TRIGGER WARNING: Agency, autonomy, and female smoking
A month ago, as I waited for a friend in Banani, I decided to grab a packet of cigarettes. I’m not good at calculations for loose change and the vendor, old and seemingly disoriented, was having a hard time too.
2m ago
The sound of Dhaka city
Once on a particularly smothering hot day, on a CNG ride to work, I was stuck in the most heinous traffic for over two hours. Over the yelling drivers, honking cars, and incessant cursing over why the CNGs were trying to overtake the expensive cars, I was listening to my usual cycle of songs. As coincidence would have it, David Gilmour in his seraphic voice posed the question: “So, so you think you can tell/ Heaven from hell?”
7m ago
In the sand dunes
His face was growing warmer, it seemed as though the intangible entity that was stinging his closed eyes was growing stronger.
8m ago
Of ‘BONOBIBI’ and music as a form of storytelling
The verses remind us that a withering, war-torn Earth can still birth new life and hopes of freedom.
1y ago
On Coke Studio Bangla x Meghdol’s ‘BONOBIBI’ and music as a form of storytelling
When Coke Studio Bangla released Meghdol’s Bonobibi, their second song of season 2, listeners found themselves torn between loving the song and questioning it. Questioning as to why the song was done under the banner of Coke Studio, a project funded by an American-based multinational corporation; questioning what qualifies Meghdol, a band known for singing about urban life in Dhaka city, to sing about tales originating in the Sundarbans; and why the song didn’t delve deeper into the history and background of the stories they were trying to tell. It has raised a wider question about how music plays a role in storytelling.
1y ago
Afternoons at the Bijoy Sarani signal
“I wonder what she’ll wear tomorrow,” he mumbled as his eyes drooped shut.
1y ago
‘Bonbibi’: When music has a soul
I’m no musician; my knowledge of good and bad music goes much beyond the superficial but, what do I know of the technicalities that goes into creating something that emerges as an enchanting composition?
1y ago
July 30, 2022
Nine times that books told us why overpopulation is scary
Despite the decelerating growth rate and with the country's population currently standing at 16.51 crore as opposed to just 14 crore in 2011—merely 10 years ago—overcrowding is still a massive cause of headache for most of us.
July 27, 2022
Unconventional narrators dominate the 2022 Booker Prize longlist
Glory is narrated by a vivid chorus of animal voices, while Maps of Our Spectacular Bodies is partly told by the malevolent cancer travelling through the body of protagonist Lia.
July 21, 2022
Yet another musical marvel from Meghdol
When I noticed that Meghdol had released a song for the film “Hawa”, while scrolling through my YouTube homepage, I somehow knew that I would not be disappointed. Of course, this was a hunch owing to my eternal love for Meghdol. However, what I did not expect was to be moved by it to the extent that I was. It has been years since a piece of music managed to sincerely and deeply pull at my heartstrings to the level “E Hawa” has been able to.
July 17, 2022
Books to read against a beautiful sunset
Here are some books that, for their various tropes and themes, go hand in hand and allow us to relish these July evenings.
July 15, 2022
On books that became memories over Eid holidays
I remember Ma through her books as well, the little of her thoughts and ideas that she could share with the young me then.
June 30, 2022
Back to the Wall: How I live with back pain
Lifestyle-induced backpain is now such a systemic problem that even if wanted to change it, we wouldn’t know where to begin or how to keep up.
May 25, 2022
‘Luminaries of the Word’: Student designs video game on Bangladeshi women writers
"I selected excerpts from eight famous works, books like Begum Rokeya’s 'Motichur' and 'Ekattorer Diary' by Sufia Kamal, and expanded on their implied or intended meaning as best as I could."
May 19, 2022
What we readers want from Zoya Akhtar’s ‘The Archies’
From the trailer it looks like Zoya Akhtar's Archies has a wider cast of main characters than Riverdale, but what we want to see is the original comics' innocence revisited.
May 17, 2022
The Myth Bridge: Goethe Institut Bangladesh and HerStory Foundation revisit women of folklore through Dungeons and Dragons
Going live from May 15 is The Myth Bridge, a live-action simulation game that “[brings] to life” and connects nine women characters from Bengali and German folklore.
April 25, 2022
Shagufta Sharmeen Tania shortlisted for Commonwealth Short Story Prize 2022
“My story concerns the lost souls of a metropolis”, the author tells The Daily Star, “those magnificent beasts that cannot find their places in a growing, sprawling cityscape.”
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