Letters

Mistake in Cover Story
In your cover story about Qazi Abdul Alim the author wrote the name of the then Dacca University "Chancellor" as WA Zenking. As an old DU graduate I would like to point out that the writer has made two mistakes; the name and the position are both wrong. He was the Vice-Chancellor and also his name was not Zenking but Jenkins. I hope you will check the records accordingly.
S. Faiyazuddin Ahmad

An Appeal
A month ago, a Barn Own was sent to me by someone for treatment. The Barn Owl unfortunately has not done well. After a month's recuperation is still to be hand-fed and remains unfit to be released. An unknown disease has permanently ruined her feet, the limbs that feed her in the wild. She has to be hand fed as long as she lives. My home is not a good place for her since I leave home too frequently. She needs a home where there is someone to feed her every day (about 100 mg boiled meat once after sunset. I will be very happy if someone adopts.
Enam Ul Haque
Nature enthusiast and
Wildlife photographer

Roman Column
I am extremely amazed going through the unique and rare feature "Harbingers of the New" written by the versatile writer Neeman Sobhan published in the Dec.31, 2004 issue of SWM.
During the Christmas holidays mother and son are together and after the brief discourse between them on different topics the mother gets completely merged with the very spirit of hers - her son. She depicts his aesthetic love between the son and mother with the most befitting words that reflect the universal bond in a vibrant way! Through the allusion of Yeats' great words she completes the finishing brush on the canvas! The very striking point of her presentation is its stunning beginning line that epitomizes her total message and the amazingly embellished concluding words that take the readers to a realm of surprise, wonder and dream!
Rafiqul Islam Rime
Agrabad, Chittagong

A request
I eagerly await every Friday for SWM to come out. I think that it is one of the best magazines in Bangladesh. I enjoy every column, namely Chintito, Musings, Jokes, Write to Mita, and I especially like Newsnotes. As a regular reader and an avid fan, I would like to make one suggestion. I find that drug addiction is a major problem in Bangladesh. We all want to make our society a drug free one. I think that SWM can help this cause by doing a cover story as an anti-drug campaign. I would like to thank SWM's staff who are working hard to improve its magazine and would please ask them to consider my request.
Md. Toufiqur Rahman
Kishoreganj

Higher Studies Abroad
The trend of students going for their higher studies abroad has become like a "gold rush" in our country these days. Everyone is on the run for studying abroad. We often go abroad for better quality education which means better methods of teaching, better education and facilities such as good accommodation and scholarships. In our country all this is very limited so our choices of career and opportunities are also limited. In nationalised universities there are frequent session jams due to political reasons and experienced teachers who are paid low salaries are negligent towards the students. As a result, students who are usually high achievers, but from a low-income family background face a lot of difficulties. In the case of private universities although the educational facilities are better, the affordability needed to study there is beyond the reach of most needy students. There is nothing wrong in studying abroad but we should not plan to settle there. Instead we should try to use the quality of education achieved by us for the development of our country which is possible only by settling in dear Bangladesh.
Naome Syed
Mohammapur

Education
I am pleased to see that SWM is continuing to run its education column, which is in association with the British Council. Undoubtedly, this is a really good idea and is doing wonders to aid SWM's readers to understand and become more fluent in English. I would like to request the authority of SWM to keep it up and continue with the British Council without interval.
Mofijur Rahman
Mohadevpur

The Stars are still Shining
The cover story in the year-end issue of SWM was on a few of the "achievers" of 2004. Many newspapers came out with negative events that took place throughout the year whereas SWM was different. Every day newspapers come out with news that fills us with sorrow and anxiety. After thirty three years of independence, our low profile achievement as a nation makes us frail before the world. The past years have been a long drawn history of our failures and uselessness. However, with all of this negativity, there still remains hope for us to go ahead. There are some individuals that are struggling to make a better future for us. All we need is a push in the right direction. All we want is a little courage to fight against injustice. SWM has done a great job in bringing these achievers to our attention.
Khurshid Shaheed
Chittagong University

On Books
Firstly I would like to thank Sanyat Sattar for his excellent work on Books in SWM. However, being a regular reader, I face a problem while reading this section. Though a splendid discussion is given about the books, the writer does not mention where we can find these books. Please take this matter into consideration the next time you publish the books column.

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Submission Guideline:
Letters to the Editor, Dhaka Diary and Write to Mita, with the writer's name and address, should be within 200 words. All articles should be within 1,200 words. A cover letter is not necessary, but every write-up should include the writer's name, phone number and email address (if any). While SWM welcomes unsolicited articles and photographs, it cannot accept the responsibility of their loss or damage. SWM does not return unsolicited articles and photos. Response time for unsolicited write-ups range from three weeks to two months. All articles submitted are subject to editing for reasons of space and clarity.
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