Column

I have a mind like a commoner. I think like a commoner. I enjoy thinking like a commoner. And that brings me to my understanding of a sustainable city. In my mind, a sustainable city would be able to survive without any disastrous consequences at least for one thousand years,…

For me, like many around the globe, the advent of the New Year was deeply saddening. When I heard that America had assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, I panicked. I thought this would be the beginning of another spate of long-drawn conflicts in the Middle East and Gulf…

I always thought that men who feel the urge to rape women or other men suffer from severe mental disorder; it’s a form of retardation that leads to someone’s to assault sexually. It’s no less than that. Rape is an assault and the rapist encroaches upon a victim who is…

The sound of fireworks and the phantoms in the night sky at zero hour on January 1, 2020 was a display of how urban Bengalis celebrate the New Year, even amid various restrictions. The skyline was full of fireworks and phantoms going up in the sky. It was quite a…

When a city is mired in traffic congestion, extreme pollution, and an unhygienic lifestyle with hardly any solutions in sight, the news of electing its mayors creates almost zero excitement among the dwellers of the city. That we will soon be electing our new mayors is not the most inspiring…

ছোটবেলায় একটি কবিতার কয়েকটি লাইন খুব ভাল লেগেছিল। কবির নাম মনে নেই। তবে তিনটি লাইন মনে আছেঃ “জীবন খুব অল্পের জন্য সুখী, আরও অল্পের জন্য অসুখী, বাকি সবার জন্য অনিশ্চিত।“ কথাগুলো সার্বজনীন। কিন্তু কবি’র মত সাজিয়ে সবাই বলতে পারেন না। এসব কথা আমরা সারাক্ষণই বলছি। হাটে-মাঠে-ঘাটে। এবড়োথেবড়ো শব্দে। সুখ-দুঃখের গল্পই…

Finally, the chief executive of the country, as our head of state, had to intervene in what was going on between two important ministries, and partly shoulder the responsibility for publishing an almost-flawed list of persons who didn’t want to see the birth of Bangladesh in 1971. One ministry had…

We will again observe the day today; we will again mourn for them; we will again recall the contributions that they made. Today, December 14, is one of the most tragic days in the history of Bangladesh. The Pakistani death squads with the active participation of their local collaborators systematically…

I just heard that our Bangla language has made some news in London — on a limited scale though. Bangla has also made some news on a few Bangla-language web portals across the world. The news said Bangla was the second highest-spoken language in London after English. After Bangla, Polish…

Recently, on World Television Day, I ran a mini-survey in my workplace on how many people watch TV and what they watch. Among 10 people, four said they watch Gazi TV when the Bangladesh cricket team is playing international games. Three women said they watch Duranta TV; one said she…