OD-ing on contraceptive pills
Sadia (her name and some others in this article have been changed), 24, while preparing for her upcoming wedding was also worrying about something else—what form of birth control to use. She had been warned by her aunt against using oral contraceptive pills because of the side-effects—that she would gain weight, experience hot flashes. Sadia herself was particularly worried about the hormonal changes due to the pill. Ahead of her wedding, she chose instead to stock up on emergency pills.
3 May 2018, 18:00 PM
How the quota reform movement was shaped by social media
The recent quota reform protests took place as much on the streets of Dhaka as it did online, particularly on Facebook. Pitched battles in the middle of the night resulted as people responded to updates in real time. Events at the University of Dhaka (DU) led to uproar spreading to other universities in the city and other major cities of the country, where the youth took up protests in solidarity as well as a shared demand that the quota system, which reserves
26 April 2018, 18:00 PM
Humanitarian response, at a cost
An elephant walks through Kutupalong camp in the morning, in between the huts it easily dwarfs, while all around is the worried muttering of the camp inhabitants uncertain as to what to do. A crowd of Rohingya men and boys follow it at a distance, trying to shoo it away while others crouch on the roofs to watch.
19 April 2018, 18:00 PM
Is social media inciting violence in Myanmar?
A Facebook post by a young Burmese man in September last year: “I am always honing my sword to kill you shit kalar [derogatory term]. You kalar are son of bitch, son of swine.” Accompanying the post is several pictures of him posing with a sword.
12 April 2018, 18:00 PM
Raising a child with autism
Rupa shows me the broken glass of a bookshelf in the bedroom, which her son Rakin had shattered by banging his head against it, not half an hour before I entered their home in Mohammadpur last week. He had done something similar last year, which had required 10 stitches on his face. This time, luckily, Rakin had no injuries. His mother was still shaken, the accident a vivid reminder that her world can be turned upside down in a second, though she works hard all day to ensure a regular routine for her autistic son.
5 April 2018, 18:00 PM
Combating The Chikungunya Outbreak
At a time when the city is once again experiencing a surge of mosquitoes, residents are concerned about a resurgence of the diseases they carry. The mosquitoes biting us at all hours of day and night though are largely of the Culex variety, which while bothersome, does not bear disease. Aedes however causes dengue and worryingly, chikungunya, which crippled many in the city for some time last year.
22 March 2018, 18:00 PM
War, in all its suffering
"Most children have two whole legs and two whole arms but this little six-year-old that Dinesh was carrying had already lost one leg, the right one from the lower thigh down, and was now about to lose his right arm.” Anuk Arudpragasam's powerful debut novel “The Story of a Brief Marriage” starts with this haunting description of a shrapnel-struck child being brought to a makeshift clinic and about to undergo
15 March 2018, 18:00 PM
What it means to be a woman in the workplace
It is rare for women to be at the top, period. And even rarer for that woman to have worked their way to the top—more commonly, those who hold privileged positions often inherit their family businesses. Here, we feature women in diverse industries who have worked their way to the top, in a man’s world.
8 March 2018, 09:40 AM
AGAINST ALL ODDS
On the occasion of the International Day of Women and Girls in Science on February 11, Star Weekend profiled several prominent
15 February 2018, 18:00 PM
Censorship and the Boi Mela
“From a love for our language, for the Liberation War, and for the nation has arisen a shared sense of democracy and freedom of
8 February 2018, 18:00 PM
How well are female workers protected by the law?
Equal pay for equal work, the right to form a union—these, among other standards, protect workers from exploitation in the
1 February 2018, 18:00 PM
Tenants: At the mercy of landlords
Ananya Paul, 26, a working professional in Dhaka had an eye-opening experience of religious harmony (or lack thereof) while house-hunting in Dhaka. In 2015, she and her in-laws went searching for an apartment in the Banasree area.
25 January 2018, 18:00 PM
The Post
So said Katharine Graham, The Washington Post publisher, on the phone to her editors, making a decision that turned out to have historic consequences for the United States and that elevated her paper to national standing.
11 January 2018, 18:00 PM
Between a rock and a hard place
Groups of Rohingya refugees sit clustered under the trees under the watchful eyes of the Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB). Around them are their possessions. Here, they wait.
4 January 2018, 18:00 PM
Ben Okri: The writer, the artist
“The Magic Lamp” is a collection of 25 short stories by Okri inspired by 25 original paintings by Rosemary Clunie. Okri calls it his “first real unintentional intentional book”, after having been spontaneously inspired by one of Clunie's paintings. Spontaneous, however, may not be entirely accurate.
14 December 2017, 18:00 PM
Stories from inside Rakhine
For years now, the persecution of Rohingya in Myanmar has been broadcast to the world largely through volunteers who use smartphones to send photos, audio and video clips out to the Rohingya diaspora, larger Muslim community and the world.
7 December 2017, 18:00 PM
Living with HIV: a fight to the death
Little Akib was in the last stages of advanced AIDS. A boy of 12, he looked six years old and was all skin and bones. He breathed his last on Sunday night. “He was fine this morning, talking and getting ready. I fed him as usual,” said his nani.
30 November 2017, 18:00 PM
The inequality of Dhaka's roads
Are all roads treated equally by them? Why was the initiative to improve roads, footpaths and drains in the upscale tri-state area prioritised by the incumbent Mayor and the DNCC in their first two years in office?
26 October 2017, 18:00 PM
Who reads young adult books?
How the young adult genre evolved to gain universal readership
5 October 2017, 18:00 PM
Swallowed by the river
A flood is a familiar drill for Anwar Hossain. He can't keep track of how many times he has dismantled and moved his house. Of the millions who live on the riverine islands, or chars, in the Jamuna, no one lives in one place for more than a few years.
28 September 2017, 18:00 PM