Like starting a conversation for dating, you should always check out his profile for common ground, even if you're trying to become friends. If it doesn't have public information, ask him about it. If you just want a friend, you don't want to send a signal that you want something more. In other words, don't flirt. You don't want to comment it on his cute eyes if you just want to be friends. Say why you're contacting the person and what you want: "Hi, my name is Jake, and I'm looking for new friends in the area." People like to talk about themselves, so ask him about what he likes and who he is. As an example, you could say, "Hi, I noticed your profile today, and I found it interesting. Can you tell me more about yourself?" When beginning a conversation, open-ended questions (questions that require more than a "yes" or "no" to answer) encourage the conversation to continue. For example, instead of asking "Do you like books?" ask him "What kind of books do you like to read?" For instance, if you both like basketball, focus on that. For instance, you could say, "Hi, I'm Ashley. I see you love playing basketball. I love to shoot hoops, too. Did you play for your high school or college team?" That is, use "howdy" or "what's up?" as opposed to "hi" or "hello." Studies done by OkCupid show a person is more likely to respond to an unusual word.
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One-sentence summary -- Peruse his profile first. Keep it casual. Try being straightforward. Ask him about himself. Use open-ended questions. Focus on common interests. Try an usual word as a greeting.

Take this holiday to pamper yourself. Sometimes, you can be so swept up in the hustle of life that you forget to take the time to take care of yourself. Schedule an appointment at a local spa, or create a calming atmosphere at home with a bubble bath and scented candles. If going to the spa is not your ideal way to pamper yourself, then choose an activity that is. Maybe you find yoga to be relaxing and you normally don't have time for it, or maybe you want to hike a mountain trail that you have been thinking about. Find something that will give you time to relax. Throw on a pressed button-up shirt or slimming dress and take a stroll around town. There is no need to hide in your pajamas on Valentine's Day if you don't want to. Dress up for yourself and no one else. The fancy clothes will give you a round of confidence that will carry you through the rest of the day. Just because you want to celebrate the holiday alone, does not mean that you cannot partake in some of the festivities. Purchase your favorite Valentine's Day sweets and enjoy shamelessly eating them throughout the holiday. Pair your sweets with your favorite form of entertainment. Grab a good book or movie and spend the evening relaxing in your pajamas.
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One-sentence summary -- Treat yourself to a day at the spa or fill a bubble bath at home. Take the time to dress up even if you are spending the holiday alone. Purchase your favorite Valentine's Day sweets and enjoy the indulgence.

In some cases, you don't need to reinvent the wheel. Others have created lists of great story ideas for you to build off. Story starters or story prompts are pre-written scenarios or phrases you can use as jumping-off points for stories. You can find story starters as exercises in writing classes, in writing group newsletters, or online. Pick a word (e.g. farm, president, chalk, hungry, daughter...etc.). It doesn't matter what that word is. Then write down as many words that relate to it. For a fixed period of time. Set a timer for 5 to 15 minutes, then write down as many story ideas as you can think of before the timer sounds. Challenge yourself to write down a large number of ideas, such as 50 to 100. Keep writing ideas down until you've met your goal. You can also challenge yourself to write this many ideas for a fixed period of time, provided you allot yourself a reasonable amount of time to do so. # Be sure to allow yourself enough time and put in enough effort to come up with a reasonable amount of possible ideas. In most brainstorming sessions, the majority of your ideas won't be worth pursuing. Keep at it. Whichever brainstorming method you use, don't stop along the way to evaluate the ideas you've generated until your time is up or your goal is met. At that point, you can then review the lists you've made and pick out what works best to you. You can also then identify any related ideas and see if they generate any additional ideas. For instance, you could begin with the word "storm". Then you list words that relate to "storm" like: wind, water, damage, clouds, danger...etc. Then pair one of those words with your original and try to tell a story about it. Take the name of a person or place from the newspaper, the phone book, or somewhere else and then imagine what he, she, or it would look like. Build a backstory. For a person, this would include information about their line of work, friends, family, aspirations, and fears. For a place, you could discuss the area's geography, local history, population, and wildlife. Then, add an element of conflict, a problem that plagues the person or happens in the place you've created. Build a story about what happens as a result. Write backwards. Alternatively, you may know the outcome of a story. Now make a list of possible reasons why the character is so angry. Choose the most interesting possibilities and flesh them out, defining the event that triggered the rage and the prior events that led to it. Add more specifics to each step until you finally have the elements of a story. Instead of trying to write the story right away, act as though you're talking to somebody else, either by carrying on a conversation in your head or by talking into a recording device. Try to think of what questions another person might have about your idea or story. Transcribe the results of that conversation onto the page. For whom are you writing this piece? You will choose topics differently if you are writing for adults vs children, Americans vs Canadians, highbrow vs lowbrow people, or men vs women. Try to think about your audience's preferences and then go from there. Are you trying to entertain? Are you trying to inform? If you can identify why you are writing something, you can build off that initial inspiration.
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One-sentence summary -- Use a story starter. Use word association. Build on a randomly chosen element. Pretend you're telling the story to someone else. Think about your audience. Identify your purpose for writing.

Write down words and say them out loud to yourself. You can buy a workbook if you want some extra help, or find worksheets online. You can find plenty of videos online that offer the correct pronunciation of words. Try to match what you're saying with the correct pronunciation. It doesn't matter if you know what the word means if no one else can understand what you're saying. If you don't have a Bengali friend to speak with, you can always find one online! Search "Speak with a Bengali" online and you'll find plenty of sites that allow you to speak with someone over the Internet. Even if you're just exchanging small pleasantries this is a good start. Find a movie that is entirely in the Bengali language. Even if you don't know what is going on this will help you get an idea of the rhythm of the language and how words are said. You'll be surprised how helpful it is.
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One-sentence summary --
Practice on your own. Practice with a Bengali online. Watch movies.