Noushin Nuri

The ghosts called lost friends

When we remember these lost friends, memory comes in layers.

2w ago

1901 feels a lot like 2020 in Orhan Pamuk’s latest novel

How Mingherians responded to the infectious plague in 1901 isn’t altogether different from our response to the Covid-19. They too hid their patients in fear of stigma and isolation.

I am the older sibling but I don’t feel like it

My younger sister refuses to acknowledge that I am indeed the older one. 

Journaling in times of turbulence

“Do you sometimes think that the world is unfair?” This is a question I know I will never get a satisfactory answer to. In fact, I would get no answer at all because I always pose this question to something that never answers, only absorbs – my diary.

Journaling in times of turbulence

Journals are my way of preserving time and retrieving sand-like memories.

The struggles of finding sportswear for women

Of all the countless obstacles between a woman and sports, one is her clothes.

Finding myself in Orhan Pamuk books

It is also etched in the corners of multiple pages of the notebook I am writing this draft in. It is on my passport, also on my pajamas. It is the word the world knows me by—my name. Specifically, my last name, Nuri.

The strange exclusivity of Dhaka University Central Library

It’s not allowed for the students to physically browse bookshelves in the Dhaka University Library.

To the muse

Put up my notebook on a shelf, And laid in its sheaves a crimson rose.

How students outside Dhaka miss out on opportunities

As much as we rant about how unlivable Dhaka city may be, most of us would blink in disbelief at the thought of having to move out. We are tied to this city — by obligations and attachments alike.

I am a 1000 taka note and I feel unwanted

Unlike most of you, I don’t have the luxury of determining my self-worth.

Do you look at the moon?

The unpredictability of the moon brings us closer to ourselves.

Bangladeshi stand-up comedians can do a lot better

The local stand-up scene has often disappointed, but it can do better.

The grief of losing a skill

When I find myself sliding into the endless pit called writer’s block, I turn to prolific writers.

Too much self-help doesn’t work. Here’s why

There is no end to the pursuit of self-help.

Making a case for the quiet kid in class

Itroverts too can socialise, but within certain limits.

Christy Lefteri's 'Songbirds': The invisible life of migrant domestic workers

“Absence is the highest form of presence.” This Joycean quote could not be truer for Nisha.

From the minarets, all their dark secrets revealed

Certain identities can strip people of their right to identify as humans. These people find their existence undesired, their rights, freedom, choices unguarded.

Generic business competition desperately tries to surprise everyone

Bumble Bee Business Club, the university club in which members wear suits in the blistering summer and pretend to run an actual organisation, has announced the date for their flagship event RantWitz 2.0.

Elif Shafak's 'Black Milk': Can a writer be a mother too?

Black Milk is an autobiographical documentation of Shafak's hesitation, anxiety, perplexity, and self-discovery as she is about to enter the phase of motherhood.