New leadership, old rivers, and the long road to clean water
New efforts to clean Bangladesh's rivers offer hope, but community involvement and innovation are key.
22 March 2025, 01:51 AM
Storytelling, struggles, and reimagining identity
Patriarchy would have you believe that women are inherently complicated—creatures who must be defined, boxed in, or reduced to stereotypes.
27 November 2024, 18:00 PM
Fascism, self-censorship, and the 'new Bangladesh'
No other government in this country's political history has been labelled “fascist” with such intensity, despite similar tendencies having existed before—at times to the same extent. The current context is unique in that it reflects the 15-year-long authoritarian rule of Awami League and its trickle-down oppression. Yet, understanding fascism is crucial if we seek to avoid the rise of another such regime.
10 October 2024, 12:20 PM
Battling against the current: The river governance puzzle we must solve
Multiple ministries, overlapping mandates, and the exclusion of key stakeholders make streamlining water governance a challenge.
29 September 2024, 02:00 AM
This is not the Bangladesh we stood in the line of fire for
It is time for us to be vigilant on all fronts, it’s so much harder to protect freedom than to achieve it.
7 August 2024, 05:00 AM
Where’s the noose for 'murder caused by negligence'?
Many of us walked past those restaurant corridors on Bailey Road without fire safety measures.
8 July 2024, 17:35 PM
The mystery of Pahela Baishakh and the Bengali calendar
A blend of astronomy, history, and culture
14 April 2024, 05:00 AM
Younus Ali’s dream of conquering the Californian waves
I could tell that his dream is not a dream per se, but an event that only requires time to come true.
7 April 2024, 08:35 AM
This Eid, I pray for an awakening
So this Eid, I pray for a fresh pair of eyes, and a reason to hope. Or at the very least (once the festivities are over and we return to life as it is) be able to hope for and demand better realities than the ones we’ve been dealt.
22 April 2023, 05:25 AM
What goes on the internet, doesn’t stay on the internet
Online harassment can range from hate speech and verbal abuse to (threat of) circulation of doctored photos and videos. In worst cases, perpetrators record rape in the form of video and photographs and then use it to extort or silence the victim.
2 April 2023, 08:40 AM
Unable to deal with mosquito menace, Fashundhara resident starts adopting them as pets
It was late at night. After what was an excruciatingly exhausting day, Armana dragged her body to bed, eager to put the day, and herself, to rest.
3 March 2023, 18:00 PM
The yellow days in Hanoi
When I visited Hanoi in 2019, I only had a chance to catch a whiff of Vietnam’s capital. I took a glance at all the splotches of yellow architecture in awe and had little to no idea how to navigate myself in a town that hardly communicated in English. But even then, Hanoi found a place of eternal fondness in my heart and gave me a gift of familiarity that I couldn’t make much sense of at the time.
17 February 2023, 18:00 PM
Let the seasons begin
It was a time in the night where one can’t really tell if it’s night or eve. The sun is still sleeping in and it’s unlikely that it has any other plans anytime soon. Nothing but silence cloaks the wood and it is the time for the chatter of the owls and bats.
10 February 2023, 18:00 PM
Realistic things to do in Dhaka traffic
Talking about Dhaka traffic and talking to a wall is almost the same thing. You can scream and shout all you want, but at the end of the day you realise that it feels like talking to a wall, and unfortunately, this wall doesn’t have ears as the Bangla saying goes.
3 February 2023, 18:00 PM
Is ‘Faraaz’ just another movie?
How is it that such a seasoned director did not seek consent from the victims’ families when making Faraaz?
3 February 2023, 04:00 AM
The art of moderating literary conversations
Rifat Munim highlighted how a moderator can be a catalyst to an engaging dialogue between the panellists and the audience,
13 January 2023, 18:00 PM
Stirring social change through theatre
Fatima Begum (not her real name) is from Datiar char, located in Kurigram’s Chilmari upazila. She lived with her husband Baniz and three sons, all of whom are married.
16 December 2022, 18:00 PM
Waffle Up: worth the fuss?
If you’re having a bad day and you need a pick-me-up, Waffle Up is definitely a place you should visit.
11 December 2022, 16:55 PM
All male panel gives out ‘Best Female Award’
To honour the women who have proved to be young and promising from different walks of life, Beti Foundation along with Tara Barta jointly organised the “Best Female Award”.
2 December 2022, 18:00 PM
In remembering the 'Queen's legacy', why do we forget the suffering of our ancestors?
To remember and to be informed are the most important duties that the colonised bear.
8 October 2022, 10:00 AM
Of strength and togetherness
Festivals have always been a cornerstone of the country’s culture. It’s not only about the rituals and traditions that promote a sense of community but also about the various customs and the spirit of Durga Puja that buzzes in the air.
4 October 2022, 18:00 PM
Where tradition meets craftsmanship
It is very easy for one to get woefully lost in the crevices and back alleys of Old Dhaka even with a guidebook. When one thinks of visiting Old Dhaka, Shakhari Bazar is a place that gets mentioned by almost all who either have lived or visited the area, thanks to its history associated with craftsmen.
3 October 2022, 18:00 PM
Deprived of parents’ love, cop keeps taking it out on civilians
In a recent development of curious events in the city, a local policeman, on multiple occasions spacing out in different timelines, was found beating the excrement out of students.
23 September 2022, 18:00 PM
Yass Kweeners rejoice as they’re the only queens in the game now
Instagrammers, bloggers, vloggers and content creators of all kinds who are part of the Global Yass Kween movement, rejoiced as they could now not only mispronounce, but also make “Kween” the new queen as the real monarch has left the lands.
16 September 2022, 18:00 PM
The youth motors on two wheels
For many, motorcycles act as a mode of escapism.
15 September 2022, 00:00 AM
A deep dive into a poet’s mind
He had lost touch almost completely with his craft, so much so that he wondered if he even had it in him. But even so, for the sake of writing, he wrote. When the pandemic hit, Helal batted off the dust of his desk and sat down to write. Sitting from a foreign land, the ink flowed again.
7 September 2022, 18:00 PM
Home-grown solutions for a global crisis: 'Rohingya Camp Narratives' launches at IUB
“Here one will find on state policy analysis and societal dynamics–exploring grey areas and bringing multidimensional analysis to the refugee crisis”, said Professor Dr Meghna Guhathakurta.
29 July 2022, 13:07 PM
What’s stopping us from reading books?
How did I get here? Can I unleash the wee bookworm that could devour books back?
9 July 2022, 15:27 PM