Anwar Ali

Staff Correspondent based in Rajshahi

Will Altadighi come back to life?

According to folklore, King Vishwanath dug a lake to address the people’s drinking water problem, prompted by his queen’s dream. The queen’s stipulation was that the lake should be dug as far as she could walk barefoot. When the queen continued walking over a mile, the king’s ministers intervened fearing a near impossible lake digging project. They stopped her by sprinkling alta (red dye) on her feet, claiming she was bleeding.

7m ago

Farmers enjoy uninterrupted power

A sigh of relief has swept over Boro paddy farmers in Rajshahi, who were deeply concerned about irrigation due to electricity shortage just two weeks back.

8m ago

Mangoes and litchis taking a hit from the heat

It’s painful for Tajul Islam to see what has happened to his beloved mango orchard in Rajshahi city’s Borobongram Namopara.

8m ago

Onion farmers in the north stare at losses

Even after a bumper harvest of onions this season in four districts of Rajshahi, a sharp decline in the price of the vegetable has left farmers struggling.

8m ago

The north remembers

In Kurigram, a district in northern Bangladesh, there’s a house with a collection of over 5,000 war artifacts.

9m ago

'Coaching showed me a path to survive’

Michael Collins, also known as AHM Taswar, was the first coach from the Rajshahi Tennis Complex to take up a coaching job abroad, pioneering a path that many have followed since. After trying to make it as a tennis player from 1992 to 2004 and representing Bangladesh in the Davis Cup thrice, he turned to coaching and has worked in China, Japan and the USA since. While on vacation in Rajshahi recently, he spoke with The Daily Star’s Anwar Ali where he shared the story of how his dream shifted from being a tennis star to becoming a tennis coach.

9m ago

Rajshahi’s tennis dream finds new avenue on coaching court

Back in the 80s, the Boalia Tennis Club in Rajshahi, a humble facility with just one hard court, was a place where the locals of the region got a taste of a game that was mostly accessible to the elites of the society.

9m ago

When bending the rules deserves praise

Bangladesh Railway's West Zone and Rajshahi University take extraordinary measures so that 700 admission seekers do not miss their exams

9m ago
March 25, 2022
March 25, 2022

Irrigation water: Back against wall, Santal farmer dies by suicide

A farmer in Rajshahi’s Godagari upazila died on Wednesday after he and his cousin drank pesticide, police said.

March 13, 2022
March 13, 2022

Wall Collapse: Father finds son only to see him die

A 35-year-old man died and four others were critically injured as a wall collapsed at a construction site in Chhoto Bongram area of Godagari, Rajshahi, yesterday morning.

March 8, 2022
March 8, 2022

Ingenious indigenous innovation

Fourteen years ago, Kabuljan Begum developed an environment-friendly oven to keep herself and her family safe from air pollution caused by open-fire ovens.

March 7, 2022
March 7, 2022

800 litres of soybean oil hoarded!

When a consumer went to buy soybean oil yesterday afternoon, a grocer at Hadi’s intersection in Rajshahi city denied him.

March 5, 2022
March 5, 2022

Tales that need to be told

It was a dark summer night of April 2, 1971. Everyone was tucked away in their homes because of the ongoing curfew. On that silent night, a twenty-one year old Shoven Kumar Roy went to bed early, unaware that life, as he knew it, wouldn’t be the same anymore.

March 4, 2022
March 4, 2022

An example of religious harmony

For the first time in 47 years, a British-era temple has been reopened for prayers in Rajshahi city’s Khojapur area on Tuesday night.

February 22, 2022
February 22, 2022

8,000 books gone in 4.5hrs

A huge crowd of readers gathered at Rajshahi’s Circuit House yesterday, amid a sea of books. The book fair -- Pustak Poth -- did not expect that it would have to welcome so many people.

February 16, 2022
February 16, 2022

Forged docs using Rajshahi mayor’s name used to swindle $78,893 from Korean company

Forged Rajshahi City Corporation documents -- with the name of Mayor AHM Khairuzzaman Liton -- were used for signing a deal worth $10.12 million for procuring eight fire trucks from a South Korean company.

February 8, 2022
February 8, 2022

RU Student Faruk Hossain Murder: Bruises gone, trauma remains

It has been twelve years since the gruesome murder of Rajshahi University student Faruk Hossain in the early hours of February 9, 2010.

February 5, 2022
February 5, 2022

Won’t back down, no matter the cost

An utter tragedy struck 13 years ago. Still only a ninth-grader, Rajshahi’s Sheuli Akter was married off owing to her family’s unimaginable struggle with poverty.