A Villager’s Guide to Feeding Foreigners
4 October 2019
If you’re a straightforward villager like me, you’ll be curious to entertain the foreigner. Before you do there are things to consider. Foreigners have foreign ways; allowances are required. Yet, despite the inherent challenge it’s good to feed one. Even foreigners need to eat.
4 October 2019
Corporate training needs a Bangladeshi spin
4 October 2019
Importing corporate training modules is fraught with danger. It’s time to recognise the uniqueness and strengths of Bangladeshi corporate culture, and for training providers to tailor sessions accordingly.
4 October 2019
Life lesson in Sylhet
29 September 2019
Away from the news. Away from the enormity of a planet on the brink. Away from inner restlessness there is yet life. It’s what I learnt in Sylhet.
29 September 2019
At home in the saddle
18 September 2018
She's determined and courageous: at the tender age of twelve, Tasmina Aktar from Chak Subolpur village in Naogaon's Dhamoirhat upazila has quite a reputation in horse racing circles. The seventh-grade student is accustomed to placing first or second in any race. As a jockey she's participated in around fifty events. Tasmina is a girl undeterred, happy to compete in a sport usually reserved for men.
18 September 2018
Natore's princess poet
15 September 2018
For seven generations from the early-eighteenth century, the zamindars of Dighapatia near Natore were landlords of a vast estate,
15 September 2018
When darkness falls
13 September 2018
Morzina Begum from Daktarpara in Rangpur town works in a bidi factory, rolling cheap cigarettes. Aged 75, it's not an ideal
13 September 2018
Bloom and grow, forever
1 September 2018
In and around Mathorpara village, in Gaibandha's Shaghata upazila, it's become usual for every newborn child to be welcomed into the world with the planting of a tree. The tradition began three years ago by 28-year-old visual artist Gopal Chandra Barmon, as an extension of a tree-planting hobby carried from boyhood.
1 September 2018
Cost of floating farms on the rise
31 August 2018
In wetland areas of Pirojpur, farming on floating seedbeds called “dhap” is a tradition that spans centuries. Primarily constructed from water hyacinth, the seedbeds that are up to 180 feet long, four feet wide and two feet thick, allow farming in areas otherwise unavailable for regular crops. But this year, the rising cost of floating cultivation has farmers worried.
31 August 2018
Wading into Mysterious Kudum Cave
There once was a Buddhist seer who lived in Myanmar, when it was called Burma in the time of the British. He was a simple fellow,
16 July 2015
The CK in TeCKnaf Chic
New York. Milan. Paris. These are the powerhouse cities of haute couture where fashion seasons matter and the release of a new
9 July 2015
In Search of Teknaf's Elephants
The Teknaf Peninsula is ruggedly beautiful. With the rise of the rocky range that divides the land strip between the Naf River and the Bay of Bengal it's impossible not to feel elated, to know that Teknaf is quite the destination.
9 July 2015
The Hindus of Hnila and their Kali temple
North of Teknaf town, afternoon has reached sleepy Hnila's Old Bazar, a few hundred metres west of the Naf River. There's not much
2 July 2015
Harnessing the Strength of the Octopus in Himchhari
In the hilltop community of Amtoli Para in Himchhari of Cox's Bazar, 20 women from the 70 households are gathered on a mat. With
25 June 2015
Redefining hospitality and cuisine at Himchhari
For some people it's the geography of the capital which appeals. They may wish to climb the corporate ladder or be near the centre of
18 June 2015
Moheshkhali's money in the ground
In the fields at Tajiakata of Moheshkhali's Kutubjom Union they're lifting water, bucket by bucket. The crisscross channels are hand dug to entice a little of the sea inland. Seawater is being lifted, litre by litre, to the first of four shallow tanks carved in the ground.
10 June 2015
The changing traditions of Moheshkhali's Rakhines
To venture into Rakhine Para of Moheshkhali Island's Gorakghata is to step into Southeast Asia. It's not only the Buddhist temple
27 May 2015
Lovers of Moheshkhali betel
Do you hear the harmonium start to turn its churning phrase? The folk song voice of late Shefali Ghosh isn't far off. On the subject of betel, Moheshkhali's paan, she's got something to say.
20 May 2015
Once was a bird hunter
Nowadays, 33-year-old Muslim Miah of Cox's Bazar's Moheshkhali earns his living as proprietor of a tailor shop in Ghotibanga Bazar of
14 May 2015
Moheshkhali's Adinath: A prayer for Nepal
Unique among Bangladeshi islands for its hilly terrain, Moheshkhali in Cox's Bazar is assumed to have separated from the mainland
13 May 2015
Discovering Moheshkhali through students' art
In the dry spring months Moheshkhali Island's Ghortibanga Bazar appears as a desert outpost, a film set from a western genre movie. It
7 May 2015
The Sound of Silence
Solitude or loneliness, quiet reflection and public interaction: are experiences of these feelings and moments innate or cultural?
18 April 2015
What makes the Dinajpuri character?
Initial observation: Deep night as the bus from Dhaka crossed Dinajpur District border. A few minutes later a woman needed to get
16 April 2015
Where Santal wisdom shelters
Beyond Sitakot in Dinajpur's Nawabganj the sal trees gather. Although unlikely locals believe Nawabganj National Park might be the
2 April 2015
Where mystery meets history
Sun-bright, heat-baked, sweat-dripping, glare-straining: is this the scene that greeted Sita when she followed husband Rama into
24 March 2015
Strawberries by the sea in Cox's Bazar
A burgeoning industry elsewhere, strawberry cultivation is relatively new to the coastal strip south of Cox's Bazar town. Last year
17 March 2015
The Chinese miners of Barapukuria
Dhaka, Khulna, Rangpur and Barisal: Mr Zhang likes to travel. “Bangladesh is poor,” he says, interpreted from Mandarin, “but people are very honest, especially in northern villages.”
10 March 2015
Australia
The choice: facing trial for drug crimes resulting in a penalty of death or facing indefinite detention for no crime based on a secretive bureaucratic process… Which is crueller?
10 March 2015
Snake charmer becomes village dentist
Nurul Amin, 60, of Sagoria Bazar in Burir Char Union of Noakhali's Hatiya Island, spent his younger years pursuing the career of snake charming. From there, like most snake charmers he knows, he switched to dentistry.
5 March 2015