Islamophobia in USA

Over the past three months, Americans have been driven to believe in their worst fears and paranoia regarding Muslims through the speeches and perspectives provided by some selfish politicians like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Lazio, Newt Gingrich and others.

Besides Muslims in the USA, the situation has also concerned Muslims worldwide as well as Americans from other faiths.

Following is an Op-ed piece written by columnist Nicholas D Kristof in the New York Times

Here's another article by John G Kays

If things get out of hand, then incidents mentioned in this article will become rampant in the USA

Training, skill & experience

Published in The Daily Star
Star Campus magazine
May 27, 2007

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Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

The expression 'practice makes perfect' in the current competitive professional world has turned to 'training, skills and experience makes perfect'. Acting on this particular detail, fresh graduates and under-graduate students are seeking the aid of organizations specializing in human resources training. One such organization is Horizon International Institute of Training (HIIT) which specializes in Human resource training, placement and consultancy. HIIT recently conducted a training session for second semester students of BRAC University that was organized in collaboration with the English Language Program (EL-Pro) of the university.

Around 88 second semester students participated in the daylong training session at the BRAC Centre for Development Management (BCDM) at Savar on March 17, 2007.

“The training session was a part of the residential semester that all BRAC university students have to take in order to enhance academic and individual development,” said Dominic Bennett, Senior Manager, HIIT and a trainer during the session. He informed that the university authorities desired HIIT's professional management team to provide their students with a taste of corporate workplace environment and requirements.

Yassir Husain, Chief Operating Officer (COO), HIIT, who also trained during the session, said, “This professional grooming and skill development package will enable the students to get a first hand knowledge and experience of how 'Power Etiquette and Dressing' make a difference in an individual's success path. He also demonstrated and provided tools to students through which they can observe and correct their behavior and etiquette. These skills and tools will enable these students to 'Walk the Talk' and therefore stand out as exceptionally well prepared and well groomed individuals in the society.”

Sabrina Nasser Liya, a student who participated in the session said, “Earlier, I deemed job interviews as examinations for which one has to study. But after the session, I understood that preparation for a job interview includes grooming, mental preparation through confidence and other necessary details.”

“Opportunities come suddenly and if we are unprepared, we will never be able to take advantage of them,” said Naila Chowdhury, Chairman and Chief Executive officer, HIIT. She further explained that training and grooming prepares the students to preempt employment and individual development opportunities.

“Analogically, if fresh graduates are the free energetic river water flowing aimlessly, then HIIT is the river-bank that will show them the direction to the bigger opportunity sources,” she said.

Horizon International Institute of Training (HIIT), a USA Bangladesh joint venture, embarked on a noble mission to train and develop individuals with professional skills and grooming, bring visible changes in corporate social responsibility and increase local expertise for technical training in the wireless and technical sector. The organization is resourced with a management team from experienced multinational backgrounds with internationally acclaimed credentials and over 20 years of cumulative experience, international standard training programs and state of the art training institute.

HIIT currently provides job placement services, human resource consultancy, policy, corporate governance, performance evaluation method, local and international BPO, call centre management, corporate trainings in leadership & management & career counseling including aptitude assessment & skill set analysis. Despite its recent initiation, HIIT already has an impressive client base which include brands like Aktel, Aramex, BRAC Bank, BRAC University, Bright Star Corporation, BanglaLink, CityCell, DHL, Expo Lanka, Grameen Telecom, Igloo, Paxar, Texas group and others. The organization also has service partners in India, Canada, USA and Dubai.

Microsoft presses 'enter' for Bangladesh

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Wed. November 24, 2004

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Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

The youth of Bang-ladesh have a lot of potential and given a chance some Bill Gates may even pop up," said a laughing Faycal Bouchlaghem, Microsoft Asia Pacific's business development director for emerging markets.

The statement made at made at the Pan Pacific Hotel Sonargaon on Monday during the official launch of the first fully-owned subsidiary office in Bangladesh signalled the high hopes Microsoft has for the country.

Through the new office located at Gulshan, Dhaka, the globally reputed brand plans to implement an extensive range of local marketing and sales programs together with their market development partner, Square Group.

The foreign representative laid out the three basic areas on which Microsoft will be focusing in Bangladesh.

"We will be making our best effort to improve the education sector, aid in developing firms and entrepreneurs involved in the information and technology sector and also aid the government sector with ongoing e-government projects," said Bouchlaghem.

Microsoft plans to formulate education curricula and policies with the education ministry. Through the curricula, the students in the secondary schools and universities of Bangladesh will be able to acquire sound and fruitful computer knowledge and skills in various applications.

"Such programs in academic institutions will equip students with computer knowledge and skills and thus enable him or her to meet job requirements anywhere in the world," said Bouchlaghem told Star Tech, alluding to the current unemployment crisis in the nation.

"We want to work with the youth of Bangladesh who have a proven record of perseverance and hard work," said Bouchlaghem.

"Intellectual Property Right (IPR) will be implemented to ensure the promotion and encouragement of creative and amateur IT personnel and software developers," said Feroz Mahmud, country manager, Microsoft Bangladesh.

The brand plans to partner with local and foreign companies to establish an improved and efficient e-government in Bangladesh.

"If requested we will be more than willing to help out the government with their ongoing projects like the national Id, MRP and so on," Bouchlaghem informed StarTech after the conference. He believes employees of local partners will largely benefit from the global experience that the Microsoft team has acquired over time.

"We may even provide new and better solutions for e-government projects in the near future," said Bouchlaghem.

Microsoft also plans to localise their products and sell them in Bangla.

Currently, Microsoft has products in over 60 different languages, which are being sold all over the world.

At the official launching of Microsoft in Bangladesh, the Business Development Director briefly reiterated the primary focus of the newborn local office.

"We are keen on partnering with local and foreign companies. Through such endeavors we not only transfer skills, but we also bring in new players who can play an indirect role in the overall global Information Technology scene," he added while introducing the 15-member Microsoft Bangladesh team.

"Through this partnership, the IT sector of Bangladesh will be bolstered by a powerhouse like Microsoft," said Charles CR Patra, managing director, Square Informatix, speaking at the launch.

"This day is a historic point in our journey through the path to ICT in Bangladesh," said Abdul Moyeen Khan, Science and ICT Minister in his speech.

The Minister criticised the otherwise popular view of technology creating a barrier between the classes. He also pointed out that Bangladesh is currently exporting software to 23 countries of the world.

"The nation appreciates Microsoft's venture and we hope to reciprocate the confidence and trust that it has shown toward us, through hard-work and dedication," Khan concluded.

Luxury adorns city streets

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Mon. November 21, 2005

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

‘Porsche” has now entered the luxury car track like the BMW, Mercedes Benz, Lexus, Volvo and other famous names that has increased two-fold in the city in recent times.

Dealers in the city said that around 500 cars of these brands have been sold during the last two years.

Between 2002 and 2003, only 230 luxury cars were sold out, and now the demand has increased by almost 115 percent, said a dealer from Motijheel.

Executive Motors Limited, sole dealer for BMW cars in Bangladesh, has been successful in this business over the last three years.

"We sold over 190 cars in the past two years with around 165 transactions already complete and over 25 more units to be delivered to our customers," said Tayabul Bahar, General Manager, Executive Motors Limited.

The BMW showroom was put up in the Tejgaon Industrial area, three years back. In its first year, the dealer sold about 60 units.

"Most models sold were from the 3-series and 4-series. 5-series models were also selling but at a slower pace," said Bahar.

Last year, over 75 cars were sold from the showroom.

"Surprisingly cars from the 3, 4, 5 series had an equal demand with the 6 series creeping into the race," Bahar added.

This year, they have exceeded their annual target of 81 units.

Mercedes Benz, one of the most reputed global brands, is fighting a neck-to-neck battle with BMW in the Bangladeshi market.

"We have sold around 187 units over the last two years," said Md. Ariful Azim, Head of Operation, Rancon Motors Limited, the dealers for Mercedes Benz in Bangladesh.

Third in the race, is Lexus with over 120 units of reconditioned and brand new cars sold, and Volvo keeping close behind having sold 65 cars in 2003-04.

"We face problems with taxes and heavy transportation costs in shipping each unit all the way from Sweden," said Hanif A. H. Nasim, Sales and Marketing Manager, A1 Motors Limited.

Nasim said that unlike most luxury car dealers, who ship their cars through neighbouring or South Asian countries like India or Singapore, A1 motors Limited yet still import their merchandise directly from the manufacturer in Sweden.

"As such, the prices of each car are naturally quite high and this has caused a slump in the demand of Volvo cars in the city," he said.

The overwhelming demand is especially from upcoming business magnates according to these dealers.

"Young businesspeople and chief executive officers of leading business organisations in the age range of late 30s to 40s are our customers. They know much about the durability, luxury, performance, speed and other details of each variety," said Bahar, about BMW's customer base.

"They prefer to ride in style and elegance now and therefore the demand for luxury cars are increasing," said the Volvo sales and marketing manager.

And to sustain their customer base, most dealers ensure the best possible after sales service while some provide test drive facilities too, to potential customers.

Besides its impressive sale in the city, sources from Executive Motors Limited, told Star City that a large number of cars are also being sold to buyers in Sylhet, Chittagong and other parts of the country.

The whooping sales and services provided by most dealers have been highly appreciated by the original manufacturers.

"We were awarded 'the Best Facilities Award 2005' from BMW headquarters," said Bahar.

He further said that BMW is planning to initiate a plant in India by early 2007.

A1 Motors Limited on the other hand, is negotiating with the Volvo Head-Office in Sweden for discounted prices, according to company sources.

The lucrative market is opening avenues for dealers to bring in more brands like the Jaguar, Cadillac and Lincoln, which may hit the city streets next year or early 2007, said a dealer, on condition of anonymity.Read the original news

Where will she go from here?

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Date: December 4, 2005


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Syed Tashfin Chowdhury and Wahida Mitu

The baby smiled, though in deep slumber. A pipe is passed through her nostrils, but she is free to dream - dream of a wonderful future that may lie before her. But alas...what has fate in store for her?

What cruelty would prompt one to throw away a newborn child!

Uncertainty fills the air as Social Welfare Department (SWD) authorities of the Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) are confused with the decision of handing over the responsibility of the baby to anyone willing to take care of the child as one's own. This decision however, will be made after the child has completely recuperated.

"The baby is stable but is still not out of danger," said AKM Mizanur Rahman, Assistant Registrar, Paediatric Surgery ward, Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

Why? Rahman said the little girl had been buried in the sand for a long time. The sand and germs, usually carried by crows, are liable to infect her with Septicaemia (a serious illness in which an infection spreads through the blood) at any time.

The infant was rescued from a flock of crows, buried under a pile of sand, a few weeks back.

About a dozen crows pecked at the face of the baby girl; most of her body was hidden in a sand field near the Hazaribagh Boubazar area on November 17. Rescuers dug the baby out and rushed her to the DMCH, where doctors immediately performed surgery on her.

Doctors from the departments of Paediatrics and Plastic Surgery are taking care of her. Worried about her complete recovery from current condition, they are trying hard to keep her stable.

"The infant is in need of long-term treatment to enable her to undergo further surgery," said Dr. Md. Shah Alam Talukder, Associate Professor, Department of Paediatric Surgery, DMCH. "Unless she regains physical normalcy, we cannot operate on her further," he added.

"We have now become very attached to the child, that we will not give up until we are convinced that we have done our best for her," said Dr. Talukder.

"Half of the girl's right cheek and lower part of the left leg were eaten up by preying crows," said the Ward 35 Nurse-on-duty.

Plastic surgeons will be able to work on bringing her distorted cheek and leg to normal only after she completely recovers physically, said Rahman, adding that they may not be able to bring back her original appearance.

The hospital authorities engaged Minu -- an attendant from the time the child was admitted to the DMCH, to take care of her.

"The baby sleeps, through the day and starts crying at night," said Minu. "Seems like she is longing to be cradled in her mother's bosom," the attendant added.

The child is surrounded by 60 to 100 visitors daily, with most of them interested in adopting her.

"Requests flow in from interested couples, families and individuals daily to let them adopt the baby," said the on-duty nurse.

Her long list of potential adopters includes a minister and his wife and some foreigners.

The nurse also said some ladies who came to adopt the baby, created a scene later as their pleas were refused.

"We do not give any child admitted to DMCH for adoption," said Firoja Begum, an officer of SWD. "We usually hand them over to the government orphanage," she added.

"People can adopt children from private orphanages, not from state owned homes," she said.

So those interested in the adoption of the child have no ray of hope of getting her.

Bridging the digital divide

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Wed. February 02, 2005

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Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

ALCATEL, one of the leading global telecommunication brands, is taking the initiative to facilitate the overall development of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector of the country by aiding the students and faculties of various universities through numerous programmes, seminars and internships.

“We are planning to involve Bangladesh in our initiative to bridge the digital divide,” said Shajel Qureshi, Manager, Marketing Business Development and Corporate Communication, Alcatel, South Asia.

The digital divide indicates the difference in facilities for people to communicate, relative to their geographic location, living standards and level of education.

It is an advantage that most countries like the US, Canada, Australia and so on have in information and communication technology over other countries in this area.

So far, Alcatel organised a three-day seminar last year, where thirty students along with faculties from some leading universities of the nation took part. Students from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and North South University (NSU) were among them.

On the very first day, the students interacted and took part in seminars presented by experts from some of the leading cell phone operators of the country. Technical experts from the Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) took part on the second day, while experts from Bangladesh Railway, to whom Alcatel has provided optical fiber solutions and operators from power grid company and the forthcoming Public service telephone network (PSTN) took part in the seminar on the last day of the event.

“The event was a unique opportunity for the students to discuss various technical issues, products, solutions with experts,” said Qureshi.

Along with such an event, the company plans to initiate other projects to aid the overall infrastructures of most universities as well as to propel the knowledge and skills of the students at these institutions.

Alcatel plans to provide their journals and news-letters for university libraries, provide access to the Alcatel Virtual University via the internet, sponsor special projects and research done by students, contribute toward the video learning library of the universities and set up high tech telecommunication labs.

The company will also offer internships, provide the opportunity to university students and lecturers to work with Alcatel with a more 'hands-on' approach thus replenishing the skills and knowledge of employees of the company and the university members as well.

“As more universities are introducing telecommuni-cations as a major in their curriculum, hopefully the nation will benefit from students graduating from these institutions with such majors and the experience and skills that Alcatel will be able to provide to them,” said Qureshi.

Alcatel will also participate in different IT and telecom seminars organised by the universities concerned. Experts from the company will also hold presentations for the students of the leading universities on a regular basis thus updating students about recent developments in the global ICT scene.

“Alcatel may also collaborate on joint programs with some of the leading universities, in order to determine the readiness of Bangladesh for the anticipated submarine cable network and other appropriate technology infusion to the country such as WLL, YMAX and XTSL” , Qureshi added. He also stated that most of these activities will be undertaken within the first quarter of this year.

Alcatel is known for their contribution in the telecommunications sector in countries like Namibia, Colombia and China.

Alcatel provides communication solutions to telecommunication carriers, Internet service providers and enterprises for delivery of voice, data and video applications to their customers or employees. The company is also known for their fixed and mobile broadband networks, applications and services, through which it has helped its partners and customers in building a user-centric broadband world. Alcatel operates in more than 130 countries.

Cruise thru' limitless airspace

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Mon. February 16, 2004

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Explore limitless airspace with lightweight remote-control (RC) planes. Dive, roll, spin, glide, soar through the skies or drop down for a perfect landing. It's great fun.

"Anyone is likely to get hooked to this after flying his first RC plane," said Zabeer M Khan, as he flew his glider over Nikunjo area near the Airport Road.

Khan boasts 40 such RC planes and has taken air-cruising by glider as a hobby since childhood.

Skill, dedication and technical know-how are required to sustain such a hobby, says Khan, who completed his higher study in the UK and returned home to Bangladesh in 1997.

In the US, Canada and the UK, the hobby is popular among people of all ages and there are RC flying clubs, hobby shops and instructors thanks to the enthusiasm of RC flyers.

Khan wants to promote RC airplane flying in Bangladesh and has received good responses from enthusiasts.

When he flies planes in open areas, people watch him performing amazing stunts. "Some youths approached me and really wanted to fly such planes."

Having such a plane is only the first step to a major leap. Most people mistake the planes for toys, but flying such planes needs instructions.

"I got a plane at age 11, but I flew my first plane at 29," said Khan, managing director of Bengal Indigo, one of the leading denim manufacturers in Bangladesh.

Khan's planes did not fly on the first day and crashed numerous times, but his aircraft can now reach as high altitude as normal planes do because of his dedication and love for the hobby.

Beginners should stick to electric planes rather than fuelled aircraft, as plane crashes are usual of learners, he suggested.

A remote-control electric plane has three major components -- radio system, kits and the power system.

Says Khan, who built two RC airplanes out of foam: "If your plane crashes, you have to buy a new airframe with which your previous radio and power system must be compatible. It works perfectly."

He looks forward to opening the first ever hobby shop in Bangladesh, which will help the otherwise helpless flyers with information, airframes and radio system.

"I want the flyers to enjoy the thrill of flying an airplane first-hand, even if they do not buy it."

"I may hand homemade planes for free to visitors who come to the hobby shop," said Khan, who flies his planes every day, eliciting admiration from people.

Of superheroes, fantasies and comics

Read the original news

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Rising Stars
Date: May 26, 2005


Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
As an eleven-year-old, I was extremely skinny and wore thick glasses, the combination of which somehow always attracted the local bullies at school and at the playground near our then-residence.

Pretty soon, I got bored with the daily beatings, arm wrenches and head locks and was rather satisfied with TV where cartoons featuring Spiderman, Superman, The Thing and Fantastic Four cartoons were aired.

In about another year or two, my uncle introduced me to my first ever comic books, which were a 'Little Archie' digest and two Spiderman magazines.

I was hooked instantaneously and my love and passion for comics has not diminished in the past 12 years, ever since my first exposure to these literary artwork complete with entertainment, adventure and simple fun.

Even though, I still do read Archies, I am more inclined toward DC and Marvel comics unlike most other comic-book readers who would prefer Archies, Asterix and Tintin over these any day of the week.

There are possibly two reasons for this. The primary reason could be the scarcity of DC and Marvel comics unlike the aforementioned groups.

On the other hand, unlike Archies, Asterix or Tintin, most DC and Marvel comic books have stories, which are to be concluded in the next issue of the same title.

Hence, as ransacking the bookstores of New Market & Nilkhet will be rather tedious, comic book readers swiftly switch to the more generic comic-book titles.

Most people even feel that such Superhero comics are more or less the same with a super hero tackling a super-villain, who is about to conquer the world, with the help of some heinous and almost impossible(!) plan.

But to tell you the truth, there is more to be learnt about comic-books than can be actually comprehended by these laymen.

History :
Marvel and DC (Detective Comics), the two major comic-book companies, both began their journey from the 1930's, which is still remarkably termed as the Golden Age of comics.

Even though, DC was named as such in 1945 and was a merger of three major comic companies namely, National Allied Publications, Detective Comics, and All-American Publications, it was the first company to publish original stories in comic book form in 1937. The major breakthrough for the company was in 1938 through Action Comics, featuring Superman and later, Detective Comics, which soon featured regular stories of the Batman. The two titles are still being published and are rightfully termed as the longest running titles in comic-book publication.

Marvel comics, renamed from Timely comics and Atlas comics, made their presence felt in 1939 with Marvel Comics # 1, which featured the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner.

As an answer to DC's impressive line of Superheroes like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and the first superhero team, the Justice Society of America, Marvel soon had the already mentioned Torch and Captain America.

Marvel, soon had the edge over DC during late 1950's and early 1960's with the publication of titles like 'the Fantastic Four' and 'the Amazing Spiderman'. DC, on the other hand, competed against this onslaught with improvised characters like The Flash, The Hawkman, The Atom and the Green Lantern. DC even revised the superhero team concept and published the 'Justice League of America'. This period is thus claimed to be 'the Silver age' of comics.

By 1970, Marvel soon had a head start with unique and personalized characters in the storylines, which featured characters and teams like 'the Avengers', 'Silver Surfer', 'X-Men', 'Nick Fury', 'Thor', 'Conan' and many more. DC still fumbled with its traditional story telling procedure and soon lost a huge number of fans to Marvel.

The 80's and 90's were the greatest times for comic readers, when the two companies were out to overdo each other efforts and soon came up with some pretty revolutionary story lines.

DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths, Death of Superman, Batman Knightfall and Batman: the Dark Knight Returns and Marvel's Spawn, the new and revived X-men, and Spiderman: Maximum Clonage, along with a crossover venture by the two called, DC VS. MARVEL.

The current period is seeing the two companies reaching for newer markets with improved TV shows, movies, and collectibles while paying less attention to the circulation of their comic-book titles.

Evolution:
Primarily most people regard these comic book titles as 'the last resort for retards or geeks'. (I used to have some friends with the same notion back in school, whose love for Hip-hop music and baggy pants whose belts reached the ground always eluded my sense of reasoning.)

The thought got established into the minds of such 'boors' through simple story-telling back during the initiation of comic publication in the early 1930's. The stories basically had the Superhero saving the day and the Whole world by defeating another impossible-to-defeat villain's master plan.

But in the late 1930's and early 1940's comics were a major inspiration during World War II when characters like Marvel's Captain America, Submariner and some other characters and DC's Justice Society of America battling Nazi Super Villains in their own separate publications.

Comics now, are as entertaining as any drama serial, movie, or sports shows provided the reader has the imagination to believe and visualize whatever he or she is reading.

This trend began in late 1960's , when readers could finally relate to the problems being faced by Marvel's Peter Parker, an average teenager who, despite having a secret identity like Spiderman, had girl problems, tardiness issues & financial hardships.

Owing to the boom in circulation of this particular comic book, Marvel soon introduced this personal story procedure in most of its other titles as well.

Following suit, DC focused on the problems in the lives of Clark Kent (Super Man), Bruce Wayne (BatMan), Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), Barry Allen (Flash), Diana (Wonder Woman) and many others.

From 70's onward, the same comic-book titles were being used a major theme for addressing social issues like pollution, drug abuse, racism and even AIDS awareness.

Comics were the major source of inspiration for most kids during the Vietnam war and especially during the post- 9/11 situation in the US.

I remember reading a Spiderman issue, where amidst a post 9/11 New-York city (mind-lowing artwork), Spiderman comes to the rescue of a US Muslim who was about to be a casualty of hate- crime incidents, just because he shared the same religion as the terrorists.

Audio-Visual Entertainment :
Besides sporting Superheroes, these companies also published an impressive line-up of other characters as well some of which happen to be blockbuster movie hits, TV shows and cartoons like DC's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Constantine, Swamp Thing, and Marvel's Buck Rogers, Transformers, Conan, and a lot more.

Unknown to most people, the two companies also published comic versions of hit movies and TV serials like Star Wars, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, The A- team and also the 1980's revolutionary sci-fi mini series, 'V'.

The two companies also produced titles like DC's House of Mystery and Marvel's Weird Wonder Tales (1958) which were soon introduced as TV series during the 1970's.

Currently, with the aid of highly improved special effects and other movie-making techniques, movies like Marvel's Spiderman 1 & 2, X-men 1 and 2, and the much anticipated Batman Begins, superheroes are finally conquering the silver screen.

Despite the failure of Marvel's Hulk, Punisher, Elektra and the moderate Daredevil, and DC's Catwoman, comic book readers and movie-goers alike should await major movies like Marvel's Ghost Rider, Submariner, Fantastic Four, X-men 3, and DC's Superman Returns by the end of this year.

Value:
The cost of a comic book, increases over time, depending on the condition and the significance of the issue due to the high demand of comic-book collectors and the scarcity of the issue.

For example, the 1987 price of Marvel's first comic book title published in 1939, Marvel Comics # 1 was $ 82,000.

To most collectors like me(with a collection of over 1000 comics), comics have a place nearer to the heart for being a friend who whisked me to another world, away from the sorrows and pain of reality till I got done with it.

Hey, its also better than drugs since you would never need to be rehabilitated or die from an overdose!

Note: There are tons of other comic-book companies with revolutionary characters whom I have not discussed. I have only focused on DC and Marvel comics as they are the major players in the comic-book industry.

Piranha, African catfish bred and sold in abundance

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Sun. January 08, 2006

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Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Dangerous piranhas and African catfish are now being bred in ponds and canals and sold abundantly in kitchen markets of the city in the absence of any restriction on breeding and selling of these alien fish which are risky to human health.

Piranhas and African catfish are voracious flesh-eating predators, schools of which even prey on human flesh.

Because of the lack of knowledge of what is going on, city-dwellers are buying the fish due to the low price.

Fish traders at Karwan Bazar told Star City that they were facing many problems because of the competition posed by the piranhas and African catfish sale.

"Unethical fish traders are selling piranhas under differ-ent names," said Md Milon, a pomfret seller at the Karwan Bazar kitchen market.

Milon said the pseudo-names for piranhas in and outside the city are Korch and Thai Pomfret.

Customers are fooled by the similarity in the appearance that piranhas have with pomf-ret, according to Milon.

"Both piranhas and pomfret are oval shaped and flat. There are other similar features too," he said.

He pointed out that korch or Thai pomfrets (piranhas) sell rapidly than the normal pomfret due to the price difference.

"The prices of korch or Thai pomfret are only Tk 120 per kilogram. While the actual pomfret are around Tk 250 per kilogram," he said.

Similarly the prices of the native catfish are around Tk 400 per kilogram while the prices of African catfish are Tk 80-100 only.

"As such, the lower and lower middle class people are regular buyers of African catfish," said another fish seller of the Malibagh kitchen market.

Fish sellers said that although piranhas and pomfret look alike, consumers could still differentiate them by a number of features that piranhas have.

"Korch or piranhas have scales that pomfret hasn't. Also piranhas have a reddish hue while pomfret is totally white," said Karim, a fish-seller.

But there is little difference between the African catfish and the natural catfish, he said.

Piranhas, African catfish, silver carp and some other breeds of fish made their way into the Bangladeshi market in the late '90s.

As they were big in size and cheap, city dwellers began consuming them," said a fish trader.

Later customers stopped consuming most varieties because of the bitter taste.

But the piranha and African catfish are still being sold in the kitchen markets at Malibagh, Karwan Bazar, Kanthalbagan, Agargaon BNP Bazaar, Magh-bazar, Rampura, Mohakhali and other areas.

The piranha is bred in numerous ponds outside Dhaka, said a fish seller at Kalabagan.

"Businessmen in Gazipur, Tangail and nearby areas are making lakhs monthly from breeding and sale of piranha" he added.

Apart from the piranha, African catfish is also bred in the city.

Fish traders and city-dwellers, said that catfish is bred in ponds in Bashabo, Badda, Rayerbazar, and Mirpur.

"During a discussion with a few relatives of the pond owner in our area, I found that the fish is fed with stray dogs," said a resident of Maddhya Bashabo. "I stopped eating catfish on hearing this," he added.

It is common knowledge that the catfish is fed human and animal faeces.

Consumption of this fish is tremendously risky to health, said Professor Dr Md Shahadat Hossain, director general of Health Services.

"Even though some bacteria and viruses are killed when the fish is cooked, there is there is always a concern of disease through chemical poisoning and diseases transmitted and carried by the animals that the fish feeds on," said Hossain.

These fishes also harm the natural habitat of other fish and are partially responsible for water pollution of the ponds where they are bred.

Breeding of piranhas and African catfish has been prohibited in most countries of the world. But such is not the case with Bangladesh.

A senior official of the Ministry of Fisheries and Live-stock, on condition of anonymity, denied such breeding and sale.

"We had pointed out the problems that are caused by breeding of such fish. We cannot act legally against these unethical fish traders due to absence of a law against the breeding and sale," said the official.

No respite in police harassment; A human rights body reports maltreatment, bribery at city police stations

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

People seeking help from the police often face harassment, maltreatment and even physical abuse, reports a human rights organisation.

The police every day arrest a large number of people on suspicion and demand money for their release, says Odhikar, a non-government organisation that monitors activities at the city's police stations.

When relatives of the detainees come to the police stations to meet them, the police officers demand bribe for granting the permission. Besides, they claim money for the food served to them at the custody.

If the family members or relatives do not pay the amount charged by the police, the detainees are physically abused, Odhikar says.

"Officers receiving complaints ask for money depending on the appearance of the complainant," said Golam Kabir Khan, fact-finding officer, Odhikar.

The victims and their relatives have similar complaints against the police.

Odhikar initiated a programme in 2003 to monitor activities of a number of police stations including arrests without charge, behaviour of police towards detainees and common people, and the overall condition at the stations.

From its findings during January-March 2005, the organisation found over 660 arrests made on specific cases, 508 under the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Act and eight under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Due to the massive rate of arrests, the custody rooms in most police stations are overcrowded with inadequate lighting and water supply.

According to the Police Code, every detainee has the right to at least 6 square feet of space. "But the police never follow this code," said a researcher of Odhikar. "They are violating their own rules," he added.

The relatives and friends of detainees alleged that the police officers demand money from most arrestees taken under remand. Brokers hang around the police stations to mediate between the police and the victims.

"In exchange for money they promise less torture and abuse by the police officers during interrogation," said an ex-detainee, on condition of anonymity.

The people who are arrested on suspicion face more harassment.

"I was picked up from Lalmatia on my way to home as police suspected that I was involved in a robbery that occurred the previous day in the area," said Rafiqul Alam (not his real name), a private university student of Monipuripara.

Alam was taken to Tejgaon Police Station and was kept in a room with 15 to 17 other suspects and criminals. A sub-inspector of the station demanded Tk 25,000 for Alam's release.

"I am from a middle class family. As we could not arrange the money, later we took help of a lawyer to arrange my bail," said Alam. This enraged the sub-inspector who threatened to arrest him again.

"These sorts of incidents are reported frequently as most people are scared to do anything against the police who misuse the laws," said Kabir Khan.

He pointed out that some dishonest police officers deliberately target teenagers from middle class families in order to make some quick money.

The complainants are also treated harshly at most police stations.

"To file a general diary (GD), most complainants have to wait for over two to three hours at a police station. Moreover, the police officers receive Tk 50 to Tk 100 for registering a GD which is illegal," said a researcher of Odhikar.

"Usually the GD writer charges this amount as a processing fee," she said.

A police officer on condition on anonymity said, "Some lower level officers take money for filing complaints as they need some source of extra income," he said. According to him, most officers succumb to corruption due to low salaries.

SM Mizanur Rahman, commissioner, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, urged all victims of such harassment to report these incidents as soon as they occur.

"A conscious citizen should inform the higher authorities of police about these matters so that we can punish the dishonest policemen," he said.Read the original news

ICNEWS 2006: Next-gen wireless conference opens a window of possibilities

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Sat. January 07, 2006



Nafid Imran Ahmed and Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

The International Conference on Next-Generation Wireless Systems (ICNEWS) 2006 ended on January 4 amidst compliments and hope on implementation of some of the papers presented at the conference by some of the world's leading researchers, academics and practitioners in wireless communications.

"A number of academic institutions, members of the software industry and the regulatory bodies of the government attended the different sessions of the conference. They responded rather enthusiastically to the keynote papers and the papers presented at the conference," said Muzibul H Khan, vice-president, Engineering, Samsung Telecommunications America and General Chair of ICNEWS 2006.

Khan pointed out that the members of the conference met President Dr Iajuddin Ahmed, Post and Telecommunications Minister Barrister Md Aminul Haque, State Minister of Education, ANM Ehsanul Hoque Milon and other dignitaries concerning the conference.

"The conference was a great learning experience," said Khan.

Locally hosted by North South University (NSU) and sponsored by Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and technically co-sponsored by IEEE communications society, the conference started on January 2 at the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. The first day was dedicated to tutorials for beginner registrants at the conference.

The actual sessions began the next day on January 3. The sessions were divided into technical and business programs.

In the technical program, 34 papers in the wireless networking sub-track and 17 papers in the wireless communications sub-track were presented.

Some of the papers in the wireless LANs (Local Area Network) category included 'Integration of Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) & Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)', 'Performance Analysis of IrBurst for Large Data Object Exchange over Infrared Links', 'Fairness Studies of IEEE 802.11b DCF under heavy traffic conditions' and many more.

Promising papers were also presented during the other categories that included Wireless Technology for Developing Countries, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) Communications, Wireless Adhoc Networks, Next generation wireless communications, "Wireless" ICT Infrastructure for Bangladesh, Wireless Sensor Networks and Performance Analysis of Wireless Systems.

Other categories included applications, services and development of wireless systems, next generation mobile networks, applications, services, 3G and beyond 3G wireless networks. Five papers were included as posters in the technical program while 15 papers on the business track were presented in the final program.

The keynote papers were presented in between the different tracks.

Some notable researchers and academics presented these papers. Marco Chiani, University of Bologna, Italy, was the session chair during the Wireless Adhoc Networks session.

Chiani and Dr. Giridhar Mandayam of Radio systems group, Radio communications laboratory of Nokia Reseach Center and Head of the Nokia Research center presented two keynote papers separately on January 3.

Dr Khaled Ben Letaief, chair professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) and Head of the EEE Department at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Arindam Mukherjee from Intel presented their separate keynote papers on the last day of the conference.

Dr. Vijay K Bhargava, chair, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Moe Z. Win, associate professor, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Professor Sajal K. Das, Dept. of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) contributed in the submission and presentation of a number of papers themselves.

Bhargava also spoke during the award ceremony, which took place during the evening of January 4.

Three panel sessions concerning surveillance and location based technology, wireless vision, ICNEWS legacy and next step were also organised at the conference from January 2 till 4.

"The responses through the submission of papers were overwhelming," said Dr. Miftahur Rahman, publication, co-chair, ICNEWS 2006 and Head of Computer Science and Engineering department of NSU.

Rahman informed that enthusiastic researchers submitted 132 valid papers for presentation.

"It is quite apparent that they all wanted to participate in an event of such caliber where most of the keynote speakers are eligible for the Nobel Prize," he said.

The first-ever major event in Bangladesh, focused toward the field of wireless communication, was supported by some major names and reputed brands.

Besides NSU, IEEE, and IEEE communications society, the sponsors list also included Motorola, Megacorp, Nokia, IBM, Daffodil International University, Square Informatrix, OnAir solution, Jalalabad Telecom Limited, Flora Limited, WorldLink, Siemens, GrameenPhone, Aktel, Zip and many more.

Daffodil Online Ltd and Daffodil PC were the technology partners of ICNEWS 2006.

The technology provided by Daffodil at the event comprised of Fiber Optic Internet link through AsiaSat4 and Apstar 2R Satellite via DOL's VSAT, LAN set up, color printers, Negative/Slide/Print Scanners and photocopiers.

Along with this complimentary internet connection were also provided at every stall at the conference premises.

Participants and attendants at the conference complimented the efforts taken by the organisers of the fair.

With an objective of developing world class SQL Server professionals in Bangladesh, BDPASS, a local resident and non resident Bangladeshi initiative of PASS, the Professionals Association for SQL Server, a non-profit foundation founded by Microsoft and Computer Associates in the late '90s, were officially launched on the second day of the conference. PASS has almost 50+ chapters worldwide.

With the slogan 'Select Top n* from BDPASS', based on a SQL command, Kahar RMB Kahar, principal consultant and owner of North American Global Outsourcing announced the inception of BDPASS and elaborated the three-year roadmap of the foundation and hopes to hold the first PASS conference in BD by next year and the first BDPASS conference in USA by the year 2008. Kahar also hopes to host an international PASS conference in BD within the next three years. BDPASS will also hold outsourcing software development contest, where Bangladeshi software development companies can participate and win software development projects up to USD 10,000. Students can also participate and win software development projects up to USD 1,000.

"This was an innovative idea and is highly required for an emerging country in the field of Information technology and telecommunication like Bangladesh. I just hope the papers submitted and presented would reach the concerned authorities for implementation in due time," said Hassan Khan, a student of North South University, who attended the conference.

TIM Nurul Kabir, Vice-President, Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (Basis) appreciated the event as being a suitable platform where local talents and the software industry could show off their talents to noted IT and telecom personalities of the world.

"Most of the professors and Bangladeshi's abroad participating at the conference responded enthusiastically to our local developments in the field of IT and telecommunication. Some of them are even inclined to invest into this sector," said Kabir.

Organisers of the event are hopeful that the impressive response generated through this event will pave the way for other such useful conferences in the near future.

Out of the frying-pan into the fire...

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Wed. February 02, 2005



Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Tanvir was only a year away from his 'O' level exams. While preparing for the exams he had to attend classes at coaching centres and visit private tutors' houses along with his friends, one of whom introduced him to a new 'pleasure' called cannabis.

Soon Tanvir began to ask for a higher pocket money from his parents and when he thought it was not sufficient, he started stealing from his father's wallet and his mother's purse. Things got even worse, when he started borrowing money from his friends.

Receiving a few complaints from his friends and their parents, things were clear to Tanvir's parents who finally took him to a doctor. Later, they admitted him to a private drug addict rehabilitation centre in the city.

As Tanvir recovered in a few weeks, his parents were relieved to see that their son was no longer addicted to cannabis. But in about a month and a half, to their utter shock, they found him addicted to something else. This time it was heroin.

Parents of the drug addict youths in the city regularly face such situation. The reason behind the change in the addiction is something that is more alarming. The rehabilitation centre itself made him addicted to heroin, alleged Tanvir's family.

Sources said the drug addicts are usually kept in confinement at the rehabilitation centres where a section of staff provides them with alternative drugs. When they are released from these centres they start taking the new drugs.

Parents of the victims even believe that the authorities of most of these centres are aware of these activities.

"They want that the patients come back for a second or a third time because it would increase their income," said father of an addict, who had been admitted to four different rehabilitation centres until now.

"The parents are spending huge money to treat their drug addict sons or daughters in these private clinics but in most cases the end result is zero," said another victim.

"Except a few, most of these centres can easily be termed as detoxication centres, as they are just cleaning the addict up with various forms of opiate receptor blocker systems," said a volunteer at a rehabilitation centre.

Such centres throughout the world have different therapeutic and psychiatric programmes which develops the overall mental and physiological health of the addicts. Only a few centres in Dhaka have introduced such processes.

"These centres are being run abiding by the rules set up by the health ministry and how they deal with their patients are their own prerogative," said Dr Abdur Rahman Khan, director general of Health Services.

According to sources, some foreign doctors of these centres are even using medications, which they smuggle into the country inside their luggage from neighbouring countries. These medications have been banned in Bangladesh due to their adverse affects.

"A doctor bringing foreign medications into the country and a doctor prescribing or using banned medicines are both illegal," said Khan. "Strict measures can be taken against such doctors and we will soon investigate the matter."

3Com stretches its web in Bangladesh

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Wed. December 24, 2003



Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

BANGLADESH is on 3Com's high priority map, which is reflected through our initiative for the market here," said Upender Jit Singh, regional sales manager of 3Com Corporation, South-East Asian region. 3Com, the world-renowned network appliance company, launched their routers in Bangladesh through a seminar December 15 at IDB Bhaban.

3Com is considered to be the global leader in functionally rich, easy-to-use networking products. Bob Metcalfe, one of the inventors of Ethernet technology on which virtually all local area networks are based, founded 3Com in 1979. Till date, 3Com has been a 'Tier 1' brand for their Internet protocol service platforms, wireless products and so on. At the moment, 3Com is competing with Cisco Systems Inc.

Previously, Bangladeshi resellers of 3Com products faced difficulties communicating with overseas distributors and thus have their message conveyed directly to the manufacturers. 3Com, currently, has two distributors in Bangladesh -- Ingram Micros and Techvalley. The company believes that through these local distributors the communication channel would be open and fair for both sides.

The company has also initiated a program through which they will train and educate resellers all over the region, so as to restore the competitive edge for 3Com products. Twice a year, 3Com University holds 'Partners3' program, a half-day training event, for the resellers' employees, in different cities throughout the world over a two-to-three month period.

The 'Partner3' program covers information about emerging technologies and helps the resellers to stay updated on 3Com products, services and solutions. "Our training program will ensure that the resellers are ready to face the future market demands," said Upender Jit Singh about the program.

3Com announced launch of its new state-of-the-art Router 3000 family and 5000 family. The 3000 family routers are the entry-level fixed configuration routers for edge deployment, whereas Router 5000 series are 3, 4 and 8 slot chassis routers for core routing deployments.

The 3Com router 3000 family delivers standards-based routing, fully compliant with a range of wide area networking interfaces, routing protocols and standards. These routers also support security features as firewall and Virtual Private Network (VPN), Systems Network Architecture (SNA), Data-Link Switching (DLsW) DHCP, and WAN dial-on-demand backup solutions. A variety of QoS(Quality of Service) features such as VLANs, bridging IP multicast and so on, are also available. The routers consist of high-performance 50 Mhz processor, support for up to 2,048 Mbps over serial WAN ports and 64 MB standard operating memory.

All Router 3000 routers come equipped with maximum operating memory and a complete set of routing, security features and applications set as standard unlike many competitive products.

The 3Com Router 5000 family involves flexible LAN and WAN componentsSmart Interface Cards (SICs) and Multi-function Interface Modules (MIMs), which provides scalable, efficient, and secure network operation.

Additional facilities include -- built-in support for converged voice, data, and video provides advanced Quality of Service (QoS) and traffic management capabilities, integrate seamlessly with the existing network equipment of the customer.

Compared with competing products, the price of these routers are 13 to 14 per cent lower and the memory provided is twice more than that of the competing products.

"These routers are full featured and high performance routers as compared to our competition" said Singh, "3Com offers the best price performance feature benefits and therefore the routers have been aggressively priced."

Child Peddlars: Grown before childhood withers

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Mon. November 14, 2005

Mizanur Khan and Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Thirteen-year-old Russel, (not his real name) was roaming round the Kamalapur Rail Station looking for customers. Having left his parents back in Mymensingh at the age of 10, he started life in the city selling newspapers at the station for the last 18 months. His trade remained, but goods changed. He now sells phensidyl to regular customers and survives on the income he makes.

He collects 20 to 25 bottles of phensidyl from a woman at a nearby sweeper colony on a daily basis.

"I get Tk 10 per bottle from her and if I am lucky, the buyers give me tips," he said, adding that most of his buyers are students driving their own cars.

But Russel could not give the name of the woman, who provided the bottles, nor could he name the source, but he said that there were three other phensidyl-sellers at the station that got their goods from the same woman.

On the other hand nine-year-old Tareq was found selling heroine and ganja in the Agargaon area. Tareq, like Russel, claimed that he has been deployed by a woman and did not know her name.

"I collect about 10 to 20 puriya (units) from her at the Town Hall in Mohammadpur at each time. I hardly sell 10 to 15 puriyas a day," he said.

When asked about the woman, the boy said: "We call her mother as she gives us the bottles and we survive by selling them. Sometimes she points out potential customers," he added.

Traders use children like Russel and Tareq in the drug trade and numbers have risen to almost 500 in the last few years. These children are spread to over 50 spots in the city, sources at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said.

Child peddlers and addicts are found in plenty in the BNP Bazar of Agargaon, Mohammadpur Camp Bazar, Town Hall Bazar, Katashur, Shukrabad, Lalmatia, Chankharpuland Tongi Truck Stand.

Apart from these areas, child peddlers are also surfacing from Mirpur, especially Mirpur 13 and the Mirpur Tinshed Colony. Other spots are New Market Post Office area, Katabon, Gulshan Niketan, Shahzadpur, Nikunjo, Karwanbazar (near FDC), Gulshan Taltola (opposite shooting club), Tongi Amtoli, Chauddotoli and City Palli in Sayedabad.

Peddlers peddlers pick their 'ware' with range from cannabis, ganja, cocaine, heroine, and phensidyl from different 'hide-outs' located in rather discreet spots inside shopping malls, government colonies and similar places.

"As children are least suspected by the police, traders choose them for these jobs," said Nabil, an ex-drug addict.

Nabil explained that child peddlers are stable, trustworthy and are quite dispensable by the traders compared to adult traders.

"Adult peddlers always look for an opportunity to make an extra income or even run away when a huge stash of drugs have been sold through him. But child peddlers will always return to the trader as they cannot resort to any other livelihood where the pay is so good," he said.

These underage boys are controlled by more than a thousand women who come from the lower income groups.

Sources also said that addict parents hand over their children to these women to have an income to sustain their habit. Peddlers sober at the beginning of this dubious career may resort to addiction in the long run, commented another drug addict.

Narcotics Department officers said they were unable to take action against these children because of their age, even if they were arrested.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and the Narcotics department recently went on a joint drive and recovered a huge amount of drugs from several parts of city. Few female traders were arrested and the sale of phensidyl, heroine and hashish was significantly reduced.

Children caught for drug selling are sent to the juvenile correction centres while most of them get released after few weeks and become decoys for the godfathers. It is alleged that godfathers take an active role to free them through their influential connections.

"It is a vicious circle and is tough for peddlers to come out once they are in," said Sultan, a 19-year-old ex-addict, who was once a peddler himself.

"The trend is harmful for these children," said Selina Fatema, Lecturer, Clinical Psychology, Dhaka University, who explained that most of these children are still at 'the learning stage' of life.

"Most of them are yet to develop the sense through which they can distinguish good and bad. As they earn lumps of money through peddling, they naturally presume this an ideal career," she said, adding that apart from being addicts, they may end up being criminals.

"These children are being apprehended and then tried under the children's act. But as minors they are granted bail under special provisions," said Abdul Qayuum, Inspector General of Police, Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

He told Star City that the children are released and kept under the watchful eyes of counsellors from various NGOs.

"But most cases counsellors are indifferent to these children and the children usually return to their godfathers," said Qayuum.

"Children cling to this trade as most of them have families to feed and the need to survive. This issue will be easily solved if responsible and concerned citizens come forward as a community and aid concerned authorities to fight this growing problem," concluded the IGP.

Uncrowned king in his realm of art

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Mon. March 29, 2004
Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
Beauty is said to be in the eyes of the beholder and it can take any shape when imagined by an artist.

One will agree with the saying while admiring the artworks of Shankar Dhar, the creator of over 1,000 busts, thrones, statues and architectural models in wood, clay, cement and metals like lead, bronze, gold and silver.

Shankar has been in the world of art since childhood and attended school up to class X. He created numerous thought-provoking works, which brought him wide recognition.

Two masterpieces -- Astadhatu Bigroho (creation of eight metals) and the silver throne of the Dhakeswari Temple -- were his works. He is also internationally renowned for his prowess in creating busts in lead, silver and gold. His religious statues of Hinduism are found in temples in some European countries.

Architectural replicas like the Bangabandhu Bridge and the upcoming agricultural institute in Gazipur are among his works.

Shankar also crafts thrones for the statues, opening a new world which he feels will be a welcoming prospect for Bangladesh.

"There is a huge market for such thrones in Canada and Australia where the number of immigrants from Asia is increasing," Shankar said.

"Such immigrants who still want to hold on to their cultural roots have bought thrones from me over the years."

Nepal and India have been pioneers in exporting such ‘religious thrones' all over the world. But Shankar's admirable design and creativity, which accompanies each throne, makes it excel over the Indian and the Nepalese ones.

"The response I have received from such buyers have led me to understand that these religious thrones can be profitable and will channel in more foreign currency," said Shankar, who is now seeking financial help from local or foreign investors to initiate the highly promising small industry.

An exhibition of about 50 or more thrones will take place in the National Museum in a few months for investors and buyers alike.

He wishes to craft around 70 or more busts commemorating the martyrs who sacrificed their lives for Bangladesh.

"I hope the young generations will get to learn the history of our nation with the creation of such a gallery."

Shatabhisha Crafts, Shankar's shop in Old Dhaka, possesses some wonders of his artistry and is known as the refuge of many drifters who landed jobs with it.

"If authorities encourage the efforts of a few like me, we will be able to create more jobs for the poor."

somewhereindhaka.net: City's latest online entertainment guide

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Sat. November 26, 2005

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Are there any good concerts in the city today?" asked Shawkat to his friends. All five of them looked at each other, hoping to get a response. But apparently, nobody had heard of anything.

The six friends were meeting up right after completing their semester finals that week. They wanted to hang out and have a good time together.

But as none could come up with anything fruitful, they spent time at a local shopping mall, had lunch at a food shop there and then returned to their respective homes.

Early the next morning, Shawkat was disappointed to find out from a newspaper that two of his favourite bands performed at a venue in Gulshan the previous day, the very time they were loitering around in the mall.

Incidents like these are a common phenomena and the city still lacks a proper entertainment guide through which citizens can learn and make decisions about visiting ongoing fairs, expos, concerts, stage shows and other events.

www.somewhereindhaka.net promises to be just such a real-time web site, which will be an overall entertainment guide for city dwellers.

The site will provide an event calendar, forums and reviews of events, which will be categorised in six different sections.

The site, to be launched this week, will have articles under different categories like Music and Concerts, Stage and Films, Festivals and Expositions, Galleries and Art, Food and Spices and Books and Courses.

"The site will be very simple and user friendly. Browsers can click into each of these sections and find out about ongoing events," said Arild Klokkerhaug, head of opportunities, Somewhere In, a Norwegian-Bangladeshi joint venture software firm, which was initiated seven months back.

He explained that, sharing experiences and building togetherness for each event are the focus of the site. Members can tell others if they feel like going to the events, whether they have been there or even invite friends to join them, through the site.

He explained that through the site, browsers can learn more about each event through reviews written and posted on the site by others who have been to that particular event earlier. Pictures and images of the concerned event can also be uploaded into the site.

He also added that as the site develops later, users will be able to subscribe to SMS alerts or browse through user friendly WAP portals through which they can be connected to the site anywhere, anytime.

"Through the alerts, subscribers will be notified about the next few events where their favourite artist or band is scheduled to perform, at a monthly or weekly basis. The optional sms alerts will have a tiny charge. But this aims to help users toward making better decisions," he informed Star Tech.

"Such a site has a greater chance of success, if we, the site authority, keep our hands off the content and enable the users to create and report the news and events by themselves. We just need to focus on creating popular tools and ensure its smooth operation," he pointed out.

"Within a few weeks after its launch, we will enable users with free services through which they will enter, edit and manage the contents of the site, themselves," he said.

"We will enable services through which venue authorities, media organisations and concerned individuals can post their upcoming events into the site, once they register as members," he added.

Klokkerhaug further informed that these services provided through the site will be free of charge.

In their venture to create colourful moments for the growing web market in Bangladesh, the firm also promises to release a free Blog service in the near future.

"This is just a free tool through which browsers can write and publish their thoughts. Good and popular sites, which attracts massive attention, have proved to be effective marketing channels and our site may just become something like that in the near future, when and if it gains popularity," he explained.

Somewhere In, which claims to be recruiting the Best talents of Bangladesh, has been successfully providing offshore solutions to a number of promising business organisations of the nation, since its initiation.

Arild Klokkerhaug, one of the founders of the firm, is a Norwegian who has lived in Dhaka for over a decade. Through his experience on e-Governance and MIS projects and working with reputed companies like GrameenPhone, he has learned to look for what the market would love to be given. He hopes to fully utilise this knowledge in his own software firm.

Updated Avro Keyboard, Bangaliana Dictionary; ICT turns more Bangla savvy

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Sat. February 25, 2006

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Patrotism is certainly on the rise among Bangladeshis. So emanate some recent products bearing the hallmarks of the nation -- its traditions, heritage, culture and language.

The trend is seen in the ICT sector, too, with software firms and information and communication technologists dedicated to developing user-friendly Bangla software and applications.

The latest Bangla interface to join the Bangla ICT revolution is Avro Keyboard 3.0.0. Designed for the Windows operating system, it is the first of its kind to follow the Unicode standard entirely.

"Our key objective through this software is to generate awareness about Unicode," said Mehdi Hasan, author of the keyboard.

The first version of Avro Keyboard was released on March 26, 2003, followed by nine updated editions until February 9 last, Hasan told the Star Tech.

"The latest version supports all popular methods of Bangla typing, including English to Bangla phonetic typing, Uni Bijoy for Bijoy lovers, Bornona, Jatiyo [designed by Bangladesh Computer Council] and Avro Easy. Each of the methods strictly follow the Unicode 4.1 standard for Bangla typing," he explained.

Hasan said Avro Keyboard 3.0.0 supports the Bangla language styles of both Bangladesh and India along with Assamese as the 'Input Language' or 'Input Locale'. "Besides, the first-time users will also benefit from a virtual keyboard and a global one provided with the software."

But, the software has its limitations too.

"It's compatible with any system that supports Unicode. As such, the software may not work in Windows 95, 98 and Me," he said.

However, he said it would work smoothly in latter versions of the Windows like XP, 2003, Vista etc.

Despite this restriction, Avro has been downloaded for 50,000 times since its first release. "The latest version, like its predecessors, is still free. Whoever is interested can download it free from www.OmicronLab.com," Hasan informed.

Microsoft has added the software to their online solution directory for Indic language input. It has also been verified and added to the 'Useful Resources' list of the Unicode Consortium.

The software also boasts of an online forum with a fast increasing membership.

Besides Avro, the Bangaliana Interactive Dictionary has also created quite a stir in the last few years through their Bangla to English dictionary.

The latest update in their IT product includes a Bangla to Bangla and an English to Bangla dictionary.

The original version, Bangaliana Interactive Dictionary BE 1.50, was released on August 14, 2003. It had over 30,000 words in its database and an efficient search engine for the alphabetical list.

The dictionary also had a built-in interface where users could add Bangla words. Writing tools like a virtual Bangla keyboard and an explained Bangla conjunct menu were also available.

"We have improved some of these features and excluded others in our latest update of the dictionary," said Bangaliana Managing Director Omar Osman.

Besides a virtual keyboard, the latest version includes a list of 200 conjunct words. According to him, "The search engine will help type conjunct words properly and efficiently."

The words in the three dictionaries are sorted in ascending order. "We have excluded the notepad feature, which was provided with our previous dictionary. We hope to add the feature again in our later updates," said Osman.

The dictionary has the facility to print or save the words in pdf format. Users can also hear the pronunciation of the English words, in UK or USA accent. They can easily access any word chosen earlier using the 'Favorite' option.

Osman said this latest version will be available online from February 24. "Interested people abroad can purchase this update from at a discount price of $15, which may soon rise to $20."

For local buyers, the price is only Tk 500.

"The prices are different, because we need to generate funds for future updates. But our users abroad are not really losers in this case. They will be provided with free upgrades or updates for two years from the purchase," Osman argued.

It is apparent from such efforts of these young developers and entrepreneurs that by using the Bangla in software and applications properly, the ICT sector can achieve a success it has always sought.

Hopefully, they will get the funds, market access and exposure, and encouragement necessary to ensure the development of this field.

US institute comes in aid to perk up internet access and online applications

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Wed. May 26, 2004

Tag team
reporting from Saad Bin Fazle Hammadi and Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

POOR Internet penetration in Bangladesh has finally started to draw a flock of

international Net experts into the country who feel it is about time they chipped in with their technical know-how and resource to help the resource-poor country reach internet access to the grassroots people.

Even in the fast-stirring era of information technology Bangladesh runs well short of technical solutions that otherwise could easily facilitate and save cost of infrastructure.

But there is at least some good news for Bangladesh.

The US-based Alexandria Research Institute (ARI) has taken an initiative to explore alternative 'last-mile' solutions, identify barriers to their implementation and keys to overcome these hurdles.

The ARI, apparently on a mission to get rid of such stumbling blocks that are holding back countries like Bangladesh, arranged a workshop on countrywide internet access and online applications. Virginia Tech, US National Science Foundation (NSF), BRAC University, Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), Job Opportunities and Business Support in association with United States Agency for International Development (JOBS-USAID), Grameen Cyber Society and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) co-sponsored it.

The three-day workshop that got off to a vibrant start on May 22 at the LGED Bhaban in Agargaon unleashed some thought-proving sessions spearheaded by experts from United States, Canada, Singapore, Thailand, Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

Chief guest Faruk Ahmed Siddiqi, secretary, ministry of post and telecommunications, and Professor Saifur Rahman, director, ARI and chairman of the workshop, attended the inaugural ceremony. Also present at the event were Larry Maramis, deputy resident representative, UNDP, McDonald C Homer, USAID, Ghulam Mohiuddin, project co-ordinator, Grameen Cyber Society and Sayeed Salam, associate professor, computer science and engineering, BRAC University.

Major themes of the workshop entailed expansion of countrywide internet use and international experience with broadband services. Bangladesh has been selected for the workshop considering its nationwide telecommunications backbone infrastructure, population density, the vibrant private sector looking for growth and state support for ICT.

Asked about the high cost of internet service, Prof Saifur Rahman told The Daily Star on the sidelines of the workshop, "Foreign experts have found that they could help in promoting internet access in Bangladesh. Our workshop aims to bring about a solution and inexpensive internet communication across the country. We will not deploy a technology unless it is going to prove useful for the country."

About ninety percent of Bangladeshis could be served by as few as twenty five towers with multiple base stations using WLL or 802.16 technologies, he said

Online applications along with internet access would create opportunities to deliver distance learning, health care, agricultural extension services and legal advice in Bangladesh, continued Prof Saifur.

In the overseas, internet access with DSL connectivity is available at $30 a month and the modem is served free of cost, but in Bangladesh the modem costs $1000 and monthly payment runs as high as $80, he said.

'Having internet access would only be useful if our citizens have the reasons to use it. This will also allow our research universities to study in collaboration with universities in other countries,' said Faruk A Siddiqi.

Technical sessions followed on the second day of the workshop and in the first session, Professor Larry Press of California State University, Dominguez Hills, USA presented the keynote speech.

Prof Press spoke about the 'Grand Challenge' project for achieving truly global connectivity by developing nations. "The time is ripe for an audacious project," he said, "Connecting every village in the rural developing world to the internet using a strategy is a huge challenge."

Sessions two and three dwelt on the international experience with broadband connectivity and the expansion of internet usage including electronic village. The examples used in the sessions were that of northeastern India, USA , North Africa and Iran.

Tarannum Dana, programme officer, Bangladesh Friendship Education Society (BFES), presented the ICT initiative of 'Amader Gram Total Development Project' in the third session. 'Amader Gram' is a model project of integrated rural development through capacity building of the disadvantaged people initiated by the BFES. "Our project is addressing the issue to improve quality of lives in rural areas of Bangladesh through our pilot intervention," said Dana.

The experiences of 'World Links in India and Beyond' were also shared with the participants in the session.

World Links connects youth around the world through a global learning network, which helps them develop skills in technology, entrepreneurship and collaboration. Teachers also learn to integrate technology into learning for improved educational results through the programme.

The last four sessions of the workshop were held on May 24. Sessions four and five deliberated on emerging technologies for internet access and the benefits of ICT toward knowledge delivery.

In her speech, Dr. Susanne Ornager of UNESCO, New Delhi, India, stressed the fact that the participation and cooperation of a wide range of local organisations is required for a community telecentre project. The organisers should also be involved in establishing the facility, content and its applications.

The sixth and the seventh session saw presentations on distributed internet and electric power and the benefits of internet service to society.

Presentations by Grameen Cyber Society, Multipurpose Tele Center, Drik Tap and others were made during the sessions.

A highly informative and participatory discussion session was also held before the three- day workshop came to a close.

The workshop organisers encouraged members of the community to check out their website at www .ari .vt. edu/ internet . The three-day event was successful in bringing to the fore the shortcomings of Bangladesh's ICT sector and the possible ways to address them with adequate time and funding.

Porno videos selling unabatedly; Hidden cam clips more popular among buyers

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star City
Mon. April 03, 2006

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

While passing Balaka Cinema at Nilkhet, people are often called by some pornographic video sellers who tempt them into buying the so-called "stash of goodies."

"Come and check out our collection. There are everything from foreign materials to even Bangladeshis," Matin, a VCD seller, called this correspondent at the spot. He claimed that he had a good collection of local hidden camera clips.

When asked, Matin showed some VCDs and DVDs, which were hidden underneath the pile of videos of Hindi and English movies at his makeshift shop on the footpath. He said most of these videos have been produced in Bangladesh.

Pornographic video clips made in Bangladesh are now being sold rampantly throughout the city.

Some pornographic video sellers said the making and selling of such videos have increased in recent time due to high demand. They said their customers are mostly young people, but there is huge demand among other segments of the society as well.

"Most of them are regular customers. They demand brand new items and like to watch 'deshi' videos," said Abdul Kashem, a VCD seller at Gulistan.

He said a number of groups are active in the city to make pornographic videos mostly with the help of prostitutes. "Apart from these, there are some 'hidden-cam' videos which are sold at a higher price," he told this correspondent.

"Dozens of porno video clips filmed by hidden cameras are now available in the city," said Dawood Ahmed, a college student from Azimpur.

Ahmed admitted that he had watched three such videos out of curiosity.

Kashem said the 'hidden cameras' are installed at certain spots like bathrooms in the girls' hostels to film the bathing of girls. Some cameras are installed secretly in cyber cafes to film the intimate moments of couples who go there for dating.

Hridoy (not his real name), a 22-year-old pornographic video collector, told Star City that the high demand for hidden-cam clips are due to the realistic feel in these videos.

"An added thrill is that some of the girls in these clips are allegedly from some reputed educational institutions in the city," he said adding that the sellers sometimes try to attract the customers by saying that the videos are filmed in those institutions.

Some sellers said they receive most of these videos from boys who develop relationships with innocent girls with the ulterior intention of making porno videos.

"They use these clips to blackmail these girls. If their demands are not met by the girls, then they sell the clips to the market," said Moinuddin of Gulistan.

In most of these clips it is found that the victims were unaware of the camera location. The camera angles and video resolution prove that amateurs made these clips.

"These videos are being sold at most VCD stores in Nilkhet, Gulistan, Stadium Market and Eastern Plaza of the city," claimed Hridoy.

City dwellers allege that the police are doing very little to stop this illegal and unethical practices and bring the gangs to book.

"Due to inaction of police in taking stringent measures, this business is going on unabated," said Maleka Rahman, a teacher and resident of Dhanmondi.

But police say these video sellers are rather elusive and it is very difficult to catch them. "They hide their items during our raids and restart the business as soon as we leave the spot," said officer-in-charge of New Market Police Station.

Some city dwellers however allege that the police themselves are getting a "share" of the profit from the porn video sellers.

The trend of making porno videos with hidden cameras began in 2001 when two perverts, Sumon and Pintu, released a number of such clips. Police were able to capture Pintu, but Sumon fled from the country, according to city dwellers.

The practice is still going on. The video sellers said dozens of 'deshi' videos are now available in the market. As many as 11 clips were released in 2005, they said.

The alarming rise in the hidden camera clips has created grave concern among the girls and their parents. "We are scared of these incidents and always pray that this never happens to us," said Sumona Haq, a student of Dhaka University.

"It's a constant terror for me as I have a teenage daughter. As soon as I heard of these incidents, I began to accompany her to the school, coaching centres and even to her friend's house at times," said Kakoli Ahmed, a housewife.

Some parents hoped that the authorities concerned would investigate the matter and apprehend the criminals behind this crime.

"Unless the masterminds behind the clips are punished, the number of these clips will increase," said Farah Binte Hafiz, a student of a private university.

When asked, SM Mizanur Rahman, commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said the matters are already being looked into. "The Detective Branch is currently looking into the matter. We are hopeful that we will soon apprehend the criminals."

e-learning: A useful educational tool

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Date: Sat. January 07, 2006

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

E-learning can be a potential tool that can bridge the gap between faculty and students thousands of miles apart from each other. This can prove to be a vital method of education in all academic streams," said Dr Badrul H. Khan, associate professor, George Washington University, USA at a seminar at Dhaka Medical College (DMC).

Khan was the key speaker at the seminar titled 'E-learning for Medical students and Health community'. The Computer club of Dhaka Medical College (CCDMC) organised the event on January 3.

Khan basically explained the necessary steps in the important framework of e-learning as pedagogical, institutional, ethical, resource support, management, evaluation, interface design and technological.

"Through e-learning, a teacher or a faculty in USA or UK can provide lessons to students in Bangladesh or in any other parts of the world," explained Khan.

Furthermore, he also explained that the resources in e-learning can prove to be more effective than the traditional learning methods.

He also pointed out that through e-learning researchers, faculties, students and others can also benefit from local knowledge and skills that lie in the numerous professions in the rural areas.

"There is an immense bank of untapped knowledge and skills that lie within some of these professions like fishing, farming, cattle herding etc," he said.

He pointed out that in the western countries, the knowledge of farmers and agriculturists are sought with great enthusiasm.

"But such is not the case here. Most academicians do not even want to go out of their own circle and learn from the other streams. This trend needs to be changed," he urged.

The seminar was presided over by Nurul Islam Hasib, president CCDMC while Dr Md Shafiullah, moderator of CCDMC spoke at the event. Professor Dr. Md. Nazrul Islam, head of the Department of Cardiology, DMC, Professor Dr. Md. Omar Ali, Surgery Department, DMC and Shahidul K K Shuvro, ICT journalist, also spoke at the seminar.

"This was our effort to create awareness amongst our peers and students about how useful computers and information technology can be even for doctors and physicians," said Nurul Islam Hasib, president of CCDMC while talking to Star Tech after the event.

Hasib hoped that CCDMC will be able to organise some more seminars and interactive sessions with such noted scholars like Khan in the near future.

Tech Focus: Relive the '71 sensation

Published in The Daily Star
Section: Star Tech
Wed. July 21, 2004

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

ARUNODOYER Agnishikha', the first-person shooter game, has swept aside the gamers across Bangladesh and abroad, as well.

Trimatrik, a local company, developed the game and SHOM Computers Ltd. has published it. The game has its plot and theme based on the War of Independence in 1971 and the game resources have been used keeping the timeline in mind.

Arunodoyer Agnishikha should be a great pastime for gamers, at least for those who loved 'Unreal' and the next few versions of the popular first person shooting game.

Along the lines of Unreal, Trimatrik developed AA with a composite gaming style of 'capture the flag' and 'total domination of level', making game-play a lot more interesting.

The game has been developed eyeing the international market and the user interface is up to the mark having had six options namely Info, Play, Tutorial, Option, Credit and Exit.

Through the Info option, the player can create or delete profiles. The Play option would take the player to a new page, where they can decide the Battlefield, the Team and the Time limit of the game to be played. The back button would always take the player back to the previous page.

To start playing the game, one needs to click on Connect to the Battlefield and there are four battlefields from four parts of the country to choose from.

The player can also choose teams from the ‘Mitra-Bahini' and the ‘Mukti-bahini' with ‘Pak-bahini' being the enemy.

Just like any other game, the Tutorial option provides a very helpful tutorial to any beginner of the game while Option helps configure the controls, test mouse sensitivity and other such necessary details.

The Credits option provides the names of the publishers and developers of the game and through Exit, the player would be able to quit the game.

The player has to act in favour of the team and as such, has to resist enemy forces, capture the flag, as well as the Key Points. The team-based Artificial Intelligence has added a new and active dimension to game-play and unlike most other games, members of a team would all be equally active throughout the entire duration of the game.

Unlike Unreal, the maximum number of points that a team obtains would make them the winners.

The system requirements to run the game are an 800 MHz processor, 32 AGP card and 128 Megabyte RAM. The game comes with DirectX 9.0 .

The game has some downsides, though, which the developers are trying to fix. For example, it does not run smoothly on a computer running on Windows 98. Some musical scores in the game also are direct copies of already famous and popular game titles.

Leaving these drawbacks aside, the 3D models and design are well planned. Trimatrik has developed the engine for this game.

"We started developing the game four years back and it took us over one and a half years to develop just the engine," says Rajib Ahmed, one of the founding developers of the game.

One of the other most distinguishing features is the Liberation War Archive that the game provides.

"We have taken interviews and provided original accounts of freedom fighters, which can be viewed in the archive and which would help motivate players toward playing the game," says Rajib.

The developers and publishers say they have received great response over the last two months and 30 copies of the game has already been sold in United Kingdom, 20 in the USA and 70 in Canada.

"We are thinking about marketing the game internationally and have already received offers from UK for developing a PlayStation platform version of the game," he says.

The publishers are planning to distribute the game at regional and district levels.

The developers have already started working on their next venture, which would also be a first person shooter game, but sporting multi-player options.

"The game would be based on the current Iraq conflict," says Rajib.

Pen on paper: Young writers at Work

An interview that Rising Stars took of me, a few years after I had left Daily Star. :-)

By Adnan Quadri

The most important things are the hardest things to say. They are the things we get ashamed of because words diminish our feelings, shrinking things that seem timeless when they in our head to no more than living size when they are brought out. Yet there are a few creative young writers trying to explore their mind and come up with beautiful words to express their ideas, thoughts and facts that touch many of us and leave us mesmerized. They are no different from us.

Some of them approach the act of writing with nervousness, excitement, hopefulness or even despair, knowing they can never completely put onto the page what is in their minds and hearts. They sometimes come to the act with their fists clinched and their eyes narrowed. They sometimes come to it because they want a girl to love them or because they want to change the world. However they come to it, at the end of the day these young writers are the ones who accomplish the difficult task of articulating their emotions through the written word. To gain a little insight, we get up-close and personal with two young and upcoming writers of today; Nader Rahman who works for Star Weekend Magazine and Syed Tashfin Chowdhury who works in New Age.

RS: Why do you write?
NADER: That sounds easy to answer but now the more I think of it, the harder it becomes. I think the main reason people write is to have their opinions heard; whether it its poetry or prose, fact or fiction, their thoughts are implicit through their words. Thus writing a science fiction novel may be how a writer tries to have his opinion regarding a certain social matter be heard; in the same vein a poet may write a couplet to voice his political concerns. The essence is the same, they all have opinions to share and the medium is that of the written word. I see my self as no different, as a 'wannabe pseudorevolutionary' I feel there is much to say, from standing up for the marginalized to questioning the (very general) status quo, the what, where, when, how and most importantly why is what needs to be asked and pushed to its very limits. Without being pretentious, I would say I write to stretch the very elasticity of being. Not everything published with my by-line affirms what I have just said, but then again not everything I write is published.

TASHFIN: Well, I began my career in Daily Star as a Trainee Reporter in 2003. Back then, it was just curiosity and the urge to contribute to the society in any little way that I can. I started off writing for Star City and later also contributed to Star Tech

RS: What part of your job do you actually enjoy?
NADER: I have been a staff writer for well over a year now and honestly I love my job. It gives me the opportunity to explore research and write about thoughts, ideas and people I never would have come across if I were not with the Star Weekend Magazine. I think what I like best about the job are my co-workers and most importantly my boss. Aasha apa is the driving force behind my work because she is quite honestly the prefect boss. She assigns work and then without pressure will guide one through it and eventually heap all the praise on the one she tutored. In all the time I have come to work
with her, I have never brought myself to saying no to her, after all I put her through, it is the least she deserves.

TASHFIN: In 2006, I left DS and joined New Age as a Staff Writer. My field of work changed a bit as now I had to write for a weekly supplement called 'Xtra'. It was here that I realized that Journalism doesn't necessarily mean information dissipation. It also has to do with ample research, exhausting all the sources available for the particular issue, finding out connections between the particular incident and past ones, seeking the opinions of experts in the particular field and ultimately conveying to the reader, how this particular issue may have an impact in their lives in the short or the long run.

At New Age, there is also a scope for me to experiment and try out new forms of writing and presentation of the articles by contributing to the various sections. I believe I had done so well due to the support of some of my mentors like Morshed Ali Khan, Nafid Imran Ahmed, Mizanur Rahman at the Daily Star and Zayd Almer Khan, Mahtab Haider and Mubin S Khan at New Age. Although initially it was just curiosity, now its a passion and I realize now Mizan bhai and Morshed Uncle used to say, 'Once you are in it, you cant get out of it so easily!' about journalism.

RS: We all gathered some experience and memories while working. Tell us about some special events or situations that still stir you up or encourages you to write.
NADER: One incident which I think back to often is when on a Saturday we changed the cover story (which is a huge decision because the story and all the pictures should be complete by Tuesday at the latest) and Aasha apa urged me to turn what I thought would be a one page story into a cover story! And that too I was only given three days to research it, interview people and then actually write it. Only through her endless encouragement and belief in me did I manage to produce the story, it was on the IMF and the World Bank and how they arbitrarily prescribe economic reforms for us. As it so happened the story turned out to be a huge success and all the plaudits came to me, but it really should have gone to my boss. That story taught me what real high-pressure work was and honestly I enjoyed every minute of stress, because I knew my boss was relying on me, it brought out the best in me. It was fantastic, frenetic fun.

TASHFIN: There was this one particular incident that I remember. This had occurred sometime around 2005 that a newborn baby was found at this sand pile, with a dog and crows going at it. The old lady who found the baby took it and handed it over to the authorities. It was apparent that the baby was an unwanted child and had therefore been dumped so carelessly. The authorities soon handed her over to the DMCH. I was writing for Star City then and was assigned to cover this particular detail. I soon got there and as soon as I looked at her, I realized the pain she was in. She was on life support still and the right portion of her cheek and hands had been eaten away by the animals. But she still breathed! I stood there beside her for over 15 minutes watching her sleep and tried to contemplate why her mother or her father had deserted such a pretty little thing to this world. Somehow the emotion worked out well for the article and although Wahida Mitu, the co-writer for the issue and I received appreciation from my Star City peers, I still feel for the child. Wherever she is, I hope she is doing well.

RS: Any advice for our readers who love to write and want to develop their careers as writers?
NADER: Shane Warne says that any youngster who wants to be a leg spinner must only do one thing, and that is spin the ball, spin it as hard and as much as one can. Control will come later, with time and age, but when you're young all you need to do is spin the ball as much as you can, that is what is most important. My advice to young writers is along the same lines (pardon the pun): write as much as you can, mastering the art of writing will come with time, age and most importantly experience. Till then the best thing one can do is to keep writing. Think of yourself as Bacchus with the ink as your wine. Over and above that I'd say keep questioning things around you, the search for understanding even the ordinary will help in ones writing. Be innovative, revolutionary, don't copy a style, but create one of your own.

TASHFIN: There is a lot of potential out there. I believe that Bangladeshis are the most emotional bunch and due to their emotions and the way they feel, they have what it takes to be some of the most prolific authors or writers in the world. Why is there still a scarcity? Because there is this prevailing mind frame in our society that writers or journalists are people who don't make enough money to support a family and therefore lack the potential to make families work. This thought pattern is causing most young people to shy away from this sector. But over the last decade or so, this has been changing drastically. With the emergence of English newspapers and the Electronic media, along with online blogs, a new industry has opened up. It is easier for writers now to make a decent living and receive the recognition and exposure that they deserve. So, if anybody has the aim to become a writer they should not care about what others think. Because in the end, to society, its the success that matters, not the hardship that the individual had to go through to get to it. In order to do well in a newspaper or any such place, the best thing to do would be to research and read more international journals, news, reviews, research papers and other documents.

Watching English news channels like Al Jazeera (they have an unique presentation style) and BBC can also help. Once you have the confidence that you can write adequately, is when you should try to approach the reporters or the In-charges of the supplements of your favorite newspaper, where you would want to work. Most likely, the initial allowance will be extremely low. But you have to bear that for the success and thrill you are likely to enjoy in the future. So readers, keep writing about the things you hear and see everyday. Maybe someday you will be working with us. Until then keep up the good work. Au Revoir.