Weekend Tribune Vol 3 Issue 26

vol 3 Issue 26 | FRIDAY, oCT 23, 2015 Dhaka Tribune

6 onlIne shoppIng 8 CITY lIFe 12 seCuRITY

In The CITY

WEEKEN D TRI BU N E | FRI DAY, OCTOBER 23, 2015

1CONTENTS

Volume 3 | Issue 26 | Oct 23, 2015

EditorZafar Sobhan

Features EditorSabrina Fatma Ahmad

Asst Magazine EditorFarina Noireet

Weekend Tribune TeamSaudia Afrin

Moumita AhmedN Anita AmreenFaisal MahmudSakib MridhaSaqib Sarker

Syeda Samira SadequeShuprova Tasneem

ContributorsMinu Ahmed

Jennifer Ashraf KashmiDina Sobhan

Sabrina MunniMunzereen Shahid

CartoonistPriyo

GraphicsMd Mahbub AlamAlamgir HossainTahsin Momin

Colour SpecialistShekhar Mondal

AdvertisementShahin Ahsan

ProductionMasum Billah

CirculationMasud Kabir Pavel

Websitedhakatribune.com/weekendfacebook.com/WeekendTrib

Email your letters to:[email protected]

Editor’s note About the coverDear Readers,We at Weekend Tribune believe reading is one of life’s great pleasures. Especially with the long weekend this time, we at Weekend Tribune have tried to provide a good mix of pieces for your perusal.

Not everyone is lucky enough to be able to read, or to have access to reading materials. Our profile of Room to Read explores one organisation that’s working tirelessly to reduce the inequality and to bring the light of literacy into places where they’re most needed.

We also took advantage of the week’s scheduled holiday to talk to the expat community in Dhaka about their concerns regarding the recent murders of

foreign nationals.What do you do to reduce

cabin fever when you’re housebound? Many turn to retail therapy. Check out our discussion on the rise and rise of e-commerce in Bangladesh.

One of the most popular categories for shopping is fashion, and we’ve got not one, but two fashion columns for you to check out.

Finally, kick back with our regular columnists. From Jenny Ashraf’s legal advice to the indomitable Dina Sobhan’s pearls of parenting wisdom, to the Bong Momma’s reveries, there’s something for everyone. Happy Weekend!

-Sabrina Fatma Ahmad

News 2 News

3 Meanwhile

FeatuRes 4 Women’s Fashion

Trend report

5 Men’s Fashion Comfort and style

6 Digital Bangladesh Online shopping

8 Musing City life

12 Focus Security in the city

16 Focus Literacy

17 Top 10 Studying at DU

RegulaRs14 Legalese

15 Drama Mama

18 Stay In

19 Go Out

PhOTO STOryDUrga PUja

20

9

Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu

ThE BONG MOMMaTaLeS frOm a firST-Time mOm


2 NEWS | This week

Vatican denies Italian media report that pope has brain tumour

The Vatican on Wednesday denied an Italian media report that Pope

Francis has a benign brain tumour.“The pope is carrying out his

activity with his usual high level of intensity. Spreading unfounded news is gravely irresponsible and is not worthy of attention,” spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said in a statement.

The newspaper Quotidiano Nazionale, a national paper based in central Italy, reported on its front page on Wednesday that the 78-year-old

pope had secretly flown by helicopter to a small Tuscan town “some time ago” to see a Japanese doctor.

The paper reported that the Argentine pontiff was diagnosed with “a small dark spot on the brain” but that it was curable.

The pope has appeared to be in good health in recent months apart from some leg pain due to the fact that he suffers from sciatica, for which he undergoes regular physical therapy in the Vatican.Source: Reuters

Nazi crime researchers probing IS over Yazidi ‘genocide’

A group that documented Nazi war crimes is now investigating

whether massacres committed by Islamic State jihadists against Iraq’s Yazidi minority amount to genocide.

Three European researchers have embarked on the gargantuan task of establishing that the IS crimes aimed to systematically wipe out an ethnic group, in a bid to push the international community to halt the brutal crimes.

“We are not seeking to be sensational but to establish the stages of the criminal process for each category of the Yazidi – men, women, children – in order to back

up the claim of genocide,” Andrej Umansky, criminal law specialist at Cologne University, told AFP.

The Yazidis are neither Arabs nor Muslims and have a unique faith which IS jihadists consider to be heretical and polytheistic. The Kurdish-speaking minority is mostly based around Sinjar mountain in northern Iraq.

When the jihadists made an unexpected push in August last year into parts of northern Iraq under Kurdish control, the Yazidis were the worst hit, with many massacred and abducted.Source: AP

Syria’s Assad flies to Moscow to thank Russia’s Putin for air strikesPresident Bashar al-Assad made

a surprise visit to Moscow on Tuesday evening to thank Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for launching air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria.

The Kremlin made the details of the visit public a day later, on Wednesday. It did not say whether the Syrian leader was still in Moscow or had returned home.

The visit is believed to be Assad’s first foreign trip since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in 2011 and comes three weeks after Russia launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamist militants in Syria on Sept. 30.

“First of all I wanted to express my huge gratitude to the whole leadership of the

Russian Federation for the help they are giving Syria,” Assad told Putin, according to a Kremlin transcript.

“If it was not for your actions and your decisions the terrorism which is spreading in the region would have swallowed up a much greater area and spread over an even greater area.”

Putin hailed the Syrian people for standing up to the militants “almost on their own,” saying the Syrian army had notched up serious battle field success in recent times.Source: Reuters

The world at a glanceWeekend Tribune

DeskThe trial run

of biometric SIM registration system has

begun in the capital on Wednesday.Sajeeb Wazed Joy, ICT adviser

to the prime minister, inaugurated the new SIM registration process at the Posts and Telecommunications Division at the Secretariat.

Tarana Halim, state minister for Post and Telecommunications Ministry, while speaking at a press conference at her ministry Tuesday, said: “After completion of the trial SIM registration, the original SIM registration with biometric identification will begin on December 16 this year.”

Earlier, the trial SIM registration was expected to start on November 1.

“All biometric SIM registration processes are to be completed by March next year; otherwise, mobile operators must face a $50 penalty for each unverified SIM,” the

junior minister also said.After meeting with all mobile

operator CEOs on September 10, Tarana Halim issued directives to all mobile phone operators to start the process of SIM re-registration from September 13.

The state minister added that users would get three months’ time to re-register their SIM cards, after which all unregistered SIMs would be blocked.

She said the Telecommunications Division is monitoring the update of the SIM registration process every day.Source: Dhaka Tribune

Biometric SIM registration system inaugurated


. . . MEaNWhILE 3 Photo of the week

In a tribute to her son who died in a shooting, a woman hired a

company to prop him up in front of a table of dominos, giving him one last party to celebrate his send-off to the great beyond, The Mirror reports.

Jomar Aguayo Collazo was shot a

few days after his 23rd birthday.Forgoing a traditional wake,

Collazo’s body went on display at his mother’s bar in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico. Pictures show him propped up at a table next to a jukebox, seeming to enjoy one last session of the

game that he was known to enjoy playing.

Donning a blue tracksuit, he sat surrounded by dominos while friends and family took turns sitting next to him.Source: Huffington Post

Ferrying people in Sodor Ghat.

Photo: Martin Hannan

Say what?

Dead man plays dominos at his own wake


4 TrEND rEPOrT | women’s fashion

The global fascination with floral prints continues going from strength to strength, carrying us well into Fall/

Winter 2015. This is no less true for Dhaka, particularly with the wedding/party season coming up.

If spring florals are all about airy, light pastels and floaty fabrics, the prints of the colder months take a different, more Romantic note.

Welcome to the dark sideAs the days grow shorter, the print palette gets darker. Think of a garden in midnight. Pale, rosy decals against a backdrop of navy, chocolate, or charcoal. While these motifs are coming up a lot in this season’s printed

denim and sneakers, they’re also a great vintage find if you can unearth some of the gorgeous printed chiffon and georgette saris from the 60’s and 70’s. The perks of being a wallflowerThink vintage florals, Victorian roses, basically the kind of prints you’d find on the wallpaper of a charmingly quaint English home. This trend, better known as “interior florals” is all the rage right now, with everyone from Marc by Marc Jacobs to Thakoon featuring lush blooms in their outfits.

Flowers of the FallDecoding this season’s most wearable trend Sabrina Fatma Ahmad

Brands like Cat’s Eye, Yellow, and Urban Truth have all run with variations of this print. From the gorgeous asymmetrical Cat’s Eye tops, to Yellow’s blouses and lawn kameezes, to Urban Truth’s athletic-inspired casual wear, get a big dose of blooming beautiful this Autumn.

3 ways to wear this season’s florals* Add some autumnal edge to your

breezy spring florals by layering them with cold weather touches like a leather jacket or a dark chambray shirt.

* If you’re going the print-mixing route, remember that stripes love flowers.

* Don’t like prints? Harness the flower power with a floral crown/headband, buttons or jewellery

I feel it in my fingersWhen talking florals, it’s limited to think only in 2D. Textural florals are also huge this year. From plush velvet blossoms, to appliqué, to rustic weaves and jacquards, the prints are getting a tactile upgrade. Garden wedding, anyone? n

Photos: Zia UddinModel: Jarifa Purna

Wardrobe: 9am by Nahida


Illustration: Priyo/Dhaka Tribune

You don’t need to ask the most stylish men you see on the streets; you just need to see how amazingly

effortless they make it look. The number one reason for that would be how comfortable they are in their outfit, and more importantly, in their own skin. Confidence may be key to your overall approach to your look and personal style, but the fashion aspect relies mainly on the comfort level. The ultimate message to take from this is to simply take things easy. If you’ve got the correct steps down, that nonchalant (what the Italians call sprezzatura), stylish attitude will come easier as the days go by.

We always want to keep things simple for you, gentlemen. Not only do you want to avoid unnecessary confusion, it’s always good to go back to the basics. Here’s how to keep things simple and comfortable before you go rummaging through your closets.

Kick back with new shoesThe ladies might not understand why we might love shoes as much as they do, but sometimes they tend to sacrifice comfort with those stiletto heels. Fortunately, we have it much easier than the sexiest of women. Buying new shoes can be exciting, especially when you have the perfect occasion or event for them to wear. It’s tempting, we know, but it’s best if you hold back on that. The problem is your brand-new shoes haven’t been worn in yet.

Wearing them straight away may cause you blisters and overall discomfort for your feet. And after a few hours on your feet, well, you might regret wearing them in the first place.

The way to fix this little issue is to, what we call, stretch your shoes. Find inserts or very thick socks to roll up and shove them into your shoes. This process not only keeps the original shape of the shoe intact, but also eases up the tension within the materials. After you’ve had the inserts or socks in your shoes for a couple of days or so, your first outing with your new pairs won’t feel as bad.

At least one undershirtMost men we see do wear undershirts, yet they are unflattering. A proper undershirt is slim cut, with a V-neck and 100% cotton. Actually wearing an undershirt is very practical, especially in a warm climate like ours. You might be wondering, wait a minute, wouldn’t that make things hotter? Sure, and that doesn’t mean you always have to wear one. The important thing is to actually have an undershirt on hand, even if you’re not wearing one. Keeping a spare undershirt in your bag, while on your way to the office in a tiresome commute, can come in handy.

Never forget the sizingYou should be aware by now of how different brands or labels produce different sizes in their ready to wear collections. A 30-waist pair of trousers at Yellow will not have the same fitting as the same size pair of trousers at Artisti. Never trust the sizes on labels, you must always try them out to make your final decision. Some buyers will fall into the habit of buying the same size without trying them out because they are from the same brand. Again, not all is equal.

There will always be a slight alteration on most items, regardless if it’s from the same store or not. We would always say go get your trousers tailored or made from scratch, but we also know that may not always be available. Keep things honest, and please try everything on before you salsa your way to the counter.

Denim needs to be washed tooAs mentioned in the shoes portion of

our list, good quality denim can stand a few washes without breaking its original silhouette. This is possibly the easiest of the bunch. Cold rinse and flat-dry (or air dry by hanging them up on your balcony or backyard) every six weeks. This is the perfect balance between keep the fabric as rich as possible and as clean as possible. Even if you have a strict routine in which pair of jeans you choose to wear during the week, it’s a good habit to keep if you don’t want to fall into the disgusting department. Wash your jeans!

Unstructured, get used to itThe first thing on your mind about blazers, sport coats and suit jacket is how it should be tailored to perfection. Sure, but you don’t always want to

look sharp and ready for a cover shoot. You will have some downtime on your days off or the weekends. And in order to keep things sophisticated but crazy comfortable is to invest in more unstructured blazers. The reason for this is completely in plain sight. During the colder months, you’ll need to layer. And layering clothes with a perfect-fit tailored blazer can get a little tricky.

This is where the unstructured blazers come in. These jackets have softer fabrics with a slightly slouchier cut. Just keep the sleeve length in check, and you’ll be good to go. Not to worry, you can always do small alterations, like shortening the length, with your trusted tailor after you’ve tried one or two of them on. n

ComforT and sTyle | MEN’S FaShION 5

Comfort firstit’s time to get those priorities in check, when it comes to style Mahmood Hossain


Saad Anam just moved into a two bedroom apartment in Bashundhara, one he’s sharing with his colleague

Baizid. His favourite part of his home isn’t his room, but rather, the living area. On one side, there’s a large chaise lounger flagged by a sleek shelf housing sports memorablia, action figures and collectibles. On the opposing wall, there’s a large flat screen TV, complete with a PlayStation and surround system speakers. In the centre of the room lies a foot stool, dented with constant use. On the floor there’s an odd shoe, probably kicked off in a hurried frenzy. A traditional styled oak desk is placed

in a practical corner, large files, stray papers and odd coffee stains making it impossible to find the surface. One look at this space, and you know this is the ultimate man cave, replete with controllers and the casually placed ipad. Interestingly, the PlayStation is not a matter of pride for him, neither is the 32” flat screen TV. In fact, it’s not the furnishings he’s proud of, but rather how he acquired them.

Anam, has brought almost everything for his man cave from the internet, scrounging through numerous websites for a period of three months before carefully selecting items he got delivered to his doorstep. The TV

was bought from Daraz, a marketplace specialising in high end branded electronics and fashion products, the couch from bikroy.com and the action figures from ekhanei.com, a marketplace for locals to buy and sell their products.

Many like Anam have taken to online shopping, buying everything from electronics to beauty products to cars and even pets from online stores. Bangladesh now has over 40 million internet users, a majority of whom are active online shoppers purchasing a whole range of products from the internet. Lured by companies and websites offering slashed prices

6 DIGITaL BaNGLaDESh | online shopping

From click to cartHow we shop is changingN Anita Amreen


and an extensive product list, some of their offers are better than those made at actual retail chains. Together they’ve spearheaded the boom in the e-commerce industry, giving way to exponential growth in online shopping culture.

According to a research report on e-commerce trends in Bangladesh undertaken by Kaymu, the internet penetration rate in our country stands at 25%. While this may seem like a small number in comparison to the Europe Union’s staggering 76.15%, it actually is a strong indicator of the move towards a more digitally enabled Bangladesh.

“In terms of population, emerging markets like Bangladesh are extremely big. It may not be as successful as other first world countries in Europe or even like the US, but they really are catching up quickly. In terms of population, Bangladesh is on the list of top 10 countries with the highest population and we really feel that this is where we need to be. Although the retail landscape is nothing like developed markets where you have chain store such as Tesco or Best Buy, there is still potential here. The growth rate in Europe and the US maybe 1-2% a year, but in this region right here, the growth rate is increasing at breakneck speed and we want to catch this wave,” stated Christian Shroeder, co-founder and managing director at Kaymu Asia, one of the largest and fastest growing marketplaces.

One quick look through ekhanei.com showed homepage results of an interesting range of items being sold. A second hand copy of the Penal Code book was being offered for Tk1,000, a second hand, two-month-old Samsung charger for Tk1,600 and tuition by a student of Dhaka Commerce College was priced at Tk2,000. There was also a black pigeon going for Tk6,000, with the listing wedged between a pocket router and a second hand steel bed.

Although e-commerce just a small part of Bangladesh’s retail market, according to Kaymu’s study, it is an industry that is rapidly responding to the country’s tech savvy population.

We usually assume that the younger population is more tech-savvy, and might presumably be more prone to making online purchases. However, the report found that the highest number of internet users weren’t young, school going teens or fresh graduates, rather they were those who fell between the 25-34 age bracket. Young professionals, or those with more disposable income

were the ones who are most inclined towards technology and its usage.

“I bought my OnePlus 2 mobile from Daraz.com. It’s the first phone I’ve purchased online, but now that I have, I realise just how much more convenient it is,” said 26-year-old Irad Mustafa currently working in the publication industry. With the convenience of home delivery along with cash on delivery, there has been a staggering shift in shopping trends.

The research also found that from all online browsers and Internet users, 83% were men and only 17% women. However, when it came to conversion rate (the percentage of website visitors that actually buy from a certain website after browsing through it), women and men were almost at par. Clearly, when it comes to purchase decisions, women browse with an intention to purchase - one that they go through with, while men browse for the sake of browsing, buying fewer items than their female counterparts.

According to a research by Carmudi on the booming automotive industry in emerging markets, e-commerce has grown at a rate where 80% of new cars and almost 100% of used car customers begin their car shopping experience online. “We see a clearly increasing trend in online vehicle selection in Bangladesh. Particularly with how hectic traffic, heat and other factors turn the experience of physically going to Automobile Showrooms in Bangladesh, people are massively resorting to online platforms to make a pre-selection of their shortlisted 2-3 vehicles which they then physically check. Carmudi alone generated over 170,000 leads (phone calls + messages) from interested vehicle buyers so far in 2015 alone,” said João Pedro Príncipe, country manager at Carmudi.

Cars, electronics and beauty products are the more generic products available on the Internet. Today, you can sit at one spot and get products from around the world brought to your fingertip, merely with one click. Whether you want a chicken butter masala from Lucknow or a gourmet burger from Takeout, you can have it all delivered for lunch within an hour thanks to websites such as hungrynaki.com and foodpanda.com. Even when it comes to buying qurbaani cows, we no longer have to make the exhausting trip to haats - bikroy.com and clickbd have their very own listing. Last qurbani Eid, Carmudi also set up a service where they transported qurbani cows to and from gorur haats.

If you’re feeling like you want to cook up a snazzy dinner, but don’t have the time or the ingredients for it, there’s Chaldal.com coming to your rescue. An online grocery store, they sell veggies, meat, fish and also offer you a dessert line by Premium Sweets to give you a delicious finish to your shopping spree.

“I am based in the US and wanted to send back some love to my parents at home! I was easily able to do that with Direct Fresh Services. I could choose from a huge range of groceries and was able to create a lovely gift basket! Easy to use and time saving!,” reads a testimonial written by Md Sadrul Amin on the Direct Fresh website. Direct Fresh now caters groceries and premium imported items from the UK and France.

It has come to a point where each and every one of your needs, some that you don’t even know you had, are being taken care of and catered to. For the ladies, there is a fascinating website that make sure their time of the month is as sweet and headache free as possible. As a one stop location for all

women’s period needs, Meenuapa.com offers to drop off a specially wrapped, beautiful care package consisting of sanitary napkins, chocolates as well as hot water bags to keep the ladies from screaming “bloody mary!”

Bangladesh’s e-commerce market is expected to achieve more than 72% growth in transactions in the near future. This statistic is based off the 10% exponential growth experienced in each passing quarter found by Kaymu’s report. At the rate at which we’re going, malls may as well be replaced with online stores as more interactive experiences are offered to shoppers.

“The future of retail lies in e-commerce, especially given Bangladesh’s growth potential, this is ideally the country meant for this. There is absolutely enormous potential in Bangladesh. I think what we offer is very convenient, especially given the traffic situation in Bangladesh where it can take hours to get to a place, the convenience of shopping online is unbeatable,” said Schroeder, co-founder and managing director at Kaymu Asia. n

It has come to a point where each and every one of your needs, some that you don’t even know you had, are being taken care of and catered to

Photos: Bigstock

7


8 MuSING | CiTy life

A city of tall buildings and dark alleys, where poverty and wealth exist side by side. Rife with crime, grime

and corruption – but filled with a crazy and often wonderful mix of people who can surprise you when you least expect it, be it the commuters madly rushing to work in the morning, the homeless people in the corners of the streets or the policemen on their beat.

Is this an ode to Dhaka city? No actually, I was talking about Gotham city, one of the most notorious cities in the DC universe, and home to one of the world’s best loved heroes – Batman. However, one can’t help but notice some of the parallels between this fictional city and our very own Dhaka. Here are a few noteworthy ones.

Grim, grimey and once colonised In Swamp Thing #53, Alan Moore wrote of how a Norwegian mercenary founded Gotham City in 1635 and the British later took it over. During the American Revolutionary War, Gotham was the site of a major battle where the Brits were defeated. Although this mirrors the history of basically every major American city, this Empire was a far-reaching one. We didn’t have any Norwegian mercenaries, but Dhaka was initially more under the Portuguese influence until the British came around, and we all know what a long and bloody history followed until we were able to kick them out.

Aesthetically, Dhaka has certain other similarities with Gotham as well. Old Gotham and Old Dhaka have both managed to preserve a bit of their old architectural heritage, whereas the central parts of the city have turned into a concrete jungle. We can also claim to have our own versions of Crime Alley and The Bowery (Gotham’s worst neighbourhood), and the slums in the Narrows of Gotham’s East End can often mirror the many squatter settlements we have in the city. Gotham City is also a pretty major economic centre, with its own

manufacturing and shipping industries – something that we can claim to have as well.

Crime centralGotham city is known for its insanely high levels of crime, and similar to the real world, crime in Gotham can spiral out of control very quickly. One of the most famous incidents in Gotham is the murder of its two most prominent citizens, Thomas and Martha Wayne, and their murderer was never caught. This soon came to be known as a symbol of failure of the Gotham justice

system, and over the years, drug trafficking, prostitution and corruption skyrocketed. Organised crime also got embedded into the system, led by the notorious Carmine Falcone aka The Roman. Sound familiar?

Money laundering, extortion, contract killing, fraud, human trafficking, robbery, corruption, black marketeering and abduction are listed as the crimes that occur the most in our country. The murder rate is around 2.6 per 100,000 inhabitants in the country, but with a much higher rate in the city.

Bangladesh is strategically important as a transit route for narotics, and only last month, three people were held with over 300,000 yaba pills worth over Taka six crore. It is estimated that over 100,000 people are involved in the drug industry, and it is closely tied with organised crime in the city. Although we thankfully do not have a Romanesque mob in the city (or maybe we just don’t know of it yet?), we all know of political goons and their criminal activities all over the city. During the pre-election spats of violence we tend to have, there

have been more than enough evidence of parties using hired hands to carry out bomb attacks – in one sense that might be actually worse than having a Falcone tribe that influences the politicians, since we seem to have politicians turned Falcones where we come from.

Dhaka has seen its cases of high profile murders as well, and not just in back alleys, but at public events, on crowded streets and even in their own homes. In a way, the recent spate of ideologically influenced attacks

on bloggers might be even more disconcerting than criminal activities in Gotham. Batman fans have for ages argued that Batman and Commissioner Gordon’s crusade against criminals has paved the path to a new generation of super villains involved in psychological warfare. We may not have Batman or Gordon, but are Shaheed Hamza Brigade and Ansarullah Bangla Team our new super villains?

Corruption in all the ranksAnother common theme in Gotham is rampant and recurring corruption, especially within the Gotham City Police Department. Corruption is also embedded in the city’s infrastructure and civil authorities and there are enough corrupt politicians, such as Mayor Hamilton Hill and his even more corrupt commissioner Peter Pauling, although they no longer exist in the Post-Crisis DC Universe. Corrupt officials also have a close working relationship with the heads of organised crime in Gotham, such as the relationship between Commissioner Loeb and Carmine Falcone that we see in Batman: Year One.

Again, this is something that rings very true in our beloved city. Transparency International has always ranked us very highly in the Corruption Perception Index, where we topped the list from 2001 to 2005. Almost every Bangladeshi can relate a story of having to bribe a policeman or a government officer for something or the other. In 2014, we fell to number 14 on the Index, showing there has been a relative drop in corrupt activities, with or without a Commissioner Gordon of our own. In recent years, the Anti Corruption Commission in Dhaka has taken on quite a few corruption cases against notable politicians.

However, there still exists a culture of impunity that makes this a difficult battle to win – in both Dhaka and Gotham. Let’s hope both of these cities will see better days ahead. n

Shuprova Tasneem

Gotham Unhinged:

Dhaka Edition


durga puja | PhOTO STOry 9

Worshipping the warrior goddessThe festive season is upon us yet again, and this time the residents of Dhaka prepare to worship the nine incarnations of Durga, and celebrate her victory over the buffalo-demon Mahishasura in battle. Join us as we pay homage to the goddess of creation, preservation and annihilation, and the triumph of good over evil.

Photos: Sabrina Munni


10 PhOTO STOry | durga puja


11


12 FOCuS | seCuriTy in The CiTy

expat community still in fear of attacksN Anita Amreen

Fear street


Two foreign nationals in Bangladesh were murdered in the span of one week, raising alarm bells

amongst both the expat community and Bangladeshi nationals. Cesare Tavella, a 50 year old NGO worker was gunned down by unknown assailants in Gulshan 2 – an area that is often considered to be the capital’s safe, diplomatic zone.

Five days later, despite the state of alert being considerably high, a Japanese national was shot dead in the Kawnia upazila of Rangpur. Receiving three bullet wounds, 65 year old Kunio Hoshi was shot by three masked men who followed him on a motorcycle before using a pistol. Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan has told Reuters that the motives behind both murders “may be same.”

Tavella was murdered shortly after the Australian cricket team postponed their arrival in Bangladesh after being warned by the Australian government

of the “high risk of attacks from militants.” The American, British and Italian embassies have also issued warnings, asking foreign nationals to stay on alert and also limiting their attendance in expat gatherings.

In 2015 alone, four secular bloggers were killed by suspected militants. The nation watched as Avijit Roy, Oyasiqur Rahman, Ananta Bijoy Das and Niladri Chatterjee were hacked to death, with various extremist groups claiming responsibility through tweets. In the case of Tavella and Kunio Hoshi, the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the killings on Twitter, as reported by SITE Intelligence Group, a US monitoring organisation. These claims came as a chilling reminder of the lack of security in Bangladesh, as well as the rise of violent extremism.

“At the time of the shooting I was living and working on road 90, Gulshan-2. We had no warning. Just an hour before the shooting I was on a rickshaw in the street of the accident,

on my way to celebrate Eid,” Tara, a Dutch national currently completing her master’s thesis in the capital, stated.

“At the time, I felt safe for the first time on a rickshaw because there was no traffic,” she added. “Risk perception is very relative. Statistically, I have much more chance of dying in a traffic accident than getting shot. Yet this murder that happened right on my street does impact my sense of safety.”

“Since the shooting I don’t go out by myself for walks anymore and I no longer take rickshaws. I limit my time on the streets to the minimum and travel only by car with least visibility, as recommended by the Netherlands Embassy,” she said.

Other expats such as Tara have not only stopped travelling alone, but have stopped stepping out of their houses to jog or walk. Karina*, a Swiss NGO worker, used to jog at Gulshan park four times a week, but now only leaves the house for work, returning before dark.

“Before the shooting, I never felt unsafe in the diplomatic area. After hearing about the shooting, I was sad and a bit shocked. I was pained to hear someone was killed but also pained for Bangladesh, these kind of events always end up hurting a country’s economic progress,” Julie*, a French national working for an international intergovernmental organisation, stated.

“My embassy, as others embassies, warned us of the current terrorist threat on white people after it happened. We have been asked to avoid public transportation such as rickshaws, CNGs or buses, and have been told to avoid walking on the street, especially after dark,” she added. “Also, we were told not to go to big Western meetings. I have changed my habits since receiving the warnings. I’ve even started going to Unimart (an expat supermarket) less.”

With almost a month gone since the last murder, the tristate periphery (Gulshan-Banani-Baridhara) has witnessed a larger deployment of


13

police, with check posts set up in Niketan, Gulshan 2, Hathirjheel and Gulshan 1. Rickshaw pullers too have been asked to only go around their designated areas, with commuters who want to go from Banani to Gulshan having to switch rickshaws. Not only has this made commuting between the areas more difficult, it has even led to traffic tailbacks as cars and rickshaws are stopped and being subjected to random checks.

“Two days before last Eid, I was travelling in a rickshaw around 10pm when I was attacked by five muggers,” a British national, seeking anonymity, expressed while describing a seemingly mindless attack he faced a few weeks before the shooting.

“The first thing they did is hit me with a cane, with all of them beating me before even giving me a chance to give them my belongings. I fought back, but I was left with a broken nose, bleeding as bystanders just looked on, not doing anything. I don’t blame them though, because I know no one is safe

here,” he said. None of his belongings were taken, and while trying to make his way back in a CNG after the incident, the CNG driver also tried to take a detour away from his house. Residing in Niketan with his German wife, the couple feels that just about anything can happen in Dhaka.

Fillipo, an Italian national residing in Gulshan, said he isn’t afraid of attacks, but he does feel a sense of unease travelling alone.

“My friends have warned me against going to public places and there really is a strong fear of being targeted,” he said. “I go to my brother’s workplace, and then maybe to the International Club at night – if and when I have a car to take me. I don’t travel anywhere unless I have a car, and I make sure the cars drop us inside the garage instead of outside the main gate.”

Despite the extra measures taken by the government, the fear of attacks is still fresh and ever present. This reporter found several expats unwilling to share their thoughts on the matter, with some even finding it suspicious, and refusing to comment at all.

Over the past two weeks, embassies have issued travel alerts, warning citizens about the likelihood of terror threats and creating a new wave of panic among expats. The Australian travel alert stated that there is a high threat of terrorist attacks in Bangladesh and the Australian government asked its nationals to “exercise a high degree of

caution,” as reported in an article by the Dhaka Tribune. The US embassy too has asked citizens to remain vigilant, urging them to exercise caution. Canadian and Australian citizens have also been given warnings. In light of these alerts, there has been widespread controversy, with some ministers claiming it’s only meant to give way to panic and give Bangladesh a bad reputation.

French Ambassador Sophie Aubert after a meeting with Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon said: “If I did not feel safe, I would not be here. I am working like everybody else. If I am in Paris, I will be careful and when I am in Bangladesh, it’s the same. We know that we are not in a peaceful world, there are terrorists everywhere.

“We adopt our way of living to this risk which is not specific to any country,” she added, as reported in an article in the Dhaka Tribune.

“There has been a lot of tension among expats, but there is a sense of solidarity present,” Pauline*, a volunteer for an aid organisation, mentioned when asked if she feels unsafe around Bangladeshis.

“There have been days when I am very scared to go to places, scared of those around me but there are days when I’ve gone to malls or places where Bangladeshis come up to me and tell me not to worry. Many Bangladeshi friends even offer to escort me to places, taking a genuine interest in my safety and that is something I truly

appreciate,” she added. As someone who has travelled and

worked in several countries, Pauline considered this genuine concern to be an amazing quality found only in Bangladeshis.

It has to be noted that for more than a decade, no Western citizen was killed or even targeted, until the spree of murders that took place last month. As stated by Shafqat Munir, a security analyst at the Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies in a report in The Guardian, the last time such an incident took place was when Anwar Choudhury, the British high commissioner in Bangladesh, was targeted by Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami, an extremist organisation.

“What is extremely alarming is they are able to pull off these attacks despite a supposedly high level of security,” Munir said. “After the murder of Cesare Tavella, there was a warning. We would like to believe that the state of alert is quite high. My fear is that this is not going to stop. It will continue and it might escalate.”

With the grapevine buzzing with rumors of the high potential of future threats, most foreign nationals share a common fear, one that is pulsating and ever present. Whether or not these fears will turn into reality, is something that only time can tell. For now, we can only speculate.

Names with an * have been changed to maintain anonymity n


My maid has two sisters who are currently working in the garments industry. Every few days,

I get to hear these horror stories from her about what her sisters are facing at their place of work. The workers are all crammed together in several rooms, all sweaty and crowded. The working conditions are disgusting – people are sweating, spitting everywhere, there is barely space to breath. I am appalled by the stories I hear and cannot believe something like this is still being allowed, especially after the Rana Plaza incident. Why are we not doing anything about this? These people deserve to be protected by law!

Dear Reader,Thank you for writing to me. I am equally appalled by what you have just

mentioned. The garments industry is the most prominent one in Bangladesh, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs in the labour market and bringing in millions in revenue for the country. Essentially, it is what has put Bangladesh on the map of the global market. Workers, like your maid’s sisters, are the people who play a vital role in this industry. You are correct – these people deserve to be protected by law, and they are! What is shocking is that the factory owners often appear to be shamelessly flaunting their disregard of the law. I am going to advise you of the bare minimum, which is required by the factory owners to comply with. Once you have an idea of the necessary legal provisions, you can advise your

maid and ask her to reconfirm if these legal provisions are being violated.

The applicable law in this instance is the Bangladesh Labour Act 2006 and the Bangladesh Labour (Amendment) Act 2013. The Government has recently also passed the Labour Rules this year. The laws have very strict and clearly defined provisions referring to the health and hygiene requirements that are applicable to factories. All factories need to maintain basic cleanliness as specified by law. As the bare minimum: accumulation of dirt and refuge should be removed daily by sweeping or by any other effective method from the floors and benches of work-rooms and from staircases and passage and disposed off in a suitable manner. The floor of every work-room should be cleaned at least once every week by washing, using disinfectant or some other effective method when necessary. Where the

floor is liable to become wet in the course of any manufacturing process, to such extent that is is capable of being drained, effective means of drainage shall be provided and maintained. All inside walls and partitions, all ceilings, or tops of rooms, and walls, side and tops or passages and staircases should be repainted or re-varnished as applicable.

Effective and suitable provisions should be made in every establishment for securing and maintaining in every work-room. Adequate ventilation is required through circulating fresh air while temperatures are required to maintain conditions of comfort and prevent injury to health. No work-room in any establishment should be overcrowded to an extent that is injurious to the health of the workers employed. There should also be posted, in each work-room, a notice specifying the maximum number of workers who may be employed in the room. In every part of an establishment where workers are working or passing, there should be sufficient and suitable lighting available, natural or artificial, or both.

I am shocked by what you have mentioned about people spitting everywhere. Just reading about it makes my skin crawl; I dread to think about the kind of conditions the workers are being subject to. The labour laws of Bangladesh also contain provisions regarding this matter. In every establishment there should be provided, at convenient places, sufficient number of trashcans and spittoons that shall be maintained in a clean and hygienic condition. No person should throw any dirt or spit within the premises of an establishment except in the dust beans and spittoons provided for the purpose. A notice containing this provision and the penalty for its violation shall be prominently displayed at suitable places in the premises.

I advise that you pass on this information to your maid and her sisters and cross check to determine if these provisions are not being adhered to. If the answer is negative, the factory owner has a lot to answer for, and legal action should be taken against him/ her immediately! n

14 LEGaLESE | jennifer ashraf kashmi

Safety first

Jennifer Ashraf Kashmi is a barrister and solicitor of England and Wales. She is currently Senior Partner at Legacy Legal Corporate

Q

AIllustration: Priyo/Dhaka Tribune


dina sobhan | DraMa MaMa 15

Boundaries please!

Dina Sobhan is a free-lance writer, a part-time counsellor and a full-time mom

Yesterday was my daughter’s 16th birthday and I took her and her

friends to a café for a treat. Despite my apprehensions, I sat next to her table to chaperone her. Children these days can get up to a number of notorious shenanigans, and if I don’t watch out for her as her mother, then who will? However, when I came home and told my husband and son about this, they berated me as though I had done something wrong. Am I wrong to love my daughter and look out for her?

I’ve known my current husband for the past twenty-five years, as he was a close friend of my ex-husband and I. As a result, our children have also become very close over the years. I assumed they were

inseparable like siblings and best friends, but I just found out my son wants to marry my step-daughter. I just married my current husband six months ago. How should I deal with this?

While this is certainly an awkward situation, the fact is their relationship seems to precede yours. It’s unfortunate that you did not know about the dynamic sooner, although it probably would not

have changed anything. You must accept that their feelings are legitimate, as they are not related in any way despite your recent marriage, and allow them to carry on their relationship. n

Loving your daughter and wanting to look out for her is admirable, but

you could afford to do it at a greater distance. Teenagers are supposed to get up to “notorious shenanigans”; it is their right, as well as a rite of passage. No amount of chaperoning will prevent your daughter from doing what she wants, whether it meets with your approval or not. The more you watch over her, the louder the message that you don’t trust her to make the

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A

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right decisions for herself, and she will merely become more adept at deception and doing things behind your back. Let her be young, make mistakes, and learn from those mistakes. Only then will she mature and become the

responsible adult that you would like her to be. Moreover, if you show her you trust her by giving her some space, she is much more likely to come to you for help and advice when she needs it.

Photos: Bigstock


Having its humble origins in Nepal in 2000, Room to Read, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) started

its journey in Bangladesh more than seven years ago, in 2008, launching program operations one year later. Initially, their operations included school libraries, building schools, girls’ education and publishing children’s books in Bangla. Since then, they have been training teachers on literacy education and supporting girls to complete secondary school with the life skills necessary to succeed in school and beyond, believing that all children, regardless of gender or background, have a right to education.

A vision Primarily, Room to Read established their curriculum by building government schools in Sirajganj and Brahmanbaria with two goals. The first is literacy, for which they work on the government primary schools. Secondly, they concentrate on formal secondary schools for girls’ education. They rooted with 75 schools, 50 in Sirajganj and 25 in Brahmanbaria. Making them one of the few organisations focused on literacy and girls’ education, working in collaboration with the government to improve education for children across Bangladesh.

“From 2010 to 2013, we have managed to establish 100 schools each year, and in 2014, one more district, Natore was added where 80 schools were installed along with the secondary schools. In 2015, we further included Dhaka, where children from the slums and lower economic group are taught,” said Shah Alam, the Director of the Literacy Program. Subsequently, more schools were added and up till now they have around 600 primary schools and 11 secondary schools, and has benefited nearly 177,000 children. But every three years, the community takes over the responsibilities of the programs, and they move on to other regions.

Room for improvementHowever, their work does not stop there, they even spend a lot of time training the teachers, hoping that when they walk out of the schools, the teachers will continue to use their teaching techniques which have been taught by Room to Read.

“We have lots of achievements when it comes to primary schools, as there are many enrolments. But if you think about the quality of the education system in Bangladesh, it’s a big concern for the community and the government, so we’re in a way trying to support the government school system,” stated Rakhi Sarkar, the country director of Room to Read.

As they specifically work on teaching Bangla language, increasing their reading fluency, and encouraging the habit of reading, they set up small libraries in all the classrooms where most of the books are produced and written by them. They also work with communities to construct, repair and renovate government schools to make them safer and better learning environments. “If a school needs a new block or 2/3 new classrooms, we help in building them. Or if a school has two buildings, and if one is out of order, we renovate/reconstruct it for them,” explained Md Matiur Rahaman, Program

Operations Director, Room to Read. In the primary schools, they

consider the two objectives – reading habits and fluency in it. “We think that fluency in Bangla is very crucial, as all the subjects are being taught in Bangla, except English language. It has been seen that most of the time, children do not understand the other lessons for not being fluent in bangla. So we try to work with the teachers and show them how they can teach the students in a better way. And we distribute a lot of books to these schools, and the difficulty of the books are according to the different grades,” added Rakhi.

They train teachers and ask them to follow the phonics method, which is adopted from the Northern countries which isn’t as popular yet in Bangladesh. Moreover, teachers are equipped with helpful materials apart from the books provided by the government.

The FocusAs Room to Read mainly focuses on the rural areas, they ensure that the children are provided with transportation as it gets difficult for them to go to schools, they provide school uniforms for the children who cannot afford them, and even extra guidance is given to students who are weak.

“There are social mobilisers, who are in touch with the parents, which comes under the life skills training program. As there are lots of cases of early child marriages, they try to motivate and convince the parents and the communities, and encourage them to send their children to schools for a better and healthy life,” added Rakhi when talking about their different

programs.Over the years, they have faced a

lot of hurdles, but one issue that they are concerned about is that in Dhaka because of the migrant population, there are many uneducated children. And as they support the children and the schools for the long haul, they are puzzled about how they are going to continue their education. What is more is the community is still not open to so many children being educated. Hence, the organisation provides social mobilizers who are constantly convincing parents in the rural areas to send their children to schools.

Room to Read’s national fluency study was the first of its kind in Bangladesh and proved that their method for teaching, reading and writing in Bangla is producing better readers compared to the government methods. Thus they have shown overwhelming success over the years. In 2013, 2nd grade students in the Literacy Program read 32 more words per minute than students in the control gap. Their Girls’ Education Program, which has been known for its long-term commitment to ensuring that girls complete secondary school and have the skills necessary to negotiate key life decisions, showed visible results that girls under the program are staying in school and graduating.

Dropout rates average is less than 1% year over year.

To date, 1,730 girls have been benefited from Room to Read’s work in Bangladesh. And in 2014, 96% of the girls on their program passed the Secondary School Certificate Exam which is higher than the Bangladesh national rate of 91%. n

Room to Readenvisioning a world in which all children can pursue a quality educationMoumita Ahmed

16 FOCuS | liTeraCy

Khoromkuri Government Primary School, Natore, renovated by Room to Read Photo: Courtesy


Munzereen Shahid

sTudying aT du | TOP 10 17

10 Reasons to get into Dhaka University(The ultimate non nerdy guide)

3. FOOTBALL!

Does this look like a place you could be playing football in for the next four years? And to all you current students, remember those innumerable moments of glory you shared with your teammates in this very field? *nostalgia*

4. To all of you who think Michael Phelps is gorgeo-I mean-a great swimmer!Want to learn how to swim? We also happen to be a pretty cool university with a sexy swimming pool of our own.

5. You are going to lose count of our librariesIf you’re not really the sports kind and you maybe like books more than you like people, then that is how big our central library is. (Most of it is not even in the picture) *not bragging*

And just to make it a bit cooler, the e-library of the Faculty of Business Studies of DU looks like somebody picked it straight out of Google headquarters.

Also, apart from all the above, each department has a library of its own, because “One library is enough.”- said no one ever.

6. You live and breathe art and other deep stuffIf you’re the deep and artsy kind, then prepare yourself for thought-provoking sculptures like the above at almost every turn in Charukola.

7. You are a jonmogoto addabajAh the long addas in TSC drinking the ek takar cha!

There is no doubt that the University of Dhaka is one of the most prestigious institutions in Bangladesh. Ranging from stellar academics to prominent alumni to brilliant faculty, this university boasts very highly of excellence in every field. Be it the sciences, or the businesses or the arts, DU has been producing exemplary

students regardless of whichever field it is. Being consistently considered one of the best universities in Bangladesh, the academics of DU speak for themselves- which is exactly why this post will deal with every non nerdy reason as to why DU will be the best thing that happens to you after school.

1. Curzon HallThose of us who have dreamt of going to Hogwarts, Curzon Hall is the best architectural answer to that dream we’ll find in Bangladesh. It also happens to be the center of most things science in DU. Built in 1904, Curzon Hall is a UNESCO heritage site and is also where many significant scientific innovations of Bangladesh have been spearheaded since 1921.

2. Eternally broke but forever hungry- Is this your current state?

Because this is pretty much summer heaven in DU

And this plate of absolute yum is just 40 taka!

Because..summer!

Foodgasmic enough for you?

8. You love all things traditionalThis multiplied by 5 is how colorful Pahela Baishakh in DU is.

9. Because DU has been at the forefront of every historical movement of Bangladesh

Name any significant person in the history of Bangladesh and that person was most likely a part of DU at some point in his life. If you’re a student of DU, it means you’re walking the same corridors in Curzon Hall as Humayun Ahmed. If you are a student having a debate over changing the course of history of Bangladesh, you’re probably having it in the same Modhur Canteen as did countless rebellious students in ’52 and ’71.Let us also take a moment and stare in awe at the beauty that is the ceiling of Modhur Canteen

10. And lastly, you like it when relatives look at you with endless admiration for your achievements. Who doesn’t?

The instant khatir from all chacha-chachis, mama-mamis (the list goes on) when they hear that you are studying in DU, and they ask you to advice your cousins on how to study for DU and get in too. WIN!

Let’s face it, despite the half-truths regarding session jams and political activities, DU has been part of the legends for generations. Brilliant teachers, influential alumni, rich history and a stunning campus (again, not bragging)- we have it all. There’s a famous saying here: Take a stroll throughout Dhaka University, and you are taking a stroll throughout history. Rightfully said. n

This article was originally published on October 10, 2015 in 10minuteschool.comMunzereen Shahid is a writer, food enthusiast and an

avid shower singer. A college student with big dreams, a love for pandas and a major case of wanderlust


18 STay IN

S u d o k uUse the numbers 1-9 to complete each of the 3x3 square grids such that each horizontal and vertical line also contains all of the digits from 1-9

Last week’s sudoku solutions

ACROSS1 Elegant wolf returns mixed gin (7)4 A crime confused a country (7) 6 Journeys of various varlets (7)7 Nullifies entrances to the North East (7)

DOWN1 Destroy apartment X (7)2 Ovid’s first big Greek letter (5)3 For looking, and drinking (7)5 New nitre has no 6 Across (5)

Last

wee

k’s

solu

tion

s

aCROss1 Great pain causes complaint (6)6 Boy the French used to serve soup (5)7 Surprise caused by hedge labyrinth (5) 8 Wrinkle where batsman stands (6)

DOwN2 Let go about rent (7)3 Strip of United Nations uniform (7)4 Repaired shoe and followed closely (6)5 CIA so mean at first up for tiling (6)

Clues

Solved it? Email answers to [email protected] and win one free month of the Dhaka Tribune.

Mini crypticsho

rosc

opes

Aries (Mar 21-Apr 19): This week’s theme song for you is James Brown’s “I feel Good’’. Yes that’s right a great time for you to spruce up that sex appeal of yours and try all sorts of different things, ‘cause you are the bomb!

Taurus (Apr 20-May20): Responsibilities pile on you this week as you are the one everyone leans on for guidance and support. Lead wisely and be calm, try your best to not let your emotions get the best of you.

Gemini (May 21-June 20): Keep your eyes peeled for a chance to snag an opportunity from a co-worker that’s best suited for you. Competition will heat up intensely but don’t let that slow you down, make that your motivation to work

harder and give it your best shot.

Cancer (June 21-Jul22): ‘No’, is not a word you’ll be hearing as of this week. So start using that to your advantage and make the most of it and start asking friends to take you out for more treats.

Leo (Jul 23-Aug 22): Sounds like someone needs to give themselves a well deserved break and just relax and take it easy. Seriously my dear leo, you’ve been working too hard lately and if you keep going at this rate, you will soon collapse. So from all of us here at the weekend we suggest you give yourself a break and “just fall apart in your backyard…and then the bare necessities of life will come to you”.

Virgo (Aug 23-Sep 22): Self-criticism is often a great tool to improve upon the deficits of the qualities that you have. However sometimes it can lead to self-loathing, so you may want to draw a fine line between the two.

Libra (Sep 23-Oct22): Ah aren’t you lucky ‘cause the foodie in you

will flourish and spend most of it’s time in the kitchen, trying to concoct new recipes. Who knows, perhaps this may even give you an idea to open up your new restaurant, in the distant or near future.

Scorpio (Oct23-Nov21): You may be visited by an old friend from the past whom you haven’t seen in a very long while.

Sagittarius (Nov22-Dec 21): Sometimes doing absolutely nothing can be a lot more fulfilling than spending days working on a particular mundane job.

Capricorn (Dec 22-Jan19): It might be a good idea for you to start hanging out with your friends as the lot of you have been busy with your lives and need to catch up.

Aquarius (Jan 20-Feb 18): If there’s a party this week and you don’t consider yourself a party person, perhaps you should try going to one and redefine yourself. Remember change is the only constant in life and parties are a hell of a lot of fun.

Pisces (Feb 19-Mar 20): Fancy a holiday? Well this might just be the time for one, book it in advance for a great getaway.


GO OuT 19

When 9amWhere Curzon Hall, University of Dhaka What You are invited to join GH Photo Walk at Ashura Procession 2015. Please post your name and contact number in their facebook event page, if you want to join this walk.

The Day of Ashura is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Mourning of

Muharram. Muslims mourn for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad at the Battle of Karbala on the 10th day of Muharram in the year 61 AH on this very day.

After meeting in front of Applied Physics Department, Curzon Hall at 8am, the photowalk will start. Contact Coordinators for more details: 01711080332, 01671362666, 01678083255, 01911218419 n

Weekly Planner Oct 24Lifestyle | Mati O Manush: Workshop with Clay by Nazmul Haque When 10:30am-1:30pm Where Longitude Latitude 6, Bay’s Bellavista, Road 11, Block C, BananiWhat LL6 in partnership with iCan Foundation brings art workshop Art for Fun for children from 6-14 years of age. This workshop is designed to bring out creativity using fun art mediums. Ingenuity and some simple techniques will be at the heart of our workshop.

Clay is an art medium that kindles growth and skills in children. Working with clay nourishes sensory development, self esteem, self expression, problem solving skills, discipline and pride. Clay also has a unique therapeutic quality that settles and calms children, enhances their attention and helps them focus on their work and create something with their hands. Clay is one of the most effective art mediums for children to discover and develop their creative and learning skills.

Fees: Tk300 with all supplies included. Please dress to get messy (you can bring your own apron)

Registration Process: email at [email protected]

or send a message to the Longitude Latitude 6 Facebook page. Payment is on the spot on the day of the workshop.

LL6 partners are Jetechao.com, Dhaka Tribune, iCan Foundation, Bay developments Ltd.

Oct 24Literature | Literary BrunchWhen 11amWhere Red Shift Coffee LoungeWhat Zeeshan Khan will introduce his photo essay This Old World.

Zeeshan Khan is an author and journalist, and between September and December 2011 he travelled from Southern Asia to Western Europe to experience the thrill of unrestrained movement and the continuity of cultures. He consciously traced a line through historical places that are connected to each other, and to himself.

This Old World is a photo essay that documents the architecture and spirituality of the places Zeeshan encountered during his epic journey across Eurasia documenting the history, architecture and spirituality of the special places encountered along the way, such as the fabled cities of Isfahan and Nalanda. Don’t

miss what will be another fascinating literary discussion. Copies of the book will be available for sale, and signed by the author.

Enjoy a special menu for Tk200 or a full brunch for Tk500. Please specify your choice on entry.

Oct 25-27Photography | Group Photography Exhibition “Right to Water”When 10am-6pmWhere Drik Gallery, House 58, Road 15A (New), Dhanmondi R/AWhat DORP and Advance & Professional Photographers Bangladesh (APPB) – Creative Photography is arranging a group photography exhibition titled Right to Water, from October 25th to 27th.

Theme for the whole exhibition is water. Sole judge of selecting the final photographs is Anwar Hossain, famous photographer, cinematographer and architect.

For more information: 01714413103

Oct 26Music | American Center Music BuzzWhen 4-5pmWhere The American Center, Plot 1, Progati Sharani, J-Block, Baridhara

(Opposite from the US Embassy Dhaka) What Any special musical talents are invited to this event. The American Center presents Music Buzz, a music club offered in the American Center library welcoming all vocalists, musicians and anybody who just feels like jamming to good music. The program is free and open for all.

Oct 26Education | English Speaking ClubWhen 3:30pm Where EMK Center, MIDAS Center, House 5, Road 27(new 16), Dhanmondi R/AWhat Are you struggling to find a place to practice your English Speaking skills? Come to EMK Center, where the English Speaking Club makes speaking and learning English fun, with games, debates and group activities. The instructor, Farjana Khan is an internationally recognized English Language Training (ELT) professional who has worked for Cambridge as an examiner of IELTS in Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, Multan, Kathmandu and Bangladesh. She has also worked for UN police as an ELT trainer.

Oct 23Photography | International Exhibition Of D’PhotoCafé

Oct 24Photography | GH Photo Walk at Ashura Procession 2015

When 3-10pmWhere Drik Gallery, House 58, Road 15A (New), Dhanmondi R/A

What D’photoCafe is a group of local and international photographers working together for a long while. D’photoCafe is arranging an International Exhibition Of D’photoCafe with

photographs of 100 local and international photographers.

Renowned photographer David Barikder along with litterateur Syed Manjurul Islam, movie producer Mostafa Sarwar Faruqi and the admin panel of D’photoCafe will be there.

D’photoCafe invites everyone to join their beautiful exhibition. n


I’m taking a slight detour from our usual track this week, as The Husband and I celebrated our fourth

wedding anniversary a few days ago. Anniversaries tend to make me very nostalgic, as I am forced to remember how sweet and giving The Husband was for the first two years, and how it slowly dwindled over time, and surprises became, “Oh I wanted to do this/that, but I didn’t have time/money/imagination to do it.”

What The Husband doesn’t understand, is that I don’t need to have a ridiculous amount of money to be spent on me, just to show me how much he loves me. Sometimes, a handwritten letter or a handmade gift means a whole lot more than something bought at a store. And no, dear hubby, that does not mean you will hand me a soft toy made from your old socks. I’m not that forgiving!

Today I will tell you about what went down during my akth, the ceremonial union of two people, and subsequently, their families. Like I’ve mentioned before, I had a small ceremony at home, with family and a few friends.

Bangladeshi traditions ask for the house of a bride or groom to be decorated top to bottom in fairy lights, the flashier and extravagant it is, the better. Our house was decked out in white, blue and red fairy lights, when I had specifically asked for white lights

only. Come night time, the house looked like an American Christmas party in a horror film. There wasn’t any point in arguing with the decorators, they tried to persuade me that this look was “in”.

Dismayed but not swayed, I went to the parlour with my mum, got ready and was home an hour before the ceremony was scheduled to start. Up until then I had been very calm and collected, but the minute I set foot inside my house, I started to unravel. My parents were running around like headless chickens, because they were as new to the concept of marriage as I was. Having a very small family, I was the first in my generation to get married and therefore, no one in my family knew anything about how to manage a wedding.

There were sandals and shoes everywhere and the drinking arrangements hadn’t been made. It was a hot day and there was no cold water anywhere for the guests. I could feel the veins in my temples throbbing and before I could control it, I went into “bridezilla” mode and was screaming at every Tom, Dick and Harry to get off their lazy bums and get things in order.

We had assumed that the groom’s party would arrive on Bangladesh Standard Time, which was an hour or two after the appointed time. Unfortunately my father-in-law was one of the innate few that had a remarkable sense of punctuality, and as

if on cue, their cars had arrived at our gate, and of course, we weren’t ready!

To make matters worse, my father was nowhere to be found – he had picked exactly that moment to go find an ATM! Seething with rage and embarrassment, all I could do was sit in my room and wait for the storm to tide over.

Luckily my father got back and The Husband and his family were welcomed in. After everyone had settled down, The Husband was seated in one room with the male members and I was in another room with the women and kids. The kazi, or marriage officiator, first went to the men’s side and sat next to The Husband, who was sitting next to the chief witness, aka the ukil baap. Apparently it was customary for the ukil baap to hold the groom’s hand during the entire time. Not being used to this, The Husband’s discomfort was obvious while the kazi read the Islamic verses.

As we saw later in the wedding video, The Husband’s rage-o-meter was slowly on the rise as the kazi went on and on, and then he did the unforgivable – he said The Husband’s name wrong! My mom-in-law piped in from the background as The Husband

slowly shook his head and clenched his jaws. Before he could blow his top, the kazi asked him to complete the ceremony by repeating “Kobul” three times and sign the marriage registry. After that he was asked to stand up and give everyone a hearty salaam. The greeting, I was informed later, had looked more like a mix between a “heil Hitler” and a Bollywood dance move, than its traditional counterpart!

The officiator then approached me in the next room, and the same process followed. For some reason, my sister had decided to cover me from both sides with the orna, and veil me into a glittery cocoon. The elder women had forbidden me from looking up, and modesty was key here, as was custom for a new bride. The entire time, I was fighting down giggles, as I could feel all the eyes in the room hanging onto every word. I had heard that women usually cry a lot at this stage, but on the contrary I was very happy to be getting married and after three swift “kobuls” I broke into the biggest smile ever! The news spread to The Husband quite quickly at how his new bride had unabashedly accepted him into her life.

The Husband was brought over to where I was waiting, and we exchanged rings and garlands, after which began the onslaught of greetings from relatives, old and new. Dinner took place on the roof, and our first meal together as husband and wife was hilarious as our siblings struggled to serve and feed us.

The Husband was going to spend the next few days at my place, and the real icing on the cake was when everyone came to bid adieu and my new father-in-law asked me to “send back” The Husband back after a day or two. Sorry Dad, but I strictly follow a “No Return” policy! Hah! n

20 ThE BONG MOMMa | Tales from a firsT-Time mom

The Anniversary SpecialThe Bong momma waxes nostalgicMinu Ahmed

Minu Ahmed is your not-so-average homemaker, norm-shirker and abomination of awesomeness, juggling a career in communication, mother- hood and a fatter half. Questions? Send to [email protected]

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Date post:	24-Jul-2016
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Weekend Tribune Vol 3 Issue 26

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