Letters
In
Honour
The whole of the United Kingdom mourned the recent killing
of Ken Bigley. Although I fear that he was dead from the
moment he was taken hostage, I firmly believe that every
cloud has a silver lining. In this sad case I think that
it is the show of solidarity among differing religions,
be it Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Buddhism. Let hostage
takers past, present and future sit up and listen to the
universal-inter-faith opposition to his death. Their actions
do nothing to better the already volatile situation in Iraq.
Miranda di Nevem
Banani
Obsessive
Editing Syndrome
I was happy to read this write up in SWM. The catch 22 is
conveying the message of strange spellings, phrases and
total disregard of the rules of a language by writers. It
is the job of the writers to see these; the editor gives
the paintbrush touch to attract the readers. One can imagine
how miffed the editor is if she has to do the drill of these
nitty-gritty corrections. As a result the editor has to
take his/her editing assignment or, to be precise, re-writing
beyond the perimeter of the office. Nevertheless, prudently
you have focused the causes and spelled out the solution
it is all in between the lines of the article, satirically
written.
Billy Ahmed
Dhaka
On
Cover
I was really happy to read the cover story on Farida Parveen
last Friday. I think she is one of the most talented singers
in the country. It is sad that our private channels do not
have enough programmes on such artists and we have to rely
on boring BTV to present them. Also I was extremely shocked
and disappointed to know that Parveen's husband considers
her singing to be against Islamic doctrine. Her voice is
God's gift, it was meant to touch peoples' souls. How un-Islamic
can that be?
Shelley
Jigatola
Star
Education: A Rainbow in the Dark!!
It's been about 35 years since we became independent. In
this moderate span of time there has been a lot of shuffle
and reshuffle in terms of Education, mainly learning English
as a second language as the main vehicle of Global Communication.
Fortunately, students of this generation have finally realised
the dire need of mastering English and have started making
an effort to learn. Unfortunately there have been a lot
of so called English Coaching centres that are not properly
prepared or as well-versed in English as they should be,
which then leads to confusion on certain aspects of the
language. This is why I feel that SWM's joint endeavour
with The British Council is a great idea. The topics that
are chosen are highly interesting and very relevant as well
as versatile. For example, 'Applying for a job' was a very
useful article. The format and layout of the articles are
extremely creative. I strongly believe that continuing this
column will help many people. My heartfelt thanks to SWM
and the British Council for undertaking this pioneering
idea. I salute you.
Rafiqul Islam Rime
Agrabad, Chittagong
Good
Cover Story
I liked last week's cover story titled "Melodies for
Eternity." Symon Zakaria and Mustafa Zaman have done
an excellent job. The story gives a precise picture of how
Farida took up singing as a child, how she grew devoted
to music as she grew older and how she has finally come
what she is today-the champion of Lalon Sangeet singer.
Many of us didn't know the story of how Farida Parveen,
who once used to be a Nazrul Sangeet singer, switched to
Lalon Sangeet. What gives the story an added interest is
while tracing Farida's career from a child artist to the
exponent of Lalon Sangeet the authors have also depicted
the evolution of Lalon Sangeet, how one of our greatest
cultural heritage has been nourished and handed over from
generation to generation. As we come to know Farida Parveen
is presently working on staff notation of Lalon's songs,
certainly an invaluable task as this particular genre of
songs does not have any written staff notation. The last
part of the cover story however was a bit saddening. It
was really surprising to learn what Abu Zafar, the once
famous lyricist and musician, had to say about the music
of his wife Farida Parveen. It is evident that Zafar's transformation,
quite an astonishing one if not crazy, forced Farida to
part with him. In any case we all hope to see Parveen continue
to enthrall her thousands of admirers for many many more
days to come.
Anwar Hossain
Asian University of Bangladesh
Dying
for Writing the Truth
Reading Shamim Ahsan's article published in the October
15 issue of SWM was like a déjà vu of sorts.
I had read similar pieces in your magazine on the recent
killings of a number of journalists. I just cannot fathom
why they don't stop. Ahsan wrote that Deepankar Chakrabarty
was the seventh journalist killed in the country in the
last three years. After the death of the Editor of Khulna's
Dainik Janmabhumi, the number of journalists killed in the
last 10 years in the southeastern region of the country
alone stood at 13. We have seen no judgments in any of the
cases so far, which seem to stumble forward for a while
before just becoming obscure. In our steadily deteriorating
society, the least we can do is remain informed and alert
to the dangers that lurk everywhere and, perhaps, try and
do something to prevent them. If the journalists who are
only doing their duty with conviction and integrity are
killed, where will that leave us?
Rahimuddin
Paribagh
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