Megasthenes’ Grin

You are stuffing gunpowder into the silent cannon All by yourself. Now that the winter is over
12 February 2021

Khwabnama: The Bangladeshi Epic

A few months ago, during the height of the pandemic, my teacher and mentor who is now a UGC professor called me up one morning to convey to me that he has finally finished reading Akhtaruzzaman Elias’ novel Khwabnama.
12 February 2021

Graphic Novel Mujib will draw in, inspire children: Dr Zafar Iqbal

Children will be more interested towards exploring Bangabandhu’s life owing to the Graphic Novel “Mujib” and his childhood stories will be intriguing to them, said eminent litterateur and educationist Dr Muhammed Zafar Iqbal yesterday.
8 February 2021

A Public Obscenity?

What does it mean to read a book in a public place these days?
5 February 2021

Caution

Love is ok till it becomes like the curiosity of country-lads when they go to airports just to see how aeroplanes fly
5 February 2021

Time

Does Time have the time To ever stop by the Clock? Take a little break? Drink a cup of tea? Come Time, come relax with me.
5 February 2021

Death is not Funny, Nor is Hamlet a Coward

I got a visitor today. My mother. It was a bright morning, one of those days when you get a feeling that something good will happen. And then mother came. And mother looked perturbed. And I realised it will be like any other day with nothing but madness all around.
5 February 2021

45th Int'l Kolkata Book Fair to be dedicated to Bangabandhu

The 45th edition of the International Kolkata Book Fair, to be held in July this year, will be dedicated to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and Bangladesh will be the country-in-focus of the event, said organisers yesterday.
5 February 2021

PM unveils 2 books on Bangabandhu

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday unveiled the covers of two books on Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman.
1 February 2021

Some Writing Instruction Re-considered

Writing is not an art suddenly discovered. It’s a craft gradually developed. Writing–both creative and critical– is formulaic, the way math is.
29 January 2021

The Deer

It was that time of year again. I woke up to a furry snout nudging my hand. Lhyelhing the wolf was eagerly trying to get me up; so I pulled off the cover and then immediately went under them as a cold breeze blasted my body.
29 January 2021

The Present and the Future of Rashid

Turbulent, murky, and eccentrically wide at this time of the rainy seasons, the river Padma flows incessantly. Lashing with fury at its banks on both sides the river flows swallowing fertile lands, homesteads, settlements. It is a different story at Mawabazar though, where humans endeavour to tame the river.
22 January 2021

On Mint Chocolate and the Meaning of Life: Joyce’s Ulysses

“Chotto Kaka, I’m not afraid of the bogey-bug (coronavirus) when I have a tummy full of ice cream.” When my seven-year old nephew made this demand, I thought, he could really have taken a leaf out of Ulysses – a masterpiece by the great Irish maverick, James Joyce.
22 January 2021

Say “Hello” to the Skunks

“Have you met Mr. Skunk? In case you have not, he is a short black and white fellow that you might often see at the bottom of the stairs, or near the dumpster.” Joe paused for breath.
15 January 2021

Art’s Pantheon

Mashrur Arefin’s 2019 novel, August Abchhaya, is full of moments that evoke the blood-stained memory behind the language of conflict.
15 January 2021

A Bangladeshi Babu Like No Other

Numair Atif Choudhury’s Babu Bangladesh is a tour de force of a novel. Exuberant, extravagant, learned, zany, ingenious, whimsical, irreverent and provocative, this is a work of amazing merit.
8 January 2021

The Twenty-Twenty-One

Today, on the first day of 2021, I open the 71st chapter of my memoir written – not sure when – probably before time. I want to read what lies ahead. There are only a few more chapters left before I happily reach the final episode.
8 January 2021

Beautiful tomorrow?

In the desolation of today, I hang on to the promises of tomorrow: When life will be in harmony And struggles gone.
8 January 2021

When?

The scents and colours of the morning arouse the wetness of the night. The dewdrop splendour awakens the dawning sunrise drenched in colours
1 January 2021

Neither Tranquil Mandarins nor Yellow Devils

Many centuries ago, Chinese pilgrims came up the Bay of Bengal on their way to Buddhist sites in the Subcontinent. We have no record of their conversations with the people of Bengal but it was the accurate accounts of early Chinese travellers that enabled archaeologists in the 19th century to rediscover the lost Buddhist sites like that inside a hill at Paharpur.
1 January 2021