Shahid Alam

Beyond the Rebel Poet: Nazrul’s Versatility

A bland, matter-of-fact statement about Kazi Nazrul Islam would be that he is the National Poet of Bangladesh

3y ago

Nazrul beyond Bangla

Kazi Nazrul Islam needs no introduction to those familiar with Bangla literature. He and his works are, for cogent reasons, less known in other circles.

4y ago

THE DREAM CHASERS

I was staring intently at the girl sitting in half profile in front and to the right of me. The girl was beautiful all right, but that is not

6y ago

BRUSH STROKES OF HISTORY AND A PERSONAL BRUSH

This is an aberrant situation…well, read on. Alam, in his Itihasher Korcha, quotes the Natore-born eminent historian Sir Jadunath

6y ago

GOODGE STREET STATION

For a split second I was startled beyond belief. For a longer while, maybe about a minute, I must have stood still with my mouth agape

6y ago

THE ETERNAL BARD

Just the other day I was watching over CNN the celebrated journalist Christianne Amanpour prefacing her interview of the veteran

6y ago

ECLECTIC ESSAYS

Muhammad Zamir is a prolific writer, notably for the national newspapers of Bangladesh, and writes proficiently in both Bengali and

6y ago

BIDDING ADIEU TO RADA

The terrible realization was setting in almost all, if not all of us. The dream days of fun and work in equal measure at RADA were

6y ago
January 27, 2018
January 27, 2018

ALL WORK AND SOME PLAY AT RADA

Rada was a lot of hard work interspersed with a good deal of pressure releasers. Talk about the right doses of work and play—RADA

January 6, 2018
January 6, 2018

SKETCHES ON A WIDE CAMPUS

This book's subtitle, Sketches from my Life gestures helpfully at the book's content for it is about the full and colorful life lived by its

December 2, 2017
December 2, 2017

Rada Intensity

We were out in the park, frolicking—all sixteen of us. Well, sort of! We were gamboling all right, but this was a part of the Alexander Technique exercise, something any casual observer in the park might not have understood.

October 21, 2017
October 21, 2017

Inside RADA for the First Time

Bret and I entered a cavernous RADA room, and not a moment too soon! What seemed like a thousand pairs of eyes stared at us as we

September 23, 2017
September 23, 2017

RADA LOOMS

Bret and I were marching resolutely towards our Holy Grail, waiting for us only a couple of hundred meters or so away, though still out

August 26, 2017
August 26, 2017

In and Around Boston As an Actor-to-be

Almost in front of the entrance to, and egress from, the Goodge Street subway station on Tottenham Court Road stood a coin-

July 22, 2017
July 22, 2017

Doves and Dogs of War

Wars, great and small, have been a part of recorded human history. Given the varied elements that go toward the making of

June 30, 2017
June 30, 2017

The Acting Bug and the Curious Adventure of a Long-haired Dude

I guess I was bitten by the acting bug in my mother's womb. Otherwise, how does one explain my fascination for the theater, theatrics,

June 3, 2017
June 3, 2017

If Only Job Charnock Knew!

If only Job Charnock was prescient enough to know that some three hundred years after his death a thriller would be written based on

May 20, 2017
May 20, 2017

Portraits of Bengali Life in a Bygone Era

Light, heavy, or both? History offers the reader a choice among all three, or a combination of them.