In a thicket of Mahagony, Segun, and Raintrees, the Jahangirnagar University (JU) campus is a rolling 697.56 acres of topographical beauty. A few kilometres from the main city on the Dhaka-Aricha highway, the JU campus can be your next weekend outing.
My grandmother, whom I fondly called Bubu, used to bring us batashas -- a sugar candy -- from her visits to her homeland in Pirojpur, Barishal. She would tell us it was a tabarak or shinni, which is a sweet gift or grace from her visits to Holy places.
November in the tropics has its own weather mix. From a storm brewing at the Bay to roaring gusty wind, to a scorching sunny day, dewy evening, and foggy dawn -- Dhaka’s weather in this month cannot be explained.
It is duck season, period. Even if winter is nowhere to be seen or felt, the local kitchen markets are quacking up a fat duck show to tease our cravings.
Pink is often considered the colour that defines femininity. Thus, in October, which marks Breast Cancer Awareness Month, a pink ribbon is often used to raise awareness about breast cancer. This practice has been in place since the 90s.
A charcoal black druid’s bowl with a rough and aged look, caught my attention while surfing social media. Initially, I thought it must be an antique piece of medieval pottery up for sale on some transcontinental site, but instead, I found it to be a local product from the brand Boho Bangladesh, promoting a sustainable natural lifestyle; it blew my mind.
What is the best thing about Sharat, you ask? For me, it is the change in the city’s breeze, in the soft, golden rays of the sun, and yes, the clear azure sky, with floating white fluffy clouds.
For the gardeners of urban Dhaka, it’s time to prepare for winter flowers. One might say it’s too early, but October is when you need to prune your roses and feed them with compost, besides preparing beds and soil for other winter blooms.
Mango is known as the king of fruits and justifiably so!
When your university courses come to an end and you are left with a few bundles of quality, loose sheets of paper, what do you do with it? Give it away, forget about it, or do you make a bespoke personalised notebook?
It is as if Dhaka has been sleeping for the last few days.
Most Dhakaites have a sweet tooth. We just cannot do without a sweet end to our meals, be it licking your fingers on Kashmiri mango achar, tomato chutney, or slurping up the daal (lentil soup) mixed with sweet, jujube and tamarind pickle.
Nawajesh Salahin Sunny’s fame was sitting at his factory in a zen-like state of mind amidst scattered wooden planks and huge containers. His craftsmen noisily worked all over the place; while he supervised the work being done to give the factory a showroom-like facelift.
Two-thirds of the Holy Month is over, and food prices are at an all-time high. Despite strict surveillance by magistrates to control price hikes and adulteration of food, this Ramadan, like always, traders are doing everything against the law.
Night-time shopping has a certain charm to it, almost a like starry-eyed rebellion. Come Ramadan, staying out late into the wee hours has almost become a trend for Dhakaites.
Dhaka North’s newest venture is painting murals on flyovers, dustbin depots, free walls and spaces to make city streets look vibrant and colourful.
Haque added, “Instead of bulldozing history, they could have renovated and preserved the school and turned it into a Hall of Fame for all its illustrious alumni. It could have been a library for children of the city schools to come and learn about the country’s famous sons.”
Jilapi or jelebi, Ramzan or Ramadan; whichever way you say it, #jilapis is now a trending post on social media. And why not? It is the quintessential iftar delicacy second to none.