the harsh conditions of the Second World War, Winston
Churchill ordered transport of food and other supplies from the then Bengal to his armies,
leading to widespread famine in the Indian subcontinent during the year 1943. Churchill was also
directly responsible for creating rifts between Islamic and Hindu communities in the Indian
subcontinent in order to suppress the nascent independence movement against British imperial
rule.

Quite ironically, the answer to this question lies in one of Hitler's quotes "The victor will never
be asked if he told the truth." Much of Churchill's evil intent and action has been eradicated from
history simply because they were the winners and had the chance to change history. There's no
doubt that if Hitler had won the war then he would have gone down in history as the greatest
leader and patriot who pulled out the best of a war-stricken country.

Topic: The Character I like the most in 'Fire on the Mountain'

Note: This is not an O level style essay either, but another one of my
uni assignments. Fire on the Mountain is a chapter from the book
‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding. This is one of my most
favourite books, I would recommend checking it out.

Contrary to what many people think, I liked the character of Piggy the most.
Quite early in the chapter, we notice Piggy's strong obedience to the rules.
He is the one who follows the rules quite diligently and always requests for
the conch before starting to talk. He also reminds other people of the need
to remain silent if they don't have a conch in their hand. Piggy was also
quite realistic and he reminded the boys that no one actually knows where
they are and hence it may be a long time before they are rescued from this
island.
A little more into the chapter, we come to know of a little boy who is scared
of a 'snake-like thing' or 'beastie' and was hesitant to tell it in front of others.
Piggy once again comes to the rescue in this case and listens to the young
boy and interprets it for the others.
Piggy was quite daring too as he took the risks to speak against the
majority of the people, in spite of being laughed at all the time. He
reminded them that it was extremely important for them to build a shelter
and that making a list of all the boys was important as well. He was also
quite worried about the little boy being lost in the wilderness.
Apart from the fact that his tirades are a bit boring, I find the character of
Piggy to be the most enchanting. He has been a constant support to Ralph
and he is quite respectful and supportive. His intelligence and well-thought
out plans has been a big boost to the boys on the island.