TODAY'S LINKS* The avatar versus the journalist: Making meaning, finding truth* Bangladesh bans poultry from five more countries* Michael Palin's travel books online for free* The Muslim mind is on f...
July 31, 2005
THE BATTLE OF IDEOLOGIESFareed Zakaria pinpoints in a Newsweek article: "Like all ideologies, radical Islam is a phenomenon of the educated class."He searches for the adrenalin of terror: Radical ideologies of hate and violence have often seduced disaffected young men searching for some great cause. Forty years ago they would have embraced Leninist revolutionary dogma, with Che Guevara as the bin Laden of his day. Today, for Muslims, it is a violent interpretation of Islamic fundamentalism.And how to win the battle: In a battle of ideas, no one...
July 30, 2005
ON ROOTS OF TERRORISMIn an article published in the New York Sun, Daniel Pipes asks "What do the terrorists want?"He thinks that "the jihadi terrorists have a patently self-evident ambition: to establish a world dominated by Muslims, Islam, and Islamic law, the Shari'a. He quotes an Al-Qaeda leader "Due to the blessings of jihad, America's countdown has begun. It will declare defeat soon." and the murderer of Van Gogh: "Islam will be victorious through the blood of martyrs who spread its light in every dark corner of this earth."Is it true that...
ON RELIGION AND TOLERANCEOn BBC World's Hard Talk Extra, presenter Gavin Eslar introduced pundit Ravi Shankar as the famous living Indian on earth. I was watching the interview with much enthusiasm as I love Ravi's Music (Sitar) and I have a high regard for him for his efforts in organizing 'The concert for Bangladesh'. Shankar talked about how he was brought to the big scene after George Harrison had become his disciple in 1966. It was hard for him to be associated with fellow musicians and fans who were deep rooted in hippie culture and drugs...
July 28, 2005
TO FEAR OR NOT TO FEAR"Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears."A sign in Nottinghill tube station reads: NOTICE TO ALL PASSENGERSPlease do not run on the platforms or concourses. Especially if you are carrying a rucksack, wearing a big coat or look a bit foreign. This notice is for your own safety. Thank you.There you go! Warnings like this instilling fear into everybody. Over at Sepia Mutiny a commenter says:Everyone is looking at the Indians and black people funny (because the bombers were black too!) - but all...
MUMBAI FLOODDhaka experienced heavy rains (156mm within 24 hours) early this month. The excess downpours inundated nearly a quarter of the cosmopolitan disrupting lives of its 10 million citizens. Streets and roads remained waterlogged, schools were shut down and shopping malls remained closed.But nothing is close to what Mumbai has experienced in last couple of days. The incessant rains recorded at 896 mm in 24 hours were more than anybody could imagine. The streets looked like rivers, people stuck at workplaces overnight, powers are cut in many...
July 27, 2005
MORE TASLIMAThis news has been gathered from Taslima Nasrin's website:Taslima was not allowed to read her poem 'America' during a Bengali Convention held in Madison Square Garden on Sunday evening (3rd of July 2005). 'America' is an anti-war poem which is against weapons of mass destruction while taking a stand for humanity. As she was reading this poem, many from an audience of six thousand American-Bengalis booed and did not let her continue after the first few lines of the poem. Taslima had no other alternative but to skip to the end...
July 25, 2005
TODAY'S OTHER LINKS* Arundhati Roy's opening speech in the 'World tribunal on Iraq'* Zimbabwe On the Edge of the Abyss.* U.N. seeks first political definition of terrorism.* An alternative explanation of God through science.* SMS, Internet and e-mail are making telegraph service obsolete in Bangladesh.* Quran on hold: Mahmood raises some legitimate questio...
SOUTH ASIAN BLOG ROUNDUPHere is today's round up of some of the blogs of South Asia.Bangladesh:'BDeshini' has some thoughts on the stained glass art she is mastering.Sadiq links us to the only site that brings together the Scriptures from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - all in one place and with the finest translations available in English.Mezba explains why fishing is a cruel sport.India:Dina Mehta tells about a protest by SMS - The Thane Municipal Corporation is being bombarded by text messages from 627 families of Saket Complex, a society...
July 24, 2005
INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTYThe news is coming to light that the South Asian-looking man killed by plain cloth British secret police on the London tube last Friday is a Brazilian. Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, a catholic Christian, used to work as an electrician and has no connection to the Thursday's bombings. The Brazilian foreign ministry has already demanded explanation from the British Government. There is an interesting discussion going on in...
EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS OF BANGLADESH VIA FLICKR Green landscape & village, countryside, Bangladesh (via Faruque in Flickr)Flickr is the best online photo repository & sharing tool. With its dynamic tagging system, one can easily categorize the pictures for archiving & sharing. And when an user searches for picture with one tag (say Bangladesh) they get all the public photos posted by Flickr members using that tag. No wonder the users of Flickr,...
July 23, 2005
ISLAMOPHOBIA - MYTH OR REALITYKenan Malik writes:Ten years ago no one had heard of Islamophobia. Now everyone from Muslim leaders to anti-racist activists to government ministers want to convince us that Britain is in the grip of an irrational hatred of Islam - a hatred that, they claim, leads to institutionalised harassment, physical attacks, social discrimination and political alienation.Now what is Islamophobia? Journalist Stephen Schwartz says notwithstanding the arguments of some Westerners, Islamophobia exists; it is not a myth. Islamophobia...
DHAKA - ODE TO ALUMINIUMRockstar, blogger & poet Mac writes a hilarious poem slating Bangladesh capital Dhaka's ugly pretty ‘beautification’ which was done prior to the postponed SAARC summit. Some excerpts:Come 2005, Dhaka was again ‘beautified’ for yet another SAARC reunion…. and this time around there are more bathroom tiles and aluminiumand as if ‘uff’ is not enoughthey also had aluminium flower tubs.aluminium dividers, aluminium rails, aluminium...
NOT IN THE NAME OF ISLAM"..Whoever kills an innocent soul.. it is as if he killed the whole of mankind, And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind" [The Quran, 5:32]The Muslim communities across Britain condemn the terrible atrocities of the recent bombings in London and denounce the terrorists. Islam forbids the killing of innocent people. We reject anyone who tries to link such brutal acts to the teachings of Islam.(Via S...
July 22, 2005
BLOGDATE....FROM THE ARCHIVESDo all virtual relationships transform to real life relationships? There are already many fictions and movies about it. But they are not as much interesting as the real life experiences. Bangladeshi blogger Rikhi wrote in her blog in November 2004 about her first date with another blogger she met online. Her comment:I have always thought that there is a very thick line between the virtual and the real life. I never really expected the people I met over internet to come to my real life as well. However, there is this...
July 20, 2005
STATE AND RELIGIONBahraini blogger Mahmood reports that Bahrain has taken primary steps to separate Mosques from the state. He quotes the Islamic Affairs Ministry from the Gulf Daily News:Mosques are places of worship and their religious sanctity should not be breached. Meanwhile Omar of 'Iraq the Model' argues the demands of religious quarters that 'Islam has to be declared as the official religion of Iraq'. He cites example that in the 1st constitution written for a dominantly Muslim society there was no mention of Islam as the official religion...
A TEST OF INTELLECTAnswering the question "how USA should respond if terrorists struck several U.S. cities with nuclear weapons", Colerado congerssman Tom Tancredo said:: Well, what if you said something like -- if this happens in the United States, and we determine that it is the result of extremist, fundamentalist Muslims, you know, you could take out their holy sites.: You're talking about bombing Mecca?: Yeah.That is the stupidest thing I have heard in recent times.Now the question is can we understand our stupidity? This is a test of intellect,...
KABOOM! HERE IS YOUR BUDGET HARRY POTTERAnna of Sepia Mutiny writes that it took 48 hours the pirated version of the new no. 6 volume of the Harry Potter series to reach the Mumbai streets.She quotes the BBC news:Pirated Harry Potter copies started appearing on Monday, following the worldwide release in the early hours of Saturday.At almost every major traffic junction the book was being offered by hawkers. Hawkers and street book stalls are offering JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for $6, compared to the legitimate stores’...
July 19, 2005
DESIGN UPDATEI have installed my own tagcloud plugin Meghmala and placed it on the bottom of my sidebar. Its a nifty tool which searches RSS feed of my blog, extracts keywords from the content and lists them according to prevalence within the RSS feed. Clicking on the tag's link will display a list of all the article abstracts associated with that keyword.Check it out. (Hat tip: Desipund...
July 18, 2005
AN ARTICLE ABOUT BLOGS IN THE DAILY STARThe Daily Star's weekly technology supplement, 'StarTech' has published an article about blogs. It is just another attempt to educate what 'blog' is about. But I think what the print media can do to create more interest and passion for blogs is to constantly publish interesting writings from all kinds of blogs. Well it was some excerpts of Salam Pax's 'Where is Raed' in a local newspaper that got me interested in blogs during the start of Iraq war in 2003.The only notable thing for me in this article is the...
KOLKATA, SAFE HEAVEN FOR BANGLADESHI TERRORISTSA Probe news magazine report profiles Bangladeshi criminals' activities in Kolkata. It says:Bangladesh's top criminals have found a safe haven in Nadia, Bongaon, Dumdum, Teghatia, Thakurpukur and Kolkata of the Indian state of West Bengal. When (Bangladeshi) law enforcers turn tough or the criminals commit any serious crime here, they simply cross the border, legally or illegally. They take refuge in familiar haunts there, sheltered by official and unofficial 'protectors'.It also lists the 23 most...
CHAOS IN IRAQIt does not get worse than this. Some 15 suicide bombers has struck within 48 hours killing hundreds of innocent civilians and some security forces members. It is really sickening and simply beyond my forbearance to receive these kinds of news everyday. After reading about yesterday's new attack I closed all the windows and remained frozen for sometimes in front of the PC. These Satans are killing indiscriminately. They are happy to blow even little children and women. These bombers goal is maximum casualties. There should be no single...
July 16, 2005
POWER OF THE HEARTSAtiqur Rahman, nicknamed Hridoy (heart) is a bright student of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). He has been suffering from acute lymphoblast leukemia (blood cancer). The doctors said that he has to be flown out to a foreign country for treatment which would require $80,000 (equivalent to 5 million Taka). It is unbearable for his family as the required amount is almost 25 times of their annual income. So his classmates started a campaign which has created much publicity and response among the Bangladeshis...
TAGGING ISLAM TO TERRORISMCharukesi writes about a disturbing trend emerging in Flickr where members are tagging picture of the London Bombings with the words 'Muslim', 'Arab' or 'Islam'.One reader asks:Why should not Islamic terrorism pictures be labeled Islam? Is it possible to alter reality by denial? From now on, should mayhem caused by people who follow Islam – and act according to the dictares of Islam – be labeled "Martian" violence?Dilip D'Souza has answers:Did you, or anyone, refer to Timothy McVeigh’s Oklahome outrage as "Christian terrorism"?...
July 14, 2005
MAKING OF A SUICIDE BOMBERThe truth is coming out. The alleged four London suicide bombers are young, second generation British and Muslim. Amongst them three are confirmed as of Pakistan origin. They had the profiles like your neighborhood 'family man' or 'a cricketer'. So what has turned them into a killing machine is a mystery.The history of self sacrificing is rather long. From the earliest days fallen soldiers were honored as heroes. In World War II, the Japanese Kamikaze bombers used aero planes as flying bombs. The first modern suicide bombing...
WISDOMSadiq is one notable Bangladeshi blogger who is searching wisdom from all the religions and even from the atheists. In his blog "Inspirations And Creative Thoughts" you will find wisdoms and knowledge from the Koran, Bible, Tanakh, Gita, Tipitaka and many others holy books. A quote in his blog:"Probably no one of us has the True Religion. But all of us together - if we are allowed to be free - are discovering ways of conversing about the great mysteries. The pretense to know all the answers to the deepest mysteries is, of course, the grossest...
July 13, 2005
NOT WELCOME ANYTIME SOONIn 2000, Bangladesh hosted India to play their first ever test match after getting the test status from ICC. Five years have surpassed since then and Bangladesh are yet to make their maiden full tour of India. Bangladesh's scheduled tour of India has been indefinitely postponed for the second time as BCCI, the Indian cricket board has cited their pre-occupations with the ICC Super Series and the two biggest Indian festivals Diwali and Dussera falling in October-November.Anand Vasu slams the Indian board as "narrow-minded...
IGNORANT PAKISTANISTasnuva writes about an ignorant Pakistani-Canadian who has weird ideas about Bangladesh & the liberation war which separated itself from Pakistan. I am putting this issue on board because in a number of occasions I have encountered Pakistanis who do not have a clear view on what really happened in 1971. This ignorance has grown to a mammoth proportion which creates sometimes a lot of confusion. Quoting the above person:"You must hate it how India made Bangladesh separate from Pakistan. Bangladesh would have been prosperous...
July 11, 2005
WHOSE PROBLEM IS IT?After the 7/7 incident the blogosphere has become alive like the aftermaths of 9/11. Almost everyone has something to say about the incident and if you filter those thoughts you will find the emotions "fear" and "rage". Some are thinking that the terrorism is a Muslim problem and it needs a Muslim solution. One such view:Either the Muslim world begins to really restrain, inhibit and denounce its own extremists - if it turns out that they are behind the London bombings - or the West is going to do it for them. And the West will...
July 10, 2005
GOOD NEWS FROM BANGLADESH* Bangladesh launches its first wind generated power plant.* Bangladesh has so far about 300 registered software firms.* The Bangladesh government has already acquired 232 acres of land in Kaliakoir of Gazipur district to set up an IT (Information Technology) village.* 'The Daily ICT Bangladesh' - is the first Bangla ICT daily newspaper published online.* Bangladeshis brave rain to observe first white band day.* Bangladesh - the holy land of Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimages. Tag: Banglad...
July 09, 2005
WHERE HAVE SANITY GONE?This weekend was amongst the worst for me in recent times. I had heard the news of the London blasts first on Thursday evening (BST) but could not grasp the height of it. The scale of devastation was apparent when I watched the coverage on CNN, BBC & Sky News late at night. I was filled with disgust and outrage and at the same time started worrying for the keens (extended family) staying in London. My cousins were not picking up their phones. The cells were not reachable. We had much to worry in the night. We had to wait...
July 07, 2005
TODAY'S LINKS* Asian highway will link 32 nations from Tokyo to Istanbul.* Islam is wonderful, but I can't stand the Muslims* World Chill -How chill are you? * A peek into the Shadow people books* Dream of a chinese girl: in twenty years' time* a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3337451a1823,00.html">Bangladesh loom as Zimbabwe replacement for the cricket tour to New Zealand in December this ye...
I AM FEATURED IN THE ASIA! MAGAZINEMay Yip, a Singaporean, is a freelance writer for a new magazine called Asia! . The publication has a circulation of 50,000 and is distributed on various international airlines. She contacted me earlier to let me know that she is going to feature my blog in an article along with some other Asian blogs. Here is a snippet of the article published in the Asia! magazine backpage via "The Spoon Blog".A revolution is sweeping through Asia's virtual community, transforming what began as a random collection of personal...
July 05, 2005
QUOTES OF THE DAY "Who, being loved, is poor?"- Oscar Wilde 1856-1900, British Author"I thank fate for having made me born poor. Poverty taught me the true value of the gifts useful to life."- Anatole France 1844-1924, French Writer"That the poor are invisible is one of the most important things about them. They are not simply neglected and forgotten as in the old rhetoric of reform; what is much worse, they are not seen."- Michael Harring...
July 04, 2005
LIVE 8 CONCERTS AROUND THE GLOBEIf you ask what good I have missed lately, then the answer has the be the Live 8 concerts. Concerts in nine cities were staged simulteneously where the mainstream musicians around the world performed. An estimated 3 billion people watched the concerts either live, via TV or online.Sadly I couldn't find any cable channels running the shows live in Dhaka and that is really pathetic. I was too busy yesterday, but caught glimses of the live coverages at my work PC via AOL Music. AOL's coverage was so superior, even with...
July 02, 2005
KISSINGER HAS BLOOD ON HIS HANDSEnnis of Sepia mutiny writes a commendable post about Kissinger's recent apology to the Indians for his derogative remarks about Indira Gandhi & India in 1971.Ennis writes:I find this "apology" completely unsatisfying. I really don’t care what language Nixon and Kissinger used to discuss Indira Gandhi in private. I care far more about the 500,000 to 3 million who died, and the 6 million to 12 million who were made refugees. These were not accidental deaths. This was an intentional mass slaughter of civilians...
July 01, 2005
TODAY'S LINKS* The reigning African predators.* Extremism is a worry in Bangladesh; but it's the mainstream that is polluted.* Because of Bananagate, gas field inferno costing Bangladesh $100,000 a day.* Tokyo Art Beat - the most comprehensive art event site for Tokyo (Hat tip -Joi Ito) .* The impending decline of Saudi oil output.* Exciting links for boring da...
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