Andrew Eagle

A Villager’s Guide to Feeding Foreigners

If you’re a straightforward villager like me, you’ll be curious to entertain the foreigner. Before you do there are things to consider. Foreigners have foreign ways; allowances are required. Yet, despite the inherent challenge it’s good to feed one. Even foreigners need to eat.

Corporate training needs a Bangladeshi spin

Importing corporate training modules is fraught with danger. It’s time to recognise the uniqueness and strengths of Bangladeshi corporate culture, and for training providers to tailor sessions accordingly.

Life lesson in Sylhet

Away from the news. Away from the enormity of a planet on the brink. Away from inner restlessness there is yet life. It’s what I learnt in Sylhet.

At home in the saddle

She's determined and courageous: at the tender age of twelve, Tasmina Aktar from Chak Subolpur village in Naogaon's Dhamoirhat upazila has quite a reputation in horse racing circles. The seventh-grade student is accustomed to placing first or second in any race. As a jockey she's participated in around fifty events. Tasmina is a girl undeterred, happy to compete in a sport usually reserved for men.

Natore's princess poet

For seven generations from the early-eighteenth century, the zamindars of Dighapatia near Natore were landlords of a vast estate,

When darkness falls

Morzina Begum from Daktarpara in Rangpur town works in a bidi factory, rolling cheap cigarettes. Aged 75, it's not an ideal

Bloom and grow, forever

In and around Mathorpara village, in Gaibandha's Shaghata upazila, it's become usual for every newborn child to be welcomed into the world with the planting of a tree. The tradition began three years ago by 28-year-old visual artist Gopal Chandra Barmon, as an extension of a tree-planting hobby carried from boyhood.

Cost of floating farms on the rise

In wetland areas of Pirojpur, farming on floating seedbeds called “dhap” is a tradition that spans centuries. Primarily constructed from water hyacinth, the seedbeds that are up to 180 feet long, four feet wide and two feet thick, allow farming in areas otherwise unavailable for regular crops. But this year, the rising cost of floating cultivation has farmers worried.

Jessore School Teacher: Never late, absent in 31-year career

Every school day morning like clockwork, maths and science teacher Satyajit Biswas is to be seen on his bicycle, commuting the seven kilometres from his Kucholia village home in Jessore's Monirampur upazila to Dhopadi Secondary School.

Wired for development

Business was always a struggle in Rupsha Bazar, a market on a Jamuna River shoal in Sirajganj. For many years, small business

Rivers of fish

The waterways in Madaripur's Shibchar upazila are proving to be an unexpected blessing for local fish farmers. Tilapia cultivation in rivers and waterholes is increasingly popular, with over 450 floating cages already taking advantage of this innovative and low-cost farming method.

Pigeon lover becomes a local trailblazer

When life knocks you down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try again. It is a lesson Bogra town's ATM Faysal Hasan learnt after his graduation with a master's in Bangla. Twice he appeared for a viva-voce exam for the public service. Twice, he claims, he was confronted by brokers wanting a bribe. Dreams defeated, Faysal turned to his hobby—pigeon rearing. He could not guess how successful he would be.

Fishes from natural resources disappearing in Bagerhat

With increased salinity in many waterways, following more-than-usual evaporation during last dry season, around 49 of the fish

Turkey farms doing well in hills

Like most graduates, when Rangamati resident Piyal Chakma finished his degree in textiles in 2011, he hoped for a good job.

Sand lifting puts bridges at risk

Two important bridges over the Monu river and a nearby embankment in Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar are at risk due to extensive riverbed sand extraction just 500 metres from the bridges.

Artificial insemination a success

With Eid-ul-Azha around the corner, more than a few thoughts are focused on cattle. In three Bagerhat upazilas, thanks to an ongoing artificial insemination programme being implemented by the livestock department, the cows are looking especially robust.

School students try hand at farming

In Ishwardi upazila these days, the farm workers out in the field might look a little young. In a programme run with the cooperation of local farmers, 84 educational institutions are sending students into the sunshine, even at the weekend, to gain practical farming knowledge.

Dinajpur, Joypurhat: Heyday for basket makers

For residents of several villages in Dinajpur and Joypurhat, this time of year is the season of baskets. As mango and other summer fruits ripen, wholesalers rely on the hand woven bamboo baskets known as either 'tukri' or 'jhuri' to transport fruit across the country.

Safe vegetables at low cost

Chemical-free fruit and vegetables are just what the doctor ordered. But the advantage of organic produce extends beyond public

Niceland Iceland

the fragment is all that survived…

The joy of colours

Atanu Patranabish Chhoton, 54, from Boro Pukurpar in Netrakona town, always led an active life. Alongside his pursuit of various careers as family breadwinner, Atanu indulged his flair for creativity at cultural and literary events.

Organic mango farmers overlooked for exports

The sweet scent of mango is in the air once again. But, instead of rejoicing, Rajshahi's orchardists are feeling uneasy. And the cause

Going to Hatiya Island

At first sight of our island, I confess

'A' is for 'orange'

A is for apple, b is for bear, c is for cat... English spelling is easy enough at the beginning. It clearly deteriorates thereafter. Yet one must have extra sympathy for Bangladeshi students of English because for them, sometimes 'a' is for orange.

Towards a new Cold War

Did you ever get sick on a plane? Some years ago, in Sydney, I was told by someone in the know, “I have a friend who travels a lot and he never eats on planes.” In terms of poisoning, a plane offers advantages. The event will occur in international airspace. National laws prohibiting such activity may not apply and even if they do, will be impossible to enforce.

Khirsapati mangoes get GI status as Bangladeshi products

Khirsapat mangoes to get GI status

An internationally-recognised sign used on specialty products, geographical indication links products with their specific origin, be it a country, town

School attendance crisis on Bogra's Jamuna chars

On the Jamuna river shoals (char landmass emerging from riverbed) in Bogra's Sariakandi upazila, all too often school isn't as

She's a superhero

Jobeda isn't the only woman whose husband divorced her when her father couldn't pay the full dowry. Nor is the 32-year-old tailor

C'nawabganj public health services dismal

A little good advice: don't get sick in Chapainawabganj town. Health services at the Adhunik Sadar Hospital are in a deplorable state

Saving crops from pests

Nationwide, for some years now, farmers have been using bags to protect ripening fruits, including mangoes, guavas, litchis and papayas. In Tangail, the same technique is being enlisted to protect vegetable crops from pest attack.

Dhanshiri river disappearing

“I shall return to the banks of the Dhanshiri,” poet Jibanananda Das famously wrote as the opening words of his patriotic poem 'I shall return'. Yet if Das, who died in 1954, truly were to return to the river that so inspired him, disappointment is inevitable.

Jujube orchards a winner for Jessore farmers

Several varieties of jujube, locally known as kul or boroi, are proving to be a worthwhile crop in Jessore. Around 500 local farmers,

Nakshi kantha tradition thrives in Chapainawabganj

For generations, heart and soul, many women in Chapainawabganj, as in some other parts of the country, have sewn nakshi kantha

Risky railway crossing

With bustling markets on either side, Dhelapir railway crossing near Saidpur station in Nilphamari is predictably busy. Thousands of people and vehicles cross the tracks there each day.

The lure of palm oil

African oil palms have been used for producing edible palm oil for millennia. Archaeological evidence suggests the tree was imported

Welcome back birds

In Atia union of Tangail's Delduar upazila it's noisy nowadays, with the call of birds.

Free school for poor children

Knowing that their wealth could serve a good purpose in the here and now, Nawsher Alam and his wife Mahmuda Alam, from Uttar Majhail village in Hazipur union of Magura's sadar upazila, established a free school for poor students.

Marshland farming

The marshlands of Nazirpur upazila in Pirojpur are under as much as eight feet of water for most of the year. It's not the sort of

Students invent robot

With the recent fanfare around the visit of international celebrity robot Sophia to Dhaka, public interest in the potential role of robots

A misplaced focus

Rajshahi Zoo was once a prime recreation facility for city-dwellers and visitors. But since the city corporation took responsibility for its management in 1996, the zoo's grounds have steadily dwindled in size.

Imagination's winter

When snow falls, people at a distance

Many struggle with unemployment

When the ashrayan public housing project was developed on four acres in Shailkuria village in Laohati union of Tangail's Delduar

Jhalakathi's ponds face grabbing threat

Public ponds have been part and parcel of Jhalakathi town for centuries. But this heritage is now being lost due to illegal land

Historic theatre at risk of eviction

Regular patrons of cultural events, along with performers in Lalmonirhat town, are in anguish over the likely loss of the historic theatre

Silk industry flourishes in the hills

Several of the peoples of the Chittagong Hill Tracts are famous for weaving. The production of traditional cloth and woven goods,

Kayaks prove popular

Around four thousand years ago the Inuit, Yup'ik and Aleut peoples of the North American Arctic invented kayaks. Originally constructed of stitched seal skin stretched over a wooden or whalebone frame, the canoe-like boats