Fakir Lalon Shah: A Lighthouse in the Unreal Bazaar of the Blind
He spoke of women on equal terms at a time when women were not even people in the country where he lived (and they still are not—neither in the land of Lalon nor in the world that we proudly claim as ours.
2y ago
The Blighted Garden
I took my leave from the Siraj family, thanking them for their hospitality. I was just a stranger and yet they let me stay with them for weeks.
2y ago
Mostly Sunny
“This weather app is a life saver, I’m telling you! Look how sunny this weekend will be!” Ruma pointed at her phone with her freshly manicured fingers—donned with diamond rings. As her fingers tap-danced on the seven day weather chart on the phone, her listener got distracted by the new rock on her pointer finger.
3y ago
Three, Not Three
In the farthest end of the horizon across the river by the edge of a forest surrounding the dark hills sat a cottage made of dried palm leaves and rattan sticks in which lived an old woman.
3y ago
Memories at War
I often consider war as a quasi-synonym for memory. After all, memory is nothing but our present in constant war with our glorified, vilified, expressed, suppressed, erased, and fragmented selves floating in past space and time.
4y ago
A Translation of Mojaffar Hossain’s “Subservient Country, Independent People”
Majid kept sniffing the air as he walked. He slowed down when he heard someone’s footsteps behind him.
4y ago
The Name Game
When it comes to their names, most people in Bangladesh may find themselves in a convoluted situation.
4y ago
Musing on Things Unspeakable
Prejudice is a monstrous thing, and so is the tendency to be judgmental—the mindset that allures us to put ourselves in the shining armor of righteousness.
5y ago
September 30, 2017
For the War Heroines, I will Speak
It was 1996 when I first got hold of Dr. Nilima Ibrahim's Aami Birangana Bolchhi, or rather, the book got hold of me—my soul, my
August 5, 2017
Dhaka Landing
Dhaka was still slumbering. The sun was yet to come up, and the silence spread over the pitched road was yet to be swallowed by the
June 24, 2017
The Burdens of Translation: Nawab Faizunnesa's Rupjalal
In 2003, while getting ready for my PhD oral examination on English women writers of the British Raj, I read Sonia Amin's The World of
June 17, 2017
Homing into Darkness
As I see it, Zia Haider Rahman debut novel In the Light of What We Know (2014) turns on a high voltage light bulb of knowledge to
May 13, 2017
Religion, Diaspora and the Politics of a Homing Desire
Let me dedicate my inaugural musing in this page to the writers of the Bangladeshi diaspora spread all over the world; after all, I
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