Home  -  Back Issues  -  The Team  -  Contact Us
     Volume 8 Issue 64 | April 10, 2009 |

  Letters
  Voicebox
  Chintito
  Cover Story
  Special Feature
  Food for Thought
  Current Affairs
  Perspective
  Interview
  Photo Feature
  Sport
  Musings
  A Roman Column
  Theatre
  Remembrance
  Art -Aadil’s Pageant   of Scintillating   Pharaohs
  Art -The Light,   Fantastic Touch of   Impressionism
  Health
  Star Diary
  Book Review - A   History and Taste   of Bangladeshi   Cuisine
  Book Review - In   Search of a New   Life After Nagasaki
  Write to Mita
  Post Script

   SWM Home


Letters

A Long Hot Summer

As the summer season is close-by, I start to think what I have to confront - 5-6 hours of daily load shedding, shortage of water supply, tremendous heat and so on. Load shedding has already increased to at least 1-2 hours at each cut, compared to the same time last year. It is only early April and already we are facing this amount of load shedding. What will happen when the season actually arrives? We talk about bringing change and digital Bangladesh etc. Is this the symbol of change? Will a digital country be possible without flawless electric supply?
Mazed Bin MD. Yusuf Bhuiyan
Business Administration
East West University
Dhaka

Stories of War and Freedom
I feel ashamed when I see that war criminals are still active in our politics as well as our national life. It is very much heartrending to see that the criminals have gone unpunished for the crimes that they have committed in 1971. To uphold the sacrifice of martyrs the trial of war criminals should be held. I hope that during this government's reign, the trial is possible. For the trial of war criminals all parties and general people, who are in favour of freedom should be united as we were united in 1971. Now it is a national demand.
KM Rezyanuzzaman (Sumon)
Goalchamot
Faridpur

While I was going through the cover stories of March 27, especially "It is Time", I kept thinking about the history of the liberation war and the present condition of Bangladesh. People who committed actual war crimes must be punished. But we must not allow this to be used for political gain. The truth is if any one is associated with Jamaat e Islami currently, he becomes a “Razakar” although that person may be only 30-37 years old. We also observe that many freedom fighters become “Razakars” for being involved with JI on the one hand and many Razakars become “freedom fighters” merely because they are involved with Awami League. All the war criminals should be punished, but at the same time we want to say that all the members of Jamaat e Islami are not Razakars and all the members of Awami League are not freedom fighters. Let us keep our war of liberation above politics.
Syed Mohammad Ali
Department of English
International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC)
Dhaka Campus

Football Born Again

Once football was a popular game in Bangladesh. It was a passion for the people of our country. But it is unfortunate that gradually football started to lose its appeal. It’s popularity began to sink. Recently the “Citycell Super Cup” has awakened the football fans once more in our country. After a long time football has brought about a 'high tide' of happiness among the people. The Bangladesh Football Federation arranged the matches. Such an arrangement by the federation is really praiseworthy. Such tournaments will be able to reclaim the popularity of football.
Foyjul Islam
Nikunjo-2, Khilkhet
Dhaka

Road Traffic Accidents
All the TV channels often telecast several programmes to raise awareness regarding AIDS. It is really a positive trend. A huge number of people in India, our closest neighbour, are badly affected by this disease. In this situation, our TV channels are playing a vital role and deserve gratitude from the citizens of Bangladesh. It must also be noted that the hazards of AIDS is comparatively less in our country compared to that of India.
But do we know that in a year we lose at least three to four thousand people in road accidents? The real numbers may be far worse. Can't we change this situation? How long will this continue? Are we, the people of Bangladesh, destined to lead our lives with the hazards of road accident?
In my opinion, there are more people dying in road accidents than of AIDS. But why don’t our TV channels bring this into the limelight? Media can play a strong role in making people conscious. Several types of mini-dramas can be telecast to raise awareness.
Bangladesh has many challenges ahead. Among them reducing the number of road accidents is the most burning issue.
Akash Pradip
Lecturer in English
BHPI, CRP,
Chapain
Savar

Life in motion
A review on `Life in motion' published on 27th March comments on `Dhaboman' one of Dhaka Theatre's latest productions.
In his critique Ershad Kamol argues that the performance and costume of Dhaboman directed by Shimul Yusuf is similar to Japanee Banraku Puppet Theatre. On the contrary as an observer of traditional theatre in Bangladesh it is obvious that the similarity is with folk theatre traditions such as `Madarpeerer gaan', `Padmarnachon', 'Mahrramer Jari' 'Kach Nrittya', 'Lathi khela' 'Notpala', as well as Manikpeerer gaan' so on.
On the other hand, elements in Dhaboman closely resembe Garo-Mandi's cultural identificational dance ‘Onegalaa’ which was performed quite perfectly and was quite unique, something the writer of this review did not mention. In Dhaboman, dance and songs were used according to the Bangladeshi traditional theatre as well. A combination of traditional theatre and modern urban theare was noticable. Ershad Kamol avoided commenting on the urban style of the presentation for which he failed to properly evaluate the musical performances of Esha Yusuf, Nasreen Nahar, Rosy Siddiky, Joyoshri Bondopaddhay, Samiun Zahan Dolla, Farzana Afreen Rupa and others. I believe the performance of 'Dhaboman' based on traditional art forms might claim to be a milestone.
Saymon Zakaria
Playwright, Manuscript Editor
Bangla Academy, Dhaka

 

Copyright (R) thedailystar.net 2009