More roads are not the answer to Bangladesh’s traffic problem
The more roads you build, the more cars there will be to fill them up. I am no expert, but the numbers don’t lie.
4d ago
What stops people from evacuating to shelters during cyclones?
Cyclone Mocha was just the first of the season, and Bangladesh will face more in the days to come. We need to focus on a more holistic approach to disaster management, especially the evacuation process and recovery aspect, and not just rely on warnings and people’s willingness to move to shelters.
2w ago
Heatwave: Inside the boiling pot of inequality
Do we all feel this heat similarly? The answer is no. It is no secret that if you are among the well-off in this not-so-well-off nation, you are better equipped to deal with this heatwave. There is a deep running inequality as to how the heat affects people.
The role of bystanders during a crisis: An impediment or asset to rescue efforts?
Just one bystander can cause enough distraction to move the focus from the real situation on hand—which is to stabilise the emergency situation and save lives. So, who is responsible?
World Wildlife Day: Conversations with conservationists
Bangladesh supports nearly 1.7 percent of the world's wildlife. How is that wildlife doing? Why does the chirping of birds no longer wake us? When was the last time a frog just showed up in our bathrooms?
Are Bangladeshis best in the world in naming businesses?
As a traveller or visitor, if you have been to Bangladesh, you are no stranger to the shocking green everywhere, the chaos of Dhaka city, the absolute absence of rules anywhere, and if you have a keen eye then the straightforward, smooth and sometimes borderline funny naming of our businesses will surely intrigue you.
Masked finfoot under threat: A canary in the coalmine of climate change
I want to tell you why the loss of a bird somewhere far away from home should bother you.
Reversing the tide against Sawfish loss from the Bay of Bengal
By the fishing villages of Alipur and Mohipur municipalities in Kuakata, things are afoot. A team of conservationists, field workers, researchers, artists and videographers have put their heads together to drive home a crucial message in favour of Sawfish, lovingly dubbed the king of fishes.
Canopy bridges: The answer to fragmented forests?
In November 2020, a couple of young researchers at Satchari National Park in Habiganj tried their hands at something that was a novel concept in Bangladeshi wildlife conservation.
Dolphins washing ashore dead: Fishing nets at fault?
French naval officer, explorer and conservationist Jacques-Yves Cousteau was not wrong when he said, “The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it.”
New frog on the block!
The worldwide scientific community is too often bombarded with bad news -- from first time ever rains at the Greenland ice summit to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) doomsday forecast, there is hardly ever a reason to celebrate.
War against Covid: Satkhira youths arm themselves with oxygen cylinders
In the fight against the third wave of Covid-19 infections, youths in Bangladesh’s southern district of Satkhira have taken a united front.
Shrinking wild spaces and the growing conflict between humans and animals
Like writer-journalist Jon Mooallem wrote in “Wild Ones”, I too have been finding nature in the oddest of places.
The devil rays of Bengal
I was mostly lurking behind the group of marine biologists, young researchers, and local parabiologists scouting the dirt-ridden streets of Chattogram just opposite to the under-construction fisheries ghat.
World Habitat Day: Habitats not just for humanity, but for life
Through the choppy waters of the Bay of Bengal, our speedboat twisted and turned trying to reach Sonadia Island.
Marine biologists question gaps between science, research and action
Accessing and reading scientific articles is no easy task. A lot of us are even more acutely aware of the fact now that that many of us are reading scientific papers for the first time in an attempt to make sense of the coronavirus pandemic.
Two books that explore life in psychotherapy
I picked up this book while trying to find a good therapist in this dreary land.
The absence of climate change in fiction and other great derangements
The book explores our inability at the level of literature, history, and politics to grasp the scale and violence of climate change.
The giants of the sea: all but gone
When we get there at the break of dawn, Cox’s Bazar is asleep and unexpectedly cold. Pinching at our cheek, making everyone scrunch up their noses. But reassurances drop in from right and left that the coast is rarely ever cold, for a long stretch anyway.
A welcome respite for them
Something strange is happening inside the Bangladesh National Zoo in Dhaka. For the first time in decades, this establishment is devoid of huge throngs of people for an extended period of time as the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in never-before-seen social distancing measures.
(Watch) A moment of respite: Animals at Mirpur Zoo get a much-deserved break
With no people in sight, the animals housed at Bangladesh National Zoo in Mirpur-1 seem to be having the time of their lives (however much is possible within the confines of a cage).
Childhood sexual abuse: A trauma that continues to haunt
By the time she was a young adult, she had started to show the first signs of anxiety, rebellion (cue the dating older men, being too ready, almost too eager to be in bed with them), then not wanting to have sex altogether in adulthood, going from straight As to straight fails—she carried these childhood struggles through adulthood.
Coronavirus Outbreak: Air pollution can elevate risk
Dhaka -- Bangladesh’s densely populated capital -- keeps topping the list of cities with the worst air pollution. Concerns about health hazards due to polluted air have been raised before, but now the warning rings louder as global experts have opined that health
Coronavirus: As experts warn air pollution can elevate health risks, should Dhaka worry?
Concerns due to polluted air have been raised before, but now the warning rings louder as global experts say continued exposure to high levels of air pollution in cities can potentially increase the death rate from coronavirus infections.
The million promises and little perils of bird-watching by the coast of Bangladesh
It is years ago now. The day I took a bus to the southernmost tip of Bangladesh with a group of people wearing khaki-coloured shirts, two-in-one pants, carrying heavy duty binoculars, spotting scopes and talking excitedly about a bird.
Bangladeshi researchers discover new frog
“It is named after one of the most prominent wildlife scientists and conservationists in the country, it mimics the sound of crickets and it is tiny,” this is how the team of researchers who determined the presence of a new species of frog describe the amphibian.
Bangladeshi researchers discover new frog that can fit on your thumb
‘Raorchestes rezakhani’ was the discovery of two young researchers -- Hasan Al Razi Chayan and Marjan Maria -- from Jagannath University, guided and led closely by Sabir Bin Muzaffar, professor of biology at University of United Arab Emirates.
The story of an anxious generation growing up in a fast-changing world
“Environment, climate crisis, Facebook, Instastories, Snapchat, social media influencers, relationships (lack thereof), and a world obsessed with being connected and updated constantly.”
Why count birds?
On a half-wooden, half-iron boat, a team of men and women in heavy winter gear and heavy-duty binoculars set sail on a very, very cold winter morning on January 5. Their destination was the sandbars and shallow water lagoons of the mighty Padma River.
THE LAST HUSTLE
The soft light of the setting sun illuminates the entire section every time I walk in, mostly because I AM ALWAYS LATE. On one side white balloons hang, on another side a dart board.
Where it all ended and where it all began
This is the fifth and final (for now) instalment in a fiction series about a family navigating the woes of immigrant life.
Of stories from tidal villages by a vanishing forest and a fast-rising sea
Maybe it was Anita Desai’s book The Village by the Sea or was it that movie My Japanese Wife—I do not remember so clearly now—that had us all riled up during that short four-day long journey down to the last villages of the Sundarbans.
Who am I?
The packing began months ahead of time, even before they had officially decided to move, even before tickets were purchased, even before the children could talk to their school and tell their friends that they were leaving home yet again.
When teens of the world unite for Planet Earth
Just a day after teenagers around the world skipped classes and gathered on the streets of Dhaka, Warwick, Hamburg, London, and
Was that you Akela?
In Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, a series of short fables published in 1894, Akela and Raksha were the wolf parents of Mowgli,
REMEMBERING SATHKHIRA, MY ENDLESS SUMMER TORTURE
I had never gotten around to writing about Sathkhira, at least not as a travel destination. Maybe because travelling to this saline land
On loving childhood reads as an adult
I have been recovering from a very long and arduous block in my reading life, a block that could not be broken by the fattest or
THE HOUSE OF MAD
The child came just as dawn was about to crack. The earth had almost completed one rotation and was getting ready to light up again and along she came as the darkest hour of the night came to an end.
Can protecting the seas, help protect the wild?
In a country bursting at its seams with a continuously growing population, it can be hard to get things right especially when it comes to wildlife conservation.
MY ZOO and other fatalities
It doesn’t matter how beautiful the cage is. It’s still a prison.—Natasha Ngan, Girls of Paper and Fire
Of meals that ended up as the pièce de résistance of journeys
Bourdain, the genius both in and out of the kitchen, once famously said, “Travel changes you. As you move through this life and this world you change things slightly, you leave marks behind, however small. And in return, life—and travel—leaves marks on you.” There
The Otter Side of the Story
They require no introduction, especially in the river country of Bangladesh, but I will take the liberty to introduce them.
A relic at mercy of the present
I have thought of the road to Dewanbari ever since I took on the herculean (to me) task of writing about it. I imagined the place when
Travels with the ghost of childhood
Nauroze could recall each strange detail about that summer that led to monsoon with the greatest clarity. She was a child invested in
The slow and steady conservation of the Asian Giant Tortoises
They are famous because they battled petty criminals, overlords, mutated creatures and alien invaders, all the while trying and mostly succeeding to stay hidden. They are famous, for they were cursed and are now manifestations of an evil spirit stuck in a pond for
How are you Tanguar Haor?
The urgent scratch of a jackal and the whooshing sound of the brewing storm kept me awake for most parts of every night. I would be
A rest-stop for vultures
The forest does not intimidate much, in fact, at times it could feel like an extension of Enid Blyton’s mystical and whimsical children’s
One hundred years of madness
Many hours later as he faced the only open window in his room, Shafiq was to remember that distant afternoon when he took his first born to see the undulating sand dunes of the vast desert.
June 3, 2023
More roads are not the answer to Bangladesh’s traffic problem
The more roads you build, the more cars there will be to fill them up. I am no expert, but the numbers don’t lie.
May 19, 2023
What stops people from evacuating to shelters during cyclones?
Cyclone Mocha was just the first of the season, and Bangladesh will face more in the days to come. We need to focus on a more holistic approach to disaster management, especially the evacuation process and recovery aspect, and not just rely on warnings and people’s willingness to move to shelters.
April 18, 2023
Heatwave: Inside the boiling pot of inequality
Do we all feel this heat similarly? The answer is no. It is no secret that if you are among the well-off in this not-so-well-off nation, you are better equipped to deal with this heatwave. There is a deep running inequality as to how the heat affects people.
April 5, 2023
The role of bystanders during a crisis: An impediment or asset to rescue efforts?
Just one bystander can cause enough distraction to move the focus from the real situation on hand—which is to stabilise the emergency situation and save lives. So, who is responsible?
March 2, 2023
World Wildlife Day: Conversations with conservationists
Bangladesh supports nearly 1.7 percent of the world's wildlife. How is that wildlife doing? Why does the chirping of birds no longer wake us? When was the last time a frog just showed up in our bathrooms?
July 10, 2022
Are Bangladeshis best in the world in naming businesses?
As a traveller or visitor, if you have been to Bangladesh, you are no stranger to the shocking green everywhere, the chaos of Dhaka city, the absolute absence of rules anywhere, and if you have a keen eye then the straightforward, smooth and sometimes borderline funny naming of our businesses will surely intrigue you.
June 11, 2022
Masked finfoot under threat: A canary in the coalmine of climate change
I want to tell you why the loss of a bird somewhere far away from home should bother you.
October 17, 2021
Reversing the tide against Sawfish loss from the Bay of Bengal
By the fishing villages of Alipur and Mohipur municipalities in Kuakata, things are afoot. A team of conservationists, field workers, researchers, artists and videographers have put their heads together to drive home a crucial message in favour of Sawfish, lovingly dubbed the king of fishes.
September 24, 2021
Canopy bridges: The answer to fragmented forests?
In November 2020, a couple of young researchers at Satchari National Park in Habiganj tried their hands at something that was a novel concept in Bangladeshi wildlife conservation.
September 11, 2021
Dolphins washing ashore dead: Fishing nets at fault?
French naval officer, explorer and conservationist Jacques-Yves Cousteau was not wrong when he said, “The happiness of the bee and the dolphin is to exist. For man it is to know that and to wonder at it.”
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