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,...
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...
There was a king who believed that he would not fail if he knew the answers to the three questions: 1. What was the right time for every action? 2. Who were the right people to be with? 3. What was the most important thing to do? The king announced that he would give...
I Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. II “Forward, the Light Brigade!” Was there a man...
Home they brought her warrior dead: She nor swoon'd nor utter'd cry: All her maidens, watching, said, "She must weep or she will die." Then they praised him, soft and low, Call'd him worthy to be loved, Truest friend and noblest...
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...
When we look at Bangladesh today, it is hard to imagine that this third world country is mostly responsible for the development of present Europe. Back in the 18th century, when the Mughal dynasty was considered one of the richest and most prosperous in the world,...
Among the many famous characters of the Mughal era, stands one name that deserves more recognition and glory than most. She is none other than Mughal Queen Jahanara Begum, the eldest daughter of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and his beloved wife, Mughal Empress Mumtaz...