It’s painful for Tajul Islam to see what has happened to his beloved mango orchard in Rajshahi city’s Borobongram Namopara.

Buying a computer, for most people, is a fairly mundane activity. It involves going to a vendor with a budget, a list of requirements, and the hope that the salespeople are trustworthy and knowledgeable enough about the products to find the best possible deal.

This is a loose translation of a melodious Urdu poem that once used to reverberate through the empty lanes of old Dhaka deep into the Ramadan night.

“If you seek comfort, no journey is better than a journey by launch. You book a room and you arrive at your destination well-rested. The sightseeing is a bonus,” says Mehedi Hasan, a resident of Borguna’s Bamna.

It is hard to describe a place when its glory days are over. 

How  humans discovered coffee and how, after centuries of innovation, it  became the elixir it is now is a fascinating tale itself.

If listened carefully, amid the maddening hustle and bustle, cacophony of sounds, one might find a strange harmony in the chaos -- a thing that links this place to a bygone era.

Wooden dolls painted in a crimson-red or saffron-yellow sari with a black hair bun are a traditional craft of Bangladesh and an integral part of every rural fair.

For the last five years 19-year-old Sumona (pseudonym) has been living at the Training and Rehabilitation Centre for Socially Disadvantaged Women in Barishal.

At first glance it looks like a happy gathering of women and girls spanning ages from 15 to 50 years. We are greeted by this group of 30 and they welcome us with a song and dance routine.

As the night gets deeper and Dhaka goes to sleep, one place pulsates with energy -- Karwan Bazar kitchen market.

Leave behind the tangled streets and chaotic symphony of Old Dhaka for a while. Close your eyes and imagine yourself in a different era, stepping onto a gilded boat that glides through the sun-dappled Buriganga.

Perhaps, there is a hidden farmer in all of us. Although suppressed under the urban rat race, many secret gardeners have decided they will create a garden, however small, within the confines of their buildings.

Walking past the Jagannath University and Dhaka Collegiate School, amid heavy noise of construction work at Dhaka Sadar Post Office, these correspondents heard a voice that cut through the cacophony in narrow lanes of Old Dhaka.

Gendaria, a neighbourhood in Old Dhaka, once known for its spacious roads and European style colonial buildings, has lost much of its grandeur.

The iconic Tanguar Haor, one of Bangladesh’s most important ecologically critical areas, is facing an uncertain future amid growing environmental threats.

The Bhairab river is gradually approaching its demise due to encroachment, pollution, and unplanned river dredging and bridge construction works.

Satgar area under Chunati Wildlife Sanctuary in Chattogram used to be a lush green haven for Asian elephants.

The mud huts on the foothills of the Garo Pahar are covered with bashor lota (lady’s slipper vine) at this time of the year.

The vast potential of women’s cricket in Bangladesh has come to the fore again following the national team’s success of late, across formats and conditions this year. But has reality at the grassroots escaped the harsher sides or, at least, on the verge of it?