March 27, 2021
Why Doesn’t the Myna Speak?
Solayman rolled off his bed in terror. Twisting his body, he dived under the bed stand and lay flat. His whole body was trembling. The freedom fighters must have surrounded his house!
March 10, 2021
When women want to study abroad
Last summer, one of my dissertation supervisees approached me as she plans to go abroad for higher studies.
January 16, 2021
Say “Hello” to the Skunks
“Have you met Mr. Skunk? In case you have not, he is a short black and white fellow that you might often see at the bottom of the stairs, or near the dumpster.” Joe paused for breath.
August 22, 2020
Substitute Cook
Last November, our elderly maid servant Fatema’s ma who works full-time at our house, wanted to take leave to get her son married. Of course, I agreed immediately. But she would be gone for about...
July 18, 2020
Sparkling Elizabeth and Timid Anne: Two Sides of the Same Coin?
Readers over the last two centuries have generally liked the bright and sparkling world of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, whereas Persuasion has often been described as “a departure from the...
June 28, 2020
When harassment is the norm
Sometime during the pre-lockdown era, I was standing in queue at the Dhanmondi branch of a renowned bank.
April 11, 2020
Baishakh at the Wake of Covid 19
It all started with someone responding to a Facebook post on Coronavirus—wishing that all the problems would be over before the
March 21, 2020
Where to?
Some weird things happen sometimes. It was just midday when his mother was done with her cooking. She got up from sitting position with her two hands on her knees and went to sit in the yard to...
March 14, 2020
Charlotte Brontë’s Villette: Food for Thought
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is widely read as a classic feminist novel. Published in 1953, Villette, however, still resides in a shadowy region.
February 15, 2020
Keats and the Elgin Marbles—Message from Parthenon
The classic collection of marble sculptures from Parthenon at the British Museum, commonly known as the Elgin Marbles, has been a vexed source of doubt, appreciation, enthusiasm, disapproval, and...