Cover Story

The Vampires of Dhaka

“Hello, did you reach the graveyard?” the person on the other side of the phone inquired. “Yes, I did. I'm inside now and looking for you guys. Where are you?” “What? No, what the heck, get out of there. Take a left from the graveyard, walk for about five minutes and you'll see a student mess. It's house number 42. Do you have Google Maps? I'll send you the location,” he corrected me.
Underground Football

We all know that cricket took over as the leading fandom in our country just around the time when the new millennium kicked in. But before the craze for the gentleman's game took control of our sporting arena, football sat on the throne for quite a long time. National and club level football were always at the heart of it.
Living Sustainably

The same way your mom nags at you about cleaning your room or doing household chores because it's your house too, you have a responsibility to take care of planet Earth a little, because it's your planet, don't you think?
Freelancing - A better alternative to your 9 to 5 job?

In a country like Bangladesh, the thought of becoming a full time freelancer is quite hard to grasp at first, irrespective of the field you plan to work in. The normal full time jobs which require you to attend your workstation for a minimum of 40 hours a week is what most people believe to be the only form of employment.
The perfect TV shows for Eid

Cooking shows are more popular than ever before. Children too take part in these cooking shows and many seem to be amazingly gifted in the culinary art. However, not all children have the skills needed to cook a dish worthy of being served at a Michelin star restaurant.
Grasping at the Hidden Straws

At the stage of your life when you're about to graduate from high school and enter university, you may find yourself stuck in a haze of perpetual confusion. You've just started grade 10 or 11, but your peers already seem like they have pulled ahead of you. There's a flurry of action and everyone is looking into prospects that they can cram into their repertoires to make themselves seem more “interesting”, “pro-active” or, the worst, “worldly”.
A dog sees Dhaka

I was wrong. Sitting up there, defeated and alone, I decided to do what I always do to forget and start anew. I slept.
Admission Tests - What you need to know

Admission test — the one ominous exam standing between you and your dream university, a test more gruesome than the Twelve Labours of Hercules. Admission tests can be highly challenging not only due to the sudden leap in difficulty, but also since your result directly reflects on the undergraduate programme you choose and the path your life takes thereafter.
Youngsters Talk Parenting

Aysha Zaheen, 19, an HSC graduate, thinks that the privacy of young people is an important matter that parents sometimes do not respect. “I guess it'd be nice if parents respected their kids' privacy.
Games that need reboots

One of the staples of Bangladeshi PCs in the early 2000's was this gem. Whether it was the bright and intricately detailed environments or the diversity in gameplay and enemies, anyone who played this even once was hooked.
Digital Marketing - The Invisible Skills Gap

Regardless of the current generation's various woes, no one can deny that we are a privileged generation. What we have in the palm of our hands today is more information than our ancestors could gather in their entire lifetimes. If we don't utilise our privileges to their fullest, or are not given the opportunity to do so, we are wasting precious opportunities that previous generations would kill to have.
A world cup for the rejects

This past Sunday the first-ever World Tournament of Rejects pulled down its curtain in the ad hoc capital of the football world, Italy. A nail-biting final between the Argentina Rejects and Rest of the Rejects XI marked the end of the tournament, a game which ended 2-1 in favour of the former. This result made it official that Argentina had the best group of rejects among the five participating teams.
Take the Plaantik

Football is the author of Cinderella stories; whether it is Iceland reaching the quarter finals in the Euros and qualifying for the World Cup or Gabriel Jesus going from painting streets only four years ago to spearheading the Brazilian national team's attack on the biggest stage, football has its own unique way of amusing people with tales of joy. We have our very own version of such a success story today, the story of “Plaantik”.
Not the salami you want but the one you deserve

Salami is a token of love. And ever since childhood, love has been synonymous to Pokémon. So why not just give that to the eager salami enthusiast? The best part about this is the amount of variety you have in your hand. Do you give them the overpowered Mewtwo card or the classic holo Pikachu card? There are so many options for you to think about. As for the person on the receiving end, they can trade that Pokémon card they got as salami with someone else and build his own deck. Your gift of Pokémon card will help them be the best like no one ever was. And we think that's beautiful.
Day in the life of a Bangladeshi Martian

Hours turned into days, days into months and finally, the months into a whole year on this red planet. A dream that was a bit of a laughing stock at first. An idea that was thought of decades ago. All this is now a reality for all of mankind. Colonising Mars. It all seemed like a concept that had no possibility to be turned into an actual reality. But after all the hard work put in by us and Space-TreX, we are finally here.
Surviving the Transition from O Levels  to A Levels

If the O Levels is Twilight, know that A Levels is Fifty Shades of Grey. However, it is possible to survive the transition, so here's an article with the collective advice and knowledge of everyone with some experience of A Levels.
The Best Years of Our Lives

University can be considered an inexplicable place exempt from the traditional rules of time and space. One moment you walk in as a freshman with eyes full of wonder and a heart full of optimism, and in the next second you walk out as a person -- years older with slumped shoulders carrying the wisdom you wish you had before. In between there is a blur of moments that are impossible to distinguish from one another.
Dhaka: the role-playing game

Many moons ago, before chaos had sprung upon the land, there was peace. Hundred years of prosperity till that fateful day. The winds of fury had risen long before, but it wasn't till the fat lady was breathing down his neck that Tazrian would take matters into his own hands, thus giving birth to the legend whose story would echo through the ages. The descendants he would never have would be proud.
Preparing for your first pet dog

Puppies are insatiable floof monsters who'll try to destroy anything within grasp. Therefore, you have to make your living space safe for its arrival. Take a good look around your house, especially the room your puppy will be spending the most time in, and try to identify all the items it can bite, chew, or pull down. Be especially wary of things made of leather, faux leather and PVC (mostly bags and shoes) as teething puppies love to sink their teeth into anything soft and rubbery. Objects with sharp edges and breakables should be stowed away as far as possible.
Cyber Privacy - why it should matter to you

You've heard the age old adage “don't talk to strangers”, but funnily enough in the internet we end up talking a lot to strangers. In fact on the internet, information we'd formerly be conscientious about, like our daily activities that we'd probably once keep private in a diary, are now openly share without so much as a second thought. Given the massive boom in social media, and how easily we let our information be accessed, it's no surprise that data we share can be misused. And that brings us to our topic of today, cyber-privacy.
Is MBA a must after BBA?

BBA is one of the most sought after degrees in the country today. With Bangladesh's promotion to a “developing” status on the horizon, more and more students are expected to pursue business degrees to take on newly emerging executive roles.
So You Think You Can Dance in Dhaka?

Matching steps to your favourite beat and swaying like nobody's watching, dancing truly lets you find and lose yourself, all at the same time. Ever since I was a little girl, dance has always held a special place in my heart. I would participate in every dance competition my school had to offer, danced/choreographed in every gaaye holud I was asked to be a part of, and grooved to Macarena, The Ketchup Song, and almost every Bollywood hit like there's no tomorrow.
Once upon a Pahela Baishakh

Sunlight peeks in through my curtains and gentle rays glimmer into the corner of my eyes helping me wake up earlier than usual. “Okay B!ng, prepare my morning coffee,” I mumble to my home assistant as I get ready to take a shower. The cold water sends jolts all the way to the small of my back till it finally alerts me to how important today is.
Superheroes fit for our City

Motshokumar is our resident fishy hero who embodies the spirit of “Bhaat-e maach-e Bangali”. Protector of our rivers, seafaring saviour, watery weirdo, he got his powers after falling into a river polluted by horrible radioactive chemicals while on a fishing trip, and since then has sworn to stop river pollution and evildoers from harming aquatic life.
Classics that deserve a replay

For all the gamers out there, the future promises much in the form of innovation. With the increased development of VR as well as various AR projects, gaming technology is about to get an overhaul and expand its horizons significantly. Before this new era is ushered in, however, we thought it would be a good idea to put on our rose-tinted goggles and pay homage to some of the classics which have stood the test of time.
How to be a better Bangladeshi

This city we call “home” still finds itself on the list of “least liveable cities”, and our beloved country has been ranked 115th on the Happiness Index, according to UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network's (SDSN) 2018 World Happiness Report. As Independence Day approaches, why don't we all take a moment and ask ourselves, “Where are we going wrong?”
Home Music Production for Noobs

The good news is that home music production is quite prevalent and things aren't as ridiculously difficult as they used to be; analogue recording is the stuff of nightmares. The bad news, however, is that 'correct' music production is still pretty difficult even after shifting to digital recording. As someone who's been in the works for quite a while now, I'd like to give you a very short tour of what's down this rabbit hole.
Press Ⓧ to break the glass ceiling

While there had always been leading ladies in some form or another in video games, the first wave of female leads came into mainstream popularity during the mid-1990s, and the one who stood out from the rest was none other than Lara Croft from the Tomb Raider series. A sophisticated and highly intelligent character for the time, archaeologist Lara Croft's introduction to the gaming world set gamers'
The Sims - Bangladeshi Edition

Have you ever felt the need to feel omnipotent? Well, then you must have enjoyed or still enjoy (it's okay, we don't judge) the invincibility stature while playing this life simulation game, “The Sims”. I still remember the sheer power I used to feel surging through my veins as I controlled the lives of my Sims, influenced their moods, or drowned them in the pool because why not. While taking my final exam the other day, a brilliant question struck me. What if this game was set in Bangladesh?
This is your brain on social media

Ever wondered why gambling can sometimes develop into an addiction? It's really complex but two components play a role: variable rewards and dopamine. B. F. Skinner's famous experiment (read up on it if interested) demonstrated how unpredictable rewards compel us to reinforce an action. For instance, when people play slot machines they don't know whether they'll win or lose; same goes for those claw