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.

4y ago

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.

4y ago

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.

4y ago

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.

5y ago

Natore's princess poet

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

5y ago

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

5y ago

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.

5y ago

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.

5y ago

January 26, 2018

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.

January 19, 2018

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,

January 18, 2018

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

January 17, 2018

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.

January 16, 2018

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

January 12, 2018

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.

January 12, 2018