I loved the inside of the Shait Gombuj which dates from 1450ish. Here are three photos.
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
Bagerhat
Bagerhat, a small town, is less than an hour's drive from Khulna, about two hours from Jessore. It was founded by the great sufi mystic and warrior Khan Jahan Ali. There are several old mosques in the area, the most famous being the Shait Gombuj Mosque (Mosque of Sixty Domes.) That is a misnomer - it actually has 77 domes, supported by 60 columns inside. There are several other mosques (9-dome mosque, 10-dome mosque, Shingair mosque, and Ronbijoypur mosque which has the largest dome of any mosque in Bangladesh.) The shrine of Khan Jahan Ali is also in this town. Definitely worth a visit.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
RIP Eleanor Callahan
This has nothing to do with Bangladesh, but...
Eleanor Callahan, wife, model and muse of the great photographer Harry Callahan, passed away today.
Callahan was an amazing photographer, up there among the best of the best. And Eleanor provided him inspiration and a subject.
Slide show of photos by Harry of Eleanor here.
Monday, February 27, 2012
SoftExpo Photos
SoftExpo, the annual trade fair of BASIS (Bangladesh Assoc. of Software and Information Services), took place last week. It was a comprehensive affair, with software developers, inventors, freelancers, hardware vendors, and of course customers - all meeting up for five tech-heavy days.
Here are some photos.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sundarban Again
Not only is it a beautiful tree, but it provides livelihood for thousands of people who collect its leaf for making roof thatching.
This week my Tangents column is on the beauty of Sundarban.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
February 21st
February 21, known as Ekushey February, is a special day in the history of this country. On this day in 1952, students at Dhaka University rose up against an edict (by West Pakistan) to impose Urdu as the national language on us, Bengali-speaking people. The rest, as they say, is history.
Ekushey has turned into a massive observance. Everyone brings flowers to remember the martyrs. I try to come here on this day, not the least because my father was among those who demonstrated - and was wounded - in 1952 when he was a student at Dhaka University.
As I was wandering there, I kept on thinking, is this the nation they would have liked to see? To be proud of?
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sundarban 2012
Here are photos from a trip to Sundarban I took last week. Sundarban in southwestern Bangladesh (and a smaller fraction in India) is the largest contiguous mangrove forest and ecosystem in the world. It is the home of the Royal Bengal Tiger as well as countless varieties of flaura and fauna.
Sundarban can only be visited by boat. Several companies offer tours there. Boats start from Khulna, and you have to get there from Dhaka by train, bus or plane (or private car of course.) I have used Guide Tours twice. They are excellent. By the time you add up everything, a trip can run you between 20000 and 40000 Taka, depending on length, luxury of boat and whether you fly.
Osprey with fish. The Osprey is a legendary fish-eater bird.
Our boat, Guide Tours' MV Aboshar.
Flock of ducks near Mongla.
Common kingfisher.
We saw two crocodiles. This was the first.
Nypa palm (golpata), used for making thatched roofs.
Gewa trees on Kotka beach. Gewa is called Blinding Mangrove because its latex can blind.
Boroi tree whose bottom is "pruned" at the height the deer can reach.
Dome-shaped spider web in a canal.
Shikre, a bird of prey.
Otters crossing the canal. They were extremely shy.
Great Egret (Boro Bok.)
Water monitor, also known as Kalo Gui Shap.
Brahminy kite (shonkho chil.)
The road less traveled.
Boardwalk at Harbaria Visitor center.
Fiddler crab.
Fresh tiger pugmark on wet mud. Off the boardwalk at Harbaria.
Great Egrets.
Goodbye beautiful Sundarban.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
My Father's Tree
January 7 was my father's fourth death anniversary.
He is buried at the graveyard at Dargah near the mausoleum of Hajrat Shah Jalal, a Muslim saint from the thirteenth century.
My father spent many of his last days in Sylhet, his birthplace. He had an office up on a hill in Rainagar where he spent several hours a day. He was specially kind to the poor children around that neighborhood and often gave them food and gifts and took them around in his microbus.
On this day I go to Sylhet. Buying two goats, rice and other cooking material, I get the cooks at the Dargah to make a large pot of akhni polao, a Sylhet-style biriyani.
Then I divide the polao into packets and them distribute among the children of Rainagar. This is probably what would have made my father happy.
Forty years ago, my father's office was in Dhaka's Dilkusha, near the President House, which was closed to the public. Inside President House were these graceful, tall trees called Buddha Narikel (Pterygota Alata.)
One day my father paid a guard at President House ten taka to bring him some seeds that had dropped from the trees. He then planted them.
This is one of the trees he planted. The photo was taken on a stormy night. The tree is 6-7 stories tall now.
May you rest in peace, Mr. Ahmed Kabir Choudhury.
He is buried at the graveyard at Dargah near the mausoleum of Hajrat Shah Jalal, a Muslim saint from the thirteenth century.
My father spent many of his last days in Sylhet, his birthplace. He had an office up on a hill in Rainagar where he spent several hours a day. He was specially kind to the poor children around that neighborhood and often gave them food and gifts and took them around in his microbus.
On this day I go to Sylhet. Buying two goats, rice and other cooking material, I get the cooks at the Dargah to make a large pot of akhni polao, a Sylhet-style biriyani.
Then I divide the polao into packets and them distribute among the children of Rainagar. This is probably what would have made my father happy.
Forty years ago, my father's office was in Dhaka's Dilkusha, near the President House, which was closed to the public. Inside President House were these graceful, tall trees called Buddha Narikel (Pterygota Alata.)
One day my father paid a guard at President House ten taka to bring him some seeds that had dropped from the trees. He then planted them.
This is one of the trees he planted. The photo was taken on a stormy night. The tree is 6-7 stories tall now.
May you rest in peace, Mr. Ahmed Kabir Choudhury.
Friday, January 06, 2012
Friends
At Lalbagh Kella this afternoon. Although it was a grey day, the temperature was just right.
Monday, January 02, 2012
Monday, December 19, 2011
Balloon
I was at Suhrawardy Udyan on Victory day, 16th December, with thousands of other people. It was great fun.
At one point they brought out this hot-air balloon (with the requisite equipment - a pretty expensive setup) and inflated it.
But they never released it. People were waiting... and waiting... but eventually they deflated it.
Does anyone know the story on this? The weather seemed ok for a balloon flight.
At one point they brought out this hot-air balloon (with the requisite equipment - a pretty expensive setup) and inflated it.
But they never released it. People were waiting... and waiting... but eventually they deflated it.
Does anyone know the story on this? The weather seemed ok for a balloon flight.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Saturday, December 10, 2011
ebooks, Amazon, Apple
I wrote about the emergence of ebooks in this week's Tangents but there are some things I left out for various reasons.
One is the EU (and now US govt) investigation of whether Apple colluded with some top publishers on the ebooks front (price-fixing).
The issue here is, there is hardly any material cost involved, why do ebooks have to cost so much?
Anyways, the battle between Amazon and Apple on this front promises to be an epic one. Amazon, to their credit, have tried to keep prices down - for a long time most Kindle books were selling for $10. But when Apple introduced iPad, things changed, I think, because the publishers now had a choice and Apple was more amenable to their pricing schemes. Amazon, otoh, was apparently quite tough with publishers.
In the meantime, I understand that Barnes and Noble is betting their entire farm, so to speak, on the Nook.
I have not seen the new Kindle Fire yet, so do not know how good their graphic display is, but it is Amazon's volley against Apple in the ebooks wars. But ipad has a leg up on the b/w Kindle when it comes to illustrated and photo books. OTOH, the Kindle is great for reading text. Really great.
One is the EU (and now US govt) investigation of whether Apple colluded with some top publishers on the ebooks front (price-fixing).
The issue here is, there is hardly any material cost involved, why do ebooks have to cost so much?
Anyways, the battle between Amazon and Apple on this front promises to be an epic one. Amazon, to their credit, have tried to keep prices down - for a long time most Kindle books were selling for $10. But when Apple introduced iPad, things changed, I think, because the publishers now had a choice and Apple was more amenable to their pricing schemes. Amazon, otoh, was apparently quite tough with publishers.
In the meantime, I understand that Barnes and Noble is betting their entire farm, so to speak, on the Nook.
I have not seen the new Kindle Fire yet, so do not know how good their graphic display is, but it is Amazon's volley against Apple in the ebooks wars. But ipad has a leg up on the b/w Kindle when it comes to illustrated and photo books. OTOH, the Kindle is great for reading text. Really great.
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Narrative Non-fiction
I just re-read a speech on the long-form narrative that I find fascinating, because every time I read it I glean something new from it. Good stuff from the editor of the New York Times Magazine.
For example, having recently acquired a Kindle and an iPad, I read his observations about reading substantive things on electronic devices with renewed appreciation.
Incidentally, it is the New Yorker which excels (or maybe excelled) in this kind of journalism: in-depth and broad coverage of a particular issue by a journalist who spent several months digging in and writing about it. In the 90s, some of their reports of events in Africa, Balkans and parts of Asia, as well as those on health/medicine, innovation and technology, etc were astonishing.
I am thinking, in particular, of the non-fiction of Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers), Richard Preston (The Hot Zone), Atul Gawande (from the frontlines of medicine and surgery) and others. Just amazing stuff.
Speaking of which, there is plenty of raw material right here in Bangladesh for this kind of in-depth reporting (and it does not all have to be negative - there are many positive stories, too...) And while the NY Times Magazine spends over $40,000 for one of these stories, ours can be done on a much smaller budget.
Would the reading public pay for anything like this? Or, perhaps more relevant, would the advertisers see value in it?
(Thanks to Mahmud Rahman for pointing me to this article.)
For example, having recently acquired a Kindle and an iPad, I read his observations about reading substantive things on electronic devices with renewed appreciation.
Incidentally, it is the New Yorker which excels (or maybe excelled) in this kind of journalism: in-depth and broad coverage of a particular issue by a journalist who spent several months digging in and writing about it. In the 90s, some of their reports of events in Africa, Balkans and parts of Asia, as well as those on health/medicine, innovation and technology, etc were astonishing.
I am thinking, in particular, of the non-fiction of Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers), Richard Preston (The Hot Zone), Atul Gawande (from the frontlines of medicine and surgery) and others. Just amazing stuff.
Speaking of which, there is plenty of raw material right here in Bangladesh for this kind of in-depth reporting (and it does not all have to be negative - there are many positive stories, too...) And while the NY Times Magazine spends over $40,000 for one of these stories, ours can be done on a much smaller budget.
Would the reading public pay for anything like this? Or, perhaps more relevant, would the advertisers see value in it?
(Thanks to Mahmud Rahman for pointing me to this article.)
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Critical Mass 3 Bicycle Ride
Riders of all sizes came, small ones...
...and big ones...
...some were excited...
... while others enjoyed the winter sunshine...
There were athletic riders...
... and relaxed ones...
... and others who needed no hand!
Expats joined in, including Australians...
... and this American girl who traveled in style...
Of course the local girl had her own style...
...as the victory sign ruled the day...
... and while Dhak and Dhol played...
... the boys found time for dancing a quick jig...
So with thanks to all the organizers ...
... I say to the the riders who joined in the fun...
... until the next time my friends, ride safely!
...and big ones...
...some were excited...
... while others enjoyed the winter sunshine...
There were athletic riders...
... and relaxed ones...
... and others who needed no hand!
Expats joined in, including Australians...
... and this American girl who traveled in style...
Of course the local girl had her own style...
...as the victory sign ruled the day...
... and while Dhak and Dhol played...
... the boys found time for dancing a quick jig...
So with thanks to all the organizers ...
... I say to the the riders who joined in the fun...
... until the next time my friends, ride safely!
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