Good
Cover Story
SWM's
last week's cover story “Icon of History” by Mustafa
Zaman was a good read. It was really interesting to
learn the stories behind the construction of some
of our national monuments. It was also nice to learn
how the artists created those immortal pieces of art.
The story was very informative and as I went through
it the one thing that struck me was how little I know
about our national monuments. It was also sad to learn
about the government's negligence to a particular
monument--it only shows to which extent our political
division can take us. Thanks to SWM and the writer
and the photographer for doing an excellent job.
Mohsin
Mohammadpur
Hilarious!
Ahmede
Hussain's “Murmurs” was hilarious this week! I spent
all Friday afternoon laughing out loud! SWM has, over
the years, acquired a dry unobtrusive sense of humour
without being condescending or patronising in the
least like other magazines as such. This week's magazine
was an example of that. Please give us more “Murmurs,”
it really makes my Friday more enjoyable!
Hamid Alam
Dhaka
WOW!
I
was very impressed by the cover story written by Naeem
Mohaiemen in the December 5 issue. His article was
well informed and interesting. I feel a sense of pride
when I think that a person originally from Bangladesh
is doing such great things and is acclaimed internationally.
Akram Khan has taken something culturally relevant
to his background and used it to dazzle his audience.
Finally the international performing arts world is
turning in this direction and realising that we, too
have something great to offer them. Thank you to Mohaiemen
for covering this phenomenal person and thank you
to Akram Khan for putting Bangladesh on the globe.
Saira Anam
Tejkunipara, Tejgaon
Good
Article and Point Well Made
Congratulations
should go to Mehzabin Ahmed for writing such an insightful
and thought-provoking article. It is true that when
we go to the United States and other so-called Western
countries, we easily cry “prejudice” and “bigotry”,
never once realising that we are guilty of the same
crimes when we come back to Bangladesh. It is easy
to play the victim, but do we ever take ourselves
out of our positions for once and try to look at the
other side? Since we understand how it feels to be
a part of a targeted minority group, how can we continue
to act the way we act, and not change our way of life?
Change must start at home, within ourselves, before
we expect the rest of the world to start changing.
Jasna Husain
Dhaka
Health
Page
It
is important that Bangalis are more knowledgeable
about diseases such as HIV/AIDS. The important issue
is that we should do away with the mentality that
such topics are taboo and bring them out in the open.
It is because we do not think such issues are appropriate
to talk about that our country is suffering from a
high percentage of people infected with this deadly
disease. I hope that people found this week's health
page as important and informative as I did. It is
best to know about these things than to be ignorant.
There are many misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, especially
because most people associate it with sex or homosexuality.
Please make sure you cover more such issues in the
future.
Jamal Khan
Dhaka
Contrast
Ashfaq
Wares Khan's article "Contrast" was a very
tongue-in-cheekish depiction of our so-called society.
I could not help but chuckle to myself when I read
his witty remarks and opinions. His blasé,
sarcastic way of wording things adds flavour and spice
to the article. I thoroughly enjoyed his view on the
“contrast”ing ways of our society and hope to see
more of his writings in the future.
Ishtiaque Ahmad
Shantinogor
Modern
Piracy
Nowadays,
there is a flood of pirated CDs and DVDs into the
market. I was at Eastern Plaza and it was amazing
to see so many copies of the same CDs and DVDs. It
is rather sad because even thought everyone is getting
the latest movies and music, the people who ultimately
suffers are the artists themselves. Since they sometimes
get some royalty from the number of albums sold, they
are losing out on a large sum of money, which is being
distributed to those people who are busy burning and
copying the CDs without any legal authorisation. I
hope that someday, people will learn the importance
of preventing piracy and get some originality back
in the society.
Salehin Akbor
East Noyatola, Mokbazar
Education
at Stakes
The
most important step towards a progressive society
is building a stable education system. The future
of a nation can be foreseen in the quality of education
it gives to its citizens. The appalling thing about
Bangladesh is that it neither has plans for a future,
nor has it stayed in the traditional path of education.
In short, Bangladeshis as a whole simply miss the
most important factor of this civilisation. As reader
of SWM, I would like to see the writers of this magazine
start taking into account the degradation that takes
place in the sector of both public education as well
as private. While the well off can send their children
to coaching centres and take private tuition, the
children from the poor hovels are facing a dire situation.
I want my favourite magazine to focas on this pressing
situation.
Marjuk Russel
South Kamalapur
Dhaka
Bussed
without an Effort
The
most amazing thing about Dhaka roads is that anything
can ply on them. As long as the owners are paying
a regular amount to the relevant authority, the eyes
of the police as well as that of the pollution-control
contingent from the Ministry of environment. Everything
that is introduced in Dhaka, either has a mercenary
motive of a few people at the helm, or is vexed to
the advantage of one quarter or two. A case in point
is the catalytic converter, an accessory to the exhaust
pipes of cars that may guarantee cleaner emission.
With this plan in the pipeline, and many more measures
taken to clean the air of the city, we should feel
better, but we cannot. As what we witness on a daily
basis on the road contradicts the very idea that may
bring back our faith in the authorities. There are
incidents when a driver gets away with plying the
road in a ramshackle minibus by bribing the police.
They are stopped on regular basis to elicit the amount
that will satisfy the attending police sergeant. There
are also events when we witness buses and cars emitting
dark smoke and there is no one there to keep them
in check. I personally think that it is time to take
issue with the minibuses and their conditions. Although
the government did issue a notice last year to withdraw
the old and defected buses, most of them are still
on the road in newly built bodies. In fact, most of
the minibuses are in a state of decay and the seats
are arranged in such a way that to sit on them calls
for a lot contortions on the part of the passengers.
I call the attention of the relevant authority as
well as that of the journalist, so that these problems
would meet a solution.
Bashir Al helal
Soth Badda
Dhaka
