Last year’s Pahela Baishakh (Bengali New Year) celebration that took place on April 14, 2001, at Ramna’s Boto-Mool (Foot of the Banyan Tree) was marred by a bomb blast that killed 10 innocent bystanders. It was never ruled out completely whether one of the bombers was killed in the carnage.  A year went by but the police investigation was mysteriously incomplete as is the case with other bomb blasts that rocked this nation inhabited by 130 million impoverished people. ...  (Read more)

Just one hour, BD time, away I am waiting for Pahela Baishakh of 1409 BS. But I am not celebrating it. It is a pahela Baishakh with a difference to me. My memory goes back to last year's event at Bata Mula of Ramna Green. The day was also a most pathetic day for me on personal level.  ..  (Read more)

 Of all the stages in our lives it is our childhood that we remember most fondly. It is the only time when we are allowed to be without much responsibility, to run wild and to play with abandon....  (Read more)

Thirteen years ago, I traveled to India for the first time. My goal was to spend the year studying Bengali language and literature at Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan, the home of Rabindranath Tagore's great educational experiment and his beloved 'abode of peace.' At the same time, I hoped to explore the origins and continuing legacy of Tagore's revolutionary ideal of a forest ashram-school. In the back of my mind was the hope that all of this would prepare me to write a doctoral dissertation on Tagore.Things didn't exactly work out that way - although they certainly worked out exceedingly well..  (Read more)

Of so many gifts of the Muslim civilization the Bengali Calendar is the one that has survived the test of time. Time is inexorable, immeasurable and indivisible. Yet to identify the progress not only of the individual's works and achievements but of the humanity as a whole, units like second, minute, hours, day, week, month and year have been conceived of for convenience and practical purposes. The progress of civilization has witnessed the innovation and introduction of calendars of different denominations suiting the particular purposes of the innovators ...  (Read more)