Who really owned Britain’s royal jewels?
10 HOUR(s)
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In Focus
The 25,000-year history of betel nut chewing
17 September 2026
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In Focus
The world map we know is distorted. Why does it matter?
15 September 2026
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In Focus
Bengal and the coming of Islam: A story of soil and spirit
14 September 2026
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In Focus
Xuanzang’s travels to Bengal and beyond : The man, the pilgrim and the Monkey King
11 September 2026
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In Focus
Professor Anisur Rahman: The economist who put people at the centre
10 September 2026
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In Focus
APO 433: Dhaka’s forgotten post office of World War II
9 September 2026
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In Focus
Dadabhai Naoroji: The man who exposed the economics of British colonialism
8 September 2026
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In Focus
Untold stories of 1971 through private letters
7 September 2026
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In Focus
The extraordinary journey of Atish Dipankar Srigyan
6 September 2026
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In Focus
Myanmar coup: How the military has held onto power for 60 years
The military once again hold the reins of power in Myanmar. Citing constitutional provisions that give the military control in national emergencies, army officers detained government leaders in the early hours of February 1 2021, including state counsellor and popular national leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
7 February 2021
Deshpriya Jatindra Mohan & Nellie Sengupta
The following story unfolds in a prominent zamindar (feudal landlord) family of the Senguptas, in the then remote and obscure sleepy little village of Barama,
31 January 2021
The Angry Young World
This article considers student activism at Dhaka University in the 1960s as a case study for considering student politics at multiple scales: local, regional, and international. In addition to providing a historical narrative of Dhaka’s engagement in the Mass upsurge campaign that led to the end of the Ayub Kahn regime,
24 January 2021
What's so special about Bengal?
If you are looking for ancient history, Bengal’s achievements are clearly limited. The Indus Valley Civilization that immensely enriched the sub-continent in the third and second millennia BC hardly reached Bengal. No part of the Vedas and the Upanishads is known to have been composed in Bengal.
17 January 2021
History of the Greek community in Dhaka
A small yellow building that looks a little like a Greek temple faces the campus wall near the Teacher-Student Center of Dhaka University.
10 January 2021
The Sundarban Plan
Tilman Henckell [Judge and Magistrate of Jessore] at an early period of his magistracy, turned his attention to the Sundarbans, and he was the founder of the system of reclamation which is now converting these great forests into immense rice tracts.
3 January 2021
The Enduring Enigma of Columbo Sahib!
It stands proudly as a silent sentinel - forsaken, forlorn, dilapidated - entwined in the vicious vice-grip of invasive vegetation – serpentine vines and clinging creepers - that threaten to bring it down anytime sooner than later.
27 December 2020
President of the Poor
He is the “president of the people”, more precisely the “president of the poor people”.
20 December 2020
The Brave Doctor
The idea of death is feared by many but it is not in our control – perhaps only to a certain extent. Various life decisions we make play a big part in determining our fate.
13 December 2020
Imagining a Dhaka for 2035
No one doubts the magnitude of complexity that shrouds Dhaka, this city of 16 million poised between being the worst liveable and an economic colossus.
13 December 2020
‘We are the 95%’: Bhashani and the Kagmari Festival
In 2011, people reclaimed the streets, parks and public spaces in major financial districts across the world as part of the Occupy Movement.
11 December 2020
Maulana Bhashani and The Islam Question
In public discourse, there are two images of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani: “Green Maulana” and “Red Maulana”.
11 December 2020
Do women feel safe in offices?
Earlier this month, I was a guest on a podcast titled Not Here For, a series by Kotha Bangladesh, that calls out injustices that we have historically faced and continue to face in this country today.
6 December 2020
Understanding The Communal Divide
Theories abound. Bizarre rumours run wild. Apart from extremists on both ends of the spectrum, all rational minds with a heart condemn the divide; yet, it refuses to go away. It’s complex -- at times it gets ugly but, most of the time, a simmering tension over numerous petty differences regarding faith, culture and inexplicable prejudices run deep.
29 November 2020
Cultural cartooning: A new look at our everyday life
A new cartoon movement, known as cultural cartooning, has been gaining popularity all over the world. Cultural cartooning brings out the humorous side of our everyday life.
22 November 2020
Maulana Bhashani and the transition to secular politics in East Bengal
On March 10, 1947, a day of non-cooperation was observed in the colonial province of Assam.
15 November 2020
The Unforgettable Suhrawardys of Bengal
The spectacular socio-cultural efflorescence known by the sobriquet of ‘Bengal Renaissance’ was an extraordinary period from mid- 19th to early 20th century in Bengal.
8 November 2020
The cries of Modhupur Garh
“Leaf Storm” or La Hojarasca in Spanish, the debut novella by world renowned Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez, was first published in 1955. Largely applauded as the first appearance of Macondo, the imaginary village later made reputed in One Hundred Years of Solitude, Leaf Storm is a litmus test for a number of the themes and characters later to be crystallised in the book that earned the author the Noble Prize in literature.
1 November 2020
Sher-e-Bangla: In Search of a National Soul
Sher-e-Bangla was an institution rather than an individual. So say his critics as well as his admirers. And rightly so. But it seems very few have really appreciated the deeper significance of the epithet given him by themselves.
25 October 2020
The champion of the Bengali Muslim peasantry
AK Fazlul Haq burst into an all-Indian national political scene through the 1937 elections for the Bengal Legislative Assembly.
25 October 2020