A fresh breeze is blowing as we step into a brand New Year, it is a tentative breeze of hope, expectation and possibility.

The word 'New' in Greek has two words: Neos and Kainos.

Bring on the platters of panta bhat and ilish. It's Pahela Baishakh -- the most colourful time of the year!

Lyric poetry makes for poor translation.

Let us think about the origin of the Bangla Naboborsho, how it evolved through the years and what the current status of this Naboborsho is.

Rajai rajai juddho korey, ulukhagrar pran jai.

The Daily Star (TDS): Against what backdrop did you join the War of Liberation in 1971?

The two-nation theory, a founding principle of the partition of India in 1947, was effectively shattered with the birth of Bangladesh as a nation-state in 1971.

I travelled to Tura, the capital of Meghalaya, three times during the war as a representative of Tangail Mukti Bahini to bring arms and ammunitions.

Doreswami Naidu was born in a humble family in Kaium Betur, a village in South Tamil Nadu, India. His father, Arekum Naidu, was a cultivator and was also involved in the collection and disposal of animal bones.

The Daily Star (TDS): Why is it important to study genocide in the context of South Asia?

The Daily Star (TDS): Please tell us something about the origins of genocide.

On 27 March 1971, my entire family and I had left Dhaka for safe shelter in a village named Noagaon, located 15 miles from Demra River.

PIA - Pakistan International Airlines was the government owned airline of Pakistan. Pakistanis used to put a lot of hindrance to the Bengalis who wanted to join PIA.

I was a Major serving on secondment from the Pakistan Army in the then East Pakistan Rifles (EPR) in the Chittagong Sector when the War of Liberation broke out.

The declaration of independence was the inevitable conclusion of decades of struggle against the blatant subjugation that deprived us of our basic cultural, economic and political rights.

Civil war raged in the eastern region of Pakistan after the provincial leader, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, proclaimed the region an independent republic. President Yahya Khan outlawed the Sheikh's Awami League and denounced the Sheikh himself as a traitor whose crime “would not go unpunished.”

Commodore Abdul Wahed Chowdhury, BU BB s/m (G) psc (rtd) of the Bangladesh Navy is one of the highest gallantry awardees living.

The Daily Star (TDS): Please describe to us the circumstances under which the Naval Commando Force was formed.

'Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that defences of peace must be constructed.' −UNESCO, The Constitution