Special Feature
special feature / The eternal juggle of work and family during pandemic
“For a working mother to be able to successfully blend and balance work and family lives, the key ingredients are planning, planning, and planning.
Faithful to the Oath
While so many of us are at home to ‘flatten the curve,’ or in other words, to reduce the spread of COVID-19, our healthcare professionals are fighting long, gruelling hours on the front lines.
special feature / Your little sous chef
Cooking is a life skill everyone must learn. The only question is: at what point in life should that learning start? And the answer is: early! Why not introduce your children to the kitchen from right now?
Luxury in a tub: The ultimate summer indulgence!
Sure, the world is a mess right now. Making sense of the strange, sad circumstances we currently live in is overwhelming. Add to that the stress of your work and household chores, and the hot and humid weather only adds fuel to fire.
Special Feature / An Extra Special Mother’s Day
Mothers are the epitome of love. So, celebrating ‘them’ for a just a day seemed illogical, but then a friend explained: there is nothing wrong in making her feel extra special!
The spirit of Fajr
“Prayer is better than sleep” — I listened to these melodious words of the muezzin booming out of the loudspeaker of a mosque, as I wearily made my way out of Nazira Bazaar. The culinary hub, even at that odd hour of the clock, swarmed with crowds last year; it is, after all, renowned for its sehri hangouts.
Divinely white: The age- old craft of shola
Lord Shiva eventually came to the rescue. He threw a lock of his own hair into a pond, and from there sprung a plant — shola (generic name, Indian cork).
Special feature / Lunch time mania
Clink and clatter, corporate conversations, and meaningful meetings – this is the scenario you can expect to see if you ever walk into a restaurant during lunch time, specifically in a commercial area.
Mandap the residence of the divine
For the typical eye, it is easy to picture crowds of devotees lining up and crowding around Ma Durga during the auspicious autumnal festivities. A glimpse and a prayer to the divinity that visits this mortal plane once every year to cleanse off the dreadful, the dreary, and the disturbing — the figure that stands in all her ten-armed glory, riding the lion with a defeated Mahishashur.
When Dhakeshwari arrives
Occurring annually, Durga Puja has always been one of the largest and most colourful festivals in Bangladesh. It marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura, after ten days and nine nights of battling him.
Symbols of Remembrance
The need to hold on to memories of loved ones that have left us is primal, and universal, as is grief and its expression. Yet, the expressions of grief vary widely, reflecting individual cultures, influences and sometimes even just personal tastes.
A tale of tea - from Bangladesh for the World
From ramshackle tin-shed stalls everywhere to the houses with two swimming pools, you will hardly find a place that is not familiar with the steaming cup of goodness known as tea. Although preparations and preferences differ vastly as more and more brewing recipes are popping up, you can be sure that everything starts with the unmistakable tea leaves.
The good life- fact or fiction?
I can't recall much from those two years but her, I remember vividly. A year senior to us, she was someone everyone noticed, even the most serious bookworms and nerds who seemed to live and breathe S1 and P1 syllabuses.
Defining Health
Health. A small word. But a word for which different people have different meanings. Health is a relative term. To some, it is something you are born with while to others it is a choice and some may even say it is your lifestyle.
Tailor made to your taste!
It is an interesting time for fashion in Dhaka right now. More and more people are becoming aware of their appearance, and there is a shift in perspective to that end.
From the farm
Just about every neighbourhood has it; the huddle of people, especially in the early weekend mornings, making it impossible to miss, not to mention the acrid smell accompanied by the never disappearing blood stains- yes, it's the neighbourhood butcher shop we are so very used to.
Cradling that empty nest
No matter how hard you prepare yourself for the inevitable beforehand--helping them pack their bags, or even sharing that last meal together at the table does not prepare you for the inevitable, until you see them walk away.
Bye-Bye Crease
The other day, I found myself in an unprecedented situation. I was being ogled at everywhere I set foot, be it on the streets, the mall, canteen, or even when I was presenting a paper on “16S r-RNA DNA Sequencing of Bacteria,” nobody could take their eyes off me... What a fantastic day it was; it tickled my ego!