Bangladeshi filmmaker Rubaiyat Hossain’s third movie ‘Made in Bangladesh’ has hit the headlines as it has been officially invited to compete for the 78th Golden Globe award, for the best foreign film category. This 2019 movie got premiered in the Contemporary World...
Rockstrata is undoubtedly the pioneer of Bangladeshi heavy metal music. This image probably taken in the late 1980s captures (from the left): Arshad Amin (Bass), Mainul Islam (Guitar), Shoaib Rahman (Vocals), Imran Hussain (Guitar). The drummer Mahbubur Rashid is not...
The Forgotten Women of 1857 Not just Begum Hazrat Mahal and Rani Lakshmibai but dozens of women participated in active fighting against the British. Their stories are largely unrecorded. History of Azizun Bai Azizun Bai left an excellent impact upon Indian History....
There is said to be an estimated 15,000 transgender people or “hijras”, as they’re called locally, in Bangladesh, although some sources say the count sits at 1.5 million. Transgender was established as a third gender by the Bangladeshi government in 2013 and the...
As a classic children’s English nursery rhyme, to which we all have grown up knowing ‘ Ring-A-Ring-A- Roses’ there’s more to the meaning than the fun we might have enjoyed whilst playing as a child. But how many of us actually know what is the history and meaning of...
Yin and yang (or yin-yang) is a complex relational concept in Chinese culture that has developed over thousands of years. The philosophy is at least 3,500 years old, discussed in the ninth-century BCE text known as I Ching or Book of Changes, and influences the...
What Is the Stonehenge? The Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments and one of the biggest mysteries of its kind. The Stonehenge is an ancient, huge man-made circle of standing stones in Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England. It was built...
Giant Tortoises van only be found in two remote places in the world today - the Aldabra Atoll and Fregate Island in Seychelles and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. The Aldabra giant tortoise lives on the remote Aldabra Atoll one of the Seychelles group of islands in...
As we live in a world that puts a lot of stock in outer appearances, the scope of body shaming is wide and can include shaming for being fat, dark, stout, too thin, and the list goes on. Last week when I went to meet my Dadi after months, the first sentence she...
This photo is 66 years old, portraying a typical street-side tea stall in Dhaka. Notice a couple of 'Murir tins' (puffed rice containers) are kept as snacks. The primary characteristic of the tea stall in Dhaka has not changed much since. Some of these tea stalls are...
A fine day in front of the Architecture building at BUET was captured in the early 1980s. This architectural icon designed by Prof. Richard Vrooman (first Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Planning) symbolises the blending of our climatic characteristics and...
Warfaze, a pioneering Bangladeshi heavy metal music band along with Rockstrata, is performing at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka Hotel in 1988. The band was incepted by Ibrahim Kamal in 1984. The initial lineup was: Kamal on bass, Helal on drums, Mir and Naimul on...
A 'Boot-polish' stand is seen on the footpath of Dhaka, probably in the 1960s. Shoe-shiner or boot-polisher is an occupation in which a person buffs shoes, applies wax, and then polishes them with a brush or a piece of cloth to give the shoes a shiny appearance. Most...
Some people don't believe in heroes but they haven't met my Father. Every time I think of this extraordinarily simple man, my heart fills with pride. He was unlike anyone else; very different from everyone in his family and time. It was difficult to understand him...
About 2000 years ago from now, the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata, the ruins of which now collectively a world heritage site, were left devastated by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius by destroying its infrastructure and flash-heating its...
The Dancing Girl is an uncommon and exceptional work of art created during the Indus Valley Civilisation about 4500 years ago. It is an ancient bronze statue, one of the mere two statues of its time where the figure portrayed has an easygoing posture unlike other...
Gautama Buddha is the man who holds the title of the Buddha, a Sanskrit word meaning “the one who is enlightened”. Gautama was born as Siddhartha Gautama in the 5th century B.C. in Lumbini, Nepal. His father, King Suddhodana, was the ruler of a small kingdom and upon...
Most European countries are recognized for their outstanding art and architecture. People from all around the world gather in countries like Italy, Germany, Spain, France to embrace the beauty of these fine arts. Whenever in Paris, France, a visit to the Eiffel Tower...
The journey of Islam from the Middle East to the land of India has remained to be one of the most remarkable turning points in world history. India has been a land well protected by its natural barriers with the Arabian Sea in the West, the Himalayas in the North and...
Ikhtiyar al-Din Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khilji, also known as Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji, has been depicted both as a hero of Muslim conquest in Bengal and a destroyer of the great universities in Nalanda, Vikramshila and Odantapuri in present-day Bihar. It is still...
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, more popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third emperor of the Mughal Empire. He ruled from 1556 to 1605 and is hailed as the most celebrated Mughal emperor since he not only strengthened the foundation of the empire but...