This issue of Kali O Kalam has a lot of articles on foreign intellectuals which, I think, provides Bangladeshi readers with a great view to the fantastic world of culture lying beyond their borders. It is so important to make connections and build familiarity with authors like Thomas Mann, Ismail Kadare, Samuel Johnson, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and others that I think this issue will remain as an essential acquisition to many.

Nurul Karim Nasim's article on Kadare, who won the Booker Prize this year, provides great details not only of the author but also of the country, Albania, about which, he rightly assumes, we know almost nothing. Ismail Kadare is an author who is yet to be discovered by most of us and this article will help those who want to make a beginning. Those who have not read Sadat Hassan Manto's short stories should take this opportunity to read a small story, 'Defeated', in this volume, translated by Jafar Alam.

Kumar Chakraborty makes an interesting study of time in the Magic Mountain, the classic by Thomas Mann. Dilip Ghosh writes about the reasons for reading Dostoevsky's The Diary of a Writer (alternatively translated as The Journal of an Author). Mr. Ghosh's erudite and well-researched study explains why and how, in Russia, it became more popular than the author's novels. Monjurul Haque offers a very small but useful introduction to the book in which he has translated the poems of four Italian poets: Salvatore Quasimodo, Sandro Penna, Primo Levi and Giuseppe Ungarotti. Mr. Haque would have done better if he had also introduced the individual poets to the readers. Samuel Johnson's Dictionary of the English Language celebrates 250 years of its publication (it was compiled between 1746 and 1755). On this great occasion Sagar Chowdhury, from London, provides some fascinating excerpts from the dictionary along with a short history of the book.

Minar Mansoor has taken a long interview of Shamsur Rahman, the veteran poet. The poet needs no introduction. The questions in the interview seem to be too abstract and generalized and do not in any way really throw new light upon the poetical works of Rahman.

This is also the centenary year of the Banga Bhanga andolon. No Bangalee can claim to have forgotten that without getting into a deep cultural identity crisis. In spite of its success in 1905 the movement was not a long-lasting one and the imperialist British rulers finally succeeded in dividing greater Bengal into two halves. The Banga Bhanga has a special meaning for Bangladeshis, as it provided them their national anthem ‘Amar Sonar Bangla'. Soumitra Sekhar writes an informative and important article about Tagore's involvement with the movement and his subsequent schism with it, something that lends an added meaning to the songs that he wrote on and during the Banga Bhanga andolon. Debjit Bandypadhyay's article is again on Tagore's songs--his involvement with the Bangla stage through his songs. Mr. Bandyopadhyay, an authority on the subject of Bangla stage songs, has been writing on the subject for a long time and here his expertise is rather obvious.

In the arts section Dhali Al Mamun writes on the paintings of Nazli Laila Mansoor, whose solo exhibition was recently held at the Bengal Gallery. Mr. Mamun feels that Ms. Mansoor's paintings have a strong affinity to film and literature which takes us beyond the language of painting. Roni Ahmed writes on B.K.S. Inan's photographs of the Sundarbans, Zaid Mustafa on the exhibition of fourteen contemporary artist of the Dhaka Art Circle who held an exhibition under the title 'Paintings 2005' at the Saju Art Gallery, Gulshan. There is a tiny article by Zeenat Ahmed about how painting workshops in the two eminent schools in Dhaka will help the future generation to develop a taste in culture and thereby produce culturally conscious political leaders .

Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Jahanara Naoshin, Kanai Kundu and Saad Kamali are the contributors of the four stories in this volume. Dilara Hafeez's small poem I think will interest the readers. Mandakranta Sen's poem is structurally interesting. The list of poets is long and readers will judge the poems for themselves..

In his regular column on science Muhammad Jafar Iqbal writes a very informative article on black holes. Those who are in the habit of reading Sunil Gangopadhyay's serialized novel will be disappointed as the editors have apologized for its absence in this issue. All the other regular captivating columns are present, though.

Jayeeta Bagchi is a freelance writer/teacher.