MAILBOX

Songs of Victory

It is needless to say that songs have an immense power to influence the human soul. Sometimes they make us happy, sometimes they make us sad. Songs can bring a revolutionary change in the human mind and also in the society. This is what happened during our struggle for independence. We all know more or less about the contributions of songs at the time of the liberation war. Many songs of Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra such as Purbo Digante Surjo Utheche, Ekti Phoolke Bachabo Bole, Salam Salam Hajar Salam became immensely popular and inspired the freedom fighters to fight for our motherland. These patriotic songs still have the power to thrill us whenever we listen to them. Thanks to Elita Karim as well as the Star Weekend team for a precious write up, published in the Star Weekend on December 16, 2016, that featured some of the classic songs from our independence movement.

Md. Sayedur Rahman    
Jatrabari, Dhaka

Broken Rides, Broken Promises 

The article titled "Shishu Park: Hoping for a Better Future" published in Star Weekend on December 2, 2016 described the problems of our one and only Shishu Park. At present, Shishu Park is the only place inside Dhaka where children can recreate themselves with various types of rides such as merry-go-round, wonder wheel, battery car etc.  As it is run and maintained by the government's tourism department and City Corporation, the rides are affordable for the middle class and urban poor. However, the condition of this amusement park is quite appalling as the writer depicted. Age old rides, broken boundary walls and poor maintenance have already made this park quite unappealing. On the other hand, the government has recently shut down another popular amusement park called Shishu Mela in the capital. Instead of destroying parks, playgrounds and gardens, we should preserve these sites which are very necessary for the city dwellers. We should remember that a city cannot be a city without adequate recreational facilities.     

Badaruddin Omar
Department of English, Chittagong Universit

The opinions expressed in these letters do not necessarily represent the views of the Star Weekend.