I woke up with a colleague’s hesitant post on Facebook wishing his friends well on the International Men’s Day. The comment thread is filled with issues ranging from locker room banter to the high theory on the dominant form of masculinity.

During the AL’s agitation for a caretaker government in the mid-90s, we carried a picture of AL leader Matia Chowdhury pinned down by the police on the Manik Mia Avenue, in front of Jatiya Sangsad, trying to protect herself from police assault while protesting against the then BNP government.

We all aspire to “a better future”. While the idea of a better future and what it entails varies from people to people, dreamer to dreamer, what remains constant is the aspiration.

At the time of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change which was approved by all countries in 2015, every country submitted it’s intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) in which they made pledges and commitments for mitigation by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

I remember there was a time when, owing to my youthful naiveté, I would think that living is more than surviving.

As the world awaits US President-elect Joe Biden’s formal inauguration in January 2021, discussions on the implications of his domestic and international policies are mounting.

Shegufta Bakht Chaudhuri, popularly known as SB Chaudhuri, the former Governor of Bangladesh Bank, passed away on November 11 at United Hospital, Dhaka.

The year 2020 has been a disappointment due to the Covid-19 pandemic. And just one of its many downsides can be seen on the global economy which, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is set to contract by 4.9 percent in 2020—with the IMF saying in its June report that this “baseline projection rests on key assumptions about the fallout from the pandemic.”

One more circular. One more extension. The opening of the educational institutions is further delayed; this time up to December 19.

In an article published on April 4, 2015, I wrote that “Attacks on Hindus and their property have demonstrated the immensely sad but blunt reality that even after 42 years of democratic pluralistic existence, the religious minority of Bangladesh have not been able to save themselves” (The Daily Star).

The announcement that a five-star “Marriott Hotel and Amusement Park” is being built in Bandarban no doubt comes as welcome news to Bengali elites and the nouveau riche looking for novel and Instagrammable ways of spending their weekends and disposable incomes in the luscious hills of the CHT.

Stealing is bad, but stealing from the poor is perhaps one of the most depraved acts one can think of. But not so for those handling the government’s pandemic-related urgent cash assistance programme for the poor.

During the past few months, I had worked on a documentary for the BBC which looks at the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the apparel industry of Bangladesh.

On Friday, November 6, the first madrasa for transgender Muslims in Bangladesh was opened in Dhaka through a private initiative.

The election of Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America has brought a great sigh of relief to everyone around the world who wants to see global action to tackle the threat of climate change.

The west saw him as a terrorist; to the rest of the world he was an intrepid warrior trying relentlessly to right the wrong his nation was done in 1948.

While the recent US Presidential Election has left a number of issues unresolved, one thing is clear.

“Election is free and fair if I win it and rigged if I lose”. I wrote this sentence many times during our period of contested elections under the caretaker government system.

If someone looks up Velika Kladusa on Pinterest, they’ll find lovely photos of the town and its beautiful landscape.

Before the elections, a five-year-old boy asked his mother, my friend, if he would ever be able to be the President of the United States because of the colour of his Brown skin. This is a question that American girls, too, have been asking their parents forever.