The West, FIFA and Us: We're all being hypocritical about the World Cup
Pro-migrant, anticolonial discourse has been weaponised to support Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World Cup
Mermaids aren’t real, and neither is race
Our current conceptualisation of race derives heavily from the last couple centuries of European imperialism.
Declan Walsh's 'The Nine Lives of Pakistan': A journalist explains the country that banished him
In the middle of an Islamabad night, just before the Pakistan election of 2013, the Irish journalist Declan Walsh was visited by “angels”.
An anarchist retelling of Tintin
The globetrotting hero-reporter, he of the blonde quiff and the plus four trousers, had many an adventure throughout a 46-year-long run under
Revisiting the only book written by an Indian about the Indian soldiers of WWI
Tens of thousands of men sailed across the ocean to a land they’d never before heard the name of. They fought long and hard, in the world’s
The Dead Can’t Dance
The death’s head is panther-stalking her through the party. Bodies washed in neon pink ebb and flow, sinking and rising from the shadows as light thrums.
The trap of Re-Orientalism
“Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” wrote Rudyard Kipling, a man with a silly name who only had a career because West met East and immediately mugged it, running off with wallet, shoes and pants. Through Kipling’s pen, the British
Fossil fuels spark wars and create migrants. Are renewables better?
There is a concept called the Resource Curse. Countries with high quantities of natural resources such as oil and certain minerals have
Islamophobia is the New Black
Burmese State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent partnering with Hungarian PM Viktor Orban appears at first blush to be the
Who is fantasy for?
If I say fantasy, what do you imagine? Castles, knights, dragons, and different fantasy ‘races’ (by which one means dwarves, elves and
Dead Brown Bodies vs. Hurt White Feelings
I'm writing this on April 13. Exactly a hundred years ago, today was the day of the Punjabi New Year, celebrated by the Sikhs as Baisakhi. At Baisakhi, 1919, the British Indian army massacred about a thousand people (British inquiries suggested 379 dead) in a garden in Amritsar.
Is the UK using citizenship to avoid its responsibilities?
When UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid announced the decision to prevent Shamima Begum from returning to the UK, many were thrilled—including Bangladeshis.
White Headstones and Black Bodies
Tucked away in the hills of Chittagong, and between the overgrown temples of Maynamati, are white stones bearing the names of the African men buried beneath them. We refer to their graves as British graves.
Being American Can't Be Easy
There are certain advantages to being Bangladeshi. (This is not actually true, but for now let's pretend.)
ARMIES OF DARKNESS
The knights of the heroic king had come to the village. “Have no fear! We will liberate you from the forces of evil!” they cried, as they rode in with the dawn's light.
Millions will be made stateless, and we're silent
The day after this article is published, three million Bengalis will have become stateless in India.
Only authoritarians love refugees
In a breathtakingly racist speech, he warned that Europe could turn “black”and have its culture and civilisation overwhelmed by the “barbarian invasions” of migrants from across the Mediterranean.
The West removes Its mask
A few days after Pig-King Trump announced that the brazen and brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi could not be allowed to get in the way of American arms sales to the House of Saud, Jair Bolsonaro became the Brazilian President-elect.
Let's get rid of our colonial hangover, please
Around Class 3 or so, we were studying Zainul Abedin for our Bangla classes. My peers from English medium schools will remember Bangla textbooks as quaint
In Case of Distress, Scream
I was at a park the other day with my friend Tom—who just so happens to be an adult like myself, which neither of us can be blamed for—and the area was infested with the verminous offspring of other adult humans.
That sweet Dhaka air
I tried breathing in Dhaka and honestly, if you haven't tried it yourself, I can't recommend it to you. It's a waste of your time—simply the worst.
Stories that dictate the Rohingya genocide
While simple charity should in an ideal world be taken for granted, in this world of closed borders, ideologies and poverty, we can at least congratulate ourselves a little for having kept the door open to the Rohingyas. Make no mistake: arriving in Bangladesh is not necessarily a solution to all their problems, but at the very least they are for now safe from harm.
Don't get hyped for Age of Empires 4
On 21 August 2017, Microsoft announced Age of Empires 4. There is a trailer on YouTube, but before you get excited let's break down what we know about the project so far.
Synthpop, myths, and the end of the world
Ulver's 2017 release, The Assassination of Julius Caesar, includes in its lyric booklet the celebrated painting Bonaparte before the Sphinx. A great myth, the relic of a lost civilisation juxtaposed against a man who was building his own legend. A man who styled himself after Caesar, whose name bookends an entire era.
Dunkirk isn't just a “war film”. It's great cinema.
Dunkirk is a brilliant film about war, though it is not a “war film” in the traditional sense of the term. War movies are often for rah-rah patriots, but the Battle of Dunkirk was not a victory or a glorious last stand. It was a retreat.
Suicide and irresponsible speech
In the aftermath of someone's suicide it is inevitable that those left behind will comment.
A mansion has many rooms…and stories
What Remains of Edith Finch is a game by Giant Sparrow about what death does to a family.
City of Magic
Risking his life Shakfat looked down at the street below him. It was a solid mass of cars, buses, giants, autorickshaws and a petni's bot gachh fitted with wheels.
Everything you don't know is a lie
Using the powers of malicious stupidity you can avoid all of these confusing, upsetting thoughts and events that force you to criticise and develop yourself. All you have to do is convince yourself that everything that challenges your views is a lie.
Zen and the Art of Kung Fu Angels
"Pree Ashma. Yis-Asram, the Blooded One. Yis-Prama, Hansa and Prat Pavam, who temper my heart. Yisun Atru Vyam. Forgive me for this violence I am about to inflict.”
What robots tell us about ourselves
When writing about robots, it's almost a reflex to begin by referring to them as an enduring science fiction trope – momentarily
WE'RE ALL PROPAGANDISTS
If you're anything like me – alive and on social media – you've seen your fair share of people dissatisfied with modern life and the people who live it.
Time to try Heroes of the Storm
Despite having provided the medium for the classic MOBA model as codified in DotA, Blizzard has elected to shy away from imitating this template.
SUPERSTAR
The managing editor's real name is Vikram and there are rumours that the corpse of the last person to have addressed him by it was found in a canal.
CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AS POLITICAL COMMENTARY
There's this funny thing people do where they attempt to put themselves forward as intellectually superior but instead come off as silly and sad.
Worldbuilding with Dhaka
Dhaka city can provide a wealth of inspiration for science fiction and fantasy.
TV's Best Sci-fi Right Now
There is little in The Expanse's cold open of a lone woman in a spaceship having a nightmarish encounter that indicates it is the start of something remarkable.
THE TEETH OF MAN
Ten thousand were the teeth in Mashgaru's smiling mouth, with still more hidden until needed.
How to BE a Pagri
In an age of globalisation we are at risk of having our own home-grown culture swamped by foreign imports.
DELETING FEELSBADMAN.JPG
It is used to describe a state of sadness that appears long-term and unshakeable.
How to Handle Information in 2017
The world is a complex web of events that may be geographically distant but have real and immediate consequences.
Chalice Hymnal
It is a sunless afternoon and a woman sits alone on her porch under the wind chimes. Bells and horns sound from the top of a great stone temple welcoming the evening tide. An unshaven man prowls the nameless alleys in the dead hours of the night, searching for you.
February 27, 2017
Global warming sets the stage for war
The first time I encountered the concept of a war for the environment was in the Command & Conquer: Tiberian Series of strategy games.
February 16, 2017
The Hair Loss Experience
I suffered from severe dandruff problems as a teenager (ladies). I combatted this with a ferocious grooming program that saw me going at my hair with a comb whenever my hands were free.
February 9, 2017
ROME AND ITS MANY SEQUELS
The experiences of puberty strongly shape the adults we become. Let us talk about something that happened during the world's adolescence.
February 2, 2017
The Past is a Prison
Approaching his seventeenth birthday the boy known as Rubaiyat Karim committed an act that made him infamous. July 19, 2009. On that day the man known as Rubaiyat Karim was conceived.
January 26, 2017
Nothing Matters in Sherlock
The Sherlock Holmes stories are simple enough in subject matter: a detective, his friend, and the cases they solve and an arch-nemesis hovering in the background.
January 19, 2017
Unconventional Desires
The pentagram flashed an impossible colour thirteen times just as the scented candles at the edges of the star were snuffed out. The wizard sweated nervously. The vial of blood at the centre exploded with a strange purple light.
January 5, 2017
Age of Empires 2: Evergreen, not Forgotten
The fourth expansion pack for Age of Empires 2, Rise of the Rajas, was released on December 19, 2016 as downloadable content.
December 29, 2016
2016 was THE worst. Now what?
The end of the world is a pretty commonplace incident.
December 22, 2016
Commandos and Desperados in Feudal Japan
In Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun, Mimimi Productions has married the gameplay of Commandos with intrigues and conflicts of Edo Japan.
December 22, 2016
It's Time to Make Peace with Spiders
First of all, let's just all have the bravery to be honest about this: spiders are super-scary and would probably have never existed in an ideal universe.
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