The title is actually a name of a book, which is a compilation of the gaffes in the usage of English that we came across every day in Bangladesh. Well I have not read it yet, but reading its review prompted me to write something about the usage of English in Bangladesh. Actually Bangladesh, as a part of Indian subcontinent was ruled by the British for a couple of centuries. The tentative beginnings of English language acquisition in Bengal date from the 1630s, when the first English factories started being set up. Though today English is no longer...
October 30, 2003
October 28, 2003
WHY ONION MATTERS
Ramadan begins in Bangladesh with onion price still on the higher side (More than Taka 30 a Kg). Onion is needed in larger amounts in cooking many delicious foods during Ramadan. It is also a staple food for Bangladeshis as nearly all meat and fish dishes contain onions. It is usual in Ramadan time that the demand of Onion soars and the prices too because of the clever hoarders. But this time the rise is significant and almost out of reach of the low income group.Most onions are imported from India and wholesalers have suddenly increased prices....
October 23, 2003
QUOTES OF THE DAY
I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor. - Henry David Thoreau We all have ability. The difference is how we use it. - Stevie Won...
October 21, 2003
IGNORANCE LEADS TO HATE CRIME
Recently Pedram has posted about the ignorance, lack of genral knowledge and condescention of the general US citizens. Read it here. A must read!
There are many reactions to this post. However I liked this one from Kris:
I think it is great for someone to be brave enough to hold the mirror in front of us to let us see our own shortcomings.
Now there is a cartoon in the newspaper, the Hartford Courant, published from Connecticut state, where the picture of a bearded and turbaned Sikh is referred to as "Osama's no-good...
October 20, 2003
ITS ALL ABOUT MONEY
"According to an article in Tuesday�s Financial Times, US sub-contractors in Iraq are importing cheap labor from South Asia rather than hiring Iraqis" - writes Jashua Marshall. They have one alliby "Iraqis are Dangerous". But Josh discovers that "it's all about money".
According to an american expat living in the United Arab Emirates:
UAE: 20% of the pop is local. Of the 80% of the expat pop, fully 75% are subcontinenters. Why? Dirt cheap, much cheaper than the Arabs (imported or otherwise).
Of the international construction...
DEADLY SNAKE STOPS WARM UP MATCH BETWEEN ENGLAND & BANGLADESH A
I don't know why I missed that in the local newspapers. But Dave Barry spotted it right and commented that cricket is a really tough sport. Read it all on Sky Ne...
CHINA ON THE WAY TO BECOME WORLD'S FOURTH BIGGEST ECONOMY
I have written in a previous post that Chinese goods are beginning to dominate the consumer goods market in Bangladesh.
Now The Guardian reports:
According to government officials, the amount of economic activity in China soared to RMB7.9 trillion (�570bn) in the first nine months of the year, putting China on course to achieve a growth rate of 8.5% for 2003 - the fastest in more than five years.
If the country can maintain this pace it will overtake Britain and France to become the...
October 19, 2003
BENGALI OR BANGLADESHI
Faramin has a very thoughtful post "Why Persian and not Iranian". He asks there why many of his countrymen introduce themselves as "Persians" and not Iranians.He explains his views in reply to one of the comments (quite rightly so):What I mean is that for example over 35% of Iranians who are Azeri, are Aryan but not Persian. This is also true with Iranian Kurds. As long as there are devided countries and borders, then they must also have a name, and I believe considering IRAN instead of PERSIA is ONLY more representation of the ethnic people who...
ABOUT MEME, MEMETICS & MEME-ING
Meme, n. : A unit of cultural information, such as a cultural practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another.Behaviors and ideas copied from person to person by imitation - memes - may have forced human genes to make us what we are today.Memetics is a scientific theory unifying biology, psychology, and cognitive science. Memetics has uncovered the existence of viruses of the mind. Viruses of the mind have been with us throughout history, but are constantly evolving and changing. They are infectious...
October 18, 2003
WEEKLY BEGUM
Nurjahan Begum, literateur, journalist & editor of the the weekly Begum is still carrying on with the legacy of the first weekly magazine solely for women, which she and a dedicated group of persons started way back in 1947. The first issue was published from Calcutta, India. In 1950, after the partition of India, the Begum shifted from Calcutta to Dhaka.
Nurjahan , born in 1925 at Chandpur district was brave enough to overcome all the hurdles of the conservative society to be educated at the Lady Brabon's College in Calcutta....
October 15, 2003
BLOGGING COURSE
New York University is conducting a digital journalism course during fall'03 semester. The course teacher is journalist Christopher Allbritton. He is keeping a blog digital.journalism specially dedicated to his students.
Did you ever wonder that somebody would come over your shoulder and say this:
If, by Thursday, any of your sites don�t have comments enabled, you will receive a failing grade on this assignment.
Those who are using Moveable Type can check this blog. His tips on tone and comparisons with the popular blogs can...
October 14, 2003
ROVING REPORTER IN DHAKA
Andrew Miller, the assistant editor of Wisden Cricinfo is accompanying England throughout their cricket tour 2003-2004 in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. He has already written a couple of interesting reports: * A green and muddy land* Dhaka's answer to DisneylandAlthough he did not get it right sometimes, he could look into quite at depth of the culture & economics of Bangladesh & Bangladeshis. Worth readi...
BLOG NOTES
NEUROCOMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Zack Lynch of Brainwaves blog is an evolutionary biologist, enterprise software marketer, and economic geographer, who has worked over the past decade to understand how technology and society coevolve. He asserts:
Mental health is the ultimate competitive weapon". Mental health underpins the development of intellectual capital and competitive advantage. It anchors the capacity of employees, managers and...
October 13, 2003
QUOTES OF THE DAY
It is easy -- terribly easy -- to shake a man's faith in himself. To take advantage of that to break a man's spirit is devil's work. - George Bernard ShawDo not attempt to do a thing unless you are sure of yourself; but do not relinquish it simply because someone else is not sure of you. - Stewart E. Wh...
IF.....
- Rudyiard KiplingIf you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wiseIf you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your...
England Cricket Team's Tour in Bangladesh 2003-04
England Team received a warm welcome in Bangladesh when they arrived at Dhaka on 8th October. Continuous rain for a couple of days in last week made Dhaka's Bangabandhu Stadium, the venue for England's tour opener and the practice ground – remain under flooded tarpaulins. England Team was given the option of indoor training at the national sports institute (BKSP) - a 75 minute bus ride from the Hotel and they obliged. England Team members felt that the facilities was barely adequate but surprisingly...
October 11, 2003
IRENE KHAN'S WAR AGAINST DISCRIMINATION AND VIOLENCEAmnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan has told the BBC how her drive to widen the interests of the organization stems from her childhood in Bangladesh. Ms Khan, a Bangladeshi, who took over as head of Amnesty in August 2001, has expanded Amnesty's brief to include rights of women and refugees, in addition to the core campaigns against torture and wrongful imprisonment. There is an ever increasing discrimination and violence against women, religious minorities and racial minorities...
MOST CORRUPTED NATION-A DISCLAIMER
The Berlin-based Transparency International has named Bangladesh as the most corrupted nation in their recent Global Corruption Index, a survey of 133 nations. It has earned only 1.3 out of a 10 point index where the least corrupted nation Finland has scored 9.7. The new index lists countries in terms of the degree to which corruption is perceived to exist among public officials and politicians. Asia as a whole fared badly in the report on corruption, with many nations in the region being counted amongst the worst in the world for graft among public...
October 09, 2003
Quote of the day
For the people to win, conventional politics must lose.- Arnold Schwarznegger, the California governor el...
October 04, 2003
THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY
* If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all. - Noam Chomsky* Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the test. - Samuel John...
INDIAN RIVER PLANS - THREAT FOR BANGLADESH
In December 2002, Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee announced he was making water a top priority. By linking India's largest rivers in a countrywide grid he will get water from the north to the states of the south and east that were hit by severe droughts in 2002.
The plan will redraw the hydrological map of India, taking flood waters from 14 Himalayan tributaries of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra...
THE INVASION OF CHINESE CONSUMER GOODS
I have noticed that Chinese goods are slowly taking over the dominance among all other imported consumer goods in Bangladesh. I don't know what's the extent of this invasion in other countries, but its a big impact in our country. Let me cite you some examples:A couple of years ago our consumer electronics market was wholly dominated by the Japanese brands with their goods assembled from plants in Thailand & in Malaysia. One 21" color TV did cost appx. Tk. 27,000 ($450). Then came the Chinese TV. They started with selling one 21" color TV at...
POLITICAL ACRIMONY AND DESPAIR OF COMMON PEOPLE
Another black cloud is hovering on the sky of Bangladesh Politics. Bangladesh is hosting the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) conference to be held during October 4-12, while the main opposition Awami League (AL) is still firm on boycott of the event. The AL decided not to join the conference in protest at what it said was the government's (Ruling Party BNP and coalition)arrogant attitude toward the opposition in preparing for the event of the largest platform of lawmakers. The conference...
October 03, 2003
BLOG NOTES
1. The wall of Apartheid
Ryan of Beatniksalad blog is vocal against the Israel's wall-building plans for the sake of "security". "the Wall will confiscate 45-55 percent of the West Bank and it conveniently incorporates into Israel 91 percent of all West Bank settlements and 98 percent of all settlers" - says the organization American Muslims for Jerusalem. Ryan argues "It should not be allowed to happen". Read rest here.
2. The four-pillars for emerging Iraqi gov't
Rajan writes about Ahmad Chalabi's (member of the Governing Council...
October 02, 2003
THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY
If you judge people, you have no time to love them.- Mother TeresaWhether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.- Henry Ford You can fool some of the people some of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. - Abraham Lincoln The people to fear are not those who disagree with you, but those who disagree with you and are too cowardly to let you know. - Napoleon BonaparteIf the doctor told me I had six minutes to live, I'd type a little faster. - Isaac Asi...
October 01, 2003
BLOG NOTES
1. TOOMAR
Leila Farjami, a poet writes the wonderful Weblog of Daily Illusions . She has some wonderful posts comprising of poetry and current affairs. snippets of which are:
"The latent fear culture which leads to the evident consumership and APATHY:
Kill the innocent: They maybe terrorists
don't be vulnerable,
don't be generous,
don't be sympathetic,
don't be compassionate,
don't give a damn!,
You may upset your narcissism
And believe in
WAR IS PEACE
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH"
2. Ubersportingpundit
The Australian sportsblog...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Swopon 
