When bigots keep winning
It is a mindboggling mystery how, after such a hue and cry over the vicious attacks on homes, property and temples of Hindus in Brahmanbaria’s Nasirnagar, unknown miscreants have had the audacity to carry out another arson attack – this time the target was on Nasirnagar’s Upazila Parishad’s Vice Chairman who is Hindu and who protested against the October 30 mayhem.
6 November 2016
Acknowledge the Evil
No matter how apathetic the larger part of our society is about violence against women, very few citizens of this country (except of course pedophiles who commit the crimes) will not be disgusted and horrified when little children are sexually abused and tortured.
3 November 2016
An old disease we nurture so well
It may be prohibited by law (Dowry prohibition Act, 1980) but demanding dowry for deigning to marry a girl from a less fortunate family is considered a normal entitlement of males in society.
29 October 2016
Modern Pains
While cracking my spine as casually as a game of 'bursting the bubble wrap', my physiotherapist tells me that the future looks really bright for members of his profession. Intrigued, I ask why.
22 October 2016
Why we couldn't protect Khadija
Remember Suraiya Akter Risha? The eighth grader of an English medium school in Dhaka, who was stabbed by her stalker, a man who
5 October 2016
Sandwiched between militancy and consumerism
Despite all the ramifications of progressiveness that civilisation has experimented with, the preoccupation with the female members of the population has never been on the wane.
23 July 2016
Are friends really that important?
In a larger context, friendships actually allow societies to function and this includes countries that may turn them into formal unions or agreements. Hence the disastrous effects when friendships sour – you get Brexit, you get hostile neighbours, ruthless aggressors and worst of all, you get wars.
30 June 2016
Opinion: Secrets and Lies
Sometimes shock treatment is the only answer to keep our memory alive. The picture of a smiling Tonu in an orange headscarf has become a familiar sight for us ordinary folks. It is a haunting reminder of how people with influence can hide the most blatant truth – that Tonu was raped and murdered before being dumped into the bushes. Now after more than three months her murder is shrouded in more mystery than ever and all we are left with is the heartrending testimony of Tonu’s mother Anwara Begum.
21 June 2016
A jarring anomaly of society
It is easy to miss stories about child domestic workers being tortured and killed. Easy because stories of children being killed have become eerily regular.
29 May 2016
Remembering Rubel
The name suddenly made me stop reading the lead story of DS's May 18 issue. Shamim Reza Rubel. He was an IUB student
21 May 2016
The way to show respect
When all the paraphernalia linked with power and status fail to get lowly commoners to show respect – say they forget to salam or shower you with petals when you enter the vicinity of the primary school you are to visit – there is only one thing to do.
15 May 2016
Going on the wrong side is just plain wrong!
Finally, someone is doing something about the preposterous level of highhandedness displayed by people who are either truly very important or think they are very important.
6 May 2016
OPINION: Will the lawbreakers listen to the HC?
It’s hard not to punch your fist in the air and say ‘Yes!!’ when you read something like ‘HC move to stop wrong side driving in Dhaka’. Finally, someone is doing something about this preposterous level of highhandedness displayed by people who are either truly very important or think they are very important.
5 May 2016
Capitalist patriarchy – the new enemy
Meeting Kamla Bhasin is like getting a booster shot of energy and optimism. Her vivacity and enthusiasm will catch you unawares and force you out of whatever cynicism is afflicting you.
29 April 2016
What awaits Tonu? Questions arise after so many days
The cries for justice all over the country have fallen on deaf ears. Nobody knows who killed Sohagi Jahan Tonu, the second year history student of Comilla Victoria Government College.
5 April 2016
A letter to the apple of my i
Dear iPhone 5, I am writing to you knowing full well that you or your girlfriend Siri will never even look at this, because honestly...
1 April 2016
Don't forget Tonu
All over the country people are protesting – students, parents, cultural activists. They are calling for justice for Tonu.
24 March 2016
Does porn cause sexual violence?
It is hardly a topic we like to talk about -- a 'dirty', 'shameful' 'necessary evil' -- but something that its consumers are not willing to
7 March 2016
The art of bullying
It is perhaps a primal instinct in all animals, to exercise control and power over the weak and the helpless. It is pretty much how the world has worked in the last few thousand years. Even among the earliest humans, it was the stronger group or tribe that dominated the physically less able, sometimes even
26 February 2016
A Place of Dread
The dejection in 15-year-old Ranjina Khatun Rojoni's face says it all. Physical pain, humiliation, disillusionment and despair are all written in that child's countenance – expressions that tell us how we have failed our children.
12 February 2016