Who
is he?
After
the capture of Saddam Hussein, American president
George. W. Bush is making some ludicrous statements.
HE wants Saddam Hussein to be punished with the death
penalty for his crimes. Who is he to decide the fate
of another country's president or dictator? Are leaders
from other countries allowed to investigate the assassination
of John. F. Kennedy or the assasination attempt on
Ronald Reagan? It is impossible to think even imagine
. The CIA is apparently conducting further investigations
on this matter. My question is why can't the UN decide
on this issue? It has become habitual for Americans
to poke their noses in a country's affairs. Saddam
was indeed a dictator but who are you to judge him?
Badal
Hasib, Mohammadpur, Dhaka
SWM's
Alteration
I
am a bookworm of SWM and have seen its changes throughout
the year. I am impressed with its newest additions
such as Newsnotes and Voicebox. I am especially pleased
to see double pages "Letters", "Dhaka
Dairy", and "Write to Mita." I read
your printed version of SWM every weekend but sometimes
visit your website which is also excellent. My observation
of the website is that SWM doesn't conserve your backdated
issues. My earnest request to SWM to do so in the
future.
Md.Zillur
Rahaman, Gandaria, Dhaka
Too
harsh?
I
was going through the magazine on January 2nd when
I came across Shamim Ahsan's article titled "When
laws are used unlawfully." It was a surprise
for me to see the name of AC Akram as a killer among
the three other murderers and terrorists. This is
the only police officer in the history of Bangladesh
to have been awarded both the BPM and PPM twice. In
his whole career he had NO bad records, only success
stories. Mr. Ahsan has portrayed this man a killer
and compared him with three other murderers but none
of the other co-accused of this particular case. On
top of this, no member of Rubel's family has accused
this man of being a killer. Isn't it possible that
AC Akram is the victim of professional and departmental
jealousy? Mr. Ahsan is very vocal about the unruly
activities of the judiciary and law enforcing agencies
but what about the press? Are they performing their
duties honestly? As part of the common people I urge
Mr. Ahsan to make a thorough inquiry about this case
and publish the results in the dailies so that we
know the facts instead of just taking wild guesses.
Feroze
Raihan, Arambag, Dhaka
Delighted
to know about Tagore's generation
I
am a habitual reader of SWM. On 26th December, I was
pleased to read "Meeting La Tagore" by Neeman
A. Sobhan. On her feature, we got to know a member
of Tagore's next generation specially Sharmila Tagore.
I think her behaviour should be an example for every
woman in Bangladesh. She is bold and beautiful. She
is not only popular to the masses, but also within
her own family. I encourage SWM to publish these types
of features more often. I also thank again Neeman
A. Sobhan for writing the feature.
Sujit
Basak, Nobabpur, Dhaka
Foods
of those neglected
Thank
you for the SWM cover story ´Biting More Than
We Can Chew´
by Aasha Mehreen Amin, published on January 2, 2004.
I have read the article with interest. Since most
of the readers of SWM are from higher and middle class,
many of them are suffering from obesity and related
problems resulting from dietary habits. This article
is well served to the target group. However, what
about the diet and food habits of the other people
of Bangladesh? I am talking about the poor people
living in villages and thousands living in the Bastis
of Dhaka city. Millions of people are affected by
manga, floods or cyclones every year. There are tens
of thousands of beggars in Bangladesh. What about
the dietary pattern of those neglected people? I hope
SWM will not neglect them. I expect someone will write
on this topic in future.
Subrata
Kumar Biswas, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Reader-friendly
Magazine
I
can't help offering my glowing tribute to SWM for
its glorious entrance to a new promising year. Adieu
2003, Welcome 2004. Another eventful year slipped
into eternity, heralding a new year bringing lasting
peace, justice and prosperity for the world. As an
avid reader I am in the opinion that SWM is the English
magazine that has earned the loyalty and admiration
of thousands of readers. With continuity SWM is always
committed to publish innovative and investigative
reports, cover stories, news items and other spicy
material.
The recent changes brought about i.e., Voicebox, Newsnotes,
Theology, Dhaka Diary, New Flicks, International News,
Nothing If Not Serious, Wildlife, Fiction, Reflections
and Perspectives shed light on various national and
international news, views and events. But it is highly
regrettable that Weekend Musings is not being continually
published. We want more objective and entertaining
additions to SWM that delve into the real picture
of our social, economic and political scenario.
Md.
Aminul Islam, University of Dhaka.
Who
are we?
Thanks
Naeem Mohaiemen for your article, A Love Story: Life
without Bollywood. It was a quite entertaining. I
live in New York, but when I visit my country every
year I find that day by day we are occupied by Indian
filmy culture. We may find that, after a few years,
our children speak Bangla in Hindi accents or they
are more comfortable with Hindi than Bangla. Now our
cultural icons are Amitabh, Shah Rukh Khan and Madhuri.
Now we read Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth but we don't
know about Sawkot Osman or Aktaruzaman Ilias.
My mom never liked Hindi movies or any Indian movies
except ones with Uttom Kumar and Suchitra Sen. I never
saw her watching a Hindi movie but on my last visit
to Dhaka from New York I found that after 9:00 pm
she forgets everything, sits with the remote and watches
all the Hindi soaps until midnight.
During my three weeks visit in Dhaka I found that
in every social gathering my sisters, aunts and even
grandmothers were talking about what will happen to
Parvati or Shina Bhabi. At first I thought that they
were new in-laws of our family. I realised later that
they were characters of Hindi TV serials. What is
going on here? Do we not know who we are anymore?
Rashid
Mamun, New York