Under the vast skies of northern Bangladesh, in the corners of Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur, and the hillier terrains of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, lives a vibrant community whose roots run deep into the soil and soul of the region—the Oraons.
As the climate crisis worsens, its effects in Bangladesh are becoming increasingly visible and destructive.
Tucked away beside a mosque in the quiet village of Tekani in Rangpur’s Mithapukur upazila stands a tree that once changed the course of an entire region’s agricultural history.
When the traditional haor song Lechur Baganey (“In the litchi orchard…”) was repurposed as an “item song” in a recent Bengali film, it sparked an outpouring of debate among music lovers and across social media platforms.
On the sun-scorched Arabian Peninsula lies Qatar—a nation of just over 11,500 square kilometres, where extreme temperatures, rocky terrain, and meagre annual rainfall make agriculture an improbable endeavour.
In the middle of Farmgate’s frantic rush, where buses roar and buildings crowd the sky, a quiet miracle unfolds each day.
In the lowlands of northern Bangladesh, where the Brahmaputra weaves its ancient path and songs echo across open fields, a quiet fight to preserve cultural memory is underway.
Jaya and Sharmin—a film produced by Jaya Ahsan—is a quiet reminder of who we were and still are, five years after the pandemic struck. In this quiet, haunting two-woman film, the pandemic is never centerstage—rather the film avoids its dramatization. There are no sirens, no scenes of hospital chaos, no feverish handheld camera work. Instead, the film offers what most pandemic stories avoid: the internal climate of a shared household. Time slows. Fear settles. News flits across the TV, unnoticed. Through understated rhythm, the film accomplishes something powerful—it keeps the focus on the emotional, relational toll of confinement, rather than its spectacle.
As the climate crisis worsens, its effects in Bangladesh are becoming increasingly visible and destructive.
Under the vast skies of northern Bangladesh, in the corners of Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Rangpur, and the hillier terrains of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, lives a vibrant community whose roots run deep into the soil and soul of the region—the Oraons.
When the traditional haor song Lechur Baganey (“In the litchi orchard…”) was repurposed as an “item song” in a recent Bengali film, it sparked an outpouring of debate among music lovers and across social media platforms.
Tucked away beside a mosque in the quiet village of Tekani in Rangpur’s Mithapukur upazila stands a tree that once changed the course of an entire region’s agricultural history.
In the middle of Farmgate’s frantic rush, where buses roar and buildings crowd the sky, a quiet miracle unfolds each day.
On the sun-scorched Arabian Peninsula lies Qatar—a nation of just over 11,500 square kilometres, where extreme temperatures, rocky terrain, and meagre annual rainfall make agriculture an improbable endeavour.
In the lowlands of northern Bangladesh, where the Brahmaputra weaves its ancient path and songs echo across open fields, a quiet fight to preserve cultural memory is underway.
Jaya and Sharmin—a film produced by Jaya Ahsan—is a quiet reminder of who we were and still are, five years after the pandemic struck. In this quiet, haunting two-woman film, the pandemic is never centerstage—rather the film avoids its dramatization. There are no sirens, no scenes of hospital chaos, no feverish handheld camera work. Instead, the film offers what most pandemic stories avoid: the internal climate of a shared household. Time slows. Fear settles. News flits across the TV, unnoticed. Through understated rhythm, the film accomplishes something powerful—it keeps the focus on the emotional, relational toll of confinement, rather than its spectacle.
Dr Rebecca Prentice, Associate Professor of Anthropology and International Development at the University of Sussex, has studied garment workers’ health and labour rights for over two decades.
When Subahdar of Bengal, Islam Khan Chishti, entered Dhaka in 1608 or 1610, he was accompanied by a diverse group of North and North-West Indians, Afghans, Iranians, Arabs, and other foreign Muslims and Hindus.
