Bangladeshi liberal humanist, free-thinker and award winning blogger Asif Mohiuddin has been invited to speak at the World Humanist Congress 2014 in Oxford, UK. He was arrested multiple times for his alleged ‘anti-state’ and ‘anti-religious’ writings, attacked by fundamentalists, and is living with death threats. Here is an excerpt from the translation of his Facebook status in Bengali on 3 March 2014 about being invited to speak at the Congress and how Bangladesh should be perceived on the global stage:
Bangladeshi doesn’t mean South Asia’s...
May 05, 2014
The Rise and Fall of Bengal’s Textile Empire
Bengal was once known as the richest province of the Indian subcontinent mainly due to its famous and varied agricultural and textiles products including the Muslin, world renowned finely-woven breathable fabric. M Ahmedullah posts in Alochonaa.com a two part series (Part 1, Part 2) discussing the history of the Bengal's textile empi...
May 01, 2014
Online Tools And Resources For Learning Bangla Language
Kolkata based British expat blog My Bangla Diary posts an interview with Steve Capell, the creator of Bangla Tangla. This resourceful website by Capell contains useful tools and contents for learning Bangla (Bengali) language onli...
The Bengali Tradition of Halkhata, New Accounts Ledger
The centuries old Bengali new years celebrations include an important tradition, opening the Halkhata, a new ledger book for the year for the businesses. Blog Amader Kotha explains what Halkhata is. The traditional red color ledger book signifies the marking of a new beginning and the festivities, rituals, hopes and uncertainties that come along with it....
Bangladesh's LGBT Community Steps Out in Rainbow Colors for New Year's Celebrations
Members of Bangladesh's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community marched alongside the country's recent New Year's festivities, a bold step for the oft-vilified minority.
Roopbaan, a magazine aimed at gay Bangladeshis, arranged the colorful march, which they maintained wasn't a gay pride parade but a celebration of diversity and friendship. In Muslim-majority Bangladesh, homosexuality is considered to be unacceptable socially...
April 29, 2014
Bangladeshis Are Not Happy With India's Bharatya Janata Party
Subramanian Swamy speaks in Mangalore, India on 17/12/13
The world's biggest elections are underway in India, and so far elections have been completed in 21 out of 28 states. As voting nears its end, the competing political parties are trying to lure voters with lucrative and populist promises they say they will implement if they are elected.
Subramanian Swamy, a leading figure of the conservative Bharatya Janata Party (BJP) whose...
April 19, 2014
Bangladeshis Mourn Gabriel García Márquez, the 'Magician Of Words'
[caption id="attachment_467088" align="aligncenter" width="658"] Gabriel García Márquez. Image by Wikimedia/Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara. CC BY 2.0[/caption]
Gabriel García Márquez, the Nobel-prize winning literary legend from Colombia, died April 17, 2014 at the age of 87. He was not only popular in Latin America but also in South Asia, especially in Bangladesh through translations of his works. There, he was known as the "magician...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Swopon 
