Bangladeshi bloggers meet

From left Rezwan bhai, Rifat, Yawar, Zico, Hasin and me. Photo Courtesy: Hasin

The first ever Bangladeshi bloggers meet was a great achievement for Bangladeshi bloggers. The event was arranged by veteran Bangladeshi blogger Rezwan bhai and Rifat. Via Shafi, I came to know that yesterday was Rezwan bhai's birthday, too!!! And that's why pastries were served. Rock legend Maqsood bhai hosted the event at his cosy apartment in Niketon. Some 20 bloggers, would-be-bloggers, tech guys form Somewherein, and journalists from the New Age attended the meet. Here is an attempt to name them: Zico, Shafi, Khaled, Munshi, Yawar, Naser, Zabir, Nazzina, me, and ... I forgot some of the names. Please forgive my memory :-) From Somewherein... Arild, Hasin, Misho, and Hasan. Form the New Age: Mahfuz and the photographer.

Rezwan bhai compiled the details of the meet. Shafi posted some photos. More photos will be available as soon as Rifat and Hasin post them. And I'm here to share my experience.

It was a great event. Not only because we had great discussions on blogging in Bangladesh; its technical sides; political, cultural, and economic aspects, etc, and all that. But also because we came close to each other, shake our hands, know the faces, sat together, ate together, and drank together (halal drinks of course ;-). The best part of the meet was the part we didn't recognise as an independent part – because we don't exactly know the moment we came close to each other. And believe me ... you won't believe your own eyes when you'll meet somebody you know only virtually. Your experience is going to be very, very different from your expectations. Well ... I think that's the beauty of such gatherings.

Initially I thought that I could be personally attacked because of the nature of this blog, because of the "slanted" political views I posses, or simply because of who I am. But ... NO! Everyone was cool. I was cool (see the photo ;-) Ye ... and everyone was cooler than me. So, those who missed it not only missed the delicious dinner but also the company of some very, very cool people:

Maqsood bhai: Ahem ... I don't want my blog to be reported to the ... so I'll stop here ;-)

Rezwan bhai: can only be described as a simple and ordinary guy but his inputs in various discussions prove that how conscious and connected he is ... and in that respect how extraordinarily he is different from us.

Rifat: some people can make you a friend only by looking at you. I think Rifat is one of them.

Zico: "God gave me two ears to listen more and one mouth to talk less."

Arild: I don't know how people can organise their thoughts in such a way ... Arild, I've learnt many things from you.

Hasin: Other than holding the entire PHP library on his head, he also holds a beautiful smile on his face :-)

Shafi: As he claims in his blog ... he is a Rajputro for sure :-)

Naser: "Newspaper editors should be sacked for not supplying RSS feeds to its readers."

Nazzina: She was looking great on hizab (or vice versa :-) The thing I really liked about her is that she makes her point clear, crystal clear ... much like her clear, sharp-edged voice.

I am delighted to meet every one of you in person. I will always remember the time we spent together. I think that similar occasions in future will make us a strong community. And a strong community is needed to create what Arild says a "blogging nation".

Update: Now Rifat has a post on the meet. Hasin uploaded some really cool photos of the meet. It seems that he is not only a good coder but also a good photographer. Rezwan bhai cleared that it was not his birthday.

A bastard is running Pakistan

Pakistani tribesmen offer prayer over the graves of tribesmen who were killed during a US strike in Damadola, 200 Km (124 miles) northwest of Islamabad January 14, 2006. Photo: REUTERS/Ali Imam

A Pakistani village was bombed by the United States. 18 civilians, including women and children, were killed. And General Pervez Musharraf is still in charge of that country. When Pakistan should be breaking up all kinds of relationships with the United States, including withdrawing its mission from Washington DC, it is trying to make its people understand that a US air-strike in a Pakistani village is justifiable, that killing innocent people in the name of anything is justifiable! What kind of a world we are living in?

It is evident that if the culprit remains in power, Pakistanis can expect more attacks like this in future. It is for your own interests that you get rid of Mr. Musharraf as soon as possible. Pakistanis can learn from the history of Bangladesh about how we got rid of our military rulers.

Jamaat outperforms AL and BNP!

Photo Courtesy: Ittefaq

Yesterday's grand rally was historic. Bangladesh has seen two more grand rallies recently, but never as big, as colourful, and as festive as yesterday's one. Still, it won't be the first lead or first headline news of most of the national dailies and television channels. Because it was Jamaat's grand rally! Well, I'm not going to kill anyone for such cowardly editorial policies :-)

I have many complains against Jamaat, but I realise now that it is a time of crisis and my leaders need my support to fulfil our shared visions and objectives. After all, this is the crowd where I belong. We need to pull ourselves together to fight the conspirators as neither BNP nor any other so-called Islamic party is going to help us. Yesterday, it was proved that no power on earth can uproot us in the name of 1971 and religious fundamentalism. We are self-sufficient and ever expanding. Bad side of it, what may make some people scream, is that we are capable of creating as much anarchy as Awami League did in the last four years. Okay, I am kidding ;-) Jamaat will never do that as it is a strict follower of democratic and constitutional means.

The reason I'm optimistic about this rally is not that I think it is going to win us more seats in the Parliament (in fact, I think we are going to loose some), but it is going to give us confidence in our sheer strength. So much that if someone calls me razakar or rog kata I'm going to bruise him hard and send him to the cemetery hospital. And I would do that without giving a second thought. ;-) Kidding again! You know, I'm excited!

I have a funny observation about recent grand rallies. On November 23, Rezwan blogged about AL's Nov 22 rally, criticised BNP-Jamaat coalition on the line AL criticises it, and hoped for a stronger AL led opposition. Addabaj expressed his support for AL's 23 point hoax. Even a blogger named Salam Dhaka from United States compared the culprit with a sleeping giant. Today, I'm blogging about Jamaat's rally stating how fascinated I am at this development. The representation ration 3(AL):1(JI) is proportional to the number of seats these parties achieved in Parliament (AL 62, JI 18). In this respect BNP's grand rally of 21 December should have been covered by at least 10 bloggers (191 seats). Surprisingly not a single pro-BNP blogger was there to talk about it! Only Addabaj refused to be "fooled" by its success. What does it mean?

Nana, my grandpa, died on 31st October at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. He was 79 and suffering from mental disorder for the last 30 years and had been bedridden for the last 4. Grandma used to look after grandpa all those years. After the death of grandma in February 2002, mom decided to look after grandpa and brought him here in our house. All these years, we have seen mom and Babul mama (our youngest uncle) restlessly nurse him to relieve his suffering. It was a great teaching for us. Instead of sending him to old-home my mom, his only daughter, decided to look after him. That's the kind of tradition we need to uphold.

We have many sweet memories with grandpa. Though he was not in control of himself, he was a wonderful person. He was funny and jolly. He could make fun out of little and ordinary things. In our childhood we spent great times with him. He was fond of us and we were fond of him. But as days were passing he was getting weaker and weaker. After the first brain stroke in 2001 his left side of the body was paralysed. He was bedridden since then. He couldn't survive the aftermath of the second stroke.

Rest in peace grandpa. Praying for your departed soul.

Stupid Iranian and a shameless world

I switched to BBC and CNN to see how shocked the world was at Mr. Ahmadinejad's comments. O God! What a stupid person he is! He opined that Israel should be wiped out from world map! Even today, he reinforced his position in a rally of ten thousands!

I was wondering how this world can be utterly shameless in supporting the existence of Israel. Did we forget that Palestinians were driven out of their homes and Jews from all parts of the world were brought in to populate what is now called Israel? My question is why the nations most concerned about human rights and justice accept the fact Israel should exist at the first place?

Israel has no right to exist. That does not mean that Jewish people need to be extinct. It only means that the land which they once confiscated illegally will be returned to its rightful owner. Ultimately it will result in elimination of the statehood of Israel. This is called justice. And those who call for justice earn my respect. And, surely, my respect will not protect them from the axis of evil – USA, UK, and Israel.

Poor Ahmadinejad! He should have known that!

History is funny ... and freaky, too!

A new Bengali daily Amader Shomoy published an interesting list, a list of journalists who on May 23, 1975 sold their souls by joining the Mujib loyalist paramilitary BAKSAL. The list contains the names of many of today's celebrity journalists like:

Matiur Rahman, Editor, Prothom Alo
Golam Sarwar, Editor, Shamokal, and ex-editor, Jugantor
Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, Editor, Daily Observer
Gias Kamal Chowdhury, Editor, Khabarpatra, and General Secretary, Federal Journalist Union
Riazuddin Ahmed, Editor, News Today
Alamgir Mahiuddin, Editor, Nayadiganta
K G Mustafa, Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS)
Aziz Misir, BSS
Nurul Islam Patwary, Dainik Bangla
Bajlur Rahman, Sangbad
Shahidul Huq, Bangladesh Times
Anwar Hossain Manju, Ittefaq
Ehtesham Haider Chowdhury, Purbadesh

On June 16, 1975 BAKSAL canceled the declaration of all but 4 monitored dailies – Dainik Bangla, Ittefaq, Banglar Bani, and Bangladesh Times. The sold out journalists were gifted with jobs in these dailies.

The report did not mention the names of those who rejected BAKSAL and chose to stand by their morale. Most prominent among them was leftist-turned-Islamist poet and novelist Al Mahmud, then editor of Ganakantha. Sheikh Mujibur Rahman personally offered him bribe to join the soulless fleet of journalists.

I am happy that he rejected. Otherwise it would have been disheartening for me. I have always seen him as a great man. Though he worked closely with two military generals, Zia and Ershad, his work was primarily concerned with cultural issues and he worked independently.

What freaks me out is that, in the list you will find the name of the editor of Nayadiganta Mr. Alamgir Mahiuddin. Jamaat invested almost 13 crore to bring out Nayadiganta. And it is run by a former member of BAKSAL! How on earth is this possible?

I also don't understand why Mr. Gias Kamal Chowdhury, a very dear person to me for his leading role in bringing an end to ETV, joined BAKSAL? I understand that Matiur Rahman, who was a fulltime member of Chhatro Front that taught him no morality, can serve his lords in BAKSAL. But Mr. Chowdhury ... that's disgusting!

Durga Puja 2005, Sherpur

As I always say, Durga Puja is the most colourful festival we celebrate in Bangladesh. Though the Bengali New Year is enjoined by greater number of people, its concentration is on a specific place of the city. Durga Puja's spread on the other hand reaches the remotest villages of Bangladesh. I am in Sherpur to celebrate the event. Riyadh and Kajol are with me. We have visited almost all the Puja Mandaps scattered around the city. To tell truth, this year's turnout is lower than previous year's. This is due to the fact that RAB is looking for driver's licence for motorcycles. It is the primary means of movement for the middleclass. And unfortunately 95% of the motorcycles are unregistered (at district level, people simply don't care to register). Even for the registered ones, RAB is not allowing them to ride without helmet for each passenger. As a result, people did go to their local Mandaps for performing prayers but they did not move around to see what is happening elsewhere.


Kali Mandir's Mandap is nearest to our home. In my judgment, it was the best Mandap of the town.


Actually, the protima (idol) Poddars built was bigger than ours. But I don't know why it looks smaller in the picture.


This protima was even bigger. The chairman of the festival committee Mr. Malakar built it. Puja committee received 9,600 Taka from the Ministry of Religion for each mandap they built.


The affluent ...


... and the destitute - all wore new dresses.


These boys were requesting me to take a photo of them.


Missionaries from India came to sell books and souvenirs.


I followed dad to some of the Mandaps. He is trying to build confidence among the Hindu community of Sherpur that Jamaat respects the rights of all communities as it is enshrined in the religion of Islam. He plans to run for the parliament elections next year. Traditionally, Hindus tend to vote for the pseudo-secular Awami League. And as far as Sherpur is concerned, the winner must have at least 50% of the Hindu voters on his side.


He sat with Hindu leaders who were complaining that government is not providing enough money for mission's library. Dad assured them that he'll discuss the issue with respective authorities.


Dad went to Govinda Kumar Institution (aka GK School) for schooling. It was built in 1919, just after the first Great War. To commemorate the ending of the war, it was named Govinda Kumar Peace Institute. I don't know why they changed such a historic name.


The newly built monument for the martyred freedom fighters of Liberation War. The black stone has 59 names in it.

My thanks go to Mr. Mohammad Hanif, former Mayor of Dhaka city and president of Dhaka city Awami League. Not for his comments actually! But, at least, he is not a hypocrite.

Jamaat raises security level

I don't know what is next. We were advised by both the Jamaat Central and Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) to deploy extra security measures in our residence. The intelligence services are reporting that the residences of central Jamaat leaders, my father being one of them, are now targets of the enemy. They are going to come here in an ordinary fashion and hide bomb making materials somewhere near the house or, if possible, inside the house and then they are going to inform the police about that and the next day The Daily Star, Prothom Alo, Jugantor, and all other Jamaat hating newspapers are going to lead the news with an 8 column heading. That's the plan for now. I smell an alliance of evils here, devised to drag Jamaat out of the coalition and to tarnish its nonviolent image both inside and outside the country.

We live in Kalshi, Mirpur. The area isn't secure enough and thefts are regular incidents. Even our own premises aren't secure enough. Looking glasses of our car were stolen several times from the garage. That's why I'm concerned. I think we are going to need trained professionals to help us with this. You can also help by providing security tips.

Nevertheless, pray for us so that nothing evil happens to us.

Update: Famous Bangladeshi blogger Rezwan thinks that my fears do not have a basis and it is nothing but a conspiracy theory. Reading the reports of famous Bangladeshi newspapers, he is, like many media-dependent citizens, convinced that it is my father and his companions who have a hand in the bombings. Thus, the possibilities that I've suggested do not exist unless some "hidden truths" are exposed.

Well, I am relieved to some extent. At least one thinks that we are out of danger :-)