Enjoying Dhaka rain doesn't have to be a privilege
14 June 2022, 18:00 PM
I probably won't be too wrong in saying, there is nothing likeable about the rainy season if you happen to be a Dhaka resident who have to be out and about, rain or shine.
14 June 2022, 18:00 PM
The Fantasy of an Empty Dhaka
7 May 2022, 18:00 PM
One recurring discourse in Dhaka, especially before and after Eid holidays, is that of an “empty” city.
7 May 2022, 18:00 PM
A love letter to an unlivable Dhaka
20 January 2020, 18:00 PM
How does it feel to live day in and day out in a city where the air is not only heavy with unhealthy particles but bitter recriminations and even a heavier sense of doom and gloom?
20 January 2020, 18:00 PM
MY DHAKA / Mission Impossible: House hunting in Dhaka
8 November 2018, 18:00 PM
House hunting in Dhaka is nothing short of a nightmare, and I say this not necessarily because of the disparity of numbers between those who have their own house and who do not.
8 November 2018, 18:00 PM
MY DHAKA / Had it been so . . .
26 July 2018, 18:00 PM
There was nothing extraordinary about that day, except that a sudden impulse to walk had gripped me! A nyctophile, I have always cherished the pleasure of walking in the city after dark, but living in Dhaka now, this desire had to remain unfulfilled.
26 July 2018, 18:00 PM
The Imagined Bengal - When the City Goes Soft
28 June 2018, 18:00 PM
Whenever people talk about the greater Bengal, divided in two halves—West Bengal, consisting of 18 districts of India, and East Bengal, which is now Bangladesh—the linguistic commonality along with what many term as 'Bengaliness' creates a myth of cultural affinity and a networked relationship maintained across the national divide.
28 June 2018, 18:00 PM
MY DHAKA / What is dhaka (hidden) in Dhaka?
24 May 2018, 18:00 PM
It is not for nothing that Dhaka is called a “jadur shohor”—a magical city. No, I don't say this to exoticise a city from the Global South out of any unconscious colonial hangover. I believe in the city's “special” abilities that are crucial in defining the urban pathology and behaviour it generates.
24 May 2018, 18:00 PM
MY DHAKA / Are we willing to know more of Dhaka?
3 May 2018, 18:00 PM
The city as we know it is as much a physical space as it is a state of mind. The mindscape—the space we bear in our mind—is constantly in dialogue with the physical city. The real city emerges out of this dialectic. Yet, and quite sadly so, our urban research remains heavily biased towards the physical city, relegating the immaterial associations of the city as secondary, if not outright unimportant.
3 May 2018, 18:00 PM
A life on perpetual tenterhooks
The city is like a text. It always gives us clues in many forms into its inner world. Reading those signs may allow us to see a pattern leading to the city's psycho-social world. Why is this even important? Because this is the invisible landscape that conditions the visible one, determining the way we behave in the city. Let us consider Dhaka. How does living in Dhaka feel ? It is like being on perpetual tenterhooks.
5 April 2018, 18:00 PM
Sensing Dhaka
While Dhaka drowns in myriad urban problems, all resulting from some sort of scarcity in resources, the city's sensorium is marked by a glaring superfluity—be it visual, tactile, auditory or olfactory. Our experience of the city is thus unavoidably multi-sensual, yet when it comes to analysing the city the way we derive specialised knowledge about the urban environment depends heavily on disciplines and practices that are essentially visual. We depend on cartography, land surveys, optical geography.
21 March 2018, 18:00 PM
Of men and masculinity in a male city
Last time, I wrote about how Dhaka's public spaces exude a strong maleness and how women walk about the city wearing their gender like the proverbial albatross that just would not unburden their shoulders. How does that weigh on men? I would say heavier!
7 March 2018, 18:00 PM
What I Talk About When I Talk About Walking in the Streets of Dhaka
There is not much to love about being a woman on the streets of Dhaka. Let's call a spade a spade—Dhaka streets are not pedestrian-friendly, irrespective of one's gender. Missing or broken pavements, gaping holes to catch you off guard, footpaths overtaken by hawkers, vendors, makeshift shops of all sorts, piled up construction materials, spilled-over garbage, bikers and even rickshaws carrying passengers looking to cut across heavy traffic—you name
22 February 2018, 18:00 PM
Being an Unmotherly Mother
Much like buying a free-size robe that needs no trial, motherhood is expected to fit all women who give birth. When it comes to
8 February 2018, 18:00 PM