Perspective
In search of a therapist navigating the crazy of Dhaka and some more (m)adventures in between
I woke up with a start at 06:09 am that morning on April 10. It was the sharp ring of the alarm clock going off at this ungodly hour that made me jump up.
Time and Space
Winter came early that year. Mid-October, a steady wind appeared and transformed Dhaka into a dust bowl; by November, a fog descended and obscured the moon.
Corrupt development begets corruption
What would we learn sitting in an air-conditioned and well-furnished classroom if the pedagogical practice remains the same—copy-pasted slides from SlideShare with watermarks still on them, exhibiting incompetence and indolence? Which path of knowledge would we be treading on, with a fancy library reading MP3 BCS guides, while a thick layer of dust covers the library books, longing for human touch? With teachers being transmitters of knowledge and students only passive receivers in a high-tech environment, would we not be annulling curiosity and participation—two fundamental qualities of knowledge as observed by the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire?
Things we lost to the fire
The distance from Lexington to Astoria is six miles; 1.5 hours by foot. On that crisp fall morning, it took twice that.
perspective / The issue of Kashmir hits close to home
Ahmad Shafi* sensed the unrest in Kashmir before it happened. An MBBS student in Bangladesh, he was in class at Dhaka’s Green Life
Perspective / We are what we remember
When Nana was 24, he saw Muslims slaughtered in prayer. As men prostrated before God, the cold of steel met the warmth of flesh,
perspective / How the ceiling falling on my head taught me something new about commercial property
When the concrete casting of the ceiling at Gausia market broke off and fell on my head last week, I was determined to hold someone
PERSPECTIVE / A Perpetrator’s Prerogative
About a month back, a 20-year-old man—a university student—was accused of sexual harassment and assault by multiple girls who came forward on social media. Following the circulation of posts exposing his alleged behavior, he faced, at max, a blast of “angry” emojis and hateful comments.
Darwin: The portal to Asia
Tucked in a remote corner at the tip of the Northern Territory (NT), Australia, lies a little known city called Darwin—first named in 1839 by John Lort Stokes after his former shipmate and evolutionist Charles Darwin.
Unforgettable jingles of the silver screen
I woke up one day with a song stuck in my head. For the longest time, I couldn't recall where it was from. After two hours of obsessive tinkering on YouTube, I found that what I was remembering was one of the catchiest tunes from a Star Ship commercial of the 90s that would appear on BTV.
The 'other' side of the Wall
Envisaged as vast, impregnable structures in their inception, walls have been proclaimed to defend realms and their inhabitants from invaders for time immemorial. The same can be said to apply to the Wall in George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, televised on-screen as Game of Thrones.
Surviving our long distance marriage
Courtesy of studying and working in different countries, the vast majority of my half-a-decade long marriage has been long distance.
(Un)passing through Jahangirnagar with 'radiant, cool eyes'
56 students were charged with attempted murder and sedition for speaking up against the police brutality that left three students of the 'Protibader Naam Jahangirnagar' road safety movement severely wounded by gunshot and countless others injured.
SUFFERING FROM AN IDENTITY CRISIS?
It is the first day of the Bengali New Year and our national identity seems to be in a state of predicament.
Anandabazar's alt-journalism
Here in Dhaka last year, at a conference on the future of print media business, DD Purkayastha, CEO of ABP Group, the parent company of Anandabazar Patrika, said of the paper's digital strategy: “We are giving what our readers want.”
Do You Recognise the Patriarchy?
A system of society or government in which men hold the power and women are largely excluded from it.
Do Doctors Need Handwriting Classes Now?
Do you remember the times you got a prescription that looked like bad artwork? That is a doctor's handwriting. But why is it so bad? And do they need handwriting classes?
No one left for Nasiruddin Shah to idealise
A few months back Nasiruddin Shah was denounced over his remarks on late Rajesh Khanna. The same Nasir was eulogising late Om
