Long Read
Banglabazar: All things book
Walking past the Jagannath University and Dhaka Collegiate School, amid heavy noise of construction work at Dhaka Sadar Post Office, these correspondents heard a voice that cut through the cacophony in narrow lanes of Old Dhaka.
Barind Farmers: At mercy of ‘water lords’
On April 9, Mukul Soren, a Santal farmer in Rajshahi, drank pesticide in a suicide attempt over not getting irrigation water from the same deep tubewell that allegedly led to the suicide of two farmers, also Santals, last year.
Bir Shreshtha portrait: Tale of the brush that brought them to light
The year was 1980. In room 16 of DU’s Shahid Shahnewaz hostel, Sheikh Afzal, a final-year student of Dhaka Art College, was deeply engrossed in painting the portraits of a number of Muktijoddhas. .The 21/22-year-old had very little idea about how they looked in real life..His only c
NARINDA CHRISTIAN CEMETERY / A silent witness to Dhaka’s history
With falling leaves, worn-out epitaphs and gravestones, and rustle of breeze whispering tales from four centuries ago -- Dhaka Christian Cemetery, known to city dwellers as Narinda or Wari cemetery, has been the resting place of many known or unsung heroes for decades.
As I Remember Syed Waliullah, My Papa
Thinking of Syed Waliullah and being his son always triggers contrasting feelings of joy and pride, melancholy and pain. Regrettably, neither my elder sister Simine nor I am able to remember much about our father, as we were both very young when he passed away.
Are we becoming a selfish, uncaring society?
Shemi’s ordeal proves that the ridiculously glamourised notion of the family being the guaranteed support system in drama series and films is grossly overstated.
LONG READ / Arial beel under threat
Arial Beel, one of the largest wetlands located in Munshiganj, is facing an invasion by illegal real estate developers. These business entities have acquired portions of the wetland, filling them up with sand and strategically placing signboards to attract potential buyers for residential development.
Bloodbath on Road 32
It was not dawn yet. A false dawn spread its pale light across the sky. At House 677 of Road 32 in Dhanmondi, it was time to change guards while everybody was still in deep sleep: President Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, wife Begum Mujib, sons Sheikh Kamal, Sheikh Jamal and Sheikh Russell, daughters-in-law, and brother Sheikh Naser.
Nothing free in prison
A prisoner in Dhaka Central Jail has to spend around Tk 30,000 a month for food and other services which the state is supposed to provide for free.
Hilsa the mystery fish
A lot has been said about whether to eat Hilsa fish during this Pahela Baishakh. But how much do we know about this interesting, often enigmatic fish Bangalis are so proud of? Do we know why we never find any Hilsa without eggs, why they die as soon as they are taken out of water?
The melting pot
The booming cafe culture that we now see in the major cities of the country is anything but a new development. Bengalis have a rich political heritage and 'storm in a teacup' is a concept we are all too familiar with. From the historic Madhur Canteen at the University of Dhaka, to a not-so-famous neighbourhood tea-stall, we love to indulge in a piping hot cup of tea and equally engage in heated political debates.
Partners in the genocide
We have used Pakistani sources--books written by Pakistani military officers involved in the operations in East Pakistan in 1971 and the report of a chief justice of Pakistan--to compile these reports to show the extent and complicity of the Pakistan Government and its military in the genocide, destruction, and uprooting of tens of millions of Bangalis in 1971. The facts speak for themselves.
PAKISTAN LYING, STILL
Pakistan not only lied by denying its atrocities in Bangladesh in 1971, it deliberately twisted facts to deny the genocide it committed on the Bangali people during the nine-month Liberation War.
Genocide they wrote
These chilling words came from no other person than the chief of Pakistan army for its eastern command, General Amir Abdullah Khan Niazi.
Green desert in the hills
This mighty mixed-evergreen forest spanned 1,645 square kilometers, starting from the tip of Myanmar in the south and east and touching Assam and Tripura in the east and north. It was the richest natural forest that the country could ever have.
34 years for justice
What caused the delay of as long as 34 years in holding the trial of the killings of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman?
The temple at last
We took a short walk at the back of the station. Thick thorny hetal bush had spread all the way to the keora forest.