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        Volume 12 |Issue 01| January 04, 2013 |


   Inside

 Letters
 Voicebox
 Chintito
 Cover Story
 Current Afairs
 Writing the Wrong
 Profile
 Musings
 Special Feature
 Neighbours
 Media
 Film
 Art
 Reflections
 Health
 One Off
 Exhibition
 Book Review
 Cartoon
 Star Diary
 Write to Mita
 Postscript

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Letters

An Excellent Issue

Your weekly publication, the Star, has rounded off this year with an excellent issue to remind me of 2012! As an 80-year-old retired person, I daily read six English dailies, and also the Holiday on Fridays. This was the best of the lot among all the other weeklies I went through on December 28th. However, I believe there is no chance for me to go through the 2030 issue, but it seems from your cover story, the trend in Bangladesh may not change.

Congratulations on putting out such a wonderful issue to bid goodbye to 2012. It was flavoured with interesting and insightful articles on people, politicians and political activities in Bangladesh. Keep up the good work, so that we the readers can continue to enjoy your weekly issues on stories “behind the news”!

S A Mansoor
Dhaka


The Importance of Cartoons

I must thank the Star's cartoonist Sadat for his strong sense of humour, wit and satire in last week's cover story. I also appreciate him very much for focusing on the present trend of our existing politics with his unique cartoons and meaningful comments on each of the known personalities. After reading this week's magazine, I remembered the history of the French Revolution in the 18th Century and the vital role French cartoonists played in teaching the French about the ultimate results of injustice, oppression and misrule during the regime of Louis XIV in France. This cover story will benefit the readers to understand the true activities of the known personalities in politics.

Abul Ashraf Noor
Via e-mail


Thank, you Sir Frank

I read an article recently in this magazine that caused me to stop and give serious thought to my life, my family and the people I love. The story was written by Sir Frank Peters whom I've come to know over the years through his writings to end corporal punishment in our schools. He summed up his story by stating: “Today is never too soon, tomorrow might be too late... to tell someone you love, admire or appreciate them because they could die and the opportunity dies with them.” I found that to be most profound and thought-provoking. I no longer take my family and friends for granted, as he recommends. Permit me to thank Sir Frank for sharing this philosophy and to wish him and his family a belated happy New Year and success with his endeavours to rid the Bangladeshi education system of corporal punishment. This family supports him all the way.

Fatema Muid
Banani, Dhaka


 
 
Photo: Zahedul I Khan

Privacy Matters

Special thanks to the Star for its concern about cyber crime published on December 21 2012. With the blessing of science and technology, the world is our oyster and with the advantage of the internet, we can take it one step further. Nowadays we use different sites depending on our needs whether it is to study, do our office work, place an advertisement or buy and sell merchandise. But mostly we spend a huge amount of time on the internet, primarily on social networking sites. Even children can use these sites as there is no monitoring system to verify they are using proper information when opening accounts. Moreover there are some guys who like to use fake accounts and cheat people. Most of the time girls are seriously harassed by them and become mentally depressed. Though we have the law to control cyber crime, it remains on paper instead of in practice. Only through consciousness and proper monitoring can these crimes decrease. Parents should also be aware of their children, so that the internet isn't misused by them.

Farhat Husnain
Via e-mail


Helpless Pedestrians

In the Star there was a special feature about Bishwajit Das, which was touching and sad. I was also on the road on the day Bishwajit was killed, December 9, 2012. On that day, under full view of the public and media Bishwajit Das' brutal murder made headlines across all the major newspapers and TV channels.

Bishwajit was a pedestrian who was only passing by that area. As a pedestrian, there is no difference between Bishwajit and you or I. It is alarming to think that you or I could so easily face the same brutal end. Who is there to reassure us that it will not be so?

Take me for example, I will have to continue going to university. I would have to pass through a rally and I would run in the fear of facing the same fate as Bishwajit, should any student wing of political parties mistake me for being a member of another party and hack me to death. Who will explain to them that I am not? Is there any chance of changing our society by protesting for helpless people on the streets?

Md Kamrul Hasan Rubel
Gendaria, Dhaka


A Heart-felt Tribute

I was profoundly touched by the Star's editor’s writing, marking the one year anniversary of her mother's death. A prominent and well known Bangladeshi, Dr Razia Khan had a personality for the public as a writer and professor of literature. The writer introduces a very personal account of her mother's passing and the life she remembers to the public sphere and I would like to commend her for being so honest and heart-felt in her words.

Whenever one sees the obituaries or reminders of someone's death, it is hard to be emotionally pulled and this writing was something really different. The writer recalled the differences she had with her mother with respect and adult understanding. I smiled at places that reminded me of my own relationship with my mother and let out a chuckle at reading how the writer's mother hoped giving her son a guitar would keep him from chasing girls.

Grief is a difficult emotion that sometimes never leaves and those who embrace it so well with words, like the writer does, are exceptional, much like the mother she writes about.

Zubaida Ahmad
Dhaka


The opinions expressed in these letters do not necessarily represent the views held by the Star.

Submission Guideline:

Letters to the Editor, Star Diary and Write to Mita, with the writer's name and address, should be within 200 words. All articles should be within 1,200 words. A cover letter is not necessary, but every write-up should include the writer's name, phone number and email address (if any). While The Star welcomes unsolicited articles and photographs, it cannot accept the responsibility of their loss or damage. The Star does not return unsolicited articles and photos. Response time for unsolicited write-ups ranges from three weeks to two months. All articles submitted are subject to editing for reasons of space and clarity.

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