Whimsical, political, subversive: A review of 'Tasher Desh'

There are no bright lights, no potted greens artistically arranged around the entrance, no indication that an exhibition is going on somewhere here in Arambagh.
7 September 2017

Surviving our long distance marriage

Courtesy of studying and working in different countries, the vast majority of my half-a-decade long marriage has been long distance.
31 August 2017

An unbearable loneliness

Haruki Murakami's 'Men Without Women'
31 August 2017

A thousand gardens

Where have the fish in the Buriganga gone? Bubbling with rich, garish tones that can belie the grim reality, the waters of the Buriganga, once the lifeblood of the capital, tell our very own tale of woe.
31 August 2017

This time Dhaleshwari

Leather factories polluting again
31 August 2017

Phulbari Movement of 2006: Where we stand now

"This success is the first step towards victory. And all the credit must go to the brave people of Phulbari,” said Engineer Shekih Muhammand Shahidullah, Convener of the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Ports, and Power, to the thousands gathered on the streets of Phulbari, Dinajpur
31 August 2017

Ethically representing narratives of birangonas

An estimated 200,000-400,000 women and girls were raped by the Pakistani army and their local Bengali collaborators during the Liberation War of Bangladesh. Six days after the war ended on December 16, 1971, women raped during the war were designated birangonas, war heroines, in an effort by the fledgling Bangladeshi government to recognise and honour them.
31 August 2017

I deserve the blue

When 13-year-old Rafiul Islam Rabby was having trouble breathing, his mother Rabeya Begum didn't take it very seriously—not initially, at least. A week after, she noticed her son was coughing and wheezing throughout the night, unable to sleep. This time, Rabeya Begum took her son to the hospital.
31 August 2017

Cruelty before sacrifice

Dhola Babu was the most prized possession of cattle farmer Abdus Sabur. At only two-and-a-half years, Dhola Babu, the Friesian bull had gained a staggering 1200 kilograms of muscle.
31 August 2017

MAILBOX

It's no wonder that enrolment in science has been on the decline over the decades in such a “demotivating” education system which is prevailing in Bangladesh.
31 August 2017

SNAPSHOT

“The shadow escapes from the body like an animal we had been sheltering.” ― Gilles Deleuze
31 August 2017

An Irish Monimul and the Sumaiya clause

In a move that seems to have garnered as much attention in Bangladesh as Neymar's record transfer to PSG and is the first of its kind, Bangladeshi cricketer Monimul Haqque has decided to apply for an Irish citizenship.
31 August 2017

VIP area declared semi-autonomous

Rafique Ahmed sits relishing his 300 taka coffee. An employee at a top MNC, Rafique is one of thousands of citizens affected by the latest law that resulted in the federalisation of the VIP areas of the country.
31 August 2017

Enemies of traffic safety: Fog lights and fancy wheels

When you get a good thing, you don’t let it go. Unless of course you instantly find a better thing. A better thing is almost always greater than a good thing. This is great advice when it comes to choosing fish at the frozen food section. A fresh fish is a good thing. A fish that smiles and waves at you is fresher, hence a better thing.
31 August 2017

In search of new voices

We call '1947' a phenomenon. Although often referred to as 'the Partition' for convenience, it is hard to settle on an agreed description. How should one describe 1947?
24 August 2017

Partition studies: Prospects and pitfalls

Partition, unquestionably a pivotal event of the South Asian twentieth century, has become a subject of great significance in its own right.
24 August 2017

Fragments from a pre-Partition childhood

Through 1945 to 1946 and a part 1947, we were in Calcutta. During the riots, three families moved to 11 Circus Range for protection from any attack from non-Muslims.
24 August 2017

Pushpa Nangia

Pushpa Nangia was born in 1939 in Murree Hills, Rawalpindi. Her father was an engineer for the Military Engineering Services (MES) and her mother was homemaker. The Mukker family migrated from Nowshera to Delhi just a few days after the Partition, which also happened to be the day of Mrs Nangia's eighth birthday.
24 August 2017

Partition 1947: Do women have a country?

It was only the other day, some six decades after my mother's family left Pakistan, that I learnt about how they travelled to India in the aftermath of Partition.
24 August 2017

Mahammad Appu

A special train was arranged for Mr Appu's family and all of the workers in his father's factory to migrate from Lucknow.
24 August 2017