"Did you notice I bought a new oven?" he asked me.
"Nah!", I replied.
"Bad observation."
"No! People only notice a mere fraction of what they see. Don't you know that?" I retorted with the knowledge I gathered from watching Nat Geo.
"Dost, you are not arguing with me on the same line here. What I am saying is that if you pay attention you can notice a lot more interesting things."
"Well I tried that after reading Sherlock Holmes once. But it was of no use. I am a poor observer."
"A good writer must have great observation skills. Here, let me show you, I bet that this vai (pointing to our rickshaw puller) lives in Dhaka with his family."
I'm thinking there is no chance he can be right.
Shahriar goes ahead and asks the rickshaw puller, "Vai, where do you live? ... Where does your family live?..."
We found out he lives with his wife and children.
I am still thinking there can be no rational explanation of how he figured that out.
Even before I could ask, Shahriar goes on to explain it to me, "You want to know how I knew it? Look at his sandals."
I looked to find he was wearing a pair of odd looking white sandals that had weird design on its laces. "So?"
"That's fancy! You wear fancy things when you have people who love and appreciate you around. If this vai (he was passed his thirties) did not have his family staying with him, he would not wear this."
Now I was a little surprised to see a little Sherlock like qualities in my friend. I accepted that it was impressive.
"What else can you tell me from seeing someone?"
"For one thing, if you look at a boy, it is often possible to say if he stays with his family, with his aunt's family or initial he stays alone.
I can easily tell that you stay with your family because your dress is washed and new. O boy who lives at his aunt's home will wear washed cloths but they will not be glowing like new. Aunts realize the need for clean clothes for their nephews but for some reason the need for new dress never get rendered in an aunt’s head.
Of course there can be exceptions based on economic condition of the family, well being of the aunt or mother etc."
"What about the one who lives alone?", I asked. But I could already guess the answer.
"That you can easily tell if you look at me. Look at my pants, they are faded and looks like it needs washing."
We already reached Shwarma house, and the discussion ended. That was a good discussion.
You can read some of Shahriar's writings here.