Nupur on a Broken Leg By Nasrin Khandoker (Translated for Alal O Dulal by Tibra Ali) In between the adults’ mirth there was a song from my girlhood that used to cause me great bafflement. It went something like this: … Continue reading Nasrin Khandoker: Nupur on a Broken Leg
By Tibra Ali
The Bangladeshi psyche is a moral and political waste land today. In this dizzying and disorienting kaleidoscope of decay, one name shines more brightly than anyone else today: Faraaz. Continue reading “Staying Back”
Since the oil spill disaster started in the Sundarbans on the night of the 9th of December many ebbs and flows of the tide have come and gone. The thick and poisonous spilled oil reaches wherever the water reaches during the high tide, via the Shela river (where the disaster originated), Pasur and Baleshwari rivers, and the innumerable canals. Continue reading “Sundarbans in Grave Danger and Our Government’s inaction”
When I was very little my mother used to tell me all kinds of bedtime fairytale stories. I used to think that the fairy princesses from these stories were supremely happy and content. You could say, my life now is the exact opposite of their lives.
Life in the School Room
by Apsari Chakma, translated by Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org Continue reading “Apsari Chakma: Life in the School Room”
Hindus and Muslims
by Kazi Nazrul Islam
Translated by Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org
One day I was discussing the Hindu-Muslim problem with Gurudev Rabindranath. Gurudev said: Look, you can cut the tail that’s on the outside, but who can cut the tail that’s inside? Continue reading “Kazi Nazrul Islam: Hindus and Muslims”
Our Political Misomusists
by Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org
It is an elementary fact of linguistics that the same word can carry different meanings. In particular, the word ‘Indian’ can have multiple meanings. Continue reading “Our Political Misomusists”
Birangonas: Our dearest sisters
by Shahanaz Jahan Pushon, translated for AlalODulal.org by Tibra Ali
“Husbands? Where will we find husbands. Some of our husbands died during the war, others have left us.”
Continue reading “Shahanaz Jahan Pushon: Birangonas, Our Dearest Sisters”
Do we really care about Felani?
By Afsan Chowdhury for AlalODulal.org
Do you have to be shot by the Indian security forces and lie hanging on the border fence before anyone notices you?
There are millions of such desperately poor girls who live out a terrible life and die but nobody pays any attention. But we notice Felani’s because it’s violent, involves our so-called sovereignty and also India, whom we dislike for many reasons. Continue reading “Afsan Chowdhury: Do we really care about Felani?”
The Sundarbans and our guiltless sleep
by Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org
In the south-west of Bangladesh stand the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest in the world. The Sundarbans are home to countless unique species and varieties of animal and plant life, the most famous of which is the Royal Bengal Tiger that graces all the official emblems of Bangladesh. The Sundarbans are criss-crossed by rivers and tributaries, and because of their proximity to the Bay of Bengal, this is where the saline water of the Bay mingles with the fresh-water coming down from the Ganges. Continue reading “The Sundarbans and our guiltless sleep”
Is it Eid today in Matiranga?
By Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org
Is it Eid today? Is it the end of Ramadan?
I remember when I was a child what excitement it was to spot the sliver of new moon at the end of Ramadan that would spell Eid the next day! For a Bangladeshi Muslim child there couldn’t be a more fun day than Eid. Continue reading “Is it Eid today in Matiranga?”
Omar Faruk Babu Remembered (d. May 2013)
1. Tibra Ali for AlalODulal.org
The awful daring of a moment’s surrender
Which an age of prudence can never retract
By this, and this only, we have existed
Which is not to be found in our obituaries
— T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Louis Ferdinand Celine one said that the good ones should have some kind of marking to set them apart from the rest of humanity. One of those good ones was Babu. Continue reading “Omar Faruk Babu Remembered”
“Journalist brother. You are a Hindu, I am a Hindu. Please don’t do any more harm to me. You know, how Hindus have to live in this country. Rana Plaza collapsed on top of my house and office. Four of my staff and three of my house help died. After the accident, goods were looted from my house. I can’t even go into my own house.” Continue reading “Rana Plaza built on land grabbed from Rabindranath Sarkar”
An existentialist photograph and the reality of non-existence
by Shameema Binte Rahman, Translated from Bengali for AlalODulal.org by Tibra Ali
A photograph. The whole body is buried under debris. Only one part is sticking out: an ID card with its lace wrapped around the wrist and the fingers. Continue reading “Shameema Binte Rahman: An existentialist photograph and the reality of non-existence”
Your feet are raised toward Bangladesh
By Ali Riaz, Translated for AlalODulal.org by Tibra Ali
The music of your anklets used to ring out in your mother’s yard and your own home Continue reading “Ali Riaz: Your feet are raised toward Bangladesh”
Jamal Nazrul Islam and the Ultimate Fate of the Universe
by Tibra Ali
Continue reading “OBIT: Jamal Nazrul Islam (1939-2013)”
Can Bangla blogs grow up?
by Schwap Doo-wop Niel
I was on my way to Shahbag on a rickshaw today, when the rickshaw-drivers asked me,”Bhaia, if you don’t mind me asking … what is a ‘blogger’?”
I answered that bloggers are people who write stuff on computers.
We easily forget the names of Kalpana Datta, Shanti Ghose, Shuniti Chowdhury, Beena Das, Leela Rai, Nanibala Devi, Du’Koribala Devi, Matangini Hajra and names of many other revolutionary women who played active roles in the fight for independence against the British. Even if the name of Ila Mitra, the legendary female leader of the Santal revolt at Nachol, comes up occasionally, we never recall the women of the then Muslim League who played active and important roles in the language movement of 1952.
Continue reading “Shahbagh: For fiery sisters”
