Letters
SWM
is improving
I would like to respond to Meshkat A. Chowdhury's comment
that SWM "is becoming flat and less interesting day
by day" by saying that it is completely baseless. SWM's
improvement has been obvious in its "Environment",
"Health", "Musings", "Lifestyle",
and "Fitness" pages in the last four issues and
has excellent covers in every issue. There may be some lapses
but this does not mean that the whole magazine is unattractive.
For a very small price, SWM gives us "Chintito"
-- the essence of the recent, "Newsnotes" -- containing
the most important issues of the week, and the numerous
other sections of the magazine. A variety of things like
art and jokes, book reviews, travel pieces and feature stories
on human rights are all a part of the magazine and I think
it is becoming more attractive by the day and I like it
very much.
Mohammad Ariful Islam, RUET, Rajshahi
On
"What We Teach Our Kids"
In her article "What We Teach Our Kids" in the
August 27 issue of SWM, Hana Shams Ahmed made an important
observation. Guardians are responsible for imprinting on
their children's minds an inaccurate image of the philosophy
of life. If a child always has someone else to serve them
and gets everything they want before even asking for it,
a superiority complex will naturally grow. They become dominating
and at the same time dependent on others. They will also
become selfish and uncaring towards society, family and
even their parents. In order for our children to grow up
with a positive attitude, we should encourage in them values
like the dignity of labour and the right attitude towards
and sympathy for other human beings.
Amal Saha, Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute
On
" A Roman Column"
I enjoy reading "A Roman Column" in SWM and have
been missing it in the last few issues. Neeman Sobhan's
exceptional writing style is delightful, sometimes amusing
and certainly an asset to the magazine. I hope I will enjoy
reading her next episode very soon!
Veronique Yousuf
Atrocious
Attack on AL Rally
Words are not strong enough to express my disgust at the
horrendous bomb attack on the AL rally on August 21. The
grenade attack took 19 lives and injured hundreds. The horror
scenes on the private television channels were like those
in a Hollywood battlefield scene. To date, 140 people have
been killed and over 900 injured in 16 bomb blasts that
have brought havoc on political meetings, cultural functions,
religious gatherings and cinema halls since March 1999.
Sadly, not a single criminal has been nabbed which is not
saying much for both the AL and BNP governments and the
investigation agencies. This time, a previously unknown
organisation has claimed responsibility for the August 21
grenade attack.
It is
high time the government takes action against those responsible.
A bomb squad of experts should be formed. If necessary,
assistance can be sought from countries like the US and
UK. We feel insecure; our educational institutions are on
strike; hartals are paralysing the economy and violence
between the political parties is hampering our social polity.
This bomb culture must be eliminated once and for all.
Md. Nazrul Islam Sumon, Department of English, DU
The
Massacre of August 21
Words cannot express the extreme grief and anguish the country
is going through right now. A series of bomb blasts have
occurred in the last couple of years in Dhaka, Sylhet and
Khulna, among others, with different targets including journalists,
political leaders and foreign diplomats. Not one investigation
into these bloody attacks has been completed and none of
the culprits have been punished. The recent grenade attack
on a procession of the main opposition political party Awami
League (AL) shows us again how inhuman the terrorists are.
Due to the fizzing out of all the investigations so far,
they seem to be getting even stronger. We condemn the assassination
attempt on former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demand
a proper and impartial investigation into these dastardly
attacks, if necessary, an international one. There is no
doubt that the forces against democracy and secularism in
our country are carrying out these terrible attacks one
after another and the government has not done enough to
tackle them. We hope that the assassins will be brought
to justice and the forces of intolerance and extremism are
defeated.
Aranya Syed, Dhaka
A
Closer Look at "Malignant Missed Call"
I think SWM does an excellent job! I also want to say that
I absolutely agree with Md. Nazrul Islam Sumon about the
reason behind "malignant missed calls". Many cell-phone
subscribers don't know that missed calls hinder smooth network
function. The latest eye-catching advertisement of Grameen
Phone (GP) about "missed calls" has been a good
step taken to educate subscribers about network performance.
But while GP is creating awareness among subscribers, they
are unaware of the reason behind missed calls, which is
the high charges of airtime. Tk. 6.90 per minute for pre-paid
calls, which is the rate set by many operators, is the highest
call rate per minute in the world. In our neighbouring country,
India, some cell phone companies charge as low as 99 paisa
per minute. This means that all cell phone companies in
Bangladesh are taking unfair profit advantages and earning
a lot. Subscribers don't buy cell phones to make missed
calls. They purchase them in order to have smooth communication
with others. If airtime charges were reduced, people would
automatically make calls instead of missed calls.
Mominul Hasan Rintu, Dept. of Business Administration,
Asian University of Bangladesh
Thanks,
SWM
English is an international language with increasing use
around the world. In Bangladesh, this is no different, though
the growth in the use of English is very slow. There are
not enough English language teaching centres where people
can learn the language. I am glad to know that SWM will
be running weekly columns to help learn the English language.
I'm sure many students as well as others will benefit from
this.
Shah Maksud Noor, School of Law, BRAC University
On
BTV
I have been following the coverage on the recent bombings
in the country on the different television channels including
ATN Bangla and Channel i. Even CNN and BBC have been covering
it. The sad thing is that the least coverage has been given
by BTV. Even on the day of the bombing, while other channels
were giving it high priority, BTV did not. It is a shame
indeed. BTV really needs to be a more neutral medium.
Mehzabin Ahmed
What
a Shame!
A few days ago I was watching a news bulletin on television
that made me sad. Three British boys took to the streets
of Dhaka city trying to create awareness among people about
keeping the city clean through singing. Shame on us! We
live in the city but have no civic sense. We throw garbage
anywhere, cough and spit in public places. The boys were
singing in front of the City Corporation, calling Dhaka
a "dirty city". Can we not be more conscious citizens?
S. M. Nausher, Dhaka National Medical College Hospital
Correction
Last week's cover story Humayun Azad:
A Truncated Life carries an inadvertent mistake. On page
11, the year 1996, in which Azad completed his PhD, should
read as 1976.
Announcement
From
now on, SWM will be regularly running the new column "On
Campus" on the various events and issues of the different
university campuses around the country. University students
are invited to send in articles or anecdotes with their
thoughts on and experiences of campus life and reviews of
campus events such as festivals, field trips and cultural
programmes. --SWM Editor
Letters to the Editor, Dhaka Diary & Write to Mita with
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words. Articles should be within 1,200 words. Articles and
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Weekend Magazine, 19, Karwan Bazar, Dhaka-1215, Fax: 8125155,
or e-mailed to <[email protected]>
Articles may be edited for reasons of space and clarity.