FROM THE BANGLADESH BLOGOSPHERE
(Cross-posted in the 'Global Voices Online')

Shuvo Nobobarsho (Happy New Year) everyone. Let us take a look into what the Bangladeshi blogs are saying lately.

1) Tourism: Rahman tells us what Sundarban, the largest mangrove forest of the World has to offer to the tourists.

Herma talks about the beauty of the Bandarbans and how her family enjoys it. Here are some Photos of Bandarbans and her impressions about Bangladesh.

2) Awards: ‘Unheard Voices’ reports that Dr Nazia Khanum, an expatriate Bangladeshi, has been appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth recently for her services to community relations and to equal opportunities.

3) TV Shows: ‘Close up 1 - Tomakey Kujche Bangladesh (Bangladesh Looks for You)’ is the first ever music talent show in Bangladesh(Bangladesh version of the American Idol). The winner ‘Nolok Babu’ is a 19 year old penniless street singer. ‘The 3rd world view’ has more and Rajputro posts links to some of the songs of the contest to download.

4) Review: Mezba does a review of the Spielberg film ‘Munich’.

5) Hajj: Sadiq tells about the history of Hajj, the Muslim pilgrimage. However there have been a lot of discussions going on in other Bangladeshi blogs on the issue of performing Hajj multiple times. The lack of infrastructures to accomodate the growing number of pilgrims in Saudi Arabia is a burning issue in the wake of recent collapse of hotel in Mecca which have killed 78 including 8 Bangladeshi pilgrims.

6) Coffee colored people: Arafat, who is studying in Yale, goes home in Dhaka after a year and surprised by the shock, the realization of difference in the colors of people of the both the countries en-masse.

7) Bangla blogging: Bangla bloggers are growing rapidly in numbers using the the tool ‘Bandh Bhanger Awaj’ and its aggregator. This aggregator is alive and full of interesting Bangla contents .