The Coca Cola billboard and many other signs were shut-off this evening. People flocked in Time Square, not to see the lights but “no lights”. This is a rare sight in the constantly lighted Time Square. The Met life building, the Chrysler building and even The Empire State Building turned off their lights. Think what if King-Kong was heading towards the Empire State Building around this time? Would he not get lost? All this is because New York took part in the rolling global black-out, observing the global climate treaty. I love treaties. They mostly are for good causes. And this one is very close to my heart. It is truly my favorite. I have been donating to the Rain Forest Alliance and New York City Parks for last 3 years because I want this planet to remain as lovely as it is now. I think this earth hour campaign is awesome.

 I love candle light evenings. During my childhood in the hilly district of Chittagong I had spent many candle light evenings at our rather exclusive hilltop bungalow. We would often experience an hour or two load-shedding. Load shedding was synonymous to black-out. Electricity would go out for an hour or two to provide electricity to the heavily demanding factories and industries. Unless there was a special on TV (that I did not want to miss), I loved the load shedding. Our house was always prepared with candles and lanterns. We would go sit at the second floor front veranda watching the million starts in the sky. The surroundings would be beautified by hundred times with hundreds of more stars in the hedges at the edge of the hill. They were fire flies.  We would listen to stories from mom or dad or just enjoy the sound of the wilderness. Our huge German Shepherd dog Joe would be running down below on the hill. Those precious black out moments were magical. Forgive me if it sounds like a cliché but this earth hour was a true déjà vu bringing fond memories back. It also reminds me how quickly those sweet days ended.

I have a collection of candle light shades; a set of blue glass and a set of multicolored glass candle shades. We used all our beautiful candle shades this evening. But 4 of our our computers were on. Computers and internet have become a must in this household. They are considered the emergency lights that stay on at all times. I am curious to see how many families in Brooklyn observed earth hour. I was trying to find out how many houses in our block had their lights out.

I must admit that I have been having trouble writing lately. I am writing but also discarding what I have written.  I am weaving a manuscript and shredding it in my mind. True, I am always terrible with words. But at the moment I can’t even write one normal sentence. This is a very curious state of mind. My wits are going like stock market where deflation and inflation is a constant conflict.  So forgive me for not being able to focus on a serious topic. But I have written my random thoughts. I hope to publish them eventually here on Brooklynvoice.

Lately I started to give thoughts on pro-life and pro-choice issues. I am perplexed whether to be pro-choice or pro-life. It is hard to believe, I spent all these years of my life not giving much thought on these two polarized perspectives. How un-cool am I? This though is not an indication that I am indecisive in nature. I can be very decisive but I am a bit of a defensive driver when it comes to decision making especially when it involves someone else’s life. But I am really both pro-choice and pro-life. My level of pro-choice has its limitations. I had been to Bangladesh this winter. I loved the trip which I will talk about later in my writing. After I came back from the trip I decided to practice my choice which would also remain as a memento of my recent trip. I walked into a tattoo place for the first time ever and walked out with a little sparkly glitter pierced into the right side of my nose. I have seen too many young ladies with nose piercing in Dhaka.  I decided to practice my right to choose as well. So that is my pro-choice.

But now I am trying to figure out if pro-choice is counterintuitive to pro-life?  The word “counterintuitive” has been ringing in my ears for some reason. I am using it very often, may be half the time inappropriately. But I call that my pro-choice. This is my present pro-choice state of mind. I will write why I am pro-life next time.

By the way what do you call someone who twitters?  Twitterer? People are heavily twitting/ twittering these days. I had to argue with someone that blogging is much better than twittering. My opponent did not agree. I stood strong with my motion. I said I am more like a blogger and I hated twittering. Our argument was quite intriguing and intelligent. Sharp references and cross references were made. I was proud of putting up with such a profound debate.  I am usually a total wreck in this kind of important arguments. The truth is I did not know what twittering really is. This time I have to be a little more prepared for the debate. In case the twittering/blogging subject comes up. I should know a little about twittering before seeing my opponent debater again.

Before I finish my ranting, I have to talk about something serious. This entire winter, Stefan and I noticed a homeless person taking shelter at the corner of a fruit shop by east 5th street. We decided to take evening walks instead of evening drives to keep ourselves fit. Almost every time we passed that fruit shop we have seen a shopping cart, some old blankets, sleeping-bag hiding someone. I have never seen this individual’s face. But I know it is a person. I have pondered over why? Why is he there? How does he tolerate the rain and snow? Why would he not want to go to a shelter? Is he a renegade, a rebel against life? Is he a deserter of the society? Or the society deserted him? Is he an escape from some mental institute? Many things went on in my mind. I never will find the courage to speak with him. Truthfully I will never try to because I will not be able to handle that. But I can’t stop thinking do I have any responsibility for the society? I pay tax, yes. But is that where my responsibility ends? What more can I do? And how can I do? I will mull over this more. Anyone is welcome to send their views on this topic at info@Broooklynvoice.com .  But till then I bid goodbye to y’all.