Tribute

Uri Avnery: The face of exemplary journalism

Uri Avnery, the Israeli activist-journalist who famously played chess with the Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat, died in Tel Aviv on August 20, at the age of 94.
In memory of Imtiaz Habib

It is with profound sorrow we write this piece about our dear friend Imtiaz Hasan Habib (1949-2018), who died peacefully while asleep in the early morning hours of August 27 at his home in Norfolk, Virginia.
Remembering Justice Kamrul Islam

The news of the unexpected passing away of Justice Kamrul Islam Siddiqui last week was a huge shock to me and many of his colleagues, friends and acquaintances.
The lonely path that Rama Chowdhury walked

Jodi tor daak shune keo na ashe, tobe ekla cholo re (If no-one heeds your call - then walk alone). The indomitable Rama Chowdhury, known to many as Ekattuker Janani (Mother of '71), had made this line from the famed Tagore song the guiding ideal of her life.
A fearless voice of reason

Abul Mansur Ahmad excelled in each of his professions as writer, journalist and politician, and such was his honesty that he worked without pitting one profession against the other.
Syed Ahmadul Huq: Banglar Rumi and the eclectic traditions of South Asia

In the creative writings of eminent author Ahmedul Huq, popularly known as “Banglar Rumi” throughout Bangladesh, is a perfect
Kuldip Nayar: A Partition storyteller par excellence

My father, a prolific reader of literature about the historical events connecting India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was a great admirer of Indian writer-columnist Kuldip Nayar. “Don't miss it,” he would tell me, about Nayar's weekly column published by The Daily Star. I often heard my father say that Muhammad Ali Jinnah used to be called an “ambassador of Hindu-Muslim unity”.
Some Warriors Wear Saris

It isn't easy being the writer of the family, especially when your only competition is your grandmother who had written over 100 books in two different languages, like our legacy, our beloved Didu Dr Halima Khatun.
Journalism’s guiding light

For us in The Daily Star, Kuldip Nayar was a guiding spirit and a symbol of the values of the best in the profession. His occasional visits would be occasions for us to learn from his long and vast experience, a learning that would be made easy by his generosity.
Kuldip Nayar: Life and work

Eminent Indian journalist and a regular columnist of The Daily Star, Kuldip Nayar died on August 23, 2018 at a hospital in Delhi, India. He was 95.
Farewell to a master: Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul

VS Naipaul, to use his most common appellation, died at his London home on August 11, six days short of his 86th birthday.
Vajpayee's enduring legacy

If PV Narasimha Rao was the initiator of the process of India's globalisation diplomatically and economically, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee who cemented that process irrevocably.
A leader ahead of his time

Tajuddin came much before his time and we are not yet ready to understand him properly.” Professor Sardar Fazlul Karim's famous words aptly describe the key architect of Bangladesh's Liberation War. In the physical absence of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Tajuddin Ahmad was the key actor, who led the war with remarkable diplomacy to achieve freedom from the Pakistani colonial occupation.
Defining Tajuddin's place in history

Tajuddin Ahmad was the one who filled a crucial void in leadership during Bangladesh's most important nine months in 1971 after Bangabandhu had been taken prisoner by the Pakistani army.
Serajul Islam Choudhury - Our Leading Intellectual and Inspiration

He confronts, challenges, and combats the world with words. But his words become more than words. They morph into weapons in our struggles against oppression and injustice. For him, of course, writing is fighting. But, then, he is more than a combative writer.
Begum Sufia Kamal - The lone crusader

Sufia Kamal, (June 20, 1911–November 20, 1999), lived a long and eventful life. She not only witnessed great cataclysms in history but played a major role in empowering women in an oppressive society.
What Bourdain Taught Me

It was only last month that I found myself in La Fuente Alemana on a busy street in Providencia in Santiago, Chile.
Remembering a trailblazer for women's empowerment

When many prominent leaders of Awami League were imprisoned, including Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman,
Our beloved VC Sir

The last time I met Dr Hafiz GA Siddiqi was at a seminar or a conference. VC Sir, as many of us still refer to him, was surrounded by crowds of his former students,
A tribute to Mustafa Nur-Ul Islam

For most people who live to be 90, life is usually one long, painful journey troubled by debilitating illnesses or loss of mobility or memory, or both; they have to depend on others for the simplest of tasks like pouring a glass of water or turning in bed.
Kamaludddin Ahmed Khan: Keen, unconventional, relevant

Being married to Begum Sufia Kamal was certainly an important part of Mr Kamaluddin Ahmed Khan's life. He derived much joy and meaning, and perhaps some recognition, from this. But he never derived his identity from this relationship. In that, he was fiercely independent, and quite unique.
Remembering freedom fighter Lt. Col. Quazi Nooruzzaman, B.U. (declined)

Every year around this time, I get a phone call from someone or the other of the loose fraternity of Sector 7 veterans to remind me that May 6 is Lieutenant Colonel Quazi Nooruzzaman's death anniversary; he passed away in 2011.
Satyajit Ray: A director's gaze

A pair of keen eyes put Simi Garewal on edge at a wedding reception of Raj Kapoor's daughter. Little did the teenager in her trendy outfit know that the eyes following her were none other than Satyajit Ray's. She had even less idea that in his mind Ray was already visualising her in the role of a tribal girl in his upcoming film “Aranyer Din Ratri”. The art of seeing past one's worldly looks and recasting them in light of their inner talent was not unknown to Ray.
A dream still too far

Fifty years ago, America's iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, was slain in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4. In the United States, King's following words are famous to the point of being clichéd, but they bear repeating nonetheless: “I have a dream that little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
In memory of Simeen Mahmud

It is both difficult and painful to write an obituary of a spouse, particularly if the death is an untimely one. Yet many friends and academic colleagues of Simeen, my wife who has recently died at a Harvard hospital within hours of being rushed to the emergency room, have requested me to do so since they think that she was both my “intellectual and life's partner”.
The Dream of Martin Luther King Jr

IN a historic 1999 civil lawsuit of the King family against the US government, 12 jurors in the Shelby County Court in Tennessee reached a unanimous verdict on December 8, 1999, after about an hour of deliberations, that Dr Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated as a result of a conspiracy. When asked whether the jury found “others including governmental agencies” to be “parties to this conspiracy,” the jury answered, “yes”.
Remembering Professor Jamal Nazrul Islam

March 16, 2018 marked the fifth death anniversary of Professor Jamal Nazrul Islam. I know everyone is still mourning Professor Stephen Hawking, but Professor JNI was also a larger-than-life figure. It is unfortunate that many people in Bangladesh don't know about him. In my mind, Hawking's greatest achievement was helping fund and create the Centre for Mathematical Sciences (CMS)—the largest
Remembering our sister Simeen Mahmud

On the chilling morning of March 26, 1971, Pakistani soldiers kicked open the back door of our Dhaka University bungalow, and violated our residence for the second time.
Stephen Hawking's unparalleled legacy

The world-famous physicist Stephen Hawking passed away on March 14, 2018. His death has left me saddened like millions around the world. But I was happy to see that The Daily Star had published a couple of articles on Stephen Hawking, one of which was written by a Bangladeshi academic. It inspired me to express my thoughts and feelings about how Hawking's work has influenced me.
Farewell to a brilliant mind

Stephen Hawking died on Pi Day—March 14, which is also Einstein's birthday. He was born on another special day—Galileo's 300th death anniversary. It goes without saying that Hawking had a massive impact on not only gravitational physics, but also the world at large.