Dipan Nandy

Five years ago, Lalbagh’s Hazi Abdul Alim Playground was on the verge of extinction. It housed a garbage dumping station and those who abused drugs. And so, residents had no option for a recreational spot near their homes.

Even on a good day, five to 10 people visit Dhaka Nagar Jadughar, the one inside Nagar Bhaban of Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC). On some days, not even a single visitor can be seen on the premises.

It has been 50 years today since an independent Bangladesh got its national poet.

Caged wildlife being displayed for human entertainment -- this old-age arrangement of ​​the zoo will be scrapped for good. And when that happens, the animals will begin to roam around in an open environment; people will enjoy their sight from a safe distance.

In the tumultuous times of the 1940s, when women, particularly belonging to conservative Muslim families, were mostly absent in the public sphere, weekly magazine Begum emerged to give them a voice of their own. Established by renowned journalist and Saogat editor Mohammad Nasiruddin, in 1947, the weekly was run by her daughter Nurjahan.

Shahbagh Shishu Park has remained closed since January 2019, as the authorities are working to modernise it. But no progress has been made on the modernisation project for the last three and a half years.

Rokanpur Library, located on the third floor of Rokonpur Community Center beside Kabi Nazrul Government College in Laxmibazar, can hardly be called a library anymore. It suffers from a shortage of books and has lost its ability to attract readers.

Bangladesh National Museum and Ahsan Manzil reopened yesterday after  Eid holidays. Their doors were open from 3:00pm onwards, but visitors found themselves faced with a unique form of suffering.

Due to the pandemic, Eid celebrations saw little fervour in the last two years. The religious festival finally regained its ardour this year, with the capital’s residents flocking to various centres of entertainment.

In her late 70s, Nadira Begum has signs of aging written in the wrinkles on her face. Her smile has faded over years of toiling. Married at a young age, she got separated from her then husband and had to leave behind her children. She got remarried, but her husband is no more. Nadira’s life now is all about solitude. As Eid arrives, everything remains exactly the same.

Although Sutrapur Modern Gymnasium, located near the capital’s Katherpool intersection, has the word “modern” in its name, visitors will have a hard time finding anything modern about it.

On Friday afternoon, at Tejgaon’s Satrasta intersection in the capital, a peculiar “hotel” was seen next to the land survey building. There, it doesn’t cost money to get a whole meal; anybody can avail one for a good deed done by them in the day. 

On hot summer days, when the scorching heat would leave pedestrians exhausted, the park would serve as a resting place. Mornings would see clusters of people belonging to different age groups flocking for routine workouts. In the golden hours of the afternoons, the triangular park became a place for light chats.

With the first rays of the morning sun, the nation, after two long years, is set to usher in Pahela Baishakh, the first day of Bangla New Year and the biggest secular festival for Bangladeshis.

Halkhata is a tradition that is almost synonymous with Pahela Baishakh celebrations. It refers to the practice of opening new ledger books for account-keeping on the first day of the Bangla New Year.

It’s that time of the year again, when Dhaka University’s fine arts faculty is surrounded by colours.

“I’ve been living in different places in different houses with my mother since my childhood. We have no land and no house to call our own. We are a family of five, and we need a house. I’ll be forever grateful if the prime minister gives me one.”

Houses under the third phase of the Ashrayan-2 project are being made to be “stronger” and “long lasting”.

Twenty years ago, Mominul Islam lost his house in Chilmari, Kurigram to river erosion. In search of fortune, he migrated from there to Savar’s Shimulia union. Although it was no easy task, he managed to eke out a living working on other people’s land.

The situation in and around the Ramna Kali Mandir and Ma Anandamoyee Ashram near the Dhaka University campus was frightfully unnerving.