BANGLADESHI BLOGS - an update

Here is another updated list of Bangladeshi Blogs:

* The 3rd world view-Bangladesh
* Mac's Blog -Bangladesh
* The color of rain -UK
* Close your eyes & try to see- Bangladesh
* Bongo Vongo -UK
* MoodLogic -Bangladesh
* Inspirations and creative thoughts - Singapore
* Dak Bangla Intelligence Scan - Bangladesh
* Bring your own Shisha - UK
* A sneak peek into Yawar's mind - Malaysia
* Imtiaz's WeBlog - Bangladesh
* Lungis.com - Modern Lungis for modern deshi man -USA
* LiveJournal Bangladesh Community Blogs -Mostly USA
* Anthology -USA
* Notes From Dystopia -Bangladesh
* My World -USA
* BD Gamer- Bangladesh
* Just a blog -Canada
* Black Rose...fighting everyday... -Bangladesh
* The Drug Polar -USA
* Love U All -Bangladesh
* Live and let live -Australia
* Will you walk with me? -Bangladesh
* Sajjad's weekly blogs -USA
* Shehab's Thoughts 2 -USA
* Always Think Positive -UK
* Tushar Chowdhury's Blog! -UK -with links of many other categorical blogs
* Bangladesh Politics -Bangladesh
* Ex Nihilo -Bangladesh
* >Insert Clever Title Here< -Canada
* Crazy Islam -Netherlands
* Banglapundit(In Bangla) -Bangladesh
* Ashik -USA
* Bid Cronicles -Canada
* Ipshita’s Blog -Canada
* A sunshine too brief -Canada
* Scarlet Thisbe - USA
* Shakeer & Company (Group Blog) -USA
* Note to self - USA
* I look I see -Bangladesh
* Busy Minds in a lazy shell - Bangladesh
* Simplicity Refused - USA
* Tanya in Cyberspace - USA
* Hmmm - USA
* My thoughts - USA
* A Life to be lived - Bangladesh
* The Song of my life - Bangladesh
* Mudphud Chickness - USA
* Feerozac -My Blog -UK
* Gene Expression (Group Blog including Razib) -USA
* Electric Blues -USA
* The Desh in Me -USA
* Glittergirl -Singapore
* Blu3crash v 8.0 -USA
* Ullah.net -Canada
* Future Bangla Network - Bangladesh
* Black & Grey - Bangladesh
* Adda - Bangladesh
* Tanim's Net Zone - Bangladesh
* Of the world and boiled eggs - Bangladesh
* Tasneem Khalil - Bangladesh
* Me, myself and Bangladesh - UK
* Tickling Beauty
* Nayma's Blog - USA
* Vacuum out, the vacuum within - Bangladesh
* Slightly Absurd, Clearly Ambiguous - Canada
* Dotcom Underground Blog - Bangladesh
* Me & Myself - Bangladesh
* My Golden Bengal - Bangladesh
* Non-existent, imaginative and irrelevant journal
* Perpetual ramblings of a lifelong nomad - USA
* Nana Chinta Nana Bhabna - Bangladesh
* Meherunnissa’s Xanga Site
* Life or something like that - Bangladesh

Blogs by persons of Non Bangladesh Origin on their experiences in Bangladesh:

* A Whisper from the heart
* Root: Adventure in Bangladesh
* Ronny reist rum -Auf Deutsch
* Bangers & Mash
* Bangladesh Backchat
* Dhaka Diary
* Bideshi Blonde
* Bangladesh Rocks

Blogs by other Bengalis of Indian Origin:

* Niraj Agarwalla-USA
* The Kolkata Libertarian-USA
* Notes from France is now from India -By Sukanya
* Null Pointer -India

Some notable Bangladeshi girl photoblogs:

* Nazzina
* Rings

List of Blogs in Bangla script maintained by Debashish
* বাংলা ব্লগস্

Kindly note that this list is not complete and I would appreciate if you could inform me about more Bangladeshi Blogs.

Last updated on: June 7, 2005 (arranged in no particular order)

Technocrati tags: Bangladesh, Bangladeshi blogs

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COMFORTABLY NUMB?

I have this guilty feeling being lucky among the people who are not affected in the recent flood. I am able to do nothing except donating money to the flood relief initiatives taken by the youths in all parts of the Dhaka city. They are singing in the streets and collecting donations. Many college and University students have established small camps where breads and oral saline are being prepared for the flood affected people. But the real challenge is to go to the flooded region and distribute the same. I am aware of the government's vast relief expenditures. But people doubt that whether these would reach, where they are needed most.

In 1988 Bangladesh suffered the worse flood of the decade and I was a college student then. What I did was that accumulate some fund in collaboration with the local youths (first from our sources then from other donation) and arranged some relief goods (mainly fresh bread, water, oral saline, matches and old cloths). Then we went to the remote flooded areas with boat in and around Dhaka ourselves to distribute them. Our target was to go to such places where normally govt. reliefs do not reach. I still remember one of our missions, in which we discovered that in the middle of no where some people were lurking in a rooftop, the whole house being submerged. They had not eaten for days. I cannot reproduce the feeling of joy when we could rescue them. We had to abandon such missions as they were getting dangerous and some of us (including me) coudn't swim and could easily get drowned.

I believe that now there are many distressed people to reach out. But now I am unable to engage in such ventures. I can cite many excuses like responsibility at work, responsibility for the family and above all there is a danger because I cannot swim. But I have ventured to those flood affected areas 16 years ago without thinking these.

Now I plea to the youths of Bangladesh and the NGOs to make sure that relief reaches the remotest of places. Otherwise there will be more sufferings and death. And as for the post flood-rehabilitation, the task is for the government. Those who are willing to help can donate in rehabilitation programs. But now physical presence is required more than donation.

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FLOOD UPDATE

The most happening thing in Bangladesh at the moment is of course flood. I believe the world media has covered that well. But what does it mean for the people of a large portion of the country affected by the flood waters? Many of the effected people have migrated to other places. The slum dwellers are the worse hit. Those who could not find a recluse are praying for the water to recede and waiting for their misery to end. The flooding in urban areas has completely destroyed the sewerage system making the environment stench with contaminated water. If the situation prevails then there is a high chance of spreading diseases like diarrhea. The death toll does not tell the devastation the flood has caused. There are relief efforts to save the effected people but actually it is hard to tell whether these could reach all the distressed people.

Bangladesh is criss-crossed by a network of 230 rivers including major arteries which carry melting ice from the Himalaya before emptying into the Bay of Bengal. High tide in the Bay of Bengal is preventing water dispersing because the sea level is expected to remain slightly higher until the full moon on August 2. In the meantime, water dispersing from northern areas are continue to gush downstream resulting in worsening flooding in central Bangladesh. The situation would be worsened by further monsoon rains expected from first week of August.

The WFP has warned that Bangladesh could face a major humanitarian crisis in the coming days and many countries have already pledged their assistance. But Bangladesh Government is refusing to call for international help, saying its own relief efforts are enough, while several large non-governmental organizations have said it should reconsider.

(More News)

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QUOTES OF THE DAY

* When a tree falls in the forest, does it call for help? NO.
When a friend falls into an addiction, will they ask for help? NO.

Help thy ones you hold close to your heart."

- Dr. Anita Hoe

* The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.

- Phillips Brooks 1835-1893, American Minister, Poet

* When a person is down in the world, an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching.

- Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton 1803-1873, British Novelist, Poet

* Anywhere I see suffering, that is where I want to be, doing what I can.

- Princess of Wales Diana 1961-1997, Wife of Charles, Prince of Wales

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WATER WATER EVERYWHERE

This year the flood is turning to be fatal like 1998. The lower parts of Dhaka City is submerged in floodwater. The streets of the commercial area Motijheel is covered with 6" - 1 feet of water. Although I am blessed not being effected with Flood water, not in home as well as in workplace, I am really numb with the plight of those effected. I did not expect that the flood will be this much devastating. The main problems of this type of flood is that it destroys the water and sewerage system. The water supplies gets contaminated with swears making it impossible for the effected people to get fresh water, for drinking or cleaning. Diseases soon follow making things worse. If the kitchens get inundated, there goes your lunches and dinners. You can hardly find any restaurant open in the effected locality. Its really a messy situation. When the water rises to 3 or 4 feets high, there is a greater risk of electrocution and there goes the electricity of the whole community.


Rich and poor alike are effected and they need food and water purifiers and some shelters. The day-laborers are the worst victims who seldom has proper housing facilities. Most of the flood shelters are running without any help or monitoring from the government. So far people the situation has not gone out of hand of the local people. But I wonder for how long they can sustain without proper and planned action from the government. There is an influx of flood effected destitutes across all dry parts of the city. I have personally helped a couple of them, but really that will not save them from misery. In fact collective efforts of government and NGOs as well as help from the non-effected are needed to establish more shelters equipped with food, medicine, cloth and other survival gears. Rehabilitation and repairing of the infrastructure damages would be another huge task when the water subsides.

The eastern part of the capital is the worst effected as it does not have any flood protection embankment. Will the government answer why there are housing projects going on in these lower parts since decades, without first having the embankments?

(More news)

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MINOR INFRACTIONS OF CIVIL LIBERTIES

According to the Reporters sans Frontiers more journalists were physically attacked or threatened with death in Bangladesh than in any other country in 2003. Their report "internet under surveillance 2004", it claims that the internet in Bangladesh suffered the same fate as other medias. The intelligence services intercept e-mail as routinely as they tap phones.

The report also tells of a disturbing amendment proposed by the government to:

...give the authorities access to personal customer data held by ISPs and allow data currently obtained illegally through e-mail interception to be used as court evidence...

The experts fear that this amendment, if enacted could:

* be used as a weapon to blackmail people.

* help the intelligence agencies will turn the country into a police state.

A home affairs ministry spokesman said: "people's right to live free of fear, crime and terrorism is more important than minor infractions of civil liberties."

When less than 1% of the nation is using emails and other e-communication tools, they will remain as a minority group and their voices won't be heard strong enough to stop the government from interfering with their privacy and policing the net through filtering.

To be really concerned, general internet users of Bangladesh should understand: "On a fileterd internet, things are not what they seem."

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TOWARDS MORE FINANCIALLY SUSTAINABLE ICT MODELS

The Bangladesh Hajj online information website has proved to be a successful initiative taken by the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MORA) of Bangladesh. During this years hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, it has tracked more than 40,000 hajis using technologies as OMR & Barcode providing loads of informations online. The website's implementation cost of about Tk 20 million was borne by MORA from its own resources. But the operational expenses of maintaining the website are now covered through a small "computer fee" collected from individual pilgrims. So operation cost of this successful initiative is now also sustainable. (Reports the Financial Express).

I wish initiatives for more ICT projects like this are taken in Bangladesh which will turn out to be extremely helpful as well as financially sustainable creating more IT jobs.

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