Helemul Alam

There was water everywhere on the road, mostly knee-deep.

Rubel Hossain, a student of World University, had to have iftar alone at his East Razabazar mess in Dhaka on the first two days of Ramadan as none of his roommates were home. So he decided to go to Tejturi Bazar Jaam-e mosque on the third day where several hundred people come to break fast together.

Julekha Begum, a resident of Gendaria DIT plot, could not make iftar on the first day of Ramadan as the gas supply went out at 9:00am and did not resume before iftar.

Ahmed Daian, a resident of Banani, usually purchases iftar items from shops near his home, but for a change this year, he decided to break fast with Ramadan-specials of Chawkbazar.

Everything was going smoothly for Mukta Rani, a mother-to-be, until a miscarriage on May 8. Though it is very important to take someone who has just had a miscarriage to the hospital immediately, Biplob Chandra Shil, Mukta's husband, failed to do so as vehicular movement on Road 3 of Chamelibagh in Dhaka's Shantinagar has stopped for the last two months due to drainage work by Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).

Like most people living in Dhaka, Maududa had a dream -- a dream of owning a home for her family. The dream almost came true after she won a lottery of the National Housing Authority (NHA) -- a 1,000 square feet flat at a building in Mohammadpur. However, due to a sudden hike in price by NHA, almost all families who were allotted the flats are in a precarious situation.

Around 70 dockyards have been running illegally for decades encroaching on the Buriganga river on a stretch extending between

Momena Begum and her mother Tahera Khatun were anxiously waiting outside a doctor's chamber at a private hospital in the capital.

As soon as the sun goes down, trucks and covered vans start occupying the Satrasta intersection in the capital's Tejgaon. First in ones and twos, then in their dozens, choking the intersection and creating a tailback there.

No one knows when the trashcans on the pavement in front of the Navy headquarters in the capital were stolen, leaving just the metal frames where the bins used to hang.

He worked tirelessly and was planning to do more to realise his dream of making Dhaka a modern city, but death has halted the mission.

Fed up with the authorities' failure to solve the prolonged waterlogging problem at Haji Khorshed Ali Sardar Sarak in the capital's East Jurain, locals have taken matters into their own hands.

A canal, which was once connected to several other water bodies in the city and the Turag River, at Lautola Kanchabazar is now in its death throes.

Demolition of the century-old laboratory building in the capital's Khamarbari is going on despite an outcry from preservationists.

There had been much talk about transforming Dhaka city parks and playgrounds into modern ones. But no time-befitting initiative was taken to make the vision a reality until recently.

Jannatul Ferdous Mitu, a first year student of Viqarunnisa Noon School and College, along with three of her classmates was eagerly waiting for a bus at Mouchak crossing a few days ago.

Emphasising the necessity of ponds in mitigating waterlogging crisis and during fire incidents, urban experts and environmentalists demanded that the government take proper measures to protect these vital organs.

Arjun could not stop clapping as he saw around 15 swans by the bank of a pond. Excited, the three-year-old went closer to get a better look. But the birds quickly went into the water creating gentle ripples and floated away.

Not so long ago, Mirpur was peppered with ponds. There used to be 10 reservoirs in the area of which three are still

As one enters the place, he or she gets welcomed by a melodic chirping of birds and whiff of earth and wet grass.