Research should be about pursuing knowledge, not publication numbers
15 August 2026
Earlier this month, a national daily reported that at least 325 academic papers published by Bangladeshi researchers in international journals published between 2019 and 2026 had been retracted due to various irregularities, including plagiarism.
15 August 2026
The fine line between moral courage and entitlement
8 August 2026
It is unfortunate that we are seeing a culture where moral power is exercised arbitrarily, where accusation precedes evidence and power precedes procedure.
8 August 2026
When waiting in line for subsidised food turns deadly
1 August 2026
Because they could not step away from death, death stepped in for them (apologies to Emily Dickinson)
1 August 2026
Before Bangladesh adds a third language, it needs the right language policy
25 July 2026
Last month, the prime minister told parliament that his government was planning to introduce courses on a third language from Class 6.
25 July 2026
What the protest by HSC candidates tells us
18 July 2026
There is a danger of reducing the protest surrounding this year’s Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) and equivalent examinations to youthful resentment.
18 July 2026
Bangladesh must hold its own amid changing geopolitics
11 July 2026
The performative presence of two superpowers in the precincts of Bangladesh’s national parliament has added some twists in the country’s political plot.
11 July 2026
Half a million HSC dropouts signal a silent crisis
4 July 2026
Two text messages appeared on my phone on Thursday evening as I came out of cinema after watching Tan Siyou’s Amoeba, a Singaporean film about teenage girls suffocating within an extremely controlled system.
4 July 2026
The institutional push behind academic brain drain
28 June 2026
As someone who had the opportunity to stay back after completing further studies, I feel that portraying the issue of non-returning academics as a crisis of individual morality, rather than reflecting on the lack of institutional incentives that allow Bangladeshi scholars to opt for a different destiny, only tells half of the story.
28 June 2026
From Disgrace to Grace
The recent announce-ment and endorsement of the resignation of two high-profile figures have rocked the political boat. A mayor and a state minister have given up their offices—or should I say, they have fallen out of grace to fall on their own swords.
10 December 2021
Prof Rafiqul Islam: A great chronicler
There was a 10mm glass wall at ULAB that separated Prof Rafiqul Islam’s office room from mine for more than three years.
3 December 2021
Protecting our Students from the Wrath of the Titans
Every time I pass by the Banani flyover area, I look at the worms that have come out of the deep to rear their heads to announce the underpass underneath, and ask myself why the much-hyped pedestrian tunnel has not been opened to the public yet.
26 November 2021
The digitalisation of our birth
“Do you know that you cannot die without being born first?”
19 November 2021
Our development and the middle-class dilemma
The planning minister recently used an onomatope—a word that imitates the things signified. He referred to the economic growth of the country with the sound image of “shonoi, shonoi,” which can be literally translated to “by and by.”
12 November 2021
A lemonade for the illusion of confidence
When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
5 November 2021
The Untranslatable Porosrikatorota
Is the Bangla word “porosrikatorota” really untranslatable? Does “envy” or “jealousy” fall short of denoting the condition of feeling down after seeing the success of others?
29 October 2021
Our Shrunken Mentality
The sudden onrush of floodwater flowing into the country through the Teesta at a measured dangerous level—soon after the equally sudden disruption of peace and vandalism of temples and altars in different parts of the country—reminded me of the 1974 movie
22 October 2021
Death is inevitable, but we must not get used to it
I wrote this short poem a long time ago, inspired by a cemetery headstone. I was ruminating over the plight of a man who had transformed into a corpse, then reduced to a sign marked by dates. In the eternal existence of mankind,
15 October 2021
A momentary lapse of reason
Recently, while I was driving to my office, an SUV full of security men whooshed past me on the wrong side. I slowed down and let the car come to my lane near Ganabhaban.
8 October 2021
The Rape of the Lock: A Mock Epic Revisited
“How do I cultivate freedom alongside discipline?” German philosopher Immanuel Kant asked in 1899. The question still remains valid in many sectors of life, especially in teaching.
1 October 2021
Let’s not be the fox without a tail
You must have heard of the story of a fox who accidentally lost his tail to a trap, and later decreed that all foxes must lose their tails too.
24 September 2021
With Covid, there’s no easing back into campus
It is as refreshing as watching flowers of urban forestry in bloom or the roadside plants glisten after a bout of rain.
17 September 2021
9/11: The Turning Point
In September 2001, soon after the attack on the Twin Towers, the Bangladesh government issued a public announcement to contact the America & Pacific wing of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the whereabouts of Bangladeshi residents.
10 September 2021
Human and elephant lives both matter
Two news reports caught my attention on Friday: one was about a wild elephant being electrocuted, and the other was about the dwindling international funds for the Rohingya refugees.
3 September 2021
The Hills Have Eyes
I don’t remember the last time I went to Chattogram. My knowledge of the port city can be summed up by the memorable quote from the epic fantasy series, Game of Thrones, where the main protagonist is told: “You know nothing, Jon Snow.”
27 August 2021
There are no secrets in the world
I was watching a movie on Netflix. Suddenly, the voice assistant of the laptop, Siri, got activated and said, “Siri aha?”.
21 August 2021
The ideals that Bangabandhu lived and died for
There was something ominous about the day in which Bangabandhu was laid to rest in his native village of Tungipara when, according to the village elders, the “skies were knowingly weeping tears” (Syed Badrul Ahsan, From Rebel to Founding Father, p. xv).
14 August 2021
Lizards Losing Their Tails
We are all glued to the mega-spectacle involving the flickering of the dropped or lost tails of some lizards who have tactically dissociated from a disposable part of their bodies to protect themselves from their attackers.
6 August 2021
Intergenerational divides in the time of Covid-19
While staying with a host family in Pennsylvania during a weekend trip in the late 1990s, I found a statement knifed in the bed’s headboard: “Here a battle was won by the Man of the house [date]”.
30 July 2021