As the rickshaw, painted bright with a distorted Bengal tiger and even more distorted images of Dhallywood stars, breaks through the sea of other rickshaws, the kites appear almost suddenly through the narrow old Dhaka skyline.

Back in school, my friends and I had no access to the internet. This was due to our parents' steadfast belief that the internet was the root of all evil in this world.

For those who do not know, an odd job in Bangladesh is equivalent to a normal blue-collar job everywhere else in the world. In this country, it is generally associated with working in the hospitality industry or retail sector or driving a cab—jobs that are at times frowned upon and shrugged off into a category of its own with zero importance or worth attached to them.

But what do you gain by giving? It teetered, the question, like a teacup on legs performing a balancing act, on the tip of my tongue, but—to my credit, to my utmost credit—I did not say it. Instead, I asked, gesturing to the brilliantly untidy pile of books, “Why give these away? And at so low a price?”

A nine-to-five workday spent dangerously close with the opposite sex in a sequestered office cubicle makes it painstakingly difficult for things not to get steamy once in a while.

The few times I tried fixing it up resulted in my thoughtful colleagues nicknaming it “Sonali Bank” since it kept swallowing up all my money. Here's the story of my car, my unhealthy obsession.

Translating Donald Trump is, well, an awkward process. After all, the president of the free world has about as much respect for basic grammar, word choice and sentence structure as he does for immigrants, women and the environment.

You know that imaginary friend that every child grows up with? Mine was Rahul. Not a storybook character or a person I'd made up at random, but the Rahul of the dimpled smiles and a necklace that spelled 'COOL'.

“A million people evacuated as a powerful Tropical Cyclone TS MORA expected on 30th May 2017.

Friday. A lazy day; the entire family is home, relaxing. My three-ish year old self decides to place herself comfortably on Janu's lap (our house-help of the time) on the floor while my mother sits on a chair reading the newspaper.

I used to get beaten up in childhood by my elder sister, a lot. My mother would sometimes wonder loudly why I always got beaten up, and why I couldn't save myself.

It begins with a listless thought, brushed aside. What does a heartbeat sound like, you wonder. Brush, aside.

It was definitely after office hours when a phone call came and made me panic. The number on my screen was unknown but it was pretty easy to guess where the call came from. The law enforcement bodies have a digit sequence that most journalists in the city are trained to recognise.

The director is a pivotal figure in the making of a feature film. The singular focus ensures the homogeneity of the plot and of the story of the film. The redoubtable Dilip Kumar in his twilight years used to dabble in the work of his director. The Hindi version of Sagina Mahato is mentioned as a reference.

In his movie "Fury" Brad Pitt plays the role of a Sergeant of American Army advancing well inside Germany in the last phase of WWII. He observes - 'ideals are peaceful but war is violent'. This sums up the blood bath that WW II was.

Last year around April, I was going through a whirlwind trip. I wasn't much of a morning person; nevertheless I was forcing myself to get up at the crack of dawn so that I don't end up missing my ride to the next destination.

In the year 1905 Lord Curzon, the viceroy of India announced the partition of Bengal. The provincial state of Bengal had an area of 189,000 square miles and a population of nearly 80 million.

Women in Bangladesh have always been warned not to go out late at night, because it is unsafe.

How we perceive other people and how we are perceived depends immensely on our own characters.

Remember the sitcom, Friends? Of course you do. Remember the time how panicked Chandler and Monica became when they