Bridge to nature

January 22, 2016

Following a visit to Singapore, Syed Tashfin Chowdhury  writes about some of the top tour venues in the country that is providing entertainment and knowledge to tourists

Photos by Naila Hossain

The tourism sector of Southeast Asian countries have been experiencing growth since the nineties. While Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam, Myanmar and many others have chalked out ambitious plans to attract foreign tourists to their countries over the past five years, others like Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia and so on are already enjoying revenue from the sector that rises almost every year.
Recent statistics on tourists have shown unique findings where, besides Westerners, there has been a growth in tourists from other countries of Asia including South Asia, Middle East and Africa.
In a bid to provide the best experience to tourists, communication and infrastructure in these countries have been developed in a formidable manner. For example, you can go to any part of Singapore by using a combination of the subway (MRT) and the bus routes. Google maps can come to great help in helping tourists plan on the various ways they can reach a destination faster with the funds available to them.
Also, besides promoting their own culture, traditions and cuisines, these Southeast Asian nations have also adopted several surefire ways to offer the most exciting list of venues that tourists would love to witness and experience.
Some of these include attractions related to nature and environment like zoos, bird parks and so on, where besides providing entertainment to those at attendance, the venues also provide plenty of knowledge.

Gardens by the Bay

One of the top tourist attractions is currently ‘Gardens by the Bay’, which is popular for the colourful Super-trees whose photos most people have seen on the internet.
Getting to the garden may prove rather difficult as it is near the Marina Barrage. The commute may include a subway ride that can drop you off at either the Bayfront or Tanjong Pagar stops depending on which line you are taking (Circle Line or East-West Line).
Or you can try to hail a bus that will drop off a few metres away from the venue itself. No matter which public transport you avail, you’d have to walk which can be a great exercise.
The garden is a cluster of five different facilities together housing over 500,000 species of plants.
There is the ‘Flower Dome’, which features some of the most unique collection of flowers. Through regulated temperatures, a range of plants from Mediterranean, Australian, South American and South African regions are on display here.
I have learnt that the exhibits here are always changed every few months, thus attracting locals as well as foreigners.
But I cherished the ‘Cloud Dome’ or Cloud Forest which has an artificial waterfall that is boasted to be the world’s tallest indoor waterfall. While climbing the walkways, tourists can also marvel at how environment survived in the not-so convenient climate on mountaintop forests at sea level.
Then there is the ‘Supertree Grove’ which include trees over 25 to 50 metres tall. These are vertical supporting a range of ferns, orchids, vines and other plants, which are essentially creepers.
Each of these Supertrees are designed to function as a real tree through photovoltaic cells to echo photosynthesis and contribute energy to run the park. These trees also collect rain water during Singapore’s frequent heavy rains and channel it throughout the park wherever irrigation or fountains are needed.
The grove is also popular as light shows are arranged here twice daily.
Also featured at the ‘Gardens by the Bay’ is Heritage Garden that tells the story of Singapore through the story of plants in the Heritage Garden.
There is also ‘Dragonfly Lake’ where visitors can learn about the aquatic ecosystem.
Visiting all the areas will take anyone between five to six hours. If hunger strikes you during this time, you can always grab a drink from the local souvenir stores. In case you are famished, try moving towards ‘Satay by the Bay’, a food court that includes halal and non-halal cuisine within affordable price ranges.

Rise of the anti hero

March 18, 2016 

http://xtra.newagebd.net/1694/rise-of-the-anti-hero/

by Syed Tashfin Chowdhury

Of late, Hollywood’s fascination with superhero movies had become monotonous. Since 2000, the formula has remained more or less the same.
Almost all the big-budget superhero movies based on popular comic book characters were released as summer blockbusters. Starring some of the biggest names in the global film industry, the movies usually managed to rake up cash in the global box office that sometimes hit the billion dollar mark.
As there seemed to be little or no shifts in the paradigm, acclaimed director Steven Spielberg had said last September, ““We were around when the Western died and there will be a time when the superhero movie goes the way of the Western. It doesn’t mean there won’t be another occasion where the Western comes back and the superhero movie someday returns.”
The comments irked many fans of the genre but it made sense to many. Some of these people were the ones who appreciated the release of Deadpool, one of the most low-budget comicbook movies made over the past two decades.
The movie, from Marvel Entertainment and 20th Century Fox, was not a summer release. It was released worldwide on Valentines’ Day with an R-rating, signifying that the movie will be off-limits for viewers under 17 years of age.
Still the movie managed to break a number of records including the biggest R-rated opening weekend, the biggest 20-century Fox debut ever, the biggest Fox movie weekend ever among others.
Also since its release, the movie has generated a global revenue of $ 708 million, when the total budget for the movie was a paltry $ 58 million, nearly nothing compared to other releases from the genre.
For example, the Josh Trank-directed ‘Fantastic Four’ (2015) had a budget of $ 120 million. After being released in August last year, the film did so bad that it currently has a rating of 4.3 out of 10 in IMDB.
Other recent superhero movies include ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ with budget of $ 170 million, ‘The Wolverine’ made with $ 120 million and ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ at $ 250 million.
It is clear that the producers did not have the same confidence on ‘Deadpool’ as they had on these earlier titles. And the reason is most likely it’s R-rating. Except for ‘Kick-Ass’, most superhero movies had a PG rating, with very few like ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ getting the PG-13.
So why is Deadpool still doing so phenomenally? Primarily, it would have to be the formidable direction by Tim Miller (Scott Pilgrim), the dynamic duo of writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland) who tried to honour the comic book character by including as much content from the comic books into the movie as possible and the acting skills of Ryan Reynolds.
Also, the movie tried to keep in line with the storyline in the comics, as much as possible.
Deadpool, as a comic book character, was introduced by Marvel Comics around the early nineties. Created by Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool was initially introduced as a super-villain. But over the next few years, fans loved the character so much that Deadpool became the quintessential anti hero.
Unlike superheroes like Superman and Captain America who always gets to do the right thing and are nearly perfect, Deadpool’s origin story was something that the common man can relate to.
In the comics, Wade Wilson is a former special ops operative who opts into a government weapons program as the facility promises to cure him off his terminal cancer. After undergoing torturous experiments and getting Wolverine’s healing factor, Wilson becomes Deadpool. Though he recovers from cancer through the super-healing factor, Wilson loses his mind, apparently hearing voices in his head and constantly getting into conversations with them.
As a mercenary, Deadpool takes up projects based on the money offered to him. While carrying out his tasks, he often crosses paths with super-villains and superheroes alike.
His insanity helps him realise that he is in a comic-book and he has since been the Marvel comics character to break the fourth wall in the comics as well as in the video games featuring Marvel characters.
He also has an affinity for popular culture. For example, he often humorously refers to Batman, Hello Kitty and even pokes fun at other Marvel characters like Wolverine, Spiderman, the X-men etc.
While the ‘voices in his head’ and the other minute details from the comic books were not portrayed in ‘Deadpool’ (most likely due to the budget constraint), the movie still had its humor-filled action sequences, pop culture references (Ferris Bueller, Hello Kitty, Green Lantern, Wham! etc.) and also a really, really foul-mouthed superhero, who can give Captain America a run for his money (“Language!” from ‘Avengers AoU’).
The unnerving success of the movie has already forced 20th Century Fox to announce a sequel with rumours making the rounds on the internet about ‘Deadpool’ becoming a franchise similar to ‘Mission Impossible’.
Interestingly, this is the same Fox studio which had its reservations about making a movie on Marvel comic’s anti hero character, since 2004. After a test footage leaked in 2014, the overwhelming response from fans worldwide drove Fox to reconsider.
This popularity with the fans is still helping the success of the movie. If you randomly go into instagram or facebook, you are bound to see at least a few photos of people taking selfies with tickets to the movie.
The R-rating may keep away plenty of families from watching the movie in theatres. Still, the movie is running to nearly packed houses even on weekdays, as the actual fans of Deadpool know that the script of the movie has tried to stay true to its comic book storyline.
Deadpool’s success, which stems from the popularity of the comic-book anti hero, proves the point that the mass audience is more likely to embrace something with which they can relate to, as opposed to the picture-perfect characters with little or no flaws, in most popular media.

In his sleep

June 10, 2016

Somnambulism is a sleep disorder that affects many people in our country. Syed Tashfin Chowdhury writes about the experiences of a few sleepwalkers and how their families coped with it

The hard shove forced Masud (not his real name) to wake up and discover himself standing right by the pond. His father was standing by him and had pushed him a few minutes after Masud had walked out of his house, crossed the street and was walking by the pond. Fortunately, his father had heard the movement and had followed Masud till the pond, before any other accidents occurred.
This incident had occurred when he was 12 years old and it was one of the rarest moments when he had walked out of his house in his sleep.
‘Earlier and afterwards, I walked inside my own house in my sleep,’ says Masud (30), currently a private service-holder in Dhaka, to New Age Xtra. Masud no longer faces these problems.
‘As a result, I used to be very afraid to go to sleep. Besides sleepwalking, I regularly had nightmares of someone chasing me with a sword. I ran as fast as I could in my sleep but the person continued to chase me,’ recalls Masud.
At the time, Masud was living with his parents in his village home in Rajshahi.
He also remembers having hallucinations of spotting snakes inside his house, while wide awake. ‘I often saw snakes, green in colour, by the door’s edge in our room. When I screamed for my parents and they rushed in, the snake was gone, like it was never there,’ says Masud.
Masud is still confused whether he used to hallucinate about the snakes. ‘If it happened to me once or twice, I could have waived these off as hallucinations. But I saw them so often that I cannot even say for sure what those incidents were!’ says Masud.
***
Masud was suffering from somnambulism or sleep-walking, a behavioural disorder that affects mostly children.
According to US-based National Sleep Foundation, somnambulism originates ‘during deep sleep and results in walking or performing other complex behaviours while asleep’. It is much more common in children than adults and is more likely to occur if a person is sleep deprived, the website says.
More than usual, the episodes happen during deep sleep. It is difficult to awaken these sleepwalkers and usually they cannot remember the episode, seconds after being awakened.
‘Such was my case after my father woke me up near the pond. I did not know how I got there,’ says Masud.
Farhan (15) has been facing fewer episodes of sleepwalking over the last few years. ‘Three to four years back, he regularly got out of bed in his sleep, walked out of his room, often drank a glass of water and returned to bed,’ says Yash Hossain, a cousin of Farhan, to New Age Xtra.
‘But after waking up, if we asked him, he could not remember anything about these incidents,’ adds Hossain.
The National Sleep Foundation states that ‘symptoms of sleepwalking disorder range from simply sitting up in bed and looking around, to walking around the room or house, to leaving the house and even driving long distances.’
The site states that there is a misconception that a sleepwalker should not be awakened. ‘In fact, it can be quite dangerous not to wake a sleepwalker’, it says.
While most sleepwalkers will gradually lose this habit with maturity, others may have it even in their adulthood although there may be no underlying psychiatric or psychological problems.
Common triggers for sleepwalking include sleep deprivation, sedative agents, febrile illnesses, and certain medications.
Medical experts have recommended that family members can try to ensure that the sleep-walker does not incur any injuries to himself or herself, during such episodes.

The Scourge of 2016?

December 30, 2016

http://xtra.newagebd.net/3660/the-scourge-of-2016/

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury lists a few of the local and international incidents that has driven international commentators to call 2016 a very bad year

There are some who personally believe that they can predict how their day will be within the first few moments after waking up. If the circumstances they face during the beginning of the day are unfortunate (for example, water on the tap abruptly running out while taking a bath or not finding a rickshaw or taxi to get to work in time etc.),  then they prepare themselves for a bad day ahead.

But these same individuals cannot apply this for a week, a month or even a year. If this was possible, maybe they would have predicted by January or February of this year, that the year ahead will be bad not just for themselves, but for the whole world.

Commentators like John Oliver, along with many others, have called the year especially bad due to the rise of ultra-nationalism, the spate of terrorist attacks, the outbreak of diseases, deaths of famous politicians and so on.

Bangladesh itself faced a tough year following the terrorist attack in July, the heightened security and spate of raids along with attacks on minorities in different parts of the country.

New Age Xtra looked back at some of the major incidents.

Holey Artisan and Sholakia attacks

The month of July was especially significant for Bangladesh as it faced its first-ever armed terrorist attack as five young militants barged into the Holey Artisan Bakery of Gulshan after 9:00pm on July 1. Armed with crude bombs, machetes and firearms, the militants began to target the foreigners in the restaurant and proceeded to kill them. The nearly 10 hour long crisis ended when a team of the Bangladesh Armed Forces raided the restaurant around early morning of July 2. The ensuing violence led to the deaths of the five militants and one cook. Altogether 29 people including foreigners and two police officials were killed. Although Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack, the Bangladesh authorities claimed that the attack was carried out by Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh.

The incident shocked the nation while sending shivers down the spine of the global community. Law enforcing agencies beefed up security in most parts of the country. However, just five days later, on the day of Eid-ul Fitr, when police were frisking worshippers coming to the congregational prayers at Sholakia, a group of six to seven people attacked policemen near the Eidgah ground with sharp weapons and blasted some bombs at scene.

A chase led to the deaths of two policemen, one attacker and a woman. Only one suspect was held.

Attacks across the globe

A number of attacks across the globe made the headlines. The Orlando nightclub attack claimed the lives of 49 people. Suicide bombs in Istanbul killed 45; the Bastille Day truck massacre in Nice, France, slaughtered 77; the Brussels airport and metro attacks claimed 35 lives along with the most recent the Christmas market attack in Berlin and the assassination of the Russian ambassador in Turkey were some of the other major incidents.

There were also countless attacks and ceaseless warfare in Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and elsewhere that has claimed more than 1,000 lives.

Raids in Bangladesh

The July attacks in Bangladesh led to increased vigilance in the urban and rural areas of the country. An earlier instruction to landlords to provide information of all tenants to concerned police stations began to be followed by most landlords, following the arrest of Professor M Gias Uddin Ahsan, acting Pro Vice-Chancellor of North South University, his nephew and the manager of his house in Bashundhara residential area for ‘providing shelter’ to the cafe attackers.

Since then, law enforcing agencies conducted drives in Kalyanpur, Savar, Rupnagar, Azimpur, Gazipur, Narayanganj, and Tangail, killing around 26 suspected militants. One of those killed includes alleged Neo-JMB coordinator Tamim Ahmed Chowdhury who is also claimed to be one of the masterminds behind the cafe attack.

The latest drive in Ashkona on December 25, led to the deaths of a woman, who tried to blow herself up along with her little daughter, and Afif Kaderi, the 14-year-old boy of slain Neo-JMB militant Tanvir Kaderi. Till this report was being written, police were still on the lookout for militant Musa.

Rise of Ultra Nationalism

While the rise of ‘Ultra nationalism’ was being observed since the beginning of 2011, it seemed to have reached its crescendo this year.

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom voted to withdraw from the European Union through ‘Brexit’. Although the ultimate exit by the UK may happen around March 2019, the incident led to a loss of US$ 2 trillion in global financial markets the next day. The value of pound sterling against the US dollar fell to a 30 year low. Also, David Cameron, the Prime Minister of UK, resigned making way for Theresa May to take over the position on July 13.

Another shock for the world occurred when Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton during the US presidential election. Fallout of the election saw thousands of Americans taking to the streets to protest the outcomes. Also, within weeks after the results, there was a spike in hate crimes being reported all across the USA.

The rise of Trump and the Brexit incident has encouraged Ultra Nationalist parties in Europe as well as in Africa. International political experts have dreaded that there may be more such wins by hardline conservatives in 2017 given the dissatisfaction and distrust that the masses have toward liberal-aligning political groups.

Refugee crisis

War in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries saw a greater number of refugees boarding boats to make perilous trips over the seas to European countries, Canada and some Middle Eastern countries.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), IOM reports an estimated 204,311 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 till May 30. The migrants and refugees arrived in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain.  The number was at 91,860 during the corresponding period of the previous year. It is dreaded that thousands have died while making the trips by sea. On December 29, the bodies of 11 dead migrants were found on the shores of Libya.

Bangladesh, Malaysia and a few other countries in Asia faced an inflow of Rohingya refugees around beginning of November when a renewed onslaught by Myanmar army on the Rohingyas of Rakhine state led to the deaths and torture of the Rohingyas. The recent conflict began after October 9 when nine police officers were killed in an attack on a border post there.

This led to a brutal counter insurgency in Rohingya villages that has included rapes, arson attacks and the killing of unarmed civilians, activists have alleged although Myanmar officials have denied any wrongdoing.

According to the United Nations, more than 22,000 Rohingyas had jumped the border into Bangladesh since November 1. Others have fled to Indonesia.

The crisis has led 14 nations including the USA to urge Myanmar to allow a full resumption of aid to Rakhine State.

The Ebola outbreak in Africa around 2014 continued till 2016 claiming as many as over 11,000 lives.

But rather than Ebola, the world was more concerned with Zika outbreak, this year after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Zika virus a ‘global public health emergency’ in February. The infection has been linked to thousands of babies being born with underdeveloped brains.

Initially, the affected countries included Brazil and some countries of South America, Mexico along with other countries of Africa. But soon cases were being reported in India, Pakistan and other parts of Asia.

Migrant workers from Bangladesh were also affected in Singapore, Malaysia and other Asian countries. Bangladeshi authorities had to set up screening processes at the airports and other entry points to the country.

Even then, Bangladesh reported its first case of Zika virus around March of 2016 when a 67-year old man from Chittagong, who had never travelled overseas, was said to have the virus.

The number of cases for Zika and Ebola became less reported around the last quarter of 2016.

Attack on ethnic minorities

The end of this year saw a spike in attacks on ethnic communities starting from mob attacks on hindu community in Brahmanbaria and other parts of the country to an attempt to evict Shantal households by government departments in Gaibandha. At least three people allegedly died after nearly 500 houses were torched leading to displacement of 2,500 inhabitants.

Year of the grim reaper

2016 seems to have claimed a significant number of people including authors, poets, journalists, philosophers, economists and more from Bangladesh.

Around the beginning of this year, Bangladesh lost eminent agriculture economist Dr Mahbub Hossain. Also, music composer Robin Ghosh and scholar and archaeologist AKM Zakaria passed away in February followed by filmmaker Khaled Mahmud Mithu in March.

Freedom fighter Shirin Banu Mitil, also known as the ‘fighter in disguise’, passed away in July while we lost poet Shahid Quadri around end of August followed by author Syed Shamsul Huq in September.

We were also forced to bid eternal farewell to personalities like neurosurgeon professor Rashiduddin Ahmed, actress Parvin Sultana Diti, poet Rafiq Azad, journalists Sadeq Khan, Nurjahan Begum and Syed Fahim Munaim.

The world also said goodbye to Cuban revolutionary and leader Fidel Castro on November 25, at the age of 90. Another departure that made the world cry collectively was of the charismatic boxer Muhammad Ali.

Celebrities who passed away this year were musicians- Leonard Cohen, Prince, David Bowie, George Michael; authors- Harper Lee, Richard Adams, Vera Rubin, Dario Fo, E.R. Braithwaite and others; actors- Carrie Fisher, Alan Rickman, Debbie Reynolds, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Ricky Harris, Doris Roberts, Robert Vaughn, Gene Wilder, Anton Yelchin; film director Abbas Kiarostami and others.

While the list of adverse incidents may be long, there were some pretty positive news in 2016 as well.

Myanmar had the opening session of its first freely-elected parliament in February. In April, the Panama Papers were published exposing widespread illegal activities including fraud, kleptocracy, tax evasion and the violation of international sanctions by the world’s elite. Also, during the same month, the world had the first-ever baby born in Mexico with DNA from three parents through mitochondrial transfer.

In May, Sadiq Khan was elected as Mayor of London and became the first Muslim mayor for any Western city. Also, during the same month, a 70-year-old woman successfully gave birth to a baby boy.

In August, astronomers announced the discovery of earth-like planet named Proxima B orbiting star Proxima Centauri.

In October, the Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Bangladesh and signed a number of deals that has bolstered bilateral ties between the two countries.

In November, the Paris Agreement on climate change came into effect while in December, the US army decided that it will not allow an oil pipeline to be built in North Dakota, after months of protests by The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

We can only hope that the next year will see an end to local and international conflicts and facilitate the path to peace and prosperity for all nations.

Our second home-Muhammad Ibrahim Ibne Towhid

Our second home 

February 10, 2017

As New Age office has moved to a new location from its earlier address at Holiday Building 30 Tejgaon Industrial Area, Muhammad Ibrahim Ibne Towhid asked present and former members of the New Age family about their fondest memories in the former building

It was during my early school years when I saw a new English newspaper being read by my friends and some teachers of my school. The logo attracted me with no known specific reason. Later on, anytime I saw the logo on any billboard, while roaming through the streets of Dhaka, my face often lit up with a smile.

After some years of working in the news section of an FM radio channel, I became a part of Trends, the lifestyle magazine of New Age. I can still remember that day as this was the daily whose logo I always loved.

On my first day, I had slowly entered the third floor of the building located at ‘30 Tejgaon Industrial Area’. Inside, I saw an informal sitting arrangement. The very next day, I got an assignment to report on the health condition of female garments workers. The top floor of the building was conquered by all the weekly magazines and all the members were easy-going and jovial.

Apart from the routine work, office seemed to be a place of learning through adda. I was just an undergraduate university student in 2012 and was constantly looking for opportunities of meals that was brought by Konka Karim, feature editor at New Age.

There was a small roof and some of us puffed smoke there in secret. The roof presented a splendid view of the Hatirjheel project and I often sat on the roof to unclog my mind. Later on, we moved to a bigger room on the first floor.

Around a year back, I was moved to New Age Xtra where investigative journalism and features were the focus. I still remember the surprise on the faces of my friends who visited me late one night in the office as I sat comfortably on one chair and had my legs resting on another. No one else was in the room and I had to work till late at night.

One day, I ended up cutting both my hands on the fan while stretching, thanks to my 6 feet 2 inches height. The rooms of the editor and a deputy editor used to be right by us. We could always walk in for suggestions.

Other members of New Age have sweeter memories of the building due to the duration they had spent there.

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury, the editor of New Age Xtra, ‘I still remember the day I had started my career at New Age. It was April 16, 2006, a Sunday.’

‘Just the previous week, I had resigned from my previous employer, which was another English daily. I remember being taken aback by the knowledge base and down-to-earth demeanor of the relatively young group of journalists in New Age, at the time,’ he adds.

He says ‘Initially, I was sceptical about the four-storied building, which seemed to be comfortably hidden from the hustle of Tejgaon and a few auto workshops surrounding it. But over the next few months, it gradually grew on me,’ he adds.

‘Soon, the building became like a home away from home for some of us, including me. We looked forward to going to office, away from our personal and academic problems. I will especially miss the lunch at Mahajan’s, the addas on the rooftop and the spiral stairs from the first floor to the ground floor of the building,’ says Chowdhury.

Saad Hammadi, the bureau chief of WION, is the former Editor of New Age Youth. He recalls, ‘Thursdays were the busiest for the Friday weekly Xtra and as one of the lead writers of this segment, I gathered some of the heavyweight stories from real bank jobs of the likes of Ocean’s eleven to intelligence leaks about child trafficking. I enjoyed being part of a team that consisted of the chosen few to carry out stories that would have both the crafts of language and substance.’

‘Everyday, I learnt something new about the art of writing and structures of long form. The hands on training from my chief at the time Mahtab Haider inspired me to do better. Years later being told by my boss that I became an indispensable part of the team is a fond memory,’ adds Hammadi.

He says, ‘While my memories date back from circa 2006, my time at New Age has more fond memories than I can probably share here. Having my best friend join the same workplace made work even more fun than it was alone. Incidentally, he’s now the editor of the same weekly New Age Xtra we worked together.’

Md Shafiqul Islam is currently the Assistant General Manager of Production at New Age. Islam had started working at the Holiday Building from 1986, nearly 1.5 decades before New Age was launched.

‘I began working in that building from July 28, 1986. When I had joined, the building was just three storeys with no stairs. I had to construct the stairs under my supervision,’ says Islam.

He recalls that during the 1998 flood, the adjacent road of the building was submerged under water. ‘We had to come to office by boat. During the first three days of the flood, the entire first floor was water logged. The then-Editor Enayatullah Khan could not enter the office for those three days,’ says Islam.

‘One day while crossing in the boat, all the lead plates used for printing slipped from the boat and we had to make new plates. The building had even caught fire around Ershad’s regime. Around 1991, a group of armed miscreants had even tried to encroach the building but could not do so later due to the efforts of the law enforcing agencies,’ says Islam.

‘I can still remember how a worker had an accident while constructing the fourth floor of the building and I had rushed him to the then PG hospital (BSMMU). As we shifted from that building as it was being dismantled last week, I could not hold back my tears. I cried aloud as bulldozers started to crush the building whose walls and pillars had become a part of my life,’ says Islam.

Regardless of the duration that most people had been with the old office building of New Age, undoubtedly we will all miss Holiday Building at 30 Tejgaon Industrial area.

Escape the drudgery

May 5, 2017 
http://xtra.newagebd.net/3038/escape-the-drudgery/

Syed Tashfin Chowdhury visits Escape Myst, the first escape room in Bangladesh

Till the 90s, Dhaka’s citizens could depend on the nearby fields for different sports and recreation. But these have faded away thanks to rapid urbanization.

At most, the entertainment sources available for the middle and upper income groups are the plethora of screens and attachments to them like video game consoles etc., the shopping malls, the few public spots in the city and so on.

Neighbouring countries like India, Southeast Asian countries and developed countries of the world have all gone through these phases, each tackling the issues in their own unique ways.

Authorities in these countries concentrated on safeguarding their playing fields, parks and so on. They ensured that public and private housing projects have recreation corners and sports zones.

While these were helpful, the private and public entrepreneurs of these countries came up with unique indoor entertainment solutions. One such concept was the idea of ‘Escape Rooms’.

Escape rooms are essentially physical adventure games within the four walls of a room, where a group of players are locked in and are expected to reach the conclusion of a given story, by solving a series of puzzles by using clues, hints and strategies hidden in the room in the form of props or otherwise. Players are given a fixed time limit to unveil the secret plot which is hidden within the rooms.

Escape rooms began to be introduced across the world around 2006. As the concept allows groups of players to solve the puzzle all by themselves, such games or rooms became extremely popular across the world.

In Bangladesh, two young mystery-lovers came up with the idea of opening such a room around last year. Following few months of research, the duo opened ‘Escape Myst’, Bangladesh’s first escape room in Dhaka, in April of this year.

Sadique Salim, one of the founders of Escape Myst, shares, ‘At the moment, we have two different games. One is the ‘Missing writer’. The second game is ‘Stolen Artifact.’

Salim explained that in ‘Missing writer’, players need to find the clues to unravel the mystery behind the murder of a fictional writer. In ‘Stolen Artifact’, much like Indiana Jones, players need to solve puzzles to reach the conclusion of the game. ‘In both games, the players are given a fixed time. If the players require hints, a “game master” provides them after a certain time has passed,’ he explains.

Ishtiaque Khan, co-founder of Escape Myst, says, ‘Our reason for opening Escape Myst was mostly passion and the lack of entertainment that can appeal to everybody.’

Salim notes, ‘The response we are getting is extra ordinary. For a startup that is less than a month old, we are getting customers daily, when we are open. We do not have any promotional campaigns except for on Facebook which currently has around 13,000 followers. Most people are coming based on reviews and recommendations from their friends who have played the games.’

Khan says, ‘We also have a very high rate of repeat customers and once they play both games they ask for more which we cannot provide now.’

The founders shared that their players range from ages 10 years till 40 years. ‘College and university and early career executives are making repeat visits,’ says Salim.

Salim recalls that they had spent around seven months for research before deciding to do the business. ‘We did an online market survey. Our name is a result of the search survey. Myst is short for mystery also phonetically same as mist or fog which adds to the mystery,’ he says.

The duo had to spend some time on the two current stories making them relatable to our culture and preferences.

Shafaat Fahmi, an official at an information technology firm, recently played ‘Missing writer’ at the Escape Myst. He says, ‘I enjoyed it as it was my first experience in an escape room. Overall, it was a good one hour spent. Mystery wasn’t necessarily difficult but some clues were hard to crack and had to take hints resulting in the five minutes penalty. Because finding the final door key was the main target, the actual solution to the mystery wasn’t really important in the end. My partner did not even read the name of the murderer.’

Fahmi points out, ‘This is great concept to be brought to Bangladesh. It needs constant updating and addition of stories/mysteries to keep up the hype though.’

About the frequency in changing titles, Salim assures that the titles will change depending on the demand of the customers. ‘Escape rooms are like movies, once you have played a game, it is unlikely that you will play it again in a short time. We have only two rooms right now. Fortunately we have plans to bring in more rooms in different parts of Dhaka as well as in other parts of Bangladesh. The current titles will also be changed in ways that repeat visitors will feel like they are playing a different game.’

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