Isn't this image too familiar to some of us? The red train, the typical posture of many through train-windows like this gentleman, and slow-pace negotiations with hawkers were the typical scenarios at Dhaka Kamalapur Rail Station 30-40 years ago. There was always an...
With this single image captured in Mogh Bazar, Dhaka (1986), our legendary photographer and cinematographer Late Anwar Hossain painted a picture of typical middle-class families in Dhaka in the 1980s. The mother is probably sorting rice with a 'kula' before cooking,...
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...
The Aztecs called it xocolātl (meaning "bitter water"), but it should have been called ambrosia. The Aztecs believed that cacao seeds were the gift of Quetzalcoatl, the God of wisdom, and the seeds had so much value they were used as a form of currency. Cacao has been...
Never has a plant fooled so many. It’s called a vegetable but is really a fruit; it was once thought to be poisonous but is enjoyed by millions; today it is mostly red, but originally it was yellow. The tomato is a native fruit of South America, specifically the Andes...
Few vegetables are as versatile as the potato, another native of the Andes with an ancestry extending back to around 8000-5000 BCE in Peru. You can have them boiled or broiled, fried or mashed, with meat or fish. Potatoes were first introduced into Europe following...
In the history of Mughals, one name that stands out among the rest is Emperor Akbar. He was the greatest of all the emperors to rule the Mughal Empire. We know about all his conquests, journeys and victories, but an integral part of his life is lesser-known to many....
The Lalbagh fort that stands in the heart of Dhaka with all its glory was once started by the favorite son of the great Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb. Though incomplete, it is still one of the most prominent landmarks in Dhaka, constructed by the Mughal Prince and later...
In a world not too far back into the past, the harmony of Bengal, Bihar and Orissawasn't left unperturbed. All the way from Europe, the British heard of the land of Gold; soil so fertile and rich; and of the magical hands that weaved cotton, silk and muslin so...
Looking into the childhood and early life of Rabindranath Tagore, we come across a central character that plays a crucial role both in the recalled joy of his adolescence and youth and the consolidation of his identity as a poet and writer. This person, who rose the...
During the mid to late 17th Century, 25% of the world's GDP went from the Indian subcontinent- 50% was generated from Bengal, which made up 12% of the world's GDP. Bengal, the Mughal Empire's wealthiest province, was an affluent region with Dhaka as the capital and...
Isa Khan was born in Sarail of Brahmanbaria in 1529 to the daughter of the Sultan of Bengal Giasuddin Mahmud, Syeda Momena Khatun and Solaiman Khan, Diwan under the Sultan, who later got the Zamindari of Sarail. Following the death of Sultan Giasuddin Mahmud, his...