Photo: Kazi Tahsin Agaz Apurbo

Regional Mishtis

Once you go through this issue, you'll realise we all love Bangladeshi food. Within that huge group we have the smaller subset of deshi mishtis, sweetmeats for you English demanding snobs.

While the way these mishtis are made vary greatly from place to place, almost everyone knows where the common mishtis come from. Doi from Bogra, Comilla's Roshmalai, Tangail's Porabari Chamcham, ask almost any person on the street and they'll start fighting over which local delicacy is best. Some mishtis even have groups fighting over which region they originate from, like the highly debatable Kalojam. All we know is we love mishti.

By Shaer Reaz

Hawkers' Markets

Be it Bongo Bazaar behind DU or Bodruddoja and Nurjahan Market opposite to Dhaka College, Dhaka's Hawkers' Market ranks high on the awesomeness scale. These shops sell the rejected garments and stock lots from the local garments at prices reasonable to the skilled haggler and/or the seller. This generally means that they make trendy apparels available to all (though oftentimes the quality has to be compromised with). Whether it's your dad's uncle visiting from Daulatpur or your cousin and his foreign girl visiting from U.S.A, everyone makes it a point to venture at least once to our Hawker's Market.

By Sarwat Yunus

Tonger Chaa

Photo: Sabhanaz Rashid Diya

That'd be tea stall. Once you get past the grimy exterior and the blatant disregard for hygiene, tonger chaa represents the favourite pastime of Bengali teens: adda. At any given time, one such tea stall will bound to be filled with people from all walks of life: school kids, college kids, university students, even bank executives have been seen around a tea stall, capitalising on their breaks by having a brilliant cup of tea.

We don't know what makes tonger chaa taste so good, but we sure hope it stays like this forever.

By Shaer Reaz

Filial lives

In a rural or urban background, there isn't a place where you won't find a single joint family. There are family members of every kind starting from the great-grandfather to the second cousin once removed to the newborn niece - all either living together or at least within walking distance of each other's house. In cities, they usually live in the same building. You won't find any dearth of mama, khala, chahca or fufu. In villages, anyone living within a five-mile radius can turn out to be a relative of some kind. Now, how cool is that?

By Shamsil B. M. Kamal

The Sandy Shores

People often forget that Cox's Bazaar isn't the only sea beach in Bangladesh. There are plenty, and each of them are unique in their own respect. Take the sea-beach at Kuakata for example: it boasts the best sunset view in this country. A relatively lesser known and underprivileged one is at Sonar Chor (in Potuakhali) and it is scenic enough to make the peril of getting there worth it. Inani Beach at Himchari and Parky Beach at Karnafuli Channel near Chittagong and the sandy shores of the river Cholti at the border near Sunamgonj guarantee delights in vacation.

By Jawad

Hospitality

In England, they tell you to come for a coffee and give you sofa-space for an hour or two before subtly suggesting that you get the hell out. In Bangladesh, they beg you. “Areh, bhai, come whenever you want.”

So you turn up out of the blue, and your hosts are utterly delighted. They not only give you lunch, sixteen types of mishti, and tea afterwards, but also force-feed you supper, and then insist you stay the night as well. They will deprive themselves to make sure you're comfortable, and if they have only potatoes in the house, they will carve them into flowers.

By Safieh Kabir