Culture

The Other Nightingale

Audiences heard something unprecedented: A female voice that did not ask permission to be happy. To a socialist India grappling with the early tremors of globalized pop culture, Asha Bhosle was the unmistakable sound of modernity.

In Kerman, the Past Stays Present

This piece marks the first in a multi-part series that seeks to place a human face on the Iranian people, moving beyond the abstractions of politics and stereotype.

The Syed Family of Taraf: Ushering Islamic Rule in South Sylhet

The sun of prosperity eclipsed for the Syeds in Taraf, as this land was conquered by the Kingdom of Tripura, which was at Bangladesh’s eastern border.

A Poet's Burden: Rabindranath Tagore's Secret Struggle for Tripura

A Newly Discovered Letter Exposes His Private Battle With Power and Trust

Of Shahnama, Divana, Gulistan, Rubaiyat and Mathnawi

Firdaus embodies the Iranian identity, Hafiz brings ecstasy, Sadi offers wisdom, Khayyam presents doubt, and Rumi provides answers. The psychology of the Iranian people is more complex than Westerners might understand.

Electric Dreams and Neon Hearts

From Victorian automata to today’s AI girlfriend apps, we have sought to mechanize intimacy, to distill love into algorithms. This musing traces that arc, using Joi as a lodestar to navigate the shadows of desire, capitalism, and digital isolation.

Freedom is a Virus

Freedom is not a reward for being good, nor is it something we can give exclusive rights to one group of people to first.

Will the Angry Young Man Ever Leave Our Films?

From Bollywood’s Animal to Dhaka’s Toofan, Southasia’s film industries are recycling a dangerous archetype, the violent, hypermasculine hero. Despite changing times, new platforms, and more diverse audiences, this “angry young man” refuses to fade from the screen. Why does he still sell, and what does that say about us?

Unboxing Gen Z

What does this Western-originated term truly reveal, and what profound realities does it obscure about the young people of the Global South?

How Dhaka Kills Me Every Day

Dhaka is not for beginners. Every day you make it to the end in one piece is a good day. Even survival for another 24 hours is a victory.

From Zia to Now: The Empty Chair of Leadership

This short story was first written and published in 1994. Today, it has been reimagined for our present moment -- not as nostalgia, but as a challenge, in the hope is that it stirs voters to question themselves, and in doing so, sparks the debate our nation desperately needs.

What Can Bangladesh Learn from Singapore?

We have often heard rhetoric from our leaders about Bangladesh following the Singapore model. But what would that mean in real terms and what are the key things that Singapore did right that Bangladesh can realistically follow?

Preserving Our Heritage From the Bengal Sultanate

Neither did our history begin in 1971 nor is it something we must leave behind, as we face the future. Let us truly embrace our past and understand where we came from as a people and a nation.

Who Will Pay Bangladesh?

Bangladesh needs to protect itself and its intellectual property in the age of artificial intelligence. Do our leaders and decision-makers understand what is at stake?

A Return to Roots

We need to revive Bengali Islamic architecture. The eight new mosques recently announced would be the perfect place to start.

A metaphorical presence

Reflections on The Djinn Waits for a Hundred Years, a haunting, lyrical novel blending family secrets, loss, and magical realism, set in a decaying mansion by the sea -- where love, memory, and womanhood quietly shape every story