LIFE EXPLAINED"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, I used everything you gave me."Shappir's take on life has prompted me to write this. If I consider an average Bangladeshi's life expectancy then I have crossed half of my life. Sometimes I ponder about what significant things I did in my past. I try not to think much about afterlife but I am interested in doing things right at the current time as a sound present leads to a better future. I am a bit laidback...
August 30, 2005
BLOG DAY 2005 BASH Nir Ofir, an Israeli blogger first noticed that the date 3108 (August 31st) looks like the word "Blog". He started to promote an idea based on this.David Sasaki of 'Global Voices Online' writes about Nir's idea:He had also become increasingly aware that as more weblogs from around the world make their way onto the internet, the more we get stuck in our regular reading habits without searching for new content and new voices from...
August 28, 2005
TERRORISTS VS. NGOSWhat do the terrorists hate in Bangladesh? Probably the empowerment of women, the development of Bangladesh and the democracy. Just one example: Bangladesh is headed by women prime ministers since 1991. While the institutions like Grameen Bank, BRAC and other NGOs are revolutionizing the country by reducing poverty and promoting women, the antagonists (mainly the Islami fundamentalists) are seeing these as a threat.When the government is not taking initiatives, the pioneer of microcredit & chief of Grameen Bank Dr. Md. Yunus...
THE TERRORIST FRATERNITYMore and more shocking details are coming up from the investigations of the 8/17 bombings in Bangladesh. According to today's news:Two arrested militants confessed that United liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), a separatist militant group of India had a link with the serial bomb blasts. The arrested militants confessed that they were the activists of Jamayatul Mujahedin (JMB) and Shaikh Abdur Rahman was their leader. Prior to the bombings a group of 50 persons including the arrested two received a month-long military training...
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEMI have said it before that the illegal border trades and the involvement of the security forces people are the key causes for the India-Bangladesh border strifes.Now the Indian media is taking notice as it finds that the headache of the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel is the smuggling of cattle from India to Bangladesh, which is valued approximately at Indian Rupees 1000 crore per annum (approx 2% of Bangladesh budget). Although they aim to fence much of the land borders, there are 4000 km waterways acting as...
August 27, 2005
TODAY'S PICKS* The alleged mastermind of the 7/7 London Bombings, Haroon Rashid Aswat, is a British "Intelligence Asset".* Terrorism draws its strength from undisclosed fund.* August 17 bombings: Just a dress rehearsal?* Bangladesh Bombings: the most sophisticated attack since 9/11* When is a terrorist not a terrorist?* The makkah of the future: between the ka'bah and kfc* Fanatical Preacher issues Death Fatwa - The Christian & Muslim versions* Why do Saudi Arabians treat the Quran so literally? Ask Alhame...
August 25, 2005
LEADERS ARE CREATED, NOT BORNThe above is a tagline of a training course on leadership (and other corporate aspects) in which I am participating. It is really a slendid course sponsored by my employer and contain participants from local & multinational organizations. I was amazed to see that the local concerns are spending much on automation and training to bring professionalism into their affairs. The trainer is a competent Bangladeshi professional who has extensive practical knowledge in many of the industries. We are learning to look at...
August 24, 2005
August 23, 2005
WAR AGAINST JIHAD The Bangladesh government has atlast taken an all out effort to catch the terrorists who were behind the 18/7 near-simultaneous bombings across the country. The daily Star reports that police offloaded and arrested a top cleric Moulana Fariduddin Masud, a former Director of Islamic Foundation, from a London- bound flight of Emirates Airlines on monday morning for his suspected involvement in the attacks. Newspaper reports say that...
August 20, 2005
BANGLADESH BLASTS AROUND THE BLOGOSPHERE* an open letter to all bangladeshis - Electric Blues* Bangladesh : Islamists Press their Agenda Displaying Strength through Bomb Blasts -SAAG * In Bangladesh, terrorists signal their arrival - Robi Sen & Nitin Pai* Bangladesh bombs overlooked in US media - The Lawson review * Political instability in Bangladesh and the failure of democracy -Shakeer Rahman* Killing Your Own Brothers And Sisters -Common Folk Common Sense* Jihadists murder Muslims -Austin Bay* They are nihilists - A way in the worldTag:...
August 19, 2005
THE POINTING OF FINGURES AND THE LOOMING THREATSThe above picture (courtesy the Daily Star) sums up the interesting political situation in Bangladesh. The oppositions are blaming government, the government and the Islami parties are blaming Awami League and its allies and the general people are confused as it is pretty clear that the banned Islamic terrorist organization Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) is behind this. But who is behind them is still...
LIVING WITH A DEADLY DISEASE"As a deadly virus infects the blood unnoticedThen scary infections erupts from the skin.We see a dreadful disease in the nation’s bodySlowly infested by an incurable germ, in disguise ofThe fundamentalists and the afterlife lovers.Once religion brought light in the society’s dark corners.Now the bones and rotten flesh of its skeletonAre peddled by some selfish and hypocritical human beings,Who misinterprets the holy texts by their made-up stories,The religious extremists have no religionThey have only greed and wicked...
August 17, 2005
BANGLADESH BOMB BLASTS -MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERSWhen around four hundred small bombs explode in 63 districts out of 64 districts of a country simulteneously it shows what kind of network the attackers possess (imagine 50 states out of 51 in US). The mostly hit city was the capital Dhaka with around 30 bombs explosions including key installation like the Zia International Airport, Supreme Court, Secretariat etc.The casualties and injured numbers are so far incredibly much less (2 deaths and 150 hospitalized). The question may be why is that....
BANGLADESH BOMB BLASTS 8/17I was attending one seminar in Dhaka and the mobile phones started to ring at around 11:30 AM. Keens were checking whether we were alright as a series of bombings were reported across the country. Some people who came in that moment were wondering why the busy streets and hubs like Farmgate were so lean in traffic. We were hearing of some really confusing reports. But the scene looks like this as of now from reports of the private satellite TV Channels:* Around 100 bombs exploded in 58 different locations.* The bombs...
August 16, 2005
TODAY'S LINKS* Why Iran must not be invaded.* Global voices going truly big & global rapidly.* A Bangladeshi software developer Omar Al Zabir has developed an open source RSS Feed Aggregator and Blogging Smart Client for many platforms.* If the Titanic was made in Bangladesh. * Saudi youths flirt with Blue tooth.* An analysis of the US Dependency on Saudi Arabian oil.* Some sources on Hizb al-Tahrir (Party of Liberation), the group who has made Islam into a political slogan.* The Bollywood hero Aamir Khan has a bl...
August 14, 2005
SOUTH ASIAN BLOG ROUNDUPBangladesh:- Tazzy writes more episodes about a typical South Asian arranged marriage. Stay tuned for the rest of the story.- 'Allah hafiz' or 'Khuda hafiz'- Asif discusses the controversial Indo-Islamic phrases for "good bye" used in Bangladesh.- Ishtiaque writes a series of posts about his recent trip to Cox's Bazaar, the longest natural sea beach of the world.- Robin posts pictures of an unique car sculpture in Dhaka, which is made out of bicycle chains, car parts and other scrap metal.Bhutan:- Bhutani cable operators...
August 12, 2005
A LAW FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL- THE WINNER TAKES IT ALLAfter the 9/11 incident it has become very difficult for the general Bangladeshis to get US Visas. Even amongst the thousands of diversity lottery for immigration winners many get rejected after the screening. Many Bangladeshi students/immigrants are living in US. Naturally their family members need to visit USA from time to time. Below is a touching tale of a parent about their experience in the US embassy of Dhaka which is translated and summarized by me from the original published in the Bangla...
August 10, 2005
TODAY'S LINKS* The latest carnival of the liberated is up. * Dude, Where's My Car?* Scrupulous conspiracy behind attack on Ahmadiyyas in Bangladesh.* Where is oil in the new world endgame?* Inside the Mind of a 'Suicide' Bomber - Part I - by Yamin Zakaria* Macroeconomic modeling and rising oil pric...
BENGALI NICKNAME GENERATORI have come across this interesting tool. Its creator Rusha says:All Bongs or Bengalis have a tragedy in life. In spite of having bestowed with beautiful names they end up being called by the most outrageous nicknames all their lives.Find out what you could end up as , if you were a Bong!!Bong Nickname generator And if you are wondering what my nickname in childhood was. It was 'On...
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO THE PALACE MULLAHSThe Detroit News reports:Senior clerics called on Saudis to take their "bayah," or oath of allegiance, to the new King Abdullah, saying it was a religious duty.Tens of thousands of Saudis -- tribal chiefs, Islamic clerics, army commanders and commoners -- have been flocking to the Riyadh governor's palace to pledge loyalty to Abdullah, vowing to "hear and obey" the new king.Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Seedes, the imam of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, went so far as to compare the oath to the king to that taken by...
August 08, 2005
TODAY'S LINKS* The ugly side of beauty.* Hiroshima - An anniversary to forget.* Salman Rushdie wants an Islamic reformation.* Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli finance minister resigns in protest of pullout from Gaza as he thinks it will not bring peace. Still, peace is inconceivable without such a pullo...
UNHEARD VOICES FROM THE DUNGEONJust when the world is outraged by the Arab hard-line views and breeding of radical Islamofacism, we keep forgetting that there are also humane voices in Arab world muffled by restrictions and oppression. One such voice is Alhamedi of Saudi Arabia who has a blog called "The religious policeman" named in protest of the Saudi religious police, who among other mischiefs stopped 15 schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress nor allow the Firemen to enter causing their...
DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE MUSLIM WORLDA random comment in my blog prompted me to write this post:Please send me a statement that a person does not have to be an arab to embrace Islam. My friend tells me that only Arabs can be Muslim. DOROTHY WARD 08.08.05 - 10:01 am #My reply was:Well Dorothy, you tell your friend that Muslims represent 27% of world population. And a major portion of that are non-Arabs. They are the living examples proving your friend's claim wrong. If he requires more proof then he can try this link.Jokes apart, I think many need to...
August 07, 2005
THE EVER POPULAR JATRA Jatra, the folk theatre/village opera of Bengal has been popular since the ancient days. But in the last century, with the advent of cinema, radio and television 'Jatra' has diminished to a dying art in South Asia. Jatra usually consists of four-hour-long, high-energy plays featuring loud music, harsh lighting and extravagant props played out on giant stages under open skies at night. Unlike theatre, Jatra is answerable to...
MARS WATER ICE This image, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show a patch of water ice sitting on the floor of an unnamed crater near the Martian north pole.The crater is 35 kilometres wide and has a maximum depth of approximately 2 kilometres beneath the crater rim. The circular patch of bright material located at the centre of the crater is residual water ice. More news from Mars Express....
August 06, 2005
THE HUMAN COST OF ONE PENNY LESS'Dateline NBC' investigates the human costs in the developing world behind the bargain shopping trend of the Americans and the competitive deals of the big discount stores.The investigation goes to the source of the goods these store offers. In Bangladesh, a female worker, Masuma gets more like 17 cents for sewing as much as 80 stripes on pants in an hour, a perfectly legal wage, and more than many Bangladeshis like her earn. But she can barely live with that wages.MSNBC arranged to bring her to the US, to a store...
August 05, 2005
SOUTH ASIAN BLOG ROUNDUPHere is today's round up of some of the blogs of South Asia.Bangladesh:- Tanim laments on which jobs are deemed respectable and which are not in Bangladesh.- Sadiq finds that the practices of prostration and Submission to God are similar among the major religions of the world.- Asif of 'Unheard Voices' sepeculates a big world tour of 50 amateur Bengali musicians from Boston to promote Bangla Gaan (Bengali songs) across the world from USA to Bangladesh.India:- Nitin Pai tries to find out what is the economics of espionage.-...
August 04, 2005
A BLOG ABOUT DESISSepia Mutiny is a superb group blog of a number of South Asian American bloggers. It has become a space for many desi people--and particularly individuals of South Asian descent who are now in the United States--to talk about issues of interest to them.The origin of the word 'Sepia Mutiny' is explained here. The blog is an interesting read for desis and non-desis alike. So don't miss making it your daily re...
August 02, 2005
EXPONENTIAL BLOG GROWTHDavid Sifry of Technocrati reports on the blogosphere:* Technorati was tracking over 14.2 Million weblogs, and over 1.3 billion links in July 2005* The blogosphere continues to double about every 5.5 months* A new blog is created about every second, there are over 80,000 created daily* About 55% of all blogs are active, and that has remained a consistent statistic for at least a year* About 13% of all blogs are updated at least weeklyHow big will it be?(Via Buzzmachi...
August 01, 2005
SNIPPETS FROM MY LIFEScene 1:Place: A dark crossroad in Dhanmondi on about 9 pm at night. I was alone in my car waiting at a traffic signal.*Man: Hey will you go to Kalyanpur?*Me: Staring with a surprised look (thoughts going in my head "Is this guy mistaking my car as a taxi?")*Man: Which way will you go?*Me: I am going home (perplexed me spelled out the truth).*Man: Aissa (OK).I drove on wondering what had happened and I realized that I failed to convince him that I am not a taxi driver. (Note: my car is an old Nissan hatchback and no way similar...
RIANNA UPDATEHew..Ye.. dijjam...(Hello hello). This is Rianna speaking. I thank you all who remembered me and enquired about me from time to time. I have grown a bit now (10 months) and can crawl to a distance. I can dance waving my arms standing on my knees. Baba named it 'Rianna dance' and says it should go well with hip-hop music. But I like nursery rhymes and soothing Rabindra Sangit. Usually I dance with nursery rhymes. Cartoons are my favorite...
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