Shop Special

Party Shop.... Unlimited brightness for parties....

Christmas is just over but still the party lovers are waiting eagerly for the 31st bash. Attending great big parties are fun as, many people go there but arranging small house bashes can also be fun when you have a controlled crowd along with everything as per your desire and wish. Small house parties need good decoration and a lot of party stuffs around to have a real fun to remember for a long time. Dhaka is not really famous for party products. But recently there are few shops who have items that will make you party look dazzling at any given time of the year. Birthdays, anniversary, new year or Christmas the occasion can be any of these but the spirit can be so fun filled and cheerful.

"Party Shop" has hundreds of party products. Essential items such as a loot or party bag, the party treats to go in it, a party box for food party glasses and plates. Not forgetting the party game, face paint, decoration and balloon display to match your theme. They also have wig or mask to change identity in parties. Something for all sorts of parties, from children's birthday parties to a hen party or wedding anniversary party. Your party will ROCK with these originals and unique personalized props, party favors and other one-of-a-kind accessories. A stomping ground for the cool, and crazy people! With over 2000 products including fancy dress costumes, stag and hen accessories, wigs, hats, masks, theme ideas, and a multitude of party goods to add flavor to your party.

Party shop brings you a fantastic range of Christmas Fancy Dress Costumes & Party Supplies with a great selection of Fun Party items and brilliant Christmas Novelties & Decorations. They have snow sprays, jazzy chains and balls with balloons for every occasion. The price of the products is very reasonable and they also have two branches, one in Navana tower Gulshan another in Dhanmondi Orchid Plaza. Both of the stores are tiny but packed with various mind-blowing items to add and extra touch of brightness to your festival.

By Bohemian Soul

Fine Fotuas
There are attractive fotuas for girls available at Bibiana, Dhanmondi. With gorgeous embroidery done carefully on these tops, each piece is truly exclusive. Some of their other fotuas uphold beautiful hand paints and sequence of beads. Available at tk.250 to around tk.550, these fotuas would be a great addition to your wardrobe this season. Since fotuas are still in style, don't wait to see the collection of Bibiana going out of stock.

Jewellery at Piraan
Piraan has always been known for the exquisite jewellery that brightens up their unconventional store. There are attractive jewellery for the neck; bangles, armlets and earrings made from cane, wood, strings, beads and metal. The prices will vary from collection to collection. However you can get those real funky neck accessories within tk.60 to tk.150. They have a wide variety of jewelry just waiting to enrich your trinket collection.

Elle 18's "be trendy"
Elle 18's new collection of nail polish is now available at Almas. The "be trendy" collection holds up smart glittery shades of nail colour. Each little bottle is simply adorable and is sold at tk.50. Hurry up if you want to buy one of these little bottles because Almas has a limited collection, and the bottles are selling like hot cakes. So if you really want to add some razzle-dazzle to your nails this winter, don't forget to pay a visit to Almas (preferably to their first branch that is opposite to Western Grill).

Mugs
Mugs have become a common gift item for the Dhakaites. While the posh gift shops of the town often charge cutthroat prices for these ceramic mugs, there are shops in the Dubai market of New Market, where you can get hold of pretty mugs at reasonable prices. Besides, Dubai market offers a really wide variety of these mugs, and there are numerous shops to choose from. At New Market, the prices of these lovely mugs will vary from tk.50 to around tk.400. So in the upcoming New Year gala, you can opt to give these fine mugs to your near and dear ones.

Cosy Blankets
The nights are cold now, and especially during early morning it feels real chilly. A cosy blanket is a must-have item in this winter. Numerous shop owners of Dhaka have graced their stores with blankets, which uphold diverse colours, patterns and quality. You can also check out the stores of New Market. The prices will vary according to quality and the origin of these blankets. For instance, a good quality Korean blanket (single) might cost you as high as tk.1500. But at New Market you can always bargain to lower the price down.

Cool Watches
Watches are in fashion, especially among the teenagers. Watches manufactured from colourful plastic and metal with denim straps are particularly regarded chic today. The branches of PQS have an eye-catching collection of these modish watches. You can choose to wear one of these stylish watches with denim pants, fotuas and awe your friend circle. You can purchase one of these cool watches within tk.550 at the outlets of PQS.

Save your skin from the winter sun
Lakmé sunscreen lotion with UV guard and alpine mint extracts is 100% oil-free. To prevent your skin from getting burnt under the winter sun, apply this lotion on a daily basis. Lakmé sunscreen lotion is especially designed to provide skin with freshness and nutriment. Available at around tk.110 in most of the popular general stores like Almas, Priyo and the superstores of the capital, each 120ml bottle will provide you great protection from the sun of this season.

By Wara Karim

 

 

Essentials Special

Looking back 2003
We are about to say goodbye to the year 2003. All through the year many events took place that thrilled and pleased us, stunned, shocked and rocked us. These are the events that reshaped our lifestyle. Let's look back for a moment in the year 2003 and find out what they are.

'All that is good'
The year started with a fresh breeze as the people of Dhaka city bid farewell to all the two stroke auto rickshaws after riding them for 47 years. The decision to take yellow two-strokes off the streets of Dhaka became effective from the 1st January. This was viewed as a positive event by the city dwellers. Hopes prevailed that the air quality of Dhaka has a chance of improving. The news hit the headlines in all the national papers and was considered as one of the few good things that happened to us in many days.

The events that mostly brought joy to our heart came directly from our sportsmen. In January 20th Bangladesh won the South Asian Football Federation Championship trophy. We haven't acquired that many trophies since our independence so this has obviously made the football fanatics happy.

Achievements in cricket were even more interesting. National team players Kapali and Rafique created headlines during the Pakistan tour. On 29th August, Kapali astounded everyone in the cricket scene by becoming the first ever Bangladeshi bowler to earn a hat-trick in the test cricket. In the same match Rafique became the first ever Bangladeshi bowler to claim two five-wicket hauls in a test match. Kapali and Rafique definitely deserve a pat on the back for their world-class performance.

Alternative film Matir Moyna, directed by Tareq Masud was widely acclaimed by film critiques around the world. The film won several international film awards. In Cannes, the movie won the international critique prize. On December 21st the film earned an award in Karafilm festival in Karachi. For our film industry, this is definitely the great news of the year.

In the political scene the event that was discussed for weeks was the High Court order to strip off lawmaker Delwar Sayedee of his parliament membership for showing false documents on election expenses and violating other electoral rules. During election it is a common practice by our politicians. They usually get away with it but in the case of Sayedee our legal system was stern. This ruling was considered by the civil society as the right thing to do. However there are others who deserve the same action.

The year 2003 was the year of verdicts in sensational murder cases, that shocked the nation during their occurrence. People hailed these verdicts given by the speedy trial tribunal. After our independence many innocent students died in crossfire in the gunfight between student wings of major political parties but none of the killers were punished. Killers of Sony, who died in crossfire in the BUET campus, heard the judge announce their fate on 30th June.

On June 31st the court sentenced the killers of Bushra to death, in the Shaznin murder case the accused faced the same verdict on September 2nd. The accused of Sutrapur double murder, the killers of Don and Naushin are to walk the gallows as well.

The 'bad' and 'ugly'
The 2003 is politically a quite significant year. 9th January cabinet approved "Joint Drive Ordinance 2003" which indemnifies all defense personnel for all their acts during the countrywide joint drive called "Operation Clean Heart". This ordinance brought questions in the minds of many.

The US attack on Iraq in March 20th was the most stunning issue worldwide. Bangladesh was as shocked as the rest of the world. Hundreds of Bangladeshis joined in rallies protesting this gruesome attack on the people of Iraq. Huge headlines in bold red fonts took over the first page of all national dailies for a while. This issue was the focal point of many discussions all through the year and is still in the hot spot.

On August 17th Dhaka gave immunity to US solders by signing a pact with the US government. The pact was signed in a secret meeting in Washington. This has raised questions and created suspicions in the minds of many as to why news such as this was kept from the people.

In the first week of October, the people of Bangladesh witnessed the most awkward event of the year. We failed to play the national anthem in the conference of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). In the presence of around 500 delegates from 48 nations, the audio system failed to play the song twice, embarrassing the entire nation.

It did not end there. Several countries discovered that their flag was hanging upside down. Some of the country delegates including Fiji and Cyprus straightened the flags themselves.

Tragic indeed
The morning of July 1st was stunning for many people as they read one of the most shocking news of the year. A car knocked down a doctor riding in his motorbike. The bike was tangled with the bumper of the car. The driver did not stop to save the man he hit; instead he dragged the poor man for over a kilometre, killing him on the way. Even after all this month the killer driver is still at large. This is obviously one of the most ugly events of the year 2003.

The death of around 700 hundred people due to an overloaded launch disaster is the most tragic event of the year. On July 8th the triple-decker MV Naushin capsized after being sucked in to the whirlpool in Meghna river near Chadpur. The launch was carrying people double it's capacity as the engine of other major launch broke down. This is one of worst accident of the decade and depressed the heart of many.

Just after the incident, actions against unfit water vessels was initiated but the efforts end futile as the launch owners called a strike and compelled the government to oblige by their demands.

The killing of 11 persons of one family in an arson incident was another depressing event. The dreadful event took place on 19th November at Banshkhali, Chittagong. The locals said that robbers burned down the house not being able to enter and loot. Bimalenra Lal Shushil is the only member of the family who survived the tragedy.

Just when the year is about to end another fatal and tragic incident took place. On 25th December, 5 children were found dead in a water tank. A toddler of 1 year 3 month was among them. The others were aged between 4 to 7. The fatal accident happened in Azampur, Uttara. Parents of the victims could not believe that their babies are gone forever. The incident shocked the entire neighbourhood.

Adding drama to the scene
Every year there are incidents that add drama and spice to life. In 2003 the former president Bodruddoja's announcement to create a platform to fight the misdeeds that has been going on was dramatic.

The most dramatic event of the year was an international one. It is easy to guess. We are talking about the capture of Saddam Hossain of course. The day of the capture was December 13th. However the news was disclosed to the world few days later. The news of the capture promptly gave birth to discussions and created speculations about what is going to happen now.
Another year awaits us with more events of joy, surprise and sorrow. We have to wait and see how it turns out. Lets just hope it turns out to be a happy one.

By Shahnaz Parveen