NEW TSUNAMI THREAT?
Suman Kumar reports that the Indian Met Office sounded off a fresh warning for a possible tsunami on the coastal Tamil Nadu & Kerala in Southern India. He has learnt from a friend that helicopters are announcing the warning on PA system to evaquate people from Kovalam. But the sea appears to be calm.
Was there a new earthquake or an aftershock, which possibly could be triggering more tsunami waves? Waiting for more news on this.
Update from Suman: Relief operations hampered due to fresh tsunami warnings. Relief camps...
December 29, 2004
THE DEATH TOLL IS TOO MUCH TO BEAR
How many people die in a plane crash? 200 -300. How many die in an earthquake or a tornado+tidal waves? Maybe 10,000. According to the Wikipedia update, the Tsunami wave death toll rises to 68,631 and there are still 85000 people missing. This is all becoming too much to bear for a sane person.
Here are the before and after satellite images, which give some idea about the strength of the tsunami waves. The energy...
December 28, 2004
WHAT MIGHT HAVE SAVED BANGLADESH?
Many are wondering why the coasts of Bangladesh weren't hit by the Tsunami waves as bad as those of eastern India. I am not an expert, But looking at the graphics, the Tsunami waves triggered by the quake first hit the Andaman & Nicober islands belt and weakened on the way to south of Bangladesh through the Bay of Bengal. That is what might have saved Bangladesh. But again I hope geologists can give a realistic...
December 27, 2004
O SWEET VICTORY , COME TO US AGAIN AND AGAIN
Bangladeshis had 100 reasons to cheer after their only 6th win in 100 ODI cricket matches they played till yesterday. They beat India by 15 runs in a packed stadium of 40,000 people. Although it has been a long time coming as Michael said, victory eluded cricketbabe Bangladesh as the players just could not play to their potential and work out a victory against a major cricket palying nation since long. Here are some pictures of the celebrations. I guess India will take revenge today at their 3rd meet...
ANOTHER CLOSE CALL FOR BANGLADESHBefore the news came in we had no idea about the 8.9 quake that originated near Indonesia which shook the whole South & Southeast Asia bay regions and triggered giant tsunami waves to wash out millions leaving thousands of dead. We in Dhaka did not notice the tremble as it was not intense. The aftershocks of that quake jolted mainly the coastal areas and weakened deep into Bangladesh. Chittagong recorded 7.36 scale tremble for 42 seconds eventhough it was 1019 kilometres away from the seismic centre. The second...
December 26, 2004
RIANNA UPDATE III
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Hello Hello. Merry Christmas everyone. You people are the lucky ones who could get out of home and enjoy the Christmas holidays. But for me being 3 month-old, life is really hard. I can throw my arms and legs around but I cannot move on my own. Ma & Baba had plans to take me out for a drive around the city but...
December 23, 2004
THE DYNASTY CONTINUESYesterday Dhaka saw the rise of another son in the South Asian politics, which is very much dominated by leaders bread in dynasties. Sajib Wazed Joy, the only son of the Leader of the Opposition and Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina and the grandson of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman arrived Dhaka along with his American-born wife Christina and they were given a rousing reception. It was for the first time that Joy came to Bangladesh after his marriage in the US. The processions of thousands of peoples created chaotic traffic...
December 21, 2004
AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
* Oppression in a new form - A baby producing factory in Nigeria.
* The debate on the topic "God and the Evolutionalists" continues. I agree to what Razib says:
"Religion" is a very broad definition, and so a one-size-fits-all explanation is probably untenable
* The Bazee.com scandal and the arrest of the CEO of the webportal has created much controversy in India. The point is: "Can e-commerce service providers possibly police all client transactions on its website and be liable for abuse?".
* Living in Hong Kong...
December 19, 2004
LOGICAL INTERPRETATIONS REQUIRED
After 9/11 Islam faced lots of controversy because some extremist quarters were making interpretation of Islam which posed a threat to general civilians (muslim-non-muslim alike). Some think that Islam and secularism do not go along side-by-side. I am not an expert in religions. But I think logically Secularism doesn't hinder people from bearing the religious cultures and sentiments. It will never eradicate religion from societies as they claim.
Islam is not being seen as a religion of peace because of these illogical...
DIVIDED OPINIONS: PRO or ANTI
Is Bangladesh divided in opinion? Arnab has written an eye-opening article about the current situation of Bangladesh. Just as one person can be a terrorist to some and at the same time a revolutionary fighter against enemies to some others, the interpretation of good and evil varies from people to people. He points to the facts:
We are today going away from the essence of independence. We ask the question about the creation of our country! We question the reasons of independence! Do we really have freedom?
He says:
Being...
December 15, 2004
LOOKING BACK
The four articles posted below were first posted last year. These are posted again because I thought some of the international readers might want to get the whole picture about the struggles of the people of Bangladesh and how the nation was created. I think these are not enough and I will continue to provide links and try to answer queries if possible. For an unknown reason the liberation museum online site (www.liberationmuseum.org) is offline which contained much information....
VICTORY DAY: 16th of December
On this day in 1971 out of the crucible of blood and sacrifice, Bangladesh was born. This day is celebrated with glory and joy supplementary to the Independence Day, which is the 26th March. Actually Independence Day marks the declaration of our Independence and start of a bloody and glorious War of Liberation against the occupied forces of Pakistan. The govt. of Independent Bangladesh was formed in April 1971. On Victory...
The Concert for BangladeshThe US government was against the Bangladesh's liberation war in 1971. They were allies of Pakistan and even sent the 7th fleet to intimidate India for not interfering with the events.But it was the peace loving people of US who created the forum "Americans for Bangladesh" and arranged a poetry recital program on 20th November 1971 in Saint George Church, New York. Among the poets who performed were Allen Ginsberg, Peter...
The history of Independence of Bangladesh
I am not a historian. But I am trying to summarize here the history of Bangladesh's Independence for those who would like to have an idea about it.
In 1947 Indian subcontinent got its independence from British rule and were divided into Pakistan & India. The division was on the notion of two-nation theory, Hindu & Muslim. Some say that the British invoked the Hindu Muslim riots, some say the shrewd politicians, but these grim incidents led people nodding to this partitions and thought if the...
December 14, 2004
MARTYRED INTELLECTUALS DAY: DECEMBER 14TH
Today is the day of martyred intellectuals, who were brutally killed by the Pakistani occupation army and their cohorts in 1971. Sensing their imminent defeat in the Bangladesh's liberation war, the Pakistani occupation forces and their local collaborators Rajakar, Al-Badr and Al-Sham kidnapped leading Bangalee intellectuals and professionals on December 14, 1971 and killed them only two days before victory...
AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE
* World Bank on Dhaka motorised and non-motorised transport
* The idea of India
* How disgraceful and misinformed a country quize be!
* The new "Carnival of the Capitalist" is up at Samablog.
* Are we not South Asians?
* We don't need no stinking WTO
* Mary-Kate & Ashley Sign Pledge For Sweatshop Maternity Leave
* Religious intolerance in Bangladesh & Ind...
December 13, 2004
IRAQI BLOGGERS' TOUR OF USA
Iraqi Blogger brothers Omar and Mohammed are touring USA sponsored by Spirit of America, an initiative to raise funds for helping the people of Afganistan & Iraq. The tour is part of the Spirit of America program "Friends of Iraqi blogger challenge" which has already raised $62,865 to fund the needs and projects selected by these bloggers. Their tour program include meeting president J.W. Bush at the Oval office and attending a blogger conference at Harvard. They have also appeared on radio (Brian Lehrer's WYNC...
December 12, 2004
TWO LITTLE MASTERS
India's batting god Sachin Tendulkar equals another world record the highest Centuries (34 centuries) in Test Cricket with his countrymen, Sunil Gavaskar, another genius during the 1st test between India & Bangladesh. The match is not at all balanced if you look at the scores. Bangladesh is destined for another innings defeat by tomorrow morning. This is not to undermine the batting genius Tendulkar's play, but he got many...
NO CONFIDENCEHundreds of thousands of people formed a 900 km-human chain across Bangladesh to show "no confidence" in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)-led coalition government. There was no estimate available from any source of the number of demonstrators. The protest was not violent in nature, but some ruling party goons instigated a few clashes in few places as indicated in the above picture. The chain stretched from Teknaf to Tetulia, the south and North corners of Bangladesh.I am always in favor of peaceful protests. Jane terms it Ukrainian...
PICTURES OF RESISTANCE
Drik, a photography related organization arranges CHOBIMELA III the third biannual international festival of photography. Their last two initiatives were also successful.
Sahidul Alam, a pioneer of photography in Bangladesh (Chief of Drik) has this to say on this year's theme "Resistance":
"Each pen that fails to write, each shutter that fails to open, each voice that refuses to shout in protest when governmental and corporate...
December 09, 2004
AT LAST WE HAVE A MATCH UNDER TIGHT SECURITYThe Indian cricket team has finally landed in Dhaka yesterday for their 2nd tour in Bangladesh after the Indian security team gave a green light. The tour was put on hold after Indian High Commission in Bangladesh received a fax threat from a outfit called "Harkat-ul-Jihad" which according to me is purely a hoax. The 1st test is scheduled to start tomorrow after a one-day delay. Threats to cricketers are not new but this is the first time it has happened in Bangladesh. Bangladesh has tightened the security...
LIVING IN BANGLADESH
While passing our remark about other country or people of other societies, we often forget that we do it without having enough information about the wider world. We do the stereotyping carelessly without keeping in mind how others will feel about it. I came across this post titled "Think how lucky you are you don't live in Bangladesh" where Jack, a 42 year old American recollects the experience of his brief stay in Dhaka 18 years ago. If you are from a developed part of the world that you will agree with him reading that article...
December 05, 2004
ASIA BLOG AWARDS 2004
Looks like the blog fever has caught many of the bloggers. This years "Asia Weblog Awards" is being hosted by Simon. Last year Phil ran a successful awards where I convinced him to open a Bangladesh category. There were only three Bangladeshi Blogs nominated in 2003 and mine was awarded the best Bangladesh blog. But this year I know that there are many Bangladeshi blogs on the net. Only 10 blogs will be nominated. So please nominate your blog and others in the respective categories. Since there are many good writers than...
INVENTION OF MINESWEEPER
I am not talking about the game incorporated in the Microsoft Windows OS. Its the real thing. Minewolf Systems, a German company has developed a mechanical minesweeper which will provide a cheap, quick, and less risk solution to clearing landmines which are a big threat to humans in the troubled regions of the world. If you buy one Mine Wolf, it can be modified to a normal tractor for farming when you are over with the...
December 04, 2004
INT'L EDUCATION FARE - SUPPORTING EXPORT OF MANPOWER?
In general, there are two categories of students in Bangladesh who go for higher study in abroad. In one category are the brilliant students, who have quest for higher study in many fields, which are not available in the country. They get good scholarships because of their merit and they usually end up living abroad (call it brain drain) as there is little scope for job for those degree holders in the still developing industries of Bangladesh. And those scientists who want to devote themselves...
VOTE FOR THE BEST WEBLOGS
Voting for the 2004 Weblog awards has began. My blog is nominated in the categories "Best Asian Weblog" & "Best of the Top 3500 - 5000 Blogs". I was surprised to see that none of the Indian bloggers and many other Asian blogs were nominated. I was pretty busy for almost 15 days and it was a shock for me to find now that many of them were not even pitched for nomination. Anyway as I am nominated, I would be representing...
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