Today is the first anniversary of the loss of John Lewis, a civil rights crusader. At the time of his death, Lewis was one of the last Selma-era civil rights leaders. In 1965, Selma, Alabama became a battle ground in an effort to guarantee Blacks the right to vote. During that time, a system of racial apartheid was in the[Read More…]
A few nights ago, I had watched the NTV video on Probash Jibon featuring a self-made Bangladeshi born multi-billionaire Kali Pradip Chaudhuri (KPC) in Los Angeles (LA), California. His lifestyle consists of such opulence and excesses that it will be categorically approved by Mukesh Ambani, the Reliance Industries Chairman and Jay Gatsby, Scott Fitzgerald’s flamboyant central character in The Great[Read More…]
On the eve of February 21, International Mother Language Day, the afternoon was sunny, windless and frozen. The sun came up after a two-day winter snow storm. The snow was melting and I bundled up and decided to walk along the trails in my neighborhood to get a few minutes of sun. Above me the sunlight was pouring its yellow light[Read More…]
Written by Zeenat Khan and Ferdous Khan Last Tuesday (February 2) Russian activist Alexei A. Navalny, the loudest critic of Vladimir Putin was sentenced to 2 plus years in prison for violating the terms of his 2014 conviction. The prison service claimed Navalny had violated the terms of his parole by not checking in with his case workers. Some of[Read More…]
The film industry people gathered in Mumbai on January 21 for the muhurat (initiation ceremony) of a biopic titled ‘Bangabandhu’. It is a joint collaboration between Bangladesh and India. This photo was given with the press release. From the above picture one can see more than a dozen people are gathered together who are not wearing a mask and standing[Read More…]
Capital punishment is the most premeditated of murders – Albert Camus What could be worse than death? The answer perhaps would be to know exactly when one is going to die. Locked up in a condemned cell, time crawls like a snail for someone who is on death row. Every waking hour of the day and night, the thought of[Read More…]
My interview with the celebrated filmmaker centers on his recently released film “Rupsa Nodir Banke” (Quiet flows the River Rupsa). 2017 Ekushey Padak (the second highest civilian award given to a citizen of Bangladesh) winner Tanvir Mokammel needs no glowing introduction. He is a well-known filmmaker, director and published author of our time. He won Bangladesh National Film Awards a total ten[Read More…]
Along with everyone else, the fashion industry is also experiencing the effects of a global health crisis because of Covid-19. The $400 billion US fashion industry is in the middle of a huge crisis. The severe deterioration in fashion is having a serious impact on the global economy resulting in unemployment of millions of artisans, craftspeople, weavers, tailors and seamstresses[Read More…]
With 16,000 mosques damaged in recent years, the autonomous region of Xinjiang now has the lowest number of Muslim houses of worship since the 1960s Cultural Revolution (AFP) To persecute the Uyghur Muslims, the demolition of mosques across China in recent times has drawn an international outcry. It started with the detention of the Muslims in internment camps in Xinjiang[Read More…]
During recent Durga Puja celebrations, RTV drama special titled Shada Megher Mon (A silver lining in the cloud), revisited the widowhood of a young woman in the context of Bangladesh since independence. Though some of the key components of the television are changing, it is still perceived as a social medium. Television always plays a social function as viewing of[Read More…]
Last night before dinner as I was deep-frying a batch of my favorite jalebi for dessert, Saroo Brierley’s face came to mind. Afterwards I found the 2016 movie Lion from my CD collection and watched it in bits and pieces. It tells a riveting story of how a hopelessly lost 5-year-old Saroo ends up from the slums of Khandwa, a[Read More…]
Recently, when a 17-year-old Santal girl from an indigenous tribe in Rajshahi, Bangladesh went to cut grass for her family’s cattle in the pasture, she had no idea that danger was lurking around the corner. The danger was not that she was going to get attacked by a wild animal, but from a human predator disguised as a priest in[Read More…]
What is wrong with some men that in the time of Covid-19 they are raping women of all ages? Rape, the most intimate of crimes is happening every day, everywhere in the world. Raping does not fall under behavioral or mental disorder, it is a criminal offense. Sadly, the incidents of rape did not stop while nations across the globe[Read More…]
I will imagine you Venus tonight and pray, pray, pray to your star like a Heathen. – John Keats Venus, visible in the night sky above Salgotarjan, Hungary, in March, is typically the brightest object in the night sky other than the moon. Credit…Peter Komka/EPA, via Shutterstock The brightest star on a night sky that is visible from Earth[Read More…]
Some of the greatest things, as I understand, they have come about by serendipity, the greatest discoveries. – Alan Alda Has living in America been a “serendipitous outcome” for me? Here, I am not thinking out loud but trying to find an answer to this pertinent question asked by my former Higher Secondary School English teacher Ms. Moitri Roy. One[Read More…]
Since 2014, we all have seen how Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg constantly talks about changing the world. Will his billionaire philanthropy actually save the world? His estimated wealth to date is $111 billion USD. It makes him the fifth richest man on the planet. In 2017, while Zuck was nabbing an honorary degree from Harvard College, Harvard’s 28th[Read More…]
An eastern bluebird perches on a branch, watching the ground As the bleary summer days are coming to an end, lately I have been thinking a lot about birds and nature in general. Because of the ongoing pandemic due to the coronavirus when all normal activities have been rerouted, we are finding alternatives to live our day, and such thoughts[Read More…]
A recent study done by a market research firm Rakuten Intelligence found that since the pandemic started there has been a sudden rise in online shopping. Ecommerce spending in the U.S. is up more than 30 percent since the beginning of March. Ecommerce is booming, and Silicon Valley’s’ richest such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are getting even[Read More…]
A mother and child, dressed in traditional clothing, sit on the ground amid rubble and burnt trees, Hiroshima, Japan, December 1945; some four months after the United States had dropped an atomic bomb on the city. (Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images) On August 6th, in Hiroshima, Japan, people will gather at the Peace Memorial, or A-Bomb Dome[Read More…]
About ten years ago, a friend who hadn’t seen me in over two decades, offered me some tips as to what jewelry to wear to lunch when I meet one of my former editors of a Dhaka daily. He came to Maryland on business and to spend time with his family. I was a little nervous about the lunch meeting.[Read More…]
An assortment of organically grown produce lay out at a Farmer’s Market Prior to this pandemic summer, every year from May to November — there was something magical about waking up on Sunday mornings. I could walk three blocks from my house to the open space under large Walnut trees near the Hospital to get a week’s worth of organic[Read More…]
FILE – In this Feb. 15, 2011, file photo, President Barack Obama presents a 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July[Read More…]
This morning when I pulled opened the curtains to my dining room window overlooking the neighborhood park, I spotted one of my neighbors (let me call her Lillete) is power walking in the park. She looked radiant and chic in her joggers outfit. She appeared much energized. Looking back a few months ago, I remembered last year’s Halloween night (October[Read More…]
Egyptian actor Omar Sharif poses for a photograph in 2009. Photo: Reuters. He passed away on July 10, 2015 Egyptian born debonair actor Omar Sharif’s passing on July 10th marks the end of an era. After hearing the sad news, I immediately sent a text to my best friend Maryam (a diehard fan of Omar Sharif). She immediately texted me[Read More…]
I’ve known rivers: I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers – Langston Hughes A bridge is always beautiful. This bridge is located in Ghorashal, Narshingdi, Bangladesh on Shitalakhya River Until the Harvard College admission acceptance letter came I did not see[Read More…]
The finest clothing made is a person’s own skin, but, of course, society demands something more than this. — Mark Twain An advertisement for Fair and Lovely, a skin whitening product showing results of before and after use Pico Iyer who writes about cultures converging refers to India as his “stepmother land.” In next to the last chapter of his[Read More…]
Amjad Farid Sabri (23 December 1970 – 22 June 2016) Today is the 4th anniversary of the shooting death of Amjad Farid Sabri. He was a majestic and highly revered Pakistani Sufi singer and famous qawwal. Sabri came from a storied family of musicians, a “proponent of the Sufi Muslim tradition.” His musical family is recognized as the “legendary Sabri brothers,”[Read More…]
I met my dear friend Maryam in the spring of 1980. We studied at the same US University in Rhode Island. She was a couple of years older than me as she was doing her Masters in Sociology and Community Development. The very first conversation I had with her was on a Friday afternoon as all the foreign students were[Read More…]
14- year-old Romina Ashrafi was beheaded by her father in the name of family “honor” How can a young girl’s murder at the hands of her father be a story of love and honor? When a young daughter is brutally decapitated by her father in the name of family “honor,” does it paint a glorifying picture? Of course not. It[Read More…]
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft take off from the Kennedy Space Center on the first orbital spaceflight from U.S. soil since 2011. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now Two veteran NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rocketed away from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Saturday to begin a test flight of a[Read More…]
A valiant freedom fighter and an indomitable spirit during the liberation war and afterwards, Dr. Zafrullah Chowdhury is a known figure in the sub-continent. With a larger than life persona he does not need a grand introduction. On Sunday night, the last thing that I had read before going to bed is that Zafrullah Chowdhury has tested positive for Covid-19.[Read More…]
Jamal Uddin had lived an ordinary and extraordinary life at the same time. His life story is about hard work, determination, and resilience in living the life of an immigrant in New York City. “Mr. Uddin was born in Chittagong, Bangladesh, where the Karnaphuli River flows into the Bay of Bengal. He was not poor, but he knew what it[Read More…]
Mother’s Day will be celebrated on May 10 this year. On this day, people celebrate motherhood and mothers in their families. We mothers are remembered and pampered and we simply love it. Mothers are thanked profusely for their efforts, sacrifices and children make this a special day for the mothers. Our children send us handmade or store bought gifts, flower[Read More…]
The ending of my Countercurrents article published on April 20, did not sit well with some people including my daughter. The reason being that I had mentioned Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos donating $100 million to nonprofit Feeding America that helps food banks across the country to feed families in need. “Even in ordinary times, food insecurity in American households is[Read More…]
Anaheim, California: Cars were lined up about a half mile long in both directions of the 57 Freeway to get to Second Harvest Food Bank On March 30, the-stay-at home order became Maryland law at 8 p.m. that night. Since then a common scene that most news media are carrying – from Atlanta to Pittsburgh, from Pennsylvania to Baltimore, people[Read More…]
On Easter Sunday Andrea Bocelli performing at the historic Duomo cathedral in Milan. The cathedral is closed to the public because of the coronavirus pandemic. This past Easter Sunday (April 12), Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli performed a solo concert titled “Music for Hope” to promote “love, healing and hope to Italy and the world.” The next day, he gave an[Read More…]
Last night, the above picture image with a hopeful message, I sent to my older brother, on his birthday. Of course, there was also a personal message where I wished him well. I got his reply this morning where he said, “Thank you! Stay safe and stay calm. This is a challenging time for all. Best, Sjbhai” Time in the[Read More…]
Japanese Magnolia in full bloom On Sunday morning, I hardly noticed that the Japanese Magnolia outside my study room window is in full bloom as it is mid-March. Every year, in late winter, some of the area trees do flower before leaves start to come. That is the first sign to remind us that spring is upon us. There is[Read More…]
Katie Hill, then a Democratic Party candidate from California’s 25th Congressional district, in 2018. Former congresswoman,Katie Hill, a Democrat from California may have been down but not gone. In the eyes of the world, her political career had ended as a first-time junior congresswoman in the fall of 2019, just after ten months of taking oath of office. A promising[Read More…]
US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump pose as they visit the Taj Mahal in Agra on February 24, 2020. (Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images) If the above picture doesn’t melt your heart, nothing will! No loving couple would miss this grand opportunity of visiting the iconic Taj Mahal, an[Read More…]
The photograph depicts a replica of a slave cabin in Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate. It is based on an early 20th-century photograph as the original cabin no longer exists. After about two decades, on President’s Day (February 17), I found myself in front of the replica of the slave cabin on the grounds of Mount Vernon, George Washington’s estate.[Read More…]
To find answers about how to define the idea of nature, French anthropologist Philippe Descola went to the depths of the Amazon to find the Achuars, an indigenous tribe of the Ecuadorian and Peruvian descent. He was interested in finding why they lived remote from others, isolated in their respective groups, under the domination of nature. In the process, he[Read More…]
A Bengal tiger in the Sundarbans, which crosses India and Bangladesh. In describing the Sundarbans (beautiful forests), Amitav Ghosh, an internationally acclaimed writer wrote in his novel, The Hungry Tide: “A mangrove forest is utterly unlike other woodlands or jungles. There are no towering, vine-looped trees, no ferns, no wildflowers, no chattering monkeys or cockatoos. Mangrove leaves are tough and[Read More…]
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will be judged not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character,” are famous words of Martin Luther King Jr delivered on August 28, 1963, in Washington, D.C. With those words he changed the course of history,[Read More…]
How much is an American green card and ultimately a naturalized citizenship worth to elderly sub-continental parents? A lot! How many more do you think would be willing to give up their independence and the comfort of their own cocoon to immigrate to America? Many parents would happily give up living their retired lives in the sub-continent in exchange for[Read More…]
Two months ago, a day after suffering a fall in his Georgia home, 95-year-old former US president Jimmy Carter was back to building homes for Habitat for Humanity. Wearing a white bandage on his head and with a bruise over his left eye, he was seen handling blocks of wood and a power drill at a building site in Nashville,[Read More…]
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la Tis the season to be jolly Fa, la la la la, la la la la In a collection of multiple surveys from the past decade, PEW finds that 65 percent of American adults now call themselves Christian. People of Christian faith celebrate the[Read More…]
On December 5, while driving down the Embassy Row in NW Washington, D.C.,on the car radio,I was listening to Nancy Pelosi saying the House is drafting articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump. Pelosi leaning toward impeachment didn’t really come as a surprise. Even though for months Pelosi has been resisting calls for impeachment saying, “Trump isn’t worth it.” However,[Read More…]
“Sesame Street” and the International Rescue Committee have collaborated in efforts to help Syrian refugee children. A new program called “AhlanSimsim” is set to air in February 2020. Quite often I think about what kind of trauma and distress the Syrian refugee children are going through in the camps of Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. I am specifically talking about[Read More…]
SeñoraEva Maria Duarte de Perónwas one of Argentina’s most beloved first ladies.Sixty-six years after Eva’s death, the persistence of Peronism makes her one of the most fascinating characters in Argentina. Peronism has a deep rooted influence on the political structure of this Latin American nation. Long after Juan and Eva Perón, Peronist legacy is very much alive and it seems[Read More…]
A few nights ago, I watched a poignant and slightly heart wrenching Bengali drama on YouTube that shines a light on disorders like autism. It was the first time that I saw a drama script was written to raise awareness about autism in a developing country like Bangladesh. The 2014 drama showcases what parenting a child with special needs is[Read More…]
Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg is my hero. Except for a handful of cynics, who wouldn’t be impressed by this soft-spoken girl with a no nonsense demeanor, seriously concerned about the well being of the planet earth? She has inspired millions around the world to change their perspective beyond the “here and now,” and onto the future in regards[Read More…]
How many Shovas have to endure violence, severe torture and sometimes death when extortionary dowry demands cannot be met? How many monstrous husbands and in-laws will abuse and kill innocent young women because their parents cannot pay the dowry amount to the husbands or to their families? Despite anti-dowry laws in Bangladesh, such crimes are unabated. This has been[Read More…]
For a decade,NazaninZaghari-Ratcliffe, a 41-year- old British-Iranian woman had a normal life in north London. She had a home, a job, husband and a beautiful daughter named Gabriella. A 2016 visit to Iran changed all that. Nazanin was arrested and taken away at a Tehran airport by the members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, an elite faction of the government. She[Read More…]
What can be more ironic and catastrophic when a renowned linguist loses her language altogether,as the deadly Alzheimer’s disease (AD) fiercely ravages her brain? That is what did happen to Alice Howland, a professor and a linguistics expert at Columbia University, New York. Initially, it started with her inability to remember the word ‘lexicon’ while giving a lecture. From[Read More…]
A photo shared on Twitter by activist Ye Du was inserted in arecent front-page story in the New York Times. The skeletal like couple (Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia) clinging onto one another will break any heart. In the photo, frail Xiaobo is pictured in his hospital pajamas and delicate Xia with shaved head in her everyday street clothes. The[Read More…]
Steaming Ahead: Sikkim’s First Rail Project to Boost Connectivity by 2024 
Five years behind bars for five activists 
Five Years Since The First Arrests In Bhima-Koregaon Case 
Diluted Sovereignty: A Very Australian Example 
Conflict, Migration, and Demography in Russia and Its Border Regions 
Railway Safety Has Been Short of Funds, Needs Early Increase 
Notes on two recent sensations 
A shocking picture of health apathy….. 
Railway accident in Odisha- Are the Railways ready for high-speed trains? Who is to be blamed? 
Teaser of Film on Savarkar: Lies Galore 
Preserving India’s Heritage: The Power of International Collaboration for Natural and Cultural Conservation 
Looking for Home in an Overheating World – If Emissions Continue, Will We All Be Migrants Someday? 
From Ploughshares to Swords—Sudden Militarism of Those Who Once Stood for Peace 
Transreality 
Australia stands to benefit from India only if Indian democracy survives, not from rallies 
Whether Rhetoric or Serious, Arab Diplomacy Can’t Be Ignored! 
Unleashing the Power of Sports: How Sporting Events Drive Tourism Growth 
Black Panther and the need to dream for a better world 
Mexico’s Zapatistas Warn Chiapas Is on “the Verge of Civil War” 
Why distress from railway accidents may be much higher than is commonly believed 
Stop Plastic Pollution as We Commemorate 50th World Environment Day 2023 
Modi Regime should be Called to Account for the Deadliest Triple Train Collision at Balasore 
Thoughts on World Environment Day 
Nuclear Fusion: Eternal Energy = Eternal Damnation 
Why There Should Be A Treaty Against the Use of Weaponized Drones 
Protests in Germany after Anti-fascists sent to five years in prison 
Women Wrestler’s Protests: Exposing Beti Bachao Slogan 
Inauguration of Parliament Building: Coronation Ceremony? 
FBI appears to be continuing investigation of Julian Assange 
And We Are Much More Than Our Uterus. (In Solidarity With the protesting wrestlers) 
Strike ends in Belsonika with reinstatement of 10 suspended workers 
A Man Without a Strategy: How Netanyahu Is Provoking Armed Intifada in the West Bank 
The Ancient Patterns of Migration 
Seven Reasons Why the Present Phase of Imperialism is the Most Dangerous Ever 
Unmasking Tourism’s Roadblocks 
Metro authorities humiliating ordinary commuters 
PLI Scheme- Do subsidies to profit-earning private manufacturers yield commensurate societal benefits? World Environment Day in India: Doing Justice with the Day 
Ben Roberts-Smith: The Breaking of a Plaster Saint 
Do we All need Religion? An Introspection 
Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
