Amiya Halder

Amiya Halder works as In-Charge for Daily Star's weekly career supplement Next Step. She has the daunting task of turning dull, sleep inducing articles into interesting content. She often steps in to create info-graphs which happens to be one of her specialties. Amiya has a recurring worry that her arms are too short for taking selfies, rather like the Tyrannosaurs Rex. This IBA student refuses to let her poor selfie taking skills hamper her team building activities. Most of that involves accepting LAN games of NFS and beating the guys most of the times at races. It's called team building exercise and she practices what she edits.

Nobody the Girl

It was the hour of waking on Winter Solstice and yet a radiant sun was rising on the already bustling borough of Colony. From the first glimmer of sunlight on the shortest day of the year, the citizens of Colony would take the Choice, till the World were momentarily plunged under the cover of darkness. Once the sun rose on the new season, a new Commandant would be named.

5y ago

Invoking the “Mantoiyat”

“This is a particularly timely film and in many ways, and perhaps self-contradicting ways, a comforting film.

6y ago

ALTERED CARBON

Although it's been out for over two months, the visually-thrilling, ultra-pulp tech-noir Altered Carbon has enjoyed relatively little fanfare. Created by Shutter Island screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, Altered Carbon is set in a depraved new world 400 years in the future. Human consciousness now exists on “stacks”, and if you're rich enough, it can be downloaded and

6y ago

Priyabhashini's orchestrations of carbon

That Ferdousi Priyabhashini's driftwood creations are more sentient than inanimate becomes apparent the second you enter Shilpangan, a contemporary art gallery tucked away in a cosy corner of Dhanmondi 13. Her current exhibition, Megher Shongi, is a tribute to the monsoon, her most loved of the six seasons, and the inspiration for her woodwork orchestrations. With boats and boatsmen, long-legged water-birds, and stranded figurines, her characters and forms look like they've emerged straight out of a tempest.

6y ago

Tickle your intellect this Lit Fest

It's that time of the year again—to soak in the muted, winter sun on the dewy early-morning lawn, sipping shatkora and lotkon sherbets as you give up body and soul to rapturous lines of poetry, all eyes and ears for the literary luminaries and cultural icons who grace the grounds of Bangla Academy this weekend-and-a-half as Dhaka Lit Fest (DLF) returns for its third year.

7y ago

Rules of engagement

A nine-to-five workday spent dangerously close with the opposite sex in a sequestered office cubicle makes it painstakingly difficult for things not to get steamy once in a while.

7y ago

Tall, handsome and deathly—the enduring allure of vampires

Growing up, vampires were never quite the James Deans of the undead that they are today. Vampires that I would encounter were middle-aged, had an unwholesome pallor, the same coiffure as Alfalfa from The Little Rascals, and god-awful vaguely-European accents.

7y ago

Phoenix of Longadu

“After the landslide, it became all too clear where the aid was headed. Of course there would be an inclination to send relief to the Bengalis,” says Mrittika Kamal, Director of Terracotta Creatives and one of the curators of Phoenix of Longadu, a charity exhibition, held between October 16 and 19 at Drik Gallery, dedicated to raising funds for the affected families.

7y ago

May 6, 2016

Nurturing home-grown talent

A data science enthusiast and Lecturer at NSU, K. M. Saqiful Alam talks to Next Step about his projects and the future of education in Bangladesh.

April 17, 2016

Behemoths and leviathans: The unexplored universe of Zaha Hadid

In the past two weeks, social media has made us privy to the mysterious, almost Martian charm of Zaha Hadid's larger-than-life legacy. It is a wonder how her vast body of work had been unknown to so many of us for so long.

April 8, 2016

Productivity hacks to help you prioritise

Between leftover work from last week and more things we keep piling on to our plate, how many o us can attest to being at our productive best?

April 1, 2016

4 ways to have more effective meetings [INFOGRAPHIC]

Done right, meetings can save time, money, and maybe even your job. But in reality, they can fill up your schedule and throw your entire day of track.

March 25, 2016

What to do when you can't stay awake at work

If you're running on empty, here are some tricks to pull through the day without falling asleep all over your paperwork.

March 11, 2016

11 steps to become more likable [INFOGRAPHIC]

While charisma is hard to quantify, you don't need to be born with it.

March 6, 2016

How to babyproof your home

Oh dear! Has the baby really made its way into the cabinets? And the shower? It's about time you babyproof the house.

March 4, 2016

Body language tricks to power up your career

What's something that doesn't take much time to master, but can make a big difference in your career?

February 26, 2016

Online freebies to improve your digital skills

Whether or not you prefer talking in person rather than through social media, or using sticky notes instead of Google Keep, we've all had to adapt to life's changes. So even if none of the skills below are essential for survival, they're definitely helpful to pick up in your free time.

February 14, 2016

Window shopping

Whether for natural lighting or ventilation or to get the ambience just right, it's important to know which type of window best suits your personal needs.