Cover
Story
January
16th's cover story was amazing. It was very insightful
and revealing. We have seen so many of Anwar Hossain’s
famous pictures and admired them from afar, but this
story took us on a journey into the life of this talented
and intense artist. It also gave us a glimpse of his
versatility and how he has ventured into other media.
I applaud the writer Mustafa Zaman for his eloquent
and lucid style of writing, which is always a pleasure
to read. I thank SWM for providing us with these informative
and refreshing stories. Please keep it up.
Promila Shaha, Lalbagh
Good
Issue
The January 9th issue of SWM was an interesting one.
Though the cover story was too traditional, other
articles were really fantastic. Nadia Kabir Barb’s
article was much better than the one she wrote in
the previous issue. It was pleasing to read about
the coming movie Bachelor. The real joy was going
through the articles of Hasan Shaheed and Nabila Idris.
Richa Jha's writing shows that she has enough insight
into the nature of men. Jokes were excellent. These
jokes are preferable to the boring and traditional
local jokes we sometimes read. I want to thank all
the SWM writers for enriching the magazine with their
writing.
Wajahat Anwar Mirpur, Dhaka
Coaching
Centres
Quite
a large number of coaching centres have emerged in
our country recently. Coaching centres are found in
big cities, towns and even villages. Their usefulness
is questionable if their aim is fixed on the sole
basis of earning money. Teachers should be devoted
to giving proper lessons and educating the youngsters
of today using modern methods. For their proper functioning
a guideline should be laid down and English should
be incorporated as well.
Fatima Rashid, Dhanmondi, Dhaka
I
read Richa…
Count
me in as the sixth person who reads Richa Jha's articles.
I am sure there must be many more who aren't necessarily
critics and would prefer reading a good humorous article
with sharp observations. I liked Richa's articles
on visiting a school in her best dress, the one at
a pizza place where you find sharp comments on the
snobs of society. That's good reading material; everyone
needn't write on war, inequality etc. But then some
of Richa's nostalgic monologue pieces like 'Sholay'
or the girly 'doll house' were rather boring. Anyway,
I would congratulate Richa for being a 'full-time'
mother (and a part time wife probably) and being able
to churn out a page or two for us every weekend (Richa
and Chintito gets read first).
Mujib ul Huque, Nayapaltan, Dhaka
Due
to the Eid-ul-Azha holidays
Friday February 6th’s issue of the
SWM cannot be published. We regret
the inconvenience.
On
Barrister Huda
While
addressing the inaugural ceremony of the conference
of the Islamic Chhatra Shibir(ICS), (student front
of the Jamaat-e-Islami), communication minister Barrister
Nazmul Huda said on 30/12/03 that, Jamaat did not
commit any crime by demanding the non-separation of
Pakistan in 1971. If he thinks that what Jamaat "did"
in 1971 was correct, then would he also say that by
proclaiming the independence of Bangladesh on behalf
of Bongobondhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and also participating
in the Liberation War, General Ziaur Rahman made a
great mistake or even commited a crime? Ziaur Rahman
was given the second highest award of the country,
'Bir Uttam' for his heroism in the war against
Pakistan. Would Barrister Nazmul Huda now tell PM
Khaleda Zia to denounce it all and declare Zia as
a traitor? Would he also say that by killing the intellectuals
on the 14th December 1971, the JI, ICS, Razakars,
Al-Badrs, Al-Shams did a good thing? Who is Barrister
Nazmul Huda's leader? Professor Golam Azam, who opposed
the Liberation War and was a supporter of Islamic
Nationalism or valiant freedom fighter Ziaur Rahman,
the exponent of Bangladeshi Nationalism? The question
is that how is it possible that he makes such an outrageous
statement after saying that what Ziaur Rahman and
the JI, ICS, Razakars, Al-Badrs and Al-Shams
had done during in 1971 was right?
Iqbal Ahmed, On email
Where
is Chintito
I
look forward to reading Chintito every Friday morning.
I find his writings peppered with a dry sense of humour
as well as wit and intelligence. He is one of the
best columnists in SWM and this past Friday as I read
the first line of his column and realised that I would
not, in fact, have my weekly treat of Chintito, I
was disappointed. However, I was intrigued by the
first line in the column, and went on. I have to say
that thank goodness the SWM staff didn't substitute
Chintito's column with something like "trivia"
or a photo op. I would have really felt cheated then.
Instead, SWM did the best they could by writing a
column giving Chintito readers a alternative treat
-- even though I sincerely hope Chintito is coming
back next week, I give SWM an A for effort for their
creativity and their originality.
KAM, Dhanmondi
Poor
Mita
Honestly
I feel really sorry for "Mita." I don't
know how she does it and I have to give her credit
for not losing her temper at half the people who write
to her. Are these people serious? They cannot deal
with every day problems like not being able to study
because they get distracted easily, or falling in
love. They complain because they met a member of the
opposite sex for a second and fall in love (without
getting to know the other person at all) and now their
life is incomplete because they are suffering from
the age-old sob story of unrequited love? Really my
hats off to Mita for standing it. I feel like crying
every time I read these peoples' problems -- not because
I feel sorry for them, but because people are so self
absorbed and whiny, it's ridiculous. My word of advice
to them: DEAL WITH IT. Life goes on. It's happened
before, and we have all been through it.
A reader, Florida
Correction
In
last week’s cover story the name of the university
Iftekhar Ahmed Khan went to was erroneously stated
as ‘East Illionois University’. The correct name is
‘Eastern Illionois University’ . The mistake is regretted.
