An idea whose time has come
A great example of citizens failing to arrest political devolution is how a mediocre businessman – with a bad toupée, vocabulary of a fifth grader and freakishly small hands – danced his way to the American presidency.
11 February 2017, 18:00 PM
An Unwanted People
The International Community seems to be unable, if not unwilling, to adequately respond to the recent escalation in Rohingya persecution. Long before this crackdown, apartheid conditions prevailed for the Muslim minority.
14 December 2016, 18:00 PM
Demonetisation: A Noteworthy Modification
India's sudden-death demonetisation resembles a gamble: it will either be a big win or a catastrophic fail. Perhaps it is this realisation that keeps the administration squarely in the PM's corner.
20 November 2016, 18:00 PM
The Fog of War
2005: the War on Terror was in its third year. Hundreds of tonnes of explosives had pummeled Iraq and Afghanistan, and thousands
16 October 2016, 18:00 PM
What's in a frame?
It was always destined to become iconic: an image of blood-red streams flowing through a cityscape. The city was Dhaka and the
19 September 2016, 18:00 PM
A Dramatic Fall
Tania, Tania, Tania!" a ponytailed musician-type claps furiously. He is apologising to his girlfriend. His face looks as though it were
11 September 2016, 18:00 PM
Cornered men and toxic masculinity
Just after we had graduated to secondary school, a new boy joined our class. This new entrant was of pale, white complexion,
10 September 2016, 18:00 PM
A marriage of ideals and realities
In reality, a village father does not care about Bangladesh's commitments at the Girl Summit 2014; he cares about his daughter, and his social standing. Integrally linked to this sense of honour are cultural ideas like virginity or purity.
5 August 2016, 18:00 PM
The post-crisis rumour mill
During an unprecedented attack like the one at Holey Artisan Bakery, crisis management is of utmost priority.
10 July 2016, 18:00 PM
A Night of Terror
So, a night of absolute terror preceded the glorified Night of Power this Ramadan. And it has left Dhaka in a stupor; in a dazed state of disbelief and heartbreak.
3 July 2016, 18:00 PM
ViralSlide: Does 'Virality' Matter?
Take a look at the news-stories that really stirred our civic discourse in 2016: Rampal, central bank heist, teacher's humiliation by lawmaker or Tonu's murder. Think back another year: remember the #RichKids incident where a drunken teen (a former MP's nephew)
18 June 2016, 18:00 PM
Bring Back Our Girls
Sabira has been adequately framed as a 'model' and something of a 'wildcard' - who didn't care much about social norms. Her final video, featuring her in a slightly incoherent, vulnerable state, has been branded by online media sites and uploaded endlessly for public display. Not a single voice suggested that her privacy be respected.
30 May 2016, 18:00 PM
A Reasonable Vice
A former family chauffeur was recently suspended from his beloved 'government job'.
15 May 2016, 18:00 PM
Can climate gather steam?
When a car spontaneously caught fire in Dhaka last week, allegedly from a heated engine, social media comments invoked the ongoing heat-spell.
2 May 2016, 18:00 PM
Matrix of Biometrics
The man was up against a cave wall, holding his freshly ground and moistened haematite pigment in a coconut shell. He had spent the morning painting two Babirusas (pig-deer) with the chewed, bristly end of a twig. It was a hot day in Borneo; the forest breeze did not reach inside the cave. He was about to wipe the sweat off his brow, when the sight of his arm gave him an idea. He placed his hand against the cave wall and blew paint all over it, leaving an unmistakable imprint on the side of the wall. Little did he know that 40,000 years later – his work of art would dethrone European caves as the earliest instance of human creativity. Unknowingly, he had also become one of the first, deliberate users of biometric information.
17 April 2016, 18:00 PM
The Laws of Inertia
In 1988, Ershad's predictably dictator-esque declaration of a state religion led to the formation of the Committee to Resist Despotism
4 April 2016, 18:00 PM
The Strongman returns
It should be no surprise to us that the political 'strongman' has resurged. The very word evokes images of a bare-bodied Vladimir...
27 March 2016, 18:00 PM
The land of scared ideas
Sixty or seventy years back, higher education for the people of Bengal was a rare commodity. Racial and socioeconomic barriers held
12 March 2016, 18:00 PM
A Democracy of Crisis
Psychologists have suggested that humans have a natural preference for negative news, the public experience of which they enjoy via mass media. The reason is not necessarily 'schadenfreude' or secret pleasure derived out of other people's misery.
1 March 2016, 18:00 PM
Collateral of War and Peace
For Bangladesh's global image, January 2016 was not a good month. Allegations of sexual abuse by Bangladeshi peacekeepers
2 February 2016, 18:00 PM