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Sukumar Barua, rhymester of Bangladesh, winner of Ekushey Padak has passed away at age 84 in Chittagong. His honors include the Bangla Academy Award, the Ekushey Padak, the Bangladesh Shishu Academy Literary Award, the Agrani Bank Children’s Literature Honor, and … Continue reading Sukumar Barua (1938-2026): Rhymester of Bangladesh
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Anupama and Ankush Pal highlight the limited scholarly attention given to indigenous worship like that of Manasa. They argue that these practices embody resistance and cultural preservation, challenging dominant narratives in Hinduism and promoting diverse spiritual identities. Continue reading Sacred Margins: Manasa Worship and Divine Recognition
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The union of public consciousness with Rabindranath is hindered by self-proclaimed interpreters. Continue reading Rival Camps Lost Sight of the Real Tagore
The Bangla response to Netflix’s EXTRACTION is predictable; we surmise the outraged viewers from Dhaka have helped propel the film to #1 on Netflix. Towheed Feroze‘s complaint is, ahem, accuracy: “The police are seen driving Indian-made Hyundai cars; our police does … Continue reading EXTRACTION: Hullaballoo in a Orientalist Orchard
(Reprinted from Foreign Policy magazine where it was posted on 10 April.)
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, varying levels of social distancing have been implemented around the world, including in China, Europe, and much of the United States. Hundreds of millions of people have accepted dramatic disruptions to their daily lives and substantial economic losses based on the reasoning that slowing the spread of the coronavirus can keep health care systems from becoming overwhelmed. Continue reading “Poor Countries Need to Think Twice About Social Distancing”
During an unprecedented attack like the one at Holey Artisan Bakery, crisis management is of utmost priority. Looking back, security forces did well to set up cordons to keep at bay meddlesome reporters. The subsequent media blackout, though late, was a good call and could feature in a standard operating procedure. In comparison with regional incidents, commandoes acted with reasonable urgency. However, medical evacuation appeared poorly managed and if not for the proximity of United Hospital, more lives may have been lost.
By Nadine S. Murshid
As we mourn, we must realize that the fight ahead of us is a difficult one, but one that must be won. Without mass-surveillance. Without impinging on freedoms. Without help from international bodies with vested interests. Without police brutality.
Continue reading “Untangling horror”
By Fardin Hasin for AlalODulal
In March 2016, a girl was brutally raped and murdered inside Comilla Cantonment. The crime was surrounded by a lot of mysteries, most of which are yet to be brought to light due to the authority’s unwillingness to do any proper investigation. People were quick to react; protests sprung up in both Dhaka and Comilla along with some other places. The hashtag #JusticeForX (I will not reveal her name here for reasons I am going to explain later) spread throughout Facebook; often complemented by cover photos depicting the words ‘Justice For X’ superimposed on the victim’s picture.
By Ahmad Ibrahim On 7 February 2016, Indian artists Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam had their photographs and art installations removed from the Dhaka Art Summit taking place in Shilpakala Academy. Huffington Post (India), Indian Express, and the artist Tenzing Sonam’s … Continue reading Tibetan Artists Silenced at Dhaka Art Summit
by Awrup Sanyal
In Rubaiyat Hossain’s “Under Construction” we see an examination of the theme of ‘under construction’ as it applies to the city of Dhaka, as well as the gendered bodies of men and women:
Continue reading “FILM: About “Under Construction” and the Under Constructed”
Awrup for AlaloDulal.org
We love a public spectacle. From cricket, to decapitation, to rape. We are the perennial spectators. The public. The police. The administration. We like watching. And then we like looking away.
by Zahur Ahmed for AlalODulal
Feedback’s quintessential song for Pohela Boishak, the first day of a Bengali New Year, “Melay Jaire” has a line on the third stranza, “বখাটে ছেলের ভিড়ে ললনাদের রেহাই নাই — the crowd of ruffians won’t spare the girls”. The lyricist Maqsoodul Haque had a deep insight into our tradition, culture and attitude. What might have been overlooked as a humorous innuendo has become a sad reality during this year’s Bengali New Year celebrations, as a number of women fell victims to horrid gang assaults on broad day light amid the thousands enjoying the festivities.
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”
Bangladeshis rarely get to cheer their heroes, but when they do they are euphoric. They came out in droves to celebrate the nation’s first ever qualification for the cricket World Cup, and for some memorable wins since then. But wins have been few and far between. There were other celebrities and celebrations – the Nobel Prize for the Grameen Bank and its founder — but they would hardly match the glitz and glamour bestowed by a ‘would be’ Bangladeshi film or a cricket star.
Continue reading “AJ, Arrival of a Bangladeshi Hero”
The Smell of Siege and the fragrance of freedom
‘Like fish in a barrel, with nowhere to go’
Galloway, on Gaza
by Seema Amin for AlalODulal.org
It must be that nothing is inviolate in a violated world. Continue reading “The smell of siege and the fragrance of freedom”
Our history is never still, and there are always processes of rewriting Bangladesh’s history. The best response to such history wars is to let the record speak, when possible. In an Alal O Dulal exclusive, we have translated a 37 page interview of Kamal Hossain (from Shaptahik magazine, 2014). This is the first part.
Continue reading “Kamal Hossain Interview (Part 1)”
টিনেজ যৌনকর্মীদের ছবি প্রকাশ, দারিদ্র্যতা শো করা ছাড়া অন্য কিছু না – মৃদুল শাওন
ফেসবুকে কয়েকজনরে দেখলাম একটা লিঙ্ক শেয়ার দিতাছে। ‘BuzzFeed’ নামের একটা আমেরিকান ওয়েবসাইটে বাংলাদেশের টিনেজ-যৌনকর্মীদের তিরিশটা ছবি। শিরোনাম- “30 Tragic, Beautiful Photos Of Teenage Prostitutes In Bangladesh”। Continue reading “Publishing the images of teen sex workers is nothing but a showcase of poverty”
Bengali Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh
by Garga Chatterjee for Alalodulal
“Hey there mister can you tell me what happened to the seeds I’ve sown
Can you give me a reason sir as to why they’ve never grown? Continue reading “Bengali Hindus in Muslim-majority Bangladesh”
Juxtaposed Realities: Dhaka
A short story by Mehreen Ahmed
On a chilled grey dawn, I hear a call out. I get out of bed fumbling, and reach for my shawl. Continue reading “Mehreen Ahmed: Juxtaposed Realities: Dhaka”
Nanu’s Songs
by Navine Murshid for AlalODulal.org
“This was the only glimpse that I had to the frenzy that Partition and famine caused in the lives of my closed ones; in Nanu’s paranoia, I saw the fear of starvation, the fear of losing family members, and the fear of the unknown.”
By Devasish Roy-Wangza for AlalOdulal
About thirty-five of us – including six women and about ten local men porters – took a seven-day trek from Farua village within Farua Union (“For-ua” in Tanchangya), Bileisori sub-district of Rangamati hill district to Bethuni Para, Ruma sub-district, Bandarban hill district, all within the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) in southeastern Bangladesh, from 22 to 28 December, 2011.The team included former Farua Union Parishad (UP) member, Jacob Tripura,
Continue reading “Reingkhyong Lake: The Forgotten Frontier of Bangladesh”
‘Even you, sir?’: On my open letter to Professor Anisuzzaman
by Prashanta Tripura for AlalODulal.org
I. Background: A Seminar
‘The Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University urges increased intercommunication’ would be an English translation of part of the headline of a Banglanews24.com report on a seminar held at the premises of DU on October 26, 2013. Continue reading “Prashanta Tripura: Open letter to Prof. Anisuzzaman (‘nrigoshthi’ debate)”
“With every hartal, every police action, I see sticks falling on Majed Ali’s back. Leaders, you have options. The Majed Alis of Bangladesh don’t. They will not stop, so please, you must!” Continue reading “I see sticks falling on Majed Ali’s back”
Is it only survival? Is it politics without science?
Re-conceptualizing the resistances against the Phulbari Coal Mine Project in Bangladesh with the mediation of archaeological practice
Swadhin Sen
Continue reading “Is it only survival? Is it politics without science?”
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”
“I feel fortunate to be a member of the Chakma community, a minority group of Bangladesh, but when such attacks occur, I sometimes feel unfortunate to be a Bangladeshi.”
Continue reading “Bangladesh is not ours”
This 2009 article revisits the figure of the ‘third world sweatshop worker’, long iconic of the excesses of the global expansion of flexible accumulation in late twentieth-century capitalism. I am interested in how feminist activists concerned with the uneven impact of neo-liberal policies can engage in progressive political interventions without participating in the ‘culture of global moralism’ that continues to surround conventional representations of third world workers. Continue reading “Dina Siddiqi: Do Bangladeshi factory workers need saving? Sisterhood in the post-sweatshop era”
The art of dehumanization
by Seema Amin
‘A door marked enemy and no one home.’ Tom Engelhardt.
‘If you repeat a lie enough times, it becomes the truth.’ Electra, my love (1974 Hungarian film).
It will not be too overcast to say the 21st century (Anno Domini, whose 12 years and some hundred days have passed) has thus far been the century of the “enemy-industrial complex”. Continue reading “Seema Amin: The art of dehumanization”
Running barefoot through the city of Barbie liberty and sexy grenades
by Faruk Wasif, translated from Bengali by Nayma Qayum for AlalODulal.org
In the morning I saw four teenagers on the pavement across the street from Mohammadpur Central College. They wore the usual jobba-tupi, but no footwear. Those, they had lost in Motijheel, and could not buy another pair. Continue reading “Running barefoot through the city of Barbie liberty and sexy grenades”
Humanity, Charity, and Reality TV: a case of the Rana Plaza Collapse
by Seuty Sabur for AlalODulal.org
Nitra, Pritha, Rahnuma, Saydia, Shifa, Lima, Ayon and I spent the whole of yesterday sorting and filing 1300 photos with information of those who went missing in the Rana Plaza collapse. Continue reading “Humanity, Charity, and Reality TV”
There Will be Blood
Shafiqur Rahman
Every country in the world, rich or poor, dreams of striking big reserves of oil. Why shouldn’t they? Striking oil is equivalent to winning the lottery prize. Continue reading “There Will Be Blood”
Another blogger, who has spent the greater part of the week at Shahbagh, who is gratified at the ‘abject rejection of the BNP-Jamaat and JP [Jatiya Party] narrative of 1971’ stirringly writes, and I quote:
‘I will never agree on the death penalty for anyone…If it is handed down for a convicted war criminal, I’ll continue to work so that it is commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or Presidential clemency. Confiscate their property and compensate their victims, and let their children find their way out of the public humiliation and shame brought upon by the exposure of truth. Let us be better than them. I will continue to be there in Shahbagh even if I’m the last man standing, and I share this belief with millions of my brothers and sisters across our land’. (greaterboka, ‘A Week in Shahbagh’, Alal o Dulal, February 14, 2013). Continue reading “Reclaiming Ekattur: fashi, Bangali”
Missed Euphoria
UDAYAN CHATTOPADHYAY ponders over what’s ‘missing’ from December 16th celebrations on both sides of the border.
DAILY STAR, December 2012
Every year, 16th December, known in India as Vijay Divas, is commemorated through low key events in a few select major cities across the country. There is rarely any fanfare; in Delhi, there is a brief and solemn ceremony with sparse attendance; protocol dictates the titles of those who must attend or send a replacement in lieu; a minute’s silence is held by the Eternal Flame by India Gate, and the event is generally very lacklustre. Continue reading “1971: Missed Euphoria”
Blogger Rumi (a successful medical doctor in US who came here on a student visa in the 1980s): “The outrageous, inexcusable act of The Bangladeshi Student, facilitated and influenced by an FBI undercover agent, has claimed it’s first victim – the student visa system.”
Student visas concern after terror plot
Grand Jury to be convened
Nafis was allegedly planning something for which he will go to jail for life. But, how far would he have actually got without help from the FBI? Below are some discussions in US blogosphere about this topic.
Chuñdy: No one is arguing that he shouldn’t face serious jail time. We are questioning whether the FBl and the media should be portraying this 21-year-old doofus as a terrorist mastermind. They caught a gullible wannabe jihadist who couldn’t tell the difference between an inert bomb and a real bomb. Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Dhaka is ranked least liveable among 140 surveyed cities. Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Livability Survey ranked Dhaka 139 in 2011, and 140 in 2012.
DOWNLOAD: EIU Liveability Report 2012
DOWNLOAD: Spatially Adjusted Index Report [Dhaka ranks 2 better on this]
Least livable cities: 2012
131. Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
132. Tehran, Iran
133. Douala, Cameroon
134. Tripoli, Libya
135. Karachi, Pakistan
136. Algiers, Algeria
137. Harare, Zimbabwe
138. Lagos, Nigeria
139. Port Moresby, Papua New Guineau
140. Dhaka, Bangladesh
Least livable cities: 2011
131. Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire
132. Tehran, Iran
133. Douala, Cameroon
134. Karachi, Pakistan
135. Tripoli, Libya
136. Algiers, Algeria
137. Lagos, Nigeria
138. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
139. Dhaka, Bangladesh
140. Harare, Zimbabwe
Continue reading “Dhaka moves to #1 in Least Liveable City Index”
Contrarian Thoughts on Humayun Ahmed
– by Bookworm Blogger
So Humayun Ahmed finally died a few days ago. Not unexpected really, considering his advanced age and his prolonged battle with cancer. You don’t really win fights like those in the end. He didn’t either.
I got the news as I was sitting in the bus, going to the mall. Facebook feeds on the mobile, of course, what else. All in all – and it’s now been several days, so my reactions have had time to settle – I find myself almost entirely unmoved by this event. Except perhaps for a brief moment of heaviness just after I heard the news. After all, this IS Humayun Ahmed. THE name to contend with in modern Bangladeshi fiction.
Sure, he was a very talented writer. Yet my enduring memories of reading Humayun are few and far between. In total, I can’t say that I read more than 12-15 of his books – and the last one was a good 20 years ago. Perhaps because towards the end – and for me, that would be 1992-93 – the crap content was so high that I felt there were far better uses of my time than reading the ramblings of some loser kid in a yellow punjabi or whatever the latest fad was that the Humayun word-machine was churning out to keep greedy publishers and childish readers happy. Continue reading “Contrarian Thoughts on Humayun Ahmed”
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