M H Haider

A government holiday in the middle of the week is, I believe, a gift from the heavens! It gives us the rare opportunity to be lazy and

Curious and magnificently sweet names - like 'ab-i-rawan' (running water) and 'shabnam' (morning dew) - denoted the different varieties of a special cloth. Surely, this cannot fail to spark the interest of anyone. Why in the world would pieces of cloth have such fancy names?

Reginald Heber was a man who wore many hats. Born into an affluent family, the hymn-writer made a reputation as a poet while at Oxford University. The traveller and adventurer served as the 'Bishop of Calcutta'.

Nobody listens! Everybody just wants to talk. To let our voices be heard is more important than hearing what the other party has to say, it seems. But is that really so?

It doesn't get as straightforward as this. The group's name itself, Save the Heritages of Bangladesh, is all you need to know to get an

Farzana Haque often frowns when she sees her schedule. Being a manager of the client service team of an advertising and public

"Nature has not intended mankind to work from eight in the morning until midnight without that refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts twenty minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces"

We all have heard Benjamin Franklin's famous saying, that "early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Why

Abul Hasnat, an aristocrat, was a generous host. For example, when he invited Ahmed Hasan Dani - historian and curator at Dhaka Museum (now Bangladesh National Museum) - he treated him with a lavish meal extravagant enough to match those of the culinary antiquities of the Nawabs of Dhaka.

On October 10, Proshanta Karmakar Buddha's 19th solo art exhibition, titled 'Open Door', was inaugurated by the Indian High

Why did Emperor Aurangzeb deem his Viceroy in Bengal, Mir Jumla, as dangerous? So much so, it had been speculated that Aurangzeb

Pradeep Kumar is a manager in a multinational company. His job entails a lot of office hours, dealing with office politics, deadlines,

What do you reckon is the most common element featured on the book covers of publications about Old Dhaka? Of course, many things have been portrayed. But one article that keeps recurring is the horse carriage – our beloved 'ghora gari'.

The above quote has two problems. First, it is often misattributed to Confucius. Second, most of us never pay heed to it anyway!

The Armenians of Dhaka were a rich and swanky lot. The church that they built in 1781 (Church of the Holy Resurrection) and the area where it stands (Armanitola, named after Armenians) both reflect the influence of this community.

The prisoners were in a bus, on their way to the court. They were accused of a very serious crime: sedition.

Monir Hossain, 35, works as a senior executive in a firm. He used to travel to and from office in private cars.

Is the pen mightier than the keyboard? With the increasing use of laptops and smart phones, and in the realm of 'tweeting' and instant messaging, one could think that the world might just rub the pen off its hands. Typing surely has its many advantages. But the pen, too, has a myriad of benefits that a keyboard can't simply provide.

Islam places a huge significance on Friday. The above words, from Hadith, hold testament to that. It is on Friday we assemble together at a mosque to attend Jumu'ah, a weekly prayer that is full of spiritual and social importance.

Besides the fact that a mosque is a place of spirituality and divinity, it is also a centre for the neighbourhood. And the Friday congregation