Chasing American Dreams: 293 Million Dollars and Me

By Mahmudul Alam

The world is enormous, entire 197 million square miles of it. However, it pales into insignificance when compared to the scale and complexity of the human brain, the human mind.
The mind lives in the unlimited space of imagination and can move mountains, cause the skies to fall and earth to spin. What separates the mind is mans belief in separation but everything is from the same source and therefore, we are all connected. Individually, we all have our own roles to play that collectively keeps this planet spinning on its current axis.
My mind, my imagination and my ideas are presented to you in the form of this book. My purpose is to share with you my aspirations and me ever present belief in the collective power of humanity.
Fear strikes with a shaking hand
But imaginations imagination is alive and ever present
Blessing to us from Robert Frost and Edgar Allen
Amongst many more
The desire to write has taken place
Writing a poem to humble me
My shaking hand but
I will not give up
I will dedicate this
These words are meant to be
A sharing of my respect and gratitude
To all writers and poets
Who will not give up?


Mahmudul Alam

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483613598

Mahmudul Alam

Mahmudul Alam Mahmudul Alam was born in December 26, 1980, in the village of Lotakhola, Dohar, Dhaka, Bangladesh. His mother’s name is Razia Begum, and his father was the late Shafiuddin Moulana. He has five brothers, four sisters, and a big family. It was tough through good times and bad, but from childhood, he was a brat and had a huge weakness for movies. He had always wanted to become a director, a filmmaker. He would always carry a camera. Even if sometimes he didn’t have the camera with him, he would make two of his fingers as a camera, point them, and shoot unlimitedly jn his imagination. American life was so tough, and it was tougher during winter. He once said, “I hated the cold, standing there out in the open with a chilly wind biting me and with my hands freezing. Each day, twelve hours out there in the middle of winter without a proper coat was unbearable; but after the end of the week, getting paid (by dollar) was an amazing feeling. It relieves all the hard work and pain. “Many people say life is a bitch. I say, ‘Hey, it’s not that bad!’”

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Mahmudul Alam.

ISBN:      Softcover      978-1-4836-1358-1

                 Ebook            978-1-4836-1359-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 08/27/2013

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Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

To my beloved mother,

Razia Begum.

Chapter 1

Some claim that Monday is the most depressing day of the week, but after the crap day I’ve just had at work, they got it wrong. It’s a Wednesday! My name is James, and I’ve plugged in my earphones into the sound of Richard Marx as I sit here on a crowded tin can subway train on my way home. It’s a poor attempt to escape, to forget who I am and where I am! I’ve always believed that listening to Richard Marx can solve just about any problem life can throw at you. As I get off the train, people are pushing and shoving into me like animals, some of them in a hurry to get home to families and others to their empty apartments. It’s as though they are all half asleep and don’t even see me there. I feel invisible.

I feel like I’m just another number, an unknown member of a thoughtless society. We who hobble around in a state of unconsciousness while living under an unbearable and immense pressure designed to keep every single one of us in sheer and utter misery. I feel like I’m trapped in a cage that grows ever smaller, and every time I try to fly away, I get knocked straight back down to where I started. I can’t say life hasn’t been real tough on me because so far, I’ve had more than my fair share of curveballs. What counts—to me anyway—is how to get out of it. I dream. Dreaming might not be the answer, but it’s a start. It’s the idea that leads to action. Isn’t that how everything starts? The idea that I am trapped in a cage, trapped behind thick walls that I dream of breaking right though. I want to spend my life on the other side of this man-made wall, the side where life is not a constant struggle.

Heading in the direction of home, I spotted a line of people queuing outside at our local Grab N Go. True irony could be found in a name like that. When I first moved here, I asked the cashier if that meant I didn’t have to pay. Duh? I doubted it but tried my luck, being so young and naive. You got nothing in this place for free. Free was a concept that had died a slow and painful death many years ago. The only things free in this place were madness and depression.

I was curious to know what was happening. Why were people lining up outside the dumpy convenience store anyway? Had Britney Spears fancied a change and decided to pick up her groceries from Grab N Go? Had the president decided to dash out for a couple of cans? I picked up my walking pace as I neared the store, curiosity getting the better of me. It always did.

As I entered the store, I was greeted by one big and mean-looking guy with a shaven head. Where the hell do you think you’re going, dweeb? he asked aggressively.

I had to look up to make eye contact and shrugged my shoulders. What’s happened?

He looked down at me, lines between his eyes forming. You don’t know? he asked. I hate it when a question is answered by a question. Get back in line! he yelled. It made me jump. I hadn’t expected there ever to be the need to line up in this dump, let alone be told off by some heavyweight security guy.

Sorry, I just wanted to know what’s happening! Somebody die or something?

You mean you don’t know? Seriously, man, you gotta keep up with the news, he suggested, sounding a little less hostile now, not quite friendly though. Man, it’s the biggest lottery ever. It’s like over $293 million, isn’t that crazy? Just costs a buck too, he continued as he stared into space. I guess he was planning to play himself.

My head started spinning. Just a buck, I thought. How the hell could someone have $293 million? It was a ridiculous amount, a crazy sum. That kind of money could change the world forever. You could help wipe out hunger and still have change to spare. I’ve spent most of my life dreaming—a life of beautiful and crazy dreams. The idea of $293 million was like another one of my mad dreams. A dream just too good to miss out on, and not when it cost just a buck. It could answer every single one of my dreams. I spun around and went straight to the back of the line.

As the line drew closer and closer to the cashier, I stood there in a daze, dreaming of all the things I could have if I somehow managed to win. I imagined how my life would change, what I