IQRA L. QAMARI

What are the IELTS essentials?

IELTS is an immensely popular standardised exam of English language proficiency.

Applying for the best job in the world

The latest start-up in town catering to the digital marketing industry is looking forward to expanding its team. Within only a week of its establishment, it has managed to gather a sizeable share of clientele.

Being a klutz

Klutziness is a curse. Your life basically transforms into a slapstick comedy with the laughter tracks echoing through it for real. As a klutz myself, days that do not offer any complementary scratches or bruises are a rare case.

Rainy Day Protocol for Dummies

Try not to get hit by all the sentiments listening to November Rain. At least wait till November rolls around.

Reminiscing high school romance

Last night I stumbled upon my younger cousin, a high-school student, chatting away with a girl from his class for whom he apparently has a 'thing'. It took me down a dusty memory lane of high school romance and made me feel like a wrinkly 60 year old with a cane and a chronic cough. But I'm just in my 20s having an existential crisis.

A guide to shopping in Doza

If you are one of those people who always keep wondering how girls in Dhaka always manage to somewhat keep up with the haute couture despite always complaining about being broke, then you have not been paying enough attention.

When you’re not that into make-up

There was once a time when makeup within our geography only meant the face would be plastered with a foundation ten times lighter than the actual skin colour and the eyes would be made to look no less dramatic than Sauron's ablaze eyeballs. But now the times they are a changin'.

Urban Dictionary - Dhaka Edition

Badbuzz (can also be substituted by pera): A feeling that demolishes all your happy vibes and kills all the “feel good” hormones in your body. You might wake up a content person, cherishing the rainbows and butterflies with a spring in your step, when suddenly something or someone evokes this “badbuzz” in you and all your vibrations for the rest of the day will be out of tune.

What's it like to have a common name

Being someone born with an inherent identity crisis, whenever I come across my namesake, my first instinct is usually to prove to them that I am the alpha and establish superiority because I tend to get highly

Tips for your first time at a beauty parlour

Beauty parlours are the zones of mystery and enigma to many, given its power of before-after transformation effects within a couple of hours. The first visit to a beauty salon is always memorable.

A day in the life of a deshi conspiracy theorist

The day starts with me suddenly waking up in puddle of my own drool on the table. The laptop screen is frozen. The title on the webpage reads “Alien sightings in Dhanmondi!” I still haven't managed to crack the last case about Hatirjheel being the gateway to Atlantis, but I have decided to give it a rest for the time being. The place discharges a foul stench of waste that lingers in the air like the thick, malicious smell of Mordor.

PRESENTING CORPORATE TRAILBLAZERS OF TOMORROW

Business competitions are of monumental significance for all students standing on the edge of the corporate domain. Amongst all these ambitious prizefights, Unilever BizMaestros stands out for good reason.

How to raise your Economics CGPA. For real.

From the moment I had stepped into the chapters of a university, life has firmly fastened itself to the tracks of a rollercoaster and not just any regular rollercoaster, but the sort that causes a boom and a recession.

Innovative initiative to extract export ideas

On December 3, 2016, The Daily Star, in collaboration with Crown Cement, held the grand finale of 'Rise High Bangladesh'. The winning teams were: champions Brains of Castamere (IBA, Dhaka University), 1st runner-up Inspirebels (North South University), and 2nd runner-up Team Unpredictable (Rajshahi University).

OPTIMITY 2017: Where students become “investment gladiators”

Investment, stocks, mutual funds - these concepts may sound familiar to many, using them in everyday scenario but when it actually comes to dealing with them, a lot of them will take a step back.

Surviving 6 hours of traffic

Last Thursday, I got ready for yet another long drive and by a long drive I mean the regular commute to my bidirectional university, Dokkhin Uttor.

Reasons why my diet never works and it's okay!

It is that time of the month again when I have fallen facedown from my diet plans - that, too, on a chocolate chip pancake.

Social media reactions we all need

Your neighbor has smashed the leg day, arm day and every other part of their body and ensures there is a post about it every five minutes.

Daily social media things in real life

The frequent power failures, the blistering heat and the fear of the trending chikungunya had forced me to finally rethink my life and sit down with a pen and paper to reevaluate my priorities.

IMAGINATION RUNNING WILD

From the grand indoor court, where one was used to the echoes of basketballs being dribbled or the muffled swoosh of a score

How not to be a jerk this Pahela Baishakh

'Tis that time of the year again, when porota-dim bhaji are replaced by panta-ilish for breakfast, the time when loud and flamboyant

RULES OF TRAVELLING IN A CNG

You know something is inherently wrong with a mode of transportation when you address it as the fuel it runs on.

When Parents Retire

This period is the slump of your parent's work cycle, the very cul-de-sac.

Are you dating a Quasi-parent?

Does your significant other call you every ten minutes to ask about your whereabouts? Do they restrict you from going to certain places or impose a curfew for returning home even before your mom does?

From Outer Space to Dhaka

I have been assigned a place called Dhaka, to study the human behaviour there. I wish to contribute significantly to project “Self-Destructing Planet” this year as I am expecting a promotion. It will be late December by the time I arrive there and it is mandatory I remain vigilant. They cannot find out I am not from here.

MEDITEC 2016 - Combining doctors, engineers and computer scientists for better healthcare

Long gone are the days when the healthcare sector of a country was solely managed by the medical practitioners. The requirements of a progressive world demand for technology and engineering to work in alliance within the medical precinct.

Why not learn a foreign language?

Being a bi/multilingual is like owning a linguistic superpower with which you can upgrade all aspects of your life - be it your career, higher education or social life.

A f(l)ight with your stage fright

“His palms are sweaty, knees week, arms are heavy, there's vomit on his sweater already…”

Bengali Dawat 101

These are not the regular dinners you see in movies. Dawats are the quintessence of our race: intense cricket discussions, fed up moms running after their young and trying to feed them, and that smell of kacchi biryani that is teasing your salivary glands from the kitchen but is taking eons to be served.

Travelling For the First Time with Friends

Chances are that the marked date on your calendar will one day no longer trigger a sigh of failure from you, or those

January 24, 2019
January 24, 2019

What are the IELTS essentials?

IELTS is an immensely popular standardised exam of English language proficiency.

January 10, 2019
January 10, 2019

Applying for the best job in the world

The latest start-up in town catering to the digital marketing industry is looking forward to expanding its team. Within only a week of its establishment, it has managed to gather a sizeable share of clientele.

October 11, 2018
October 11, 2018

Being a klutz

Klutziness is a curse. Your life basically transforms into a slapstick comedy with the laughter tracks echoing through it for real. As a klutz myself, days that do not offer any complementary scratches or bruises are a rare case.

August 2, 2018
August 2, 2018

Rainy Day Protocol for Dummies

Try not to get hit by all the sentiments listening to November Rain. At least wait till November rolls around.

May 31, 2018
May 31, 2018

Reminiscing high school romance

Last night I stumbled upon my younger cousin, a high-school student, chatting away with a girl from his class for whom he apparently has a 'thing'. It took me down a dusty memory lane of high school romance and made me feel like a wrinkly 60 year old with a cane and a chronic cough. But I'm just in my 20s having an existential crisis.

April 26, 2018
April 26, 2018

A guide to shopping in Doza

If you are one of those people who always keep wondering how girls in Dhaka always manage to somewhat keep up with the haute couture despite always complaining about being broke, then you have not been paying enough attention.

March 29, 2018
March 29, 2018

When you’re not that into make-up

There was once a time when makeup within our geography only meant the face would be plastered with a foundation ten times lighter than the actual skin colour and the eyes would be made to look no less dramatic than Sauron's ablaze eyeballs. But now the times they are a changin'.

March 1, 2018
March 1, 2018

Urban Dictionary - Dhaka Edition

Badbuzz (can also be substituted by pera): A feeling that demolishes all your happy vibes and kills all the “feel good” hormones in your body. You might wake up a content person, cherishing the rainbows and butterflies with a spring in your step, when suddenly something or someone evokes this “badbuzz” in you and all your vibrations for the rest of the day will be out of tune.

January 25, 2018
January 25, 2018

What's it like to have a common name

Being someone born with an inherent identity crisis, whenever I come across my namesake, my first instinct is usually to prove to them that I am the alpha and establish superiority because I tend to get highly

January 4, 2018
January 4, 2018

Tips for your first time at a beauty parlour

Beauty parlours are the zones of mystery and enigma to many, given its power of before-after transformation effects within a couple of hours. The first visit to a beauty salon is always memorable.