It has been almost a year since the Dhaka South City Corporation approved a project to recover, re-excavate, and revive four major canals under its purview, but the authorities have yet to start the work.
On June 9, 1971, six guerilla freedom fighters were on the way to the Intercontinental Hotel (InterContinental Dacca) in a hijacked Datsun 1000 car around 6:30pm. Shahidullah Khan Badol was driving, while Kamrul Huq Shopon and Masud Sadek Chullu, Habibul Alam, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya, and Ziauddin Ali Ahmed were carrying three hand grenades each.
Just a decade ago, Totail Beel, surrounded by unspoiled and pristine nature, could be reached from the Buriganga river.
In 400-year-old Dhaka, a few educational institutes have stood the test of time. These century-old schools have played a significant role in shaping the education and culture of the city and beyond and have produced notable individuals who have left their mark on the national and world stages.
A rare Vishnu statue has recently been discovered during visits to several archaeological sites in Sarail upazila of Brahmanbaria.
Kushti, also known as pehlwani, a form of traditional wrestling contested in the sub-continent, was once a popular sport in Dhaka after having originated during the Mughal period.
While Dhaka’s traditional kushti is dying down, the scenario in other parts of the country is not bleak by any means. Many kushti events still take place outside the capital.
How vast is our planet? The answer may lie in how we perceive it. On the grand cosmic scale, the earth is minuscule, a mere speck invisible even under the most powerful microscope. However, on a human scale, it is truly enormous.
With falling leaves, worn-out epitaphs and gravestones, and rustle of breeze whispering tales from four centuries ago -- Dhaka Christian Cemetery, known to city dwellers as Narinda or Wari cemetery, has been the resting place of many known or unsung heroes for decades.
“Throughout the journey, death knocked at my door several times, but I never lost my focus, I never gave up,” said Ikramul Hasan Shakil, the intrepid conqueror of the Great Himalaya Trail (GHT), home to three of the highest peaks in the world.
Palichara, a remote village in Rangpur district, is not an unknown name in the local football fraternity ever since it emerged as a breeding ground of female footballers in the country.
The ever-memorable song starts playing while children, sitting on the metallic horsebacks, delightfully start going round and round -- this is a memory many Dhaka residents can still relate to.
In a shabby, derelict building located at Gulistan’s Bangabandhu Avenue, lies Bangladesh’s only state-run organisation that looks after non-government libraries and takes initiatives to popularise reading books.
There was a time not so long ago when Bangladesh Film Development Corporation was abuzz with various activities -- from shooting films to dubbing and editing.
After joining Abahani from BJMC in 1984, I had to endure abusive words from the fans for some off-target shots during a practice session ahead of the match against Mohammedan.
Almost every major football crazy city in the world has a historic club rivalry that it can brag about. Kolkata, London, Manchester, Milan, Madrid – you name it and there’s at least one colourful and storied rivalry to whet the appetite of football fans.
Kamal Hossen is a recently retired professor at the Institute of Forestry and Environmental Science of Chattogram University. In a conversation with The Daily Star, he emphasised the importance of the conservation of mangrove forests.
Coastal residents at great risk of cyclones as mangrove forests cut down, leased and grabbed for ‘development’
Fire safety in Dhaka’s market buildings is in a very precarious condition, which has increased vulnerabilities for people and properties associated with these markets. The recent fire incidents in Bangabazar and Dhaka New Super Market are testimonies of these harsh realities prevailing in the capital, said Dr Adil Mohammed Khan, executive director of Institute for Planning and Development (IPD), during an interview with The Daily Star yesterday.
When one enters the building of Sharif Market on Chittaranjan Avenue in Sadarghat, there is a feeling of suffocation, despite the empty spaces between the eight-storey building. The building has been identified as risky in terms of fire safety. However, it only has nine fire extinguishers.