This publication is the product of two workshops conducted between members of the two groups in Dhaka and in the UK in 2005 and 2006 under the guidance of the "UK performance poet and short story writer Dinesh Allirajah". It contains poems, short stories, and 'performance' bits. Below are two samplings from among the 45 pieces published. Anna Steward writes in her poem 'This Week':

The temperature is falling all over the country.
Light-rains shower the Irri-Boro fields till noon.
Bottle gourds, radish, turnip, brinjal, jhinga
And green bananas grew sweet and plump...

While in 'User Manual of a Writer', Tanvir Hafiz notes:

"Assembly: The head comes in a separate box. Please open the box and place it on the support unit and rotate anti-clockwise. The completed unit needs no battery to start, but may require a kick to the head."

Quite a few of the writers/contributors in this anthology show promise. It is a laudable initiative taken by the British Council, and they should keep up the good work.

This is a book of poems, a first publication from one of Dhaka's younger poets writing in English. She completed her higher education in the United States and since 2004 has been living and writing here. The book blurb informs us that one of her poems won Baylor University's Beall Poetry Festival Award in 2002. Almost all the poems, written in the first person singular, refract personal experience and reflect a feminine sensibility. She is also fond of writing the short poem, as in 'Cheap Talk':

I didn't hear the rest of the conversation.
The connection was bad,
Although you were sitting across from me
In a living room crowded with memories.

Smritimoy 1965 is the third in a series of publications by Dhaka University alumni, 1961-65, who have now organized themselves into an association. As such the volume is an occasionally fascinating trip down memory lane, with recollections of student hostel life, Dhaka in those bygone days, the university teachers of those times (Shaheed Professor Ghiasuddin of History seems to be the most mentioned and revered), sports, Madhu's canteen, and yes, firebrand student politics. Two of the articles are in English, and the one by Ziauddin M. Choudhury is an amusing account of a student desperately trying to conceal his wife, and marital status, from prying eyes. There are two outstanding pieces. The first one is a joyous recounting of his light-hearted student days--he was an a pre-eminent athlete--by current Commerce Minister Hafizuddin Ahmed Bir Bikram, with a few memorable sketches of the politica science department's teachers in those days. The other is titled 'Baliadanga'r Juddho', by Mahbubuddin Ahmed Bir Bikram. It is a gripping, poetic narrative of a battle between Mukti Bahini forces and the Pakistan Army fought at Baliadanga over three days in September 1971. This account should be in 1971 Liberation War historical volume/war narrative, and not, so to speak, labouring in the relative obscurity of this journal. One hopes more such writing will see the light of day in future volumes.

Mahbubar Rahman's book is a jaunt through bureaucratic mores during Pakistan times. They are observed through the eyes of its protagonist, Obak Ali, so named due to his habit of exclaiming 'Obak kando!' ("How surprising!") in response to the goings-on around him.

This is the author's third publication and readers curious about the topic of bureaucracy will find themselves entertained.

Javed Khan is a freelance writer.