Shahid Alam

Beyond the Rebel Poet: Nazrul’s Versatility

A bland, matter-of-fact statement about Kazi Nazrul Islam would be that he is the National Poet of Bangladesh

Nazrul beyond Bangla

Kazi Nazrul Islam needs no introduction to those familiar with Bangla literature. He and his works are, for cogent reasons, less known in other circles.

THE DREAM CHASERS

I was staring intently at the girl sitting in half profile in front and to the right of me. The girl was beautiful all right, but that is not

BRUSH STROKES OF HISTORY AND A PERSONAL BRUSH

This is an aberrant situation…well, read on. Alam, in his Itihasher Korcha, quotes the Natore-born eminent historian Sir Jadunath

GOODGE STREET STATION

For a split second I was startled beyond belief. For a longer while, maybe about a minute, I must have stood still with my mouth agape

THE ETERNAL BARD

Just the other day I was watching over CNN the celebrated journalist Christianne Amanpour prefacing her interview of the veteran

ECLECTIC ESSAYS

Muhammad Zamir is a prolific writer, notably for the national newspapers of Bangladesh, and writes proficiently in both Bengali and

BIDDING ADIEU TO RADA

The terrible realization was setting in almost all, if not all of us. The dream days of fun and work in equal measure at RADA were

March 21, 2016
March 21, 2016

Continual Quest for Knowing and Understanding Bangladesh

Reviewing a book that traces the history of Bangladesh from ancient times in just over 400 pages has been, for me, a formidable experience, especially since a great deal of material has been covered within those pages. Almost as a fiendish twist, for a fairly lengthy portion, the book is as much a Reader's Digest version of Indian history as it is of Bangladesh. However, when one considers the subtitle of the book, A Subcontinental Civilisation, one can acknowledge

August 31, 2015
August 31, 2015

The Maidens' Club

If you grew up as a teenager in the 1960s (and in the 1950s, or in the early1970s), and had knowledge and experience of the life led by the upper crust society in then East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), going through Niaz Zaman's The Maidens' Club might very well bring about a sense of déjà vu or nostalgia, or both, in you.

June 8, 2015
June 8, 2015

Crafted by History

Going through Crafted by History: An Interpretive Review of the Emergence of Bangladesh was a perplexing experience in view of the

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