We can’t just wish things away, we can’t disown parts of our culture and country because they don’t fit our particular ideal. That is a cop-out, an easy way out, that is claiming we are pristine, and the dirt lives elsewhere, claiming we are saints and that is not our sin. 

The five-day Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindus, ended yesterday with the immersion of the idols of goddess Durga and her children amid festivity.

What prompted those devoted pilgrims in Panchagarh to ride an overcrowded boat and join a death march on the Korotoa River?

Fashion is something that anyone can buy, but style has to come from within, it’s how you fit into your skin. Come Durga puja, even the simplest lady glows in her own style, even with a tucked red hibiscus on the khopa or casual hair bun. And as if reciprocating with her joy, nature also decks up in her own style. Because with puja, the fire-dance and the alponas — the merry courting of the sharat clouds and the kash phool or Kans grass as it is called in English, ushers the goddess Durga. The goddess has chosen this romantic season to come down to earth from her heavenly abode, filling our hearts with hope, romance, and magic.

Traders in Bangladesh are seeking permission from the government to export Hilsa to India on the eve of the Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of Hindu devotees, when the demand for the popular fish goes up.