Playing joke on our heritage!
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
When artefacts of historical importance belonging to our country are shown to the general public, one can expect that the explanation of those items would be correct, in context, and error-free. Sadly, this small expectation of mine was struck down ruthlessly when I visited Sonargaon outside Dhaka city. Almost all the items on exhibition had their tagged fact written in English, but whoever wrote it, in my opinion, did not study English properly i.e. 'slaughtering' became 'slaughting' among many of the mistakes I saw. The artefacts are laid down in a narrow corridor through the complex, which does not permit anyone stopping to view and appreciate them fully. There are no security cameras inside the complex; despite several signs that forbade people from taking pictures, I saw everyone taking picture left and right. It's like our national heritage is a joke. The best part is, it's a joke only to us, not the foreigners. The joke is further extended if one visits Panam City, the first settlement in this area. The buildings, historically significant, look like the authorities are waiting for them to break down so that some new real estate company can claim the land. Deplorable, to say the least.
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