Short Introduction
I was working on sea going ships as a Marine Officer. But at the age of 30, suddenly one accident took my ability to move from chest to below. I last worked as a Chief Officer. I passed my Master Mariner in the UK. I am now 46, but still surviving...
How Do I Pass My Time Now ?
I spend my time on computer mostly. I operate computer by means of a wooden splint in my hand. A Pencil fitted on the splint does the job of a finger.
Do I really get fed up at times ? Many people keep on wondering about this. Don't I fall into depression any time ? Yes (10%) and No (90%). I try to overcome my depression by keeping myself busy on computer related things. I sit on the wheelchair at about 12 pm., and then how time passes I don't know myself. I get down on bed again at about 9 pm. In between, I take break for prayers, tea, coffee etc. And rest of the times my eyes are stuck on the Monitor. I need to take more breaks though, otherwise my eyes will be gone (lol). That will be too disastrous.
So the computer... It really helps !
Time Line :
| 1962 |
| I was born in a small town named Rangpur in Bangladesh on 29th October. |
| 1963-68 |
| Childhood in Dhaka then in East Pakistan. |
| 1968-71 |
| Started going to primary schools in Mauripur, Karachi, Pakistan. |
| 1971-74 |
| Liberation war started. We were still in Pakistan. Whole Bangladeshi community who were in Air Force of Pakistan were forced to stay in a small camp named Warsak in Peshawar. It was a confined space. So, we were mad to come out to the free country named Bangladesh. |
| 1974-80 |
| Repatriated back to Bangladesh. Spent my teen years in the college named Momenshahi/Mirzapur Cadet College. I completed my SSC and HSC in that college. |
| 1980-82 |
| Started getting trained for a carrier as a Marine Officer at Juldia Marine Academy in Chittagong. |
| 1982-93 |
| Worked in various sea going ships in different posts or capacity. |
| 1988 |
| Got Married after 1 year of love affair on 18th May. |
| 1993 |
| An accident took place in the month of 26th May. While diving in a swimming pool I became paralysed from chest to down. |
| 1993- 2004 |
|
I was engaged in doing almost nothing. But then I took interest in computers, from the second year of my injury. This ordinary 486 computer, with a monochrome monitor was bought by my Marine Academy batch mates of 17th batch, my good buddies. This ordinary PC was very costly then. I spent 1st few months in playing games. I learnt my 1st DOS command " DIR" from my younger brother. But then I quickly started picking up everything. I learnt DOS, then Windows 3.1. I thought, I should teach the youngsters. So, I opened a school in my small room to teach some basics, DOS and software such as - Lotus, Word Perfect, Dbase - then later on Windows 95, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, FoxPro etc. I continued teaching students from the neighbourhood three years from then. After teaching about less then 100 students, I lost interest in teaching. But, one good thing happened, I have developed very good computer skills. |
| 2005- onwards |
|
2005 had been a great year for me. Marine Community all around world raised a fund guided by Capt. S. M. Abdullah. They bought me a power (electric) wheelchair (See the photos here). This chair brought a sharp change in my lifestyle. So far I had been jailed inside my small room. This power chair accelerated my mobility to go outside and see the busy city. I am doing most of my shopping by myself, going to park, restaurants etc. I know, I have least possibility to regain my sensation, but going outside by my own by pressing a joy stick reduced my frustration by a significant amount. I still pass my most of the times with computers. Now I have Pentium IV PC with 17" color monitor, scanner, webcam, printer, Broad Band modem with 24/7 Internet connection. I try to do small programming by means of Visual Basic version 6. Please try my Bangla software by me in this link - Although still it is in it's early stage. At present, I am learning PHP and MySQL for web application. Otherwise, I watch TV and for nothing remain busy with Internet etc. |
Md. Shahidul Alam