An evening at Pitha Utshob 2012

Pitha Utshob, in the Washington DC metro area, has become one of the largest festivals for Bangladeshi community members for more than seven years.  Since it was first organized by the Bangladesh Center for Community Development, Inc. (BCCDI), it has become an annual extravaganza for hundreds of Bangladeshi descendants living in the greater Washington DC area who pleasantly rediscover themselves in a pure Bangladeshi traditional home-made cake (called pitha in Bengali) festivity right here, so far away from home.

From Bangla to Bangladesh

Monument of the Martyrs (শহীদ মিনার)

If language matters to the human kind, then one South-Asian country called “Bangladesh” is a living example of our time that shows the world how a country could proudly become independent through the path of language movement. Though Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971, the liberation war actually began 60 years ago when the then West Pakistan (now Pakistan) tried to impose “Urdu” as the only state language on the Bangla (Bengali) speaking community who had an overwhelming majority at that time. 

Beautiful Bangladesh: An Exclusive Video

Bangladesh has been promoted in this exclusive video presentation that shows its beautiful and panoramic landscape through the eyes of an explorer.  Visiting the land of the largest mangrove in the world situated in the southern part of Bangladesh, the longest sea-beach in Cox's Bazar and the historical sites is going to be a timeless journey to any explorer who loves nature and history. Bangladesh proudly brands the word "resiliency" in action where people have always fought and won against all the adversaries and have proudly prevailed. Visit Bangladesh to explore the real school of life through the following video!

Vibrant Bangladesh Published

Bangladesh Embassy in Washington DC has published its December edition of Vibrant Bangladesh, a monthly web journal. This month's 13 page long journal covers issues like political and foreign affairs, good governance, business and trade, digital Bangladesh, infrastructure development and sustainable development issues. 

Bangladesh as a rising IT Destination

Bangladesh is rising as an IT destination in Asia. It's IT sector is rapidly growing as 23 countries have already partnered with the IT companies in Bangladesh. Watch this video as Bangladesh is showing the potential to become the silicon valley of South Asia.

What happened on February 14th in Bangladesh?

Like every other year, February 14th is being celebrated as Valentine's Day in Bangladesh. As the celebration continues, have we once remembered the day February 14th? Today in 1983, all the student fronts in Bangladesh came out from their campuses to protest the military dictator Ershad's autocratic rule and infamous Majid Khan's education policy. Let's read some excerpts from a few bloggers who have reminded us how shamelessly we've forgotten February 14th? One of the saddest days of our recent history has been silently replaced by Valentine's Day's "World Love Day". Long live our memory resembling a gold fish!

Amnesty International Met Bangladeshi Leader

Abbas Faiz, the South Asia researcher for Amnesty International, met Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on January 30th in London during her visit. He highlights his discussion with the Bangladeshi Prime Minister about war crimes trials and extrajudicial executions in Banlgadesh. He expresses concern about the extrajudicial executions that undermine the human rights condition in Bangladesh.

Bangla becoming Universal Network Language

Bangla, the fourth most spoken language in the world, is becoming the integral part of the Universal Network Language (UNL). UNL is an automated program that translates world language virtually into any target language. More than 150 languages including English, French, Arabic, Hindi have already become part of the UNL. Transforming Bangla into an international language through UNL will revolutionize our access to the world of global languages as it will let machine translate any target language(s). The Asiatic Society of Bangladesh is running this project as they are coding morphological grammar and dictionary for the UNL which will be finished within one year. Read the rest in Bangla:

Compensation for the Bangladeshi fire victims

Finally, the actvism and lobbying efforts for the Bangladeshi garments workers have been paid off as the multinational companies agreed to work with the garment industries in Bangladesh to ensure compensation for the workers who were victims of the recent fire.

Documentary on Climate Change in Bangladesh

Credit: National Geographic

Rosa Rogers directed documentary the "Climate Change in Bangladesh: Who Will Pay"? has won the 2nd prize under the Film Category of Indigenous People. The contest was organized by the World Bank. The documentary shows how climate change is causing havoc in the southern Bangladesh as fertile land becomes encrusted with salt, killing crops and fouling drinking water.

Target Refusing to Pay Victims in Bangladesh

The popular departmental store Target is refusing to compensate the recent fire victims of the garments industry in Bangladesh. Change.org is arduously continuing its advocacy for the rights of the laborers in the developing world as "65,000 people from more than 70 countries call on American corporations with annual profits in the tens of billions to give a minuscule percentage of that to compensate workers killed or injured while making their clothing".

Target's profit is soaring, in the 3rd quarter of 2010, its profit rose 22.6% as the chain store earned 535 million dollars (CBS News). Its annual profit rose to 20 billion dollars. Change.org has already initiated a petition for the victims at the Bangladeshi garment industry that has been signed by almost 68,000 people all over the world.

Dhaka is preparing for the World Cup Cricket

The World Cup Cricket 2011 is coming to Dhaka next month. As the country is getting ready for this exciting international sports, it's trying to get rid of beggars and hawkers from the city streets for next few weeks. This initiative will frustratingly displace thousands of the poor from the capital.  CNN reports:

"Hundreds of hawkers and beggars, quite often seen on Dhaka's major roads and at traffic stops, will be driven out next month ahead of the Cricket World Cup scheduled to begin in mid February... The Bangladesh government imposed a ban on begging amid criticism two years ago, saying they would stop the practice within five years. According to the law, anyone caught begging in public places faces a maximum three months in jail. But begging is still seen in almost everywhere in Dhaka ­­-- a city of ten million people, one third of whom are extremely poor and live in shanties..."

New Book: Bangladesh and Burma

Nova Science Pub Inc. has published a new book this month on the two South Asian neighboring countries, Bangladesh and Burma.  The book called, "Bangladesh and Burma: Background issues", has been edited by Brandon E. Stromberg. Hopefully, this new book will facilitate increased attention to the South Asian affairs as both Bangladesh and Burma are facing rampant poverty and corruption. You may preorder this 158 page long book from Amazon.

World Report 2011 Released

The Human Rights Watch (HRW) has released its World Report 2011, a 649-page investigative report. The report highlights the major human rights challenges in more than 90 countries of the world. The press release issued by the HRW criticizes the developed world for taking a softer approach to the rouged regimes.

No access to Scholarly Journals in Bangladesh



The British Medical Journal

Another round of sad news for researchers in Bangladesh came in as they would be denied free access to 2500 scholarly journals! The British Medical Journal (BMJ) in its January 11^th issue said: Five publishers have withdrawn free access to more than 2500 health and biomedical online journals from institutions in Bangladesh. One research leader has described the situation as “very discouraging.”

দেশের মাটিতে ক'দিন: পর্ব ০২

সকাল এগারটা কুড়ির দিকে জার্মান সময়ে বিমান রওয়ানা দিয়ে বাহরাইন অভিমুখে। প্রায় ৮ ঘন্টার টানা যাত্রা। বাহরাইনে গিয়ে পৌঁছাবে সন্ধ্যা সাতটা কুড়িতে। সাধারণত: বিমান যাত্রায় মাঝপথটা বড্ডো বিরক্তিকর মনে হয়। হঠাৎ করে মনে হয়, সময় কাটছে না। আমি চোখ বুঁজে সময় কাটাবার চেস্টা করি। তার মাঝে বিমানবালা এসে দুপুরের খাবার পরিবেশন করল। কোনকিছুই ভাল লাগছে না। মনটা কেমন যেন দোটানায় পড়ে আছে। একদিকে ভাবছি আমার স্ত্রী আর সন্তানরা ঠিক এখন কি করছে? স্কুলের পথে। অন্যদিকে ভাবছি, বাবা কি করছে? হয়তো প্রহর গুণছেন। একমাত্র ছেলেকে কাছে ফিরে পাওয়ার আনন্দ কতো গভীর। সারাদিন শেষে আমার ছেলেমেয়েরা যখন প্রতিদিন দু বাহুতে আশ্রয় নেয়, তখন বাবা হওয়ার আনন্দটা গভীরভাবে বোধ করি। আর আমার বাবা যখন বছর শেষে তার ছেলেকে কয়েক সপ্তাহের জন্য ফিরে পায়, তখন তার আনন্দ ও তৃপ্তি কতোটা গভীর ও বিশাল তা এখান থেকে একটু অনুভব করার চেস্টা করি।

দেশের মাটিতে ক'দিন: পর্ব ০১

হঠাৎ করেই আমার দেশে আসার সিদ্ধান্ত হলো। বাবা বেশ ক' মাস থেকেই অসুস্থ। তাকে দেখার জন্যই ৩ সপ্তাহের ছুটিতে নিয়ে ঢাকায় ফেরা। যেমন কথা তেমন কাজ। খোঁজ খবর করে পাওয়া গেল গালফ এয়ার-এর টিকেট। স্ত্রী আর সন্তান সন্ততিকে দেশে রেখা একা দেশের বাড়ীতে আসার মধ্যে যতোটা রোমাঞ্চ, ততোটাই কস্ট। বুধবার দিন অফিস করার কথা বেলা ১টা পর্যন্ত। তারপর বাড়ী ফিরে বাক্স-পেটরা নিয়ে বিমান বন্দরের দিকে ছুটতে হবে বিকেল পাঁচটার মধ্যে। শেষ মুহুর্ত্বে অফিসের কাজ শেষ করতে করতে বেরোলাম আড়াইটা। ফোনে স্ত্রীকে বললাম, লাগেজের ভেতরটা আরেকবার গুছিয়ে রাখতে। বাড়ী ফিরলাম সোয়া তিনটা। স্ত্রী'র হাত থেকে লাগেজ ওজন করতে গিয়ে দেখি ওজন ৫০ এর চেয়ে কয়েক পাউন্ড বেশী। মনে মনে প্রমাদ গুণলাম। বললাম, যা হবার হয়েছে। বিমান বন্দরে গিয়েই ওজনের ঝামেলা মেটাব।