When Harry Met Salary
23 January 2020
When Harry met Meghan, two things were set in motion.
23 January 2020
Heavy New Year
16 January 2020
The legendary ball drops at New York City’s Time Square, the Sydney Opera House is all lit up from fireworks as are the Eiffel Tower and many other landmarks around the world, not to mention the countless non-descript ones.
16 January 2020
The smog was the limit
19 December 2019
Everyone knows you are the sharpest officer, but be prepared to put “Maj. (Retd.)” before your name once you hang up your uniform for good. Ok, maybe not. Since you stand out so much from the rest, you’ll advance further, to the rank of Lt. Col., tops. Ok? Now go, finish up your staff college and be happy with “PSC” at the end of your name and stop dreaming of adding an NDC (National Defense College) on your business card.
19 December 2019
Have None, Will Travel
12 December 2019
You want to now pack me up and send me to Timbuktu?” yells Dennis Palmer, sitting at the head of the table in the meeting room.
12 December 2019
HUMOROUSLY YOURS / Every breath you take
28 November 2019
Neither Pink Floyd nor the Pink Panther had anything to do with Bangladesh’s pink wash, but the good thing is that Bangladesh at least didn’t let India play for a good two days during the first test. In fact, the runs of our boys in the first innings were 0,1,8,1,6,0,0,0,4, which together was perhaps a cryptic message to Robi to once again pick up the team sponsorship.
28 November 2019
To Cut or Not to Cut
21 November 2019
When a cyclone is named Bulbul, chances are people, at least in Bangladesh, won’t take it seriously. And we are Bangladeshis—what freaks us out is not a number 9 signal, but the lowest number
21 November 2019
Indecent Proposal
31 October 2019
A bit more about “special” rooms from my column a few weeks ago, when Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) was in the news for the wrong reasons. It’s room 429, Nazrul Islam Hall.
31 October 2019
The last and the ludicrous
24 October 2019
Hats off to the Ministry of Public Administration for taking the bold step of introducing paternity leave. Better be clear though about the cap on the number of such leaves, else we will have a population explosion 2.0.
24 October 2019
The Land of Possibilities
The ultra sonogram couldn't tell if it would be a boy or a girl. After a grueling 18 months of labour pain, America delivers a golden (haired) boy.
10 November 2016
PC
The revolution of the Power Couple (PC) Bill Gates and Steve Jobs gets computers to become Personal Computers (PC).
3 November 2016
WWKS
Not sure if there is a direct correlation between the plummeting of gold imports in India and the fact that there is once again another
20 October 2016
Cat Fight
Samsung halts the production of the Samsung Note 7 smart phone after the incidents of battery explosions. Sigh, I wished this cause and effect applied to all the armaments companies in the world – we'd at least see the end of war in Syria.
14 October 2016
The Bay of Pigs
This is the first time in my life I have a roommate. Well, we're not exactly sharing a room, we're sharing a two bedroom apartment with our own rooms. This is grad school in Michigan.
6 October 2016
Yo Homie!
“You must be serious – waking me up to show me this? When we fly back to Detroit, I'll wake you up at the sight of every Continental, Northwest, Southwest, American, US Airways, Delta and TWA aircraft on the tarmac with a scream: 'Look! Those are all from the US!'”
22 September 2016
Eid Moooobarak!
Barack Obama graduates from Harvard. Mark Zuckerberg drops out of Harvard. To cover all bases in order to succeed, I graduate from BUET and University of Michigan but drop out of Berkeley.
15 September 2016
Armed Conflict
Luck has it that this particular airline doesn't provide the option for online check-in at Dhaka Airport. I am thus relegated to
8 September 2016
Veilbook
I walk to the southern part of Torrey Pines Beach in San Diego, California. Only when I thought that this part of the beach is a
1 September 2016
Rome wasn't destroyed in a day
I jump out of my skin as the motorbike honks for me to move sideways. By reflex, I try to step aside, only to realise that there is no room but a not-so-welcoming drain. A further realisation that I am on the sidewalk (footpath) as the motorbike behind me is honking for me to give way. If food can take over the footpath with food stalls, so can motorbikes with their foot pedals. Humans, make way.
25 August 2016
Animal Kingdom
I hope Donald Trump doesn't get wind of this border. If so, he will surely be itching to build a wall and halt, once and for all, humans crossing it in both directions. But has he accounted for quadrupeds?
18 August 2016
Friends Forever
It's the first day of graduate classes at a brand new university, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. It's a brand new country, the US of A.
11 August 2016
Whose song is it anyway?
So the saying goes (I wonder who said it) that behind every successful man there is a woman, behind every successful man in
4 August 2016
The Big Bang Theory
I thought I was on a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur to Dhaka. But turns out there are two stops – the baggage claim area at Dhaka Airport and Azampur, Uttara.
28 July 2016
Not Heard but not Silent
To wake up the already woken up silent majority, let us start with us parents. The Holey Artisan Bakery tragedy is another reminder of the fact that it is not money that our kids seek, but it is our love, attention and most importantly, our time and friendship (yes, that's right, friendship) that they crave for when they're young.
21 July 2016
Penny Wise, Euro Foolish
The mighty British pound falls like a pound of bricks. Hey, it's not called ounce, is it?
1 July 2016
Who Moved My Cheese?
The road side crepe in Paris looks delicious. I ask my mandatory question to the vendor who looks like he will understand my question, “Is the chicken halal?”
23 June 2016