Kim Taehyung, better known as BTS member V, is getting ready to make his long-awaited debut on the red carpet of the famous Cannes Film Festival. Monday, the international artist revealed on his Instagram stories that he would be on the red carpet at Cannes 2023, representing a well-known luxury brand.
V posted a picture of a sign that said, “Welcome to Cannes! We look forward to seeing you. Warmest, Peter Utz.” In the second shot, V was sitting on the beautiful French Riviera with Peter Utz while wearing a stylish leopard-print shirt and black pants.
Taehyung’s exciting showing at Cannes comes after news that BLACKPINK’s Jennie will also be there this year. BTS V and Jennie were said to have been seen walking around Paris holding hands, which made people wonder if they were dating.
In the meantime, V has been hard at work on his first solo record, which will come out later this year and is very much anticipated. As he starts his solo career, the talented musician is likely to make songs that fans will love.
Construction of Bangladesh’s first underground metro line begins in July:
A bilateral agreement has been signed with the contractor for the commencement of contract package-1 (land development of depot area) of Uttara route of Bangladesh’s first underground metro line MRT line-5. The work is expected to begin from July.
The agreement was signed between Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), TOA Corporation (Japan) and Spectra Engineers Limited (Bangladesh) at DMTCL Bhaban in the capital’s Uttara on Tuesday.
Six Bangladeshi peacekeepers to be honoured posthumously at UN HQ:
Six Bangladeshi peacekeepers will be honoured posthumously with the Dag Hammarskjold medal on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping on Thursday. The UN Headquarters will observe the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers that day.
You can now watch IPL matches only at Tk 32 using MyGP’s sports pack:
Grameenphone, the leading mobile operator in Bangladesh, announced a partnership with T-Sports, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in Bangladesh. The partnership will allow MyGP users to watch the IPL for as low as BDT 32 only.
The IPL is one of the most popular cricket leagues in the world, and MyGP is excited to offer its customers an affordable way to watch the matches. A range of attractive packs to enjoy IPL live is available through the app.
BTS’ V set to make his debut in Cannes Film Festival:
Global sensation and BTS member V, also known as Kim Taehyung, is gearing up to make his highly-anticipated debut on the prestigious red carpet of the Cannes Film Festival. Taking to his Instagram stories on Monday, the international artiste confirmed his appearance at the Cannes 2023 red carpet, representing a renowned luxury brand.
AI reimagines Bangladeshi actors as superheroes:
Now, an enthusiastic Facebook user named Kazi Shahriar Ahmed used his creativity by using mid-journey AI techniques to render pictures of the top Dhallywood celebrities, donning superhero costumes. His imaginative creations have sparked intrigue among social media users. The poster shared four visually stunning pictures featuring Jaya Ahsan, Arifin Shuvoo, Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, and Shakib Khan.
First Arab female astronaut reaches space station:
The International Space Station (ISS) has welcomed its first female Arab astronaut. Rayyanah Barnawi is one of two Saudis aboard Axiom Space’s second private mission, which launched from the United States on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Sunday. The 34-year-old biomedical specialist aims to conduct stem cell and breast cancer research during her scheduled 10-day stay on the International Space Station.
On Thursday, the 75th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping, six Bangladeshi soldiers who died in the line of duty will be given the Dag Hammarskjold medal.
The International Day of UN Peacekeepers will be celebrated at the UN Headquarters on that day.
The six Bangladeshi peacekeepers who are among the 103 awardees are: Sainik MD Sharif Hossain, Sainik MD Jahangir Alam, and Sainik MD Jasim, who served with the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA); LCPL Kafil Majum DER, who served with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS); SGT MD Manjur Rahman, who served with the UN Interim Security
According to the UN Information Centre in Dhaka, Bangladesh sends the most armed people to help keep the peace for the UN.
It sends more than 7,200 soldiers and police officers to Abyei, the Central African Republic, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lebanon, Mali, South Sudan, and the Western Sahara to help keep the peace there.
In 1948, an important decision was made to send military monitors to the Middle East to watch how the Israel-Arab Armistice Agreements were carried out. This was the start of what would become the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization.
Since then, more than 2 million peacekeepers from 125 countries have served in 71 actions around the world.
At the moment, 87,000 men and women are serving in 12 war zones in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is going to lay a wreath at the United Nations Headquarters during a formal ceremony to honor the more than 4,200 UN troops who have died since 1948.
He will also be in charge of a ceremony in the General Assembly Hall where 103 military, police, and citizen peacekeepers who died last year while working for the UN will be given Dag Hammarskjold Medals.
In 2002, the UN General Assembly set up the International Day of UN Peacekeepers as a way to honor all the men and women who work in policing and to remember those who have died for the sake of peace.
A bilateral deal has been made with the contractor to start contract package-1 (land development of depot area) of Bangladesh’s first underground metro line, MRT line-5, on the Uttara route. The work is likely to start in July.
On Tuesday, the deal was signed by Dhaka Mass Transit Company Limited (DMTCL), TOA Corporation (Japan), and Spectra Engineers Limited (Bangladesh) at DMTCL Bhaban in the capital’s Uttara.
In order to finish MRT Line-5 from Hemayetpur to Bhatara by 2028, 10 contract deals have been set up. As part of this, a land development work deal for the depot area was signed on Tuesday as part of contract package-1.
This package will be worked on by TOA Corporation (Japan) and Spectra Engineers Limited (Bangladesh), as per the deal. Also, actions related to processing bids for other packages are being done at different stages.
From Hemayetpur to Bhatara, this project will build a metro train line that is 13.50 km underground and 6.50 km above ground. In between, there will be 14 stops for people to get on and off (nine underground and five above ground).
MRT Line 5 goes from Hemayetpur to Boliarpur to Bilamalia to Amin Bazar and Gabtoli. From there, it will go through Darus Salam-Mirpur 1-Mirpur 10-Mirpur 14, Kachukhet, and Banani to get to Banani.
The line will then go through Gulshan 2 and Natun Bazar on its way to Bhatara. From Hemayetpur to Amin Bazar and Bhatara, this part of the metro train will be above ground. From Gabtoli to Natun Bazar, there will be underground metro train.
The Road Transport and Highways Division has projected that the MRT Line-5 project will cost Tk41,238.55 crore. Out of this, Tk12,121.50 crore will come from the Government of Bangladesh (GOB), and Tk29,117.5 crore will come from project aid.
The Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will pay for the project.
In recent years, the world has been amazed by how quickly Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been making progress. Deepfakes, DALL-E 2, ChatGPT, and other related developments have sparked a lot of debate about the ethics of AI, its possible uses, and where it’s headed in the future.
Now, a creative Facebook user named Kazi Shahriar Ahmed used AI methods while he was traveling to make pictures of the biggest stars in Dhallywood dressed as superheroes. People on social media are interested in what he comes up with.
The ad showed four pictures of Jaya Ahsan, Arifin Shuvoo, Bidya Sinha Saha Mim, and Shakib Khan that were very beautiful. He also asked his followers a question that made them think: “If Bangladesh had a Superhero Cinematic Universe, what superpowers would you want them to have?”
In the pictures, Jaya Ahsan’s short purple hair gave her a fierce look, while Bidya Sinha Mim’s short blue pixie cut gave her a foreign look.
The creative use of AI technology in these images has brought the idea of Bangladeshi superheroes to life, opening up a world of possibilities and fueling fans’ imaginations.
A team from Bangladesh has qualified for the World Cup of Pokémon, a worldwide online tournament put on by Smogon, the biggest competitive Pokémon community in the world.
At this year’s World Cup of Pokémon qualifiers, more than 200 players from 17 teams competed for the last three spots in the major knockout series. Each team represented a country or continent. Each player played two opponents, and the top three teams, based on their total score, moved on to the main game.
Team Bangladesh did the best in the qualifiers, beating countries like the UK, China, Brazil, Argentina, Greece, and South Korea with a 12-4 record. Starting on June 4, Team Bangladesh will be in the main rounds of the tournament with 15 other teams from the US, Latin America, Oceania, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, India, and more.
This tournament is being held by Smogon, an online community that runs and promotes a number of large-scale competitive Pokémon tournaments every year. About 18.5 million people visit their website every month. The matches are played on Pokémon Showdown, a browser-based game where anyone can make their own Pokémon teams and face each other. Every month, more than 10 million matches are played on Pokémon Showdown. There are more than 100 current formats, and each has its own sub-community.
As of May 2021, Pokémon is the most profitable media brand in the world, with a total income of $76.4 billion. Since November 18, 2022, when Pokémon Scarlet and Violet came out for Nintendo Switch, they have sold more than 22 million pieces.
Even though The Pokémon Company International and Nintendo host official Pokémon events called VGC (Video Game Championships), they are usually hard for Bangladeshis to get to because they are held all over the world. So, online fan groups like Smogon hold tournaments that anyone from anywhere in the world can join by using a browser-based simulator.
Bangladesh is trying for the 5th time to get past the qualifying round for the World Cup of Pokémon. The team members are all members of a Facebook group called “Bangladeshi Pokémon Battlers.” Since its start in 2012, this group has been a hub for local Pokémon fans and professional players.
Fans of the popular Netflix show “Squid Game” are eagerly waiting for the second season, but the show itself is getting its own reality show this year. “Squid Game: The Challenge” is the name of the television show based on the original show.
Media sources say that “Squid Game: The Challenge” will have 456 contestants play different games based on the original “Squid Game” series, plus many new games, for a grand prize of $4.56 million.
Stephen Lambert, Tim Harcourt, John Hay, and Toni Ireland, among others, will be in charge of this reality show version of the “Squid Game” series that doesn’t involve killing.
The first episode of “Squid Game: The Challenge” is set to air on Netflix in November. But there hasn’t been an official date set for the reality show yet.
Sunday, the law minister, Anisul Huq, said that the Digital Security Act will be changed in order to stop people from misusing it. This was reported by UNB.
“The Digital Security Act was not passed or is not being used to control freedom of speech or the media. Several things have already been done to stop people from abusing the rule. As part of these answers, the Digital Security Act will be changed in a few ways,” he said.
The minister said these things at a meeting in the Mohakhali neighborhood of the city called “Digital Security Law in Bangladesh and Freedom of Expression.” The program was put together by the UN’s Coordinating Office in Bangladesh and Brac University.
The government talked with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Office for a long time about the DSA and got some ideas, which are now being looked at, the minister said.
“Women are often abused online, and this is something that needs to be fixed. “The digital space will not be used in a way that hurts the reputation of the country, the government, or any individual,” Anisul Huq said.
The minister also said, “We need to protect our national interests and those who are targeted by digital threats and are most likely to be hurt by them. We need a DSA because of this.”
So, there is no chance that this law will be changed, the law minister said. “However, changes to the law are being looked at.” It needs to be thought about.”
Before the next general election, which will happen before or in January 2024, the US embassy in Dhaka told all US people living in the country to be careful.
Sunday, the embassy sent out a news release called “Demonstration Alert” with an important message.
In the release, the embassy asked US citizens to be careful because peaceful protests can turn violent if they turn confrontational.
So, they are asked to stay away from protests and be careful around big gatherings. They are also asked to review their personal security plans, stay aware of their surroundings, including local events, and listen to local news stations for updates.
It also said that political rallies and other events connected to the election had already started. As the general election gets closer, political gatherings and protests may happen more often or with more force.
In order to get men to help out more at home, Spain plans to release an app that will keep track of how much time each person of a household or family spends doing housework. Angela Rodriguez, Spain’s Secretary of State for Equality, told The Guardian about the change, which is seen as a way to improve gender equality. She says that the goal is to bring attention to the hidden “mental load” that women carry when it comes to doing housework.The plan was announced Tuesday in Geneva at a meeting of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
She told the UN Committee, “We’ll soon be releasing an app that lets people keep track of the chores that different family members do around the house. This way, we can see how many hours each of us spends doing housework and change the way we do it.”
She said that the new software, which cost a total of 2,11,750 euros to make, was made to make sure that every family member did their part. She also said, “We think this is an activity that could be used at home to figure out how to divide up chores between sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, flatmates, or life partners, since these tasks aren’t always split up evenly.” The app will work like Splitwise, which lets people split the cost of going out to eat or other costs.
Ms. Rodriguez said that the app will “bring to light all the invisible jobs that are necessary for a house to run well.” She gave the example that it could take 20 minutes to clean the kitchen, but it all depended on whether someone had made a shopping list or remembered to get dish soap.
Later, she wrote on Twitter, “All of those who are offended by the housework app are really offended by the idea that they might have to start helping out around the house.”
In a shocking turn of events, the internet is once again ablaze with controversy. This time, the target of outrage is none other than the esteemed vlogger, Rafsan TheChotobhai, and his recent series of India vlogs. But what could possibly be the cause of such uproar, you ask? Brace yourselves, for it is the mind-boggling revelation that Rafsan doesn’t understand Hindi!
Yes, you heard it right. The internet, ever ready to pounce on the next unsuspecting victim, has unleashed its fury upon poor Rafsan because he dared to venture into the heart of India without fluency in one of its many languages. It seems that a significant section of the online community has lost all sense of reason and perspective, choosing instead to fixate on this trivial detail as if it were an affront to the very essence of Indian culture.
The saga began innocently enough, with Rafsan embarking on his Indian adventure armed with his trusty camera and an infectious enthusiasm. But lo and behold, when faced with the language barrier, he had the audacity to rely on translators or resort to speaking in English. Cue the collective gasps of horror from the hypersensitive masses.
Outraged comments flooded the online sphere, each one more indignant than the last. “How dare he not learn Hindi before coming to India?!” cried one self-appointed guardian of cultural purity. “This is cultural appropriation at its worst!” exclaimed another, who seemed to have missed the memo that Rafsan was there to document his experiences, not claim ownership of an entire civilization.
The irony, of course, is that Rafsan’s vlogs were filled with genuine curiosity, respect, and a desire to bridge the gaps between different cultures. But who needs rationality when you have the internet’s mob mentality on your side? Suddenly, everyone became an expert on language acquisition, asserting that Rafsan should have mastered Hindi overnight, as if linguistic proficiency were akin to microwave cooking.
Never mind that India is a diverse country with countless languages, dialects, and regional variations. Never mind that the ability to learn a language takes time, dedication, and often years of practice. Never mind that Rafsan was visiting India as a guest, appreciating its beauty and sharing it with his audience in the best way he knew how. No, none of that matters when there’s an opportunity to feel self-righteous and indignant.
So here we are, witnessing another episode in the never-ending saga of internet outrage. Rafsan TheChotobhai’s lack of Hindi fluency has become the ultimate sin, eclipsing far more pressing issues and rendering the internet’s collective sense of perspective as scarce as a snowflake in the Sahara.
An official said on Saturday that an ex-British Gurkha soldier with two prosthetic legs climbed Mt. Everest. He made history by being the first person in his group to climb the world’s highest peak with prosthetic legs. Hari Budhamagar, who is 43 years old, reached the top of the 8848.86-meter peak late Friday afternoon.
“Ex-soldier Hari Budhamagar made history on Friday when he became the first person with his condition to reach the top of Mt. Everest,” a Department of Tourism official said. Budhamagar, who lost both of his legs in the war in Afghanistan while fighting for the UK government as a British Gorkha soldier in 2010, climbed Mt. Everest with prosthetic legs.
He had planned to climb Mt. Everest in 2018, but he had to change his plans after the government made a rule that blind, double-amputee, and solo hikers couldn’t climb mountains, including Everest, in 2017.
A petition was brought against the ban, and in response, the Supreme Court issued an order in 2018 that cancelled the rule. This made it possible for Budhamagar to make history.
On Sunday, five people from outside of Nepal reached the top of Mount Everest.
This spring, Nepal gave out a high number of permits to climb Mount Everest: 466.
Nepal has eight of the ten highest mountains in the world.
Today, Aranyo Anawer’s picture “Maa” will have its world premiere at the 76th Cannes Picture Festival. Before the opening, the director, Aranya Anawer, and the producer, Pulak Kanti, were seen in the streets of Cannes wearing a panjabi and a lungi.
The movie will be shown at the Palais de Festivals of Cannes theater at 6:45 pm local time as part of the festival’s “marché du film.”
The director and producer of the movie “Maa” proudly waved the Bangladeshi flag as they walked the streets of Cannes. They wore traditional Bengali clothes like Punjabi, Lungi, and gamcha to honor their roots. This one-of-a-kind display was meant to show the world the rich history and uniqueness of Bangladeshi film.
Aranyo Anawer also wrote about his feelings on his Facebook page. He said, “Marche means to sell, and Marche du Film means the film market. Yesterday, I wore a lungi and Punjabi and spent the whole day in that market area. I was happy to sit in the booth for Bangladesh.
People who thought he walked the red carpet in traditional clothes were also wrong, he said.
“Please correct yourself if you call it the red carpet by mistake. I want to be true to myself. Please help me or don’t say anything.”
The movie “Maa” is about Bangladesh’s Liberation War, and Pori Moni plays a grieving mother in the main part.
Before, “Maa” was supposed to come out in the U.S. on May 19. But the rules say that a movie can’t come out in theaters before it’s shown at a festival. So, “Maa” couldn’t come out in local theaters until May 26.
The essay book “BTS: Seoul to Soul” by filmmaker Anarya Murshid about the famous Korean pop music group BTS came out on Friday.
A press statement said that the book about the rise of the Korean pop band is now on sale.
The book has stories about the trials of seven BTS members and lists their shows, albums, and awards. In the book, there was an important piece about the Korean Cultural Wave and the use of “soft power.”
“I’m making a movie about a Bangladeshi BTS fan’s cultural problem. “When we were getting ready to make the movie, I felt like I needed a book about K-pop,” Anarya said.
The book’s editor said that he also wanted to put out books that were about culture and diplomacy. His publishing house has also put out books like this in the past.
“I hope the book will help Bangladesh and Korea build a culture bridge that will last for a long time. “The book will also help the older generation see this generation in a good light,” Anarya said.
Fans of BTS can buy the book at Tobuo Proyas, Lalan, or Chandal Books.
OpenAI has put out a ChatGPT app for iOS and said that an Android version will be out “soon.” The app is free to use and syncs your chat data with the web. You can also use your voice to send messages, which is made possible by the open-source speech recognition model Whisper from OpenAI. The app can be downloaded from the App Store here and works on both iPhones and iPads. OpenAI says that the app will be released first in the US and then in other countries “in the coming weeks.”
OpenAI didn’t say before that there would be a mobile app, but given how famous ChatGPT is, it makes sense. The AI assistant came out in November, but its use took off quickly. Some outside reports say that by January of this year, the app had 100 million users, but OpenAI has never confirmed these numbers.
The launch of the app is interesting, given that OpenAI isn’t sure how to place ChatGPT in the market. Even though the chatbot started out as an experiment, it quickly found a consumer audience that uses it for everything from cheating on college writings to business applications. In February, OpenAI released ChatGPT Plus, a paid version of the app that gives users priority access and answers made with the company’s most recent language model, GPT-4. Each month, it costs $20.
Up until now, the best way to use OpenAI’s language models on a mobile device was to use the Bing app from Microsoft, which gives you access to the company’s GPT-4-powered robot. Microsoft has been using access to its chatbot as a way to get people to use Bing and Edge. If ChatGPT makes an official app, it’s possible that some of these users will switch to it instead. The start of an official ChatGPT should also stop people from signing up for the many spam and fake apps that claim to give access to the chatbot on mobile.
ChatGPT has the same problems on mobile devices as it does on the web, of course. These include the fact that the bot is likely to make up information and be sure of it, and worries about privacy. OpenAI just recently gave users the option to make talks private, and the app’s homescreen (shown above) still tells users not to share “sensitive info” on the app.
The fifth song of the second season of Coke Studio Bangla, “Deora,” came out on May 7 and has been the most popular thing on YouTube ever since. Incredibly, the song got over 21 million views in just 11 days, which was a new record for the site.
Before, “Bhaber Pagal” by Nigar Sumi and Jalali Set had 24 million views, making it the most watched song on Coke Studio Bangla.
But it’s important to remember that this song came out a year ago, while “Deora” got a crazy 21 million views in just 11 days. It is rare for any Bengali song, not just Coke Studio Bangla, to become so popular so quickly.
When “Deora” came out, it quickly went to the top of YouTube’s popular list and stayed there for a few days. As of right now, it is still a strong rival. It is currently the third most popular video on YouTube. The crowd doesn’t seem to be getting tired of the song.
“Deora” is popular outside of Bangladesh, which is an interesting fact. The song has gotten a lot of interest in India, and it’s even been heard in Tanzania, which is in Africa.
Kili Paul, a popular African content maker, used the song in a TikTok video that got over 1.2 million views in just one day. Also, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok are still full of reels, videos, and other artistic works that were inspired by the song. This huge number of responses shows how much of an impact the song has had on the internet.
“Deora” is a great mix of modern and traditional music. It was written by Fazlu Majhi and played by Pritom Hasan, Islam Uddin Palakar, and the Ghaashphoring Choir.
A few new lines have been added to the original song, and Pritom himself wrote the new parts.
Rickshaw fares have been fixed for Dhaka University (DU) campus, addressing the long-standing complaints of the teachers and students.
The new fares are set to be effective from Sunday.
Initially, one hundred rickshaw pullers will be provided with prescribed clothes to implement prescribed fares. Fare lists will also be posted at specific stops
The minimum fare has been set at Tk15 and the maximum at Tk40.
The University Chhatra League has worked proactively with the administration on this demand of ordinary students.
According to the prescribed fare, students can go to TSC, Neelkhet Mukti and Gonotantrik Toran for Tk20 and Shaheed Minar, Curzon Hall for Tk30 from Hall Para.
The rickshaw fares from TSC Shahidullah Hall, Bakshibazar, and Neelkhet have been set at Tk20, while fares from Sufia Kamal Hall and Amar Ekushey Hall have been fixed at Tk30.
From TSC Shahidullah Hall, Bakshibazar, Neelkhet Tk20 and Sufia Kamal Hall, Amar Ekushey Hall Tk30 has been fixed.
Dhaka University Proctor Professor Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman said that this initiative is not new; it was implemented during the pandemic.
“Due to Covid-19, there was a delay in its effective implementation. University students had been complaining for a long time, especially female students, about being charged extra fare by rickshaw pullers. Our teachers also raised complaints about this issue,” he added.
Former Dhaka University Central Students Union (Ducsu) member and General Secretary of DU unit Chhatra League Tanvir Hasan Saikat said after being elected in 2019, the initiative was taken to regulate rickshaw fares in the Dhaka University area by holding discussions with rickshaw pullers and students.
As part of this effort, a list of fixed fares was established at various important locations on the campus, and 16 zones were identified for rickshaw parking.
He added Dhaka University proctor has handed over the list of fixed fares.
On the dawn of April 4, 2023, a massive fire broke out in Bangabazar in Dhaka. It took nearly six and a half hours for 48 fire engines, and the firefighting force of the army, navy, air force, and BGB to bring the situation under control. Amidst all the chaos, thousands of onlookers stood there watching as one of the biggest clothing markets in the country was being reduced to ashes. To understand this behavior of the passive crowd first, we need to understand a social phenomenon called the “Bystander Effect”.
Bystander Effect (Rahik Ahmed)
What is the Bystander Effect?
A bystander is a person who observes a potentially dangerous situation but does nothing. The bystander effect, on the other hand, is a social phenomenon where people are less inclined to intervene and help someone in need when other people are present.We have to keep in mind that, the bystander effect is not a conscious decision on the part of individuals. Rather, it is a result of social and psychological factors that can influence our behavior in social situations. Most often, it occurs because people assume that someone else will step up and intervene or someone in the crowd is more qualified to handle the particular situation than the individual; which diffuses responsibility that makes individuals feel less personally responsible for taking action and decreases the likelihood of assisting the one in need. Fear of embarrassment and fear of personal safety are also factors why the effect may occur.
Social Impact
People tend to conform to the actions of others in social situations. If no one else is helping, individuals may assume that it is not a socially acceptable thing to do and may refrain from helping as a result. People of Bangladesh tend to gather in crowds whenever a tantrum is going off on the streets. Bystanders observe rather than help the victim or stop the perpetrator. Moreover, in some cases, they worsen the situation further by intervening without understanding the situation. We are still a long way from having steady emergency services. Whenever law enforcement is not available in a country like Bangladesh, bystanders must play a crucial role in protecting citizens from life-threatening dangers. Something as simple as informing the police or calling an ambulance can save a life in a critical moment. It takes only one person to take an initiative for the whole crowd to take necessary actions. In a large group, it is easy for one to not take responsibility for the victim personally and think someone else will step up. This effect creates a diffusion of responsibility; as a result, the whole crowd stands passive. In our everyday life, we might be a bystander even without us realizing it. It can be a brawl on the street or someone needing urgent medical help or even cyber-bullying. One might not address these first because thinking that might not be socially acceptable. Thus this works like a chain effect and consequently, no one comes to aid the victim.
Bystanders standing during a gender scuffle (Rahik Ahmed)
The role Bystanders in gender-based violations
Men and women experience the same trauma when they are subjected to crime, but women have to deal with more factors than men. For example, when a man acts fiercely toward his perpetrator it is seen as a rational reaction, and a woman’s public protest is deemed as an overreaction. Other than that, women are prone to sexual harassment on the streets. When a woman faces a crime, it has become the norm for onlookers to blame the woman’s disposition rather than denounce the crime when she is the victim of a persistent offense. They scrutinize her behavior as well as how decently she is dressed, with whom she is there, and for what reason and when.
Bangabazar Fire 2023 (AP/ Mahmud Hasan Opu)
Tragic examples of the effect
Here we look again at the Bangbazar case. Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence, Brig Gen Md Main Uddin said, The crowd of onlookers was the biggest hindrance to firefighting efforts and caused a delay in bringing the devastating fire at the Bangabazar Shopping Complex under control. There were numerous instances of people using Facebook Live. At the fire-damaged spot, many people were taking selfies. Due to the enormous number of people, the rescue teams were unable to bring in equipment and vehicles, according to eyewitnesses.
New Market Fire incident: On 15th March, a massive fire broke out at New Supermarket in the capital. Here, curious bystanders crowded the area; making it harder for civil service and volunteer groups to intervene and control the fire. The Prime Minister said that unnecessary crowding must not be allowed during extinguishing the fire by the firefighters and strict action will be taken in case of any obstruction regarding this.
The Attack on Professor Zafar Iqbal: In 2018, a prominent Bangladeshi physicist named Professor Zafar Iqbal was attacked with a knife while attending a public event. Bystanders reportedly failed to intervene, allowing the attacker to inflict serious injuries before being apprehended by security personnel.
Woman assaulted on the bus: In 2020, a video surfaced on social media, showing a woman being assaulted on a bus in Dhaka. The woman was crying and pleading for help, but no one on the bus intervened. Passengers continued to sit silently, ignoring her pleas. The incident sparked outrage on social media, with many people criticizing the bystander effect in Bangladesh.
The Rana Plaza incident: On April 24, 2013, in Savar, Bangladesh, was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in history. The incident claimed the lives of over 1,100 people and injured thousands more. There were several bystanders who witnessed the building collapse and could have intervened to help those in need. However, many bystanders failed to take action, and their inaction had dire consequences.
Virtual Bystander (Depositphotos)
Virtual Bystander
In this modern age, we can be a bystander to something as regular as cyberbullying. We may see online harassment and choose to do nothing for reasons like we may not know the person well or we are waiting for someone else to protest first. It would be irrational to ask everyone to stand up to every harassment online but for those of us who can we should at least stand up for those being harassed around us. Being bullied online can have a notable impact on one’s mental health. In some cases we are truly powerless to do anything; for instance- watching a live stream of a disaster or witnessing a graphic image or video online. Naturally, out of frustration, we might blame the person streaming or clicking photos for not doing anything rather than us lending a helping hand through NGOs, volunteer groups, or relief programs. A popular example of this is- Kevin Carter, a south african photojournalist, who, in 1993 captured a picture of what appeared to be a little girl who had collapsed to the ground out of hunger as a vulture surrounded the girl. After capturing the scenario on his camera, he frightened the vulture away. After New York Times published the picture that year, he received hundreds of phone calls and emails criticizing him for not taking any action. As a bit of context, the journalists were told not to touch the locals for it may spread disease. Three months after the photo was published, Kevin committed suicide due to depression. In conclusion, blaming someone for their inability to act at the moment does nothing more than calling a greater mishap.
The Role of social media
When a digital bystander livestreams an incident, it is easy for the individual to be consumed by likes and reactions. Addiction to social media and a lack of morals can cause this. On the other hand, because of digitalization, it has become easier to help out in cases of national tragedies even more in this country because Bangladesh is prone to natural disasters. It has become easier for us to donate money to NGOs and relief organizations through digital payment methods. All in all social media can be used to spread consciousness which can play a pivotal role in overcoming tragedies.
Rana Plaza 2013 (EPA/ Abir Abdullah)
Remedy
There is no easy fix for this phenomenon but taking some steps can help reduce the damage it does. Such as-
Increase Awareness: One of the most important steps in overcoming the bystander effect is to raise awareness about the issue and the impact it can have on individuals and society as a whole. This can be done through public campaigns, educational programs, and media coverage of incidents where bystander intervention could have made a difference.
Foster a Sense of Responsibility: Fostering a sense of responsibility among individuals and communities can help create a culture of intervention and promote personal responsibility for the well-being of others. This can be done through public awareness campaigns, community events, and education programs that emphasize the importance of taking action to help others in need.
Create Support Systems: It is essential to create support systems for victims of violence and injustice, including hotlines, counseling services, and safe spaces where individuals can seek help and support. Even though we have a national emergency number (999), it is not enough in some cases as sometimes it can take more than 30 minutes for help to arrive considering the traffic conditions of the country especially in the capital. Dedicated regional helplines or community-based emergency support systems can ease up this issue to a great extent.
Improve Safety Regulations: Improving safety regulations and enforcement in commercial buildings and public spaces can help create a safer environment for individuals to intervene in situations where someone may be in danger. This can include implementing better fire safety measures, improving access to emergency services, and enforcing safety regulations in commercial and public spaces.
Empower Individuals: Empowering individuals to take action and intervene in situations where someone may be in danger can help overcome the diffusion of responsibility that is often associated with the effect. This can be done through training programs, workshops, and community-based initiatives that provide individuals with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to take action.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” this a quote by Edmund Burke that emphasizes the necessity of taking action. Doing nothing can cost us social security and sometimes even lives. The choice of taking action is a powerful choice in itself. Learning about this social effect can help us understand the situation better and take responsibility when it is necessary.
Project Trishna, a core program of Footsteps Bangladesh, a next-generation organization, has reached Goal100- ensuring access to safe and clean drinking water for 100 schools across Bangladesh. In April 2019, Footsteps declared a commitment of reaching 100 schools with safe water access through Project Trishna, which the project has achieved amidst a global pandemic on April 4, 2023 with its latest school water system installation in Kewdala Government Primary School in Narayanganj. Project Trishna is one of Footsteps’ core development programs which empowers communities with safe water and sanitation access. Implemented in 2015, Project Trishna takes a unique approach in implementing safe water systems in schools, hospitals, public spaces and households and teaches communities how to maintain these systems in order to ensure the water solution sustains in the long run. The project is supported by both local and international companies and individuals, which includes the City Bank Limited, BURO Bangladesh, Olympic Industries, United Group, etc. In 2021, the project partnered with global celebrity singer Shawn Mendes in ensuring safe water for schools in Northeast Bangladesh. Access to safe drinking water has been a primary social challenge in communities across Bangladesh, especially for children who are at risk of falling sick and missing classes due to drinking contaminated water. Project Trishna is addressing this challenge by creating a unique WASH solution which ensures safe water for a school for a lifetime.
“Since our declaration of Goal100 in 2019, our team has been working tirelessly to achieve this feat over the past 4 years. We faced many hurdles in the middle, especially the COVID-19 Pandemic where schools remained closed for several months, but we are ecstatic of finally reaching this goal which would not have been possible without our partners and stakeholders. Now that Goal100 is achieved, we will now set a new target to achieve and work towards empowering everyone in Bangladesh with safe water and sanitation access, step by step” said Shah Rafayat Chowdhury, co-founder and president of Footsteps Bangladesh.
Footsteps Bangladesh has been actively working in Bangladesh’s development sector since 2013 and has impacted over 400,000 people across 33 districts in Bangladesh with WASH, Climate Action, and Public Health initiatives. Project Trishna is currently ensuring safe water for over 60,000 children in 100 schools across 9 districts in Bangladesh. The organization received the Diana Award, AFS Prize for Young Global Citizens, Joy Bangladesh Youth Award and has been enlisted on Forbes 30 Under 30 List for its innovative work in Bangladesh’s development sector.
In recent years, Bangladesh has seen the emergence of a large number of young writers whose works have been well-received by readers of all ages. Owakila Tabassum Mumu is one such writer who has successfully carved a place in the hearts of readers from all walks of life with the magic her fingers have woven into the pages of her books.
Her first book, Jhajhin Sheyola was published in the Ekushey Boi Mela (Bangladesh’s national book fair) in 2021. The book was also a best-seller on Rokomari.com, Bangladesh’s biggest online bookshop.
Her second book is Go te Gali Fo te Feminist, a research-based book on gender roles and feminism that was released in February of 2022. This book is being widely used in research by various NGOs and as a teaching material by many trainers in gender capacity-building training. The book will be translated in English very soon.
Mohuar mod o koyekti prempatra, her third creation, is a novella that was released at the Ekushey Book Fair 2023 and has received positive feedback from readers of all ages.
Aside from being an author, she works for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), an INGO and research organisation in the communication department. She is currently pursuing a postgraduate degree in Development Studies at BIGD (BRAC Institute of Governance and Development), BRAC University. She has authored several articles for national newspapers and magazines.
In this interview Owakila Tabassum Mumu reflects on her journey as an author, discusses the challenges that aspiring authors face in Bangladesh, and shares her top three pieces of advice for aspiring authors.
How did you get started as an author? What inspires you to write?
There are stacks of books everywhere in our house because almost everyone in the family is a bookworm. So, naturally, I became drawn to books and stories from my childhood.
But this isn’t the only thing that inspired me to write. There’s a story behind it that has stayed with me even years after I first learned about it, and it will continue to motivate me to write until the end of my life.
I was in sixth grade, getting ready for lunch, completely unaware that I was about to witness something that would change my life forever. Our housekeeper’s aunt came through the door of my room, which I was about to leave to go to the dining table, and began crying uncontrollably in front of me and my mother, who was standing next to me, as perplexed as I was.
Although I cannot go into great detail about what happened to her here for personal reasons, I can say that on that day, I learned about the plight of women in this society, particularly those who are unaware of their rights, through her words. Following this incident, I vowed to become the voice of women who needed to be heard through my writings, and I am still working tirelessly to keep this promise I made to myself.
What difficulties might an aspiring writer face in Bangladesh?
It takes a lot of patience, hard work, and sometimes luck to become an author. I’ve dealt with numerous internal and external issues.
The intrinsic challenges are very personal and vary from person to person. Extrinsic challenges, on the other hand, are common and difficult to overlook in Bangladesh.
The difficulties begin with the search for a suitable publishing house. Although there are thousands of publishing houses, only a few value and respect new writers.
The royalty percentage is also unsatisfactory, and it is unfortunate that many authors do not receive the royalty they deserve, especially from their first book.
Furthermore, even in today’s internet-based world, publishers use outdated methods to promote the books, which makes it difficult for aspiring writers to survive and grow. The distribution channels are not modern either.
What are your plans for the future? What are some of your key suggestions for aspiring authors?
The future is unpredictable! All I can say is that I want to continue writing and giving my readers new perspectives on life, while also reinventing myself with each book.
Along with my writing career, I hope to make a significant contribution to the development sector and social research in Bangladesh.
These are my suggestions for aspiring writers: Read, read and read: The more we read, the more words, thoughts, ideas, and conversations we consume. When all of these factors come together, we can generate innovative ideas and gain the ability to present these ideas to others in an organized manner. It goes without saying that new ideas, as well as how you communicate them to others, play an important role in making an author successful.
Determine why you wish to write: This is a difficult question because there is no definitive answer, but we should consider it. If an author can find the answer by asking his or her heart and mind, he or she will be able to predict which path he or she will take, giving him or her a reason to write whenever they struggle to do so.
Every time, go all out: Given how competitive the industry is, it will be difficult for an author to survive and succeed without high-quality content. I think, every author is connected in the sense that we all want to connect with people by sharing our thoughts. To make that connection, we must give our best effort every time we pick up a pen to write.
Sharmin Kabir, Founder, Wreetu Health and Well-being Foundation
Sharmin Kabir
Founder, Wreetu Health and Well-being Foundation
Sharmin Kabir was raised in Kishorganj. She completed her schooling in her village before studying English Linguistics as an undergraduate at BRAC and later studied TESOL at the Master’s level. Sharmin Kabir has enrolled in DU’s MPhil program, where she is studying Menstrual Hygiene Management. Her topic is about using technology to bridge the gap between resource availability and information.
After completing her Master’s degree, She joined BRAC IED for a full-time project, and her field of work mainly focused on adolescent girls. During that time, she realised that these girls don’t have adequate resources or information on period or puberty health. Furthermore, the change in mindset and general appearance during adolescence left these girls with a lack of self-confidence. They lacked knowledge about menstruation health since they were never told about it. Using her personal experience and some internet search, Sharmin Kabir decided to break the stigma to make sure Bangladeshi girls can talk freely about menstruation health without hesitance. In 2016, she left BRAC to found Wreetu, an organisation aiming to remove the period taboo once and for all. From her field experience, she found that period hygiene is a neglected topic in Bangladesh.
The main challenge was the hesitance of people not talking about the period, which could be a problem. According to Ms. Kabir, the gap needs to be identified by parents or schools. But there is much scope to talk about it. Wreetu had to eradicate the mentality of not talking about menstruation. Another challenge was to create the necessary awareness in both genders regarding the topic. Wreetu has completed a movement under the guidance of Ms. Sharmin. Her sisters and relatives felt skeptical about her work, thus getting little support from the family. Many schools felt negligent about menstruation, but now they are speaking out. Ms. Sharmin had a difficult time assembling a team.
There is a knowledge gap everywhere regarding the period. A common effort is given during the ice-breaking sessions, making them aware that the period is something to discuss. Another challenge faced during these times was that young adults are more negative than teenagers. The vision of Ms. Sharmin regarding Wreetu is to eradicate the taboo regarding periods once and for all by 2030.
Maleena Gomez, Creative Director, Aneemal Studios
Maleena Gomez
Creative Director, Aneemal Studios
“I started my career in advertising in 2013 — just imagine a 19-year-old juggling art school and crazy work hours and the image is pretty much what I was 10 years ago!” quoted Ms. Maleena.
Being a young recruit, she always had to work extra hours and had no scope for slip-ups, but it instilled in her a constant drive to prove her skills and talents to show that she was fit for the role she was given.
There was a point in her career as an Art Director where she was assigned to lead a team of assets — who were much older than she was, and all men to boot. Needless to say, it really was quite a struggle to get the team to accept her authority, in fact, it was fairly intimidating at some points as well. But she had full faith in herself and what she was doing, also with all respect to the leaders who thought she would be fit for that role, she pushed through. Soon enough her team recognized that as well and they accepted her with love and admiration.
Today, she is managing her own design studio (Aneemal Studios) as Creative Director and Project Lead, while also operating as the Creative Head for Monno Ceramics, a company with a significant stage presence in the Bangladeshi ceramics industry. It’s worth noting that the designers and marketers, in both teams, that I’m working with are all younger than me.
As a female entrepreneur and professional handling all these titles and leadership roles, she still often faces difficulty being taken seriously and having people following her instructions. She never stopped believing in herself and her abilities for a day, and doesn’t plan on doing so anytime soon. She thinks hard work, confidence, and knowing how to hold her ground strongly can help her grow.
Shomy Hasan Chowdhury, Co-Founder, Awareness 360
Shomy Hasan Chowdhury
Co-Founder, Awareness 360
Ms. Shomy was privileged to grow up in an open-minded family. However, as she was trying to establish herself as a social impact entrepreneur, requiring her to interact with the broader society, the gender imbalance that still exists today became increasingly apparent to her. She experienced similar hardships as other Bangladeshi women, including getting unsolicited advice on every facet of life and being protected at the expense of her freedom. Others didn’t have much confidence in her, and she often needed to prove herself. People questioned her intentions, actions, and outcomes. When people hear her success story, they appear surprised, as though it’s difficult to believe a young woman can do remarkable things.
She is often invited to high-level events around the world to speak about her work; at this point, she is used to immigration officers’ raised eyebrows. In 2018, she was invited by the Government of Pakistan to be an International Election Observer of Pakistan’s General Elections, appointed by the Commonwealth Secretary-General Rt. Hon. Patricia Scotland. She struggled to persuade certain officials that she had been assigned such a significant responsibility. Aside from these personal struggles, she also noted the disproportionate impact of women in her line of work. Women founders continue to struggle with access to funding. In the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector, girls and women shoulder the burden in most communities. For instance, it is them who are tasked to walk mile after mile to fetch water, skipping out on prospects for employment and education. This even puts them at risk of sexual assault.
Dismantling patriarchy in all of its manifestations, in order to establish gender equality and equity, is a long process. Even if the seed they are planting today might not bear fruit right away, we shouldn’t give up. This is why she feels motivated to continue her work despite the challenges, to lead by example, and to celebrate small wins, in hope of leaving a collective lasting legacy that will benefit present and future generations.
Sarah Zita, National Consultant at UNDP, Consultant at Joyeeta Foundation
Sarah Zita
National Consultant at UNDP, Consultant at Joyeeta Foundation
After studying at BAF Shaheen Jessore, she came to Dhaka with a dream. Without any knowledge of the level of competition in the outside world, she gave it her all and eventually received a degree in finance and banking. She recalls her school days, when she wrote an essay about dreaming of being an entrepreneur one day. Her dream was shunned by the teacher, who suggested that she change her aim, as a doctor or an engineer would suit a woman better. She was the only female taking up commerce subjects in her college, even when she was an ace student and was expected to take up science by her peers. She took a leap of faith and expressed her desire to go ahead with commerce.
Her work life was not easy either. Inspired by a woman in a senior management role at her workplace, she desired to fly high like her. As a female working in a male-centric role, she had to face a lot of challenges because of her vocal personality. Her realisation came when she saw that a female working in any similar position as a man struggles harder to make a place for herself. This was also when the dream of being an entrepreneur became deeper when she understood the significance of having female entrepreneurs in the country. She was courageous and was not afraid to speak her heart out. She was also under additional pressure to care for her home as a wife and daughter-in-law. Even though she had to leave her job when she became a mother, she could not leave her passion for starting a business. This is when destiny took an interesting turn.
In early 2012, she was inspired by her childhood friend who worked in eCommerce and started Monihari, which was one of the first businesses to do customised products such as T-shirts. She was invited by eCAB to gather with similar eCommerce entrepreneurs, where she was the only woman. There she expressed her desire to work with women entrepreneurs, and Women & eCommerce was started with her involvement. From then on, she went on to work with Anondomela, UNDP, and the Joyeeta Foundation, all guided by her passion to work as an entrepreneur and her zeal to do something for women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh who go through similar challenges.
Jasmine Jui, Chief Executive Officer, Bijoy Digital
Jasmine Jui
Ms. Jasmine studied at Azimpur Girls’ High School and was always keen to read. She noticed that she was good at recitation. At that adolescent age, she did not know what to do with her life but coming from a very conservative family in Old Dhaka, she grew up in a traditional environment. She knew that she did not want to be recognised as someone’s wife or daughter. She needs to have her own identity. Her career started when she took up tuition during her SSC. She realised that she has a good potential in the teaching field. She went ahead with a teaching career and luckily faced no restrictions as her peers felt that teaching is a secured career for females. She completed her Honours in English at Eden Mohila College.
She taught at Holy Cross School and College but she had to leave after two years as she was blessed with a daughter. She later joined Raihan School as an English teacher and spent 9 years teaching. She later felt stuck and realised that there was not much space to grow. She wanted to explore something new, still she was afraid to take a step forward. However through a circle of networking, she was hired to work at, which would later be named as Bijoy Digital. She had Mustafa Jabbar as her mentor to guide her. Mustafa Jabbar saw her sincerity, work ethic and honesty. She recalls her personal journey throughout her 14 years of career at Bijoy Digital which not only helped her grow professionally but personally as well. She got to explore her creative side and used her experience as an English teacher to work behind the production process of Bijoy Digital.
She had a big role in building the character “Bijoy” as she wanted to have the essence of Bangladeshi root in the character. Bijoy Digital works to digitise the primary books for kids from preschool to class five. She had a vision and she lived up to it. Today, everyone recognises her as the woman behind Bijoy Digital.
In the early 70s, Sanjida Kasem started her school life. She started her education at Little Jewels School and then continued to Agrani Girls School which had 4 disciplines to study, unlike many other schools of that time. When she was in class 8, she chose to be a Chartered Accountant following her father becoming ill. Previously she dreamt of becoming a doctor just like any other girl back then. The trouble with becoming a CA was, there was no proper female CAs to talk about the challenges.
Inspired by her SSC results, she finally thought of becoming the CA she always dreamed of. She completed her graduation in 1988 from a comprehensive course and enrolled in CA. She passed her CA and then CMA in 1991 with one go. After her completion, she joined her father’s firm and worked for a while. Later she moved to work in Singapore. And then, came back to Bangladesh to work full-time at her father’s firm. “On the contrary to what people think that I don’t have to go to the office since it belonged to my father, I worked like any other employee would do,” said Ms. Sanjida.
According to Ms. Kasem, in the field of CA, the given allowance is not enough to survive compared to the effort invested towards the job. Academically, DU now offers 11 subjects, up from four previously. This makes it easier for women to obtain leadership positions. As well as, if these prospects are missed, this will be a massive mistake. Even if a woman does not advance to a higher level of management, there is always room for middle-level management roles because young women can multitask without losing focus. Women prefer to work in a cleaner environment which is why they are less likely to be associated with any criminal activity such as corruption. However, females stay in the labour force for a shorter period of time because there is no adequate infrastructure or logistical support to encourage them.
Another problem faced by women is the lack of a childcare system in this country. If we address these then soon we can see female employment rising higher. According to Ms. Sanjida, you can’t have everything. As a woman, Sanjida had to sacrifice some things from her life that her family is now used to. Sometimes, some opportunities are missed to give time to family as she loves to give time to her family and her colleagues too.
People are taking CA more seriously than they used to before and it is reflected by the numbers.
Certain initiatives from the institutes and firms have popularised the CA culture to more females and women are now in a more strategic position playing an important role by encouraging young girls which is making the companies more enthusiastic to hire females in designated positions.
The media has a powerful influence on the way people think, act, and interact. With its ability to spread information quickly and easily, media can be used to reinforce stereotypes, and make their impact even more far-reaching.
The traditional attire of Muslim men and women has become a frequent target of typecast. The scorn of Muslim attire is particularly damaging, as it can have a deep impact on a person’s self-esteem and sense of belonging in society. Ridiculing religious beliefs and practices should always be discouraged.
The traditional clothing of Muslims is seen as a sign of respect and a symbol of their faith. Unfortunately, because of the negative connotations associated with it, Muslims often face ridicule and discrimination for their appearance. This can lead to feelings of isolation, rejection, and low self-worth.
In addition to this, this kind of contempt can also lead to the further marginalization of the Muslim community. This is because it reinforces stereotypes and encourages discrimination leading to a lack of acceptance and understanding, as well as suspicion and mistrust. Stereotypically portraying travesty can lead to a general lack of respect for religious beliefs and practices. When people are not shown respect for their faith and beliefs, they may hesitate to be open and honest about them, causing a damaging impact on social discourse and cultural understanding.
Hence, it is important to be aware of the detrimental effects of our actions on certain stereotypes, show respect for different religious beliefs and practices, and resist the the temptation to make fun of those who choose to express their faith through their attire. The the only way to ensure that people feel safe and accepted in wider society is to respect their beliefs and practices, and to ensure that they are never made to feel less because of their appearance.
It is critical to be aware of the media’s power and recognize its impact on shaping our worldviews. We must strive to create and share content that exposes and challenges stereotypes, instead of perpetuating them. This can help create a more inclusive, understanding, and empathetic society.
Bengali.AI is a non-profit research initiative established for the democratization of Bengali language technology research. Formed by a group of graduates from BUET, KUET, and BRACU back in December 2017, the aim of Bengali.AI is to accelerate Bengali language research by creating large standardized open-sourced datasets – the absence of which has been a major bottleneck for Bangla research. Bengali.AI operates with a two-pronged approach. Firstly, they crowdsource language data through community-driven campaigns and curate the data with rigorous validation standards. Secondly, they crowdsource algorithms/solutions built on the datasets, through international competitions. For example, in 2019, the Bengali.AI team had crowdsourced+curated a dataset of over 500,000 handwritten Bengali graphemes. Following that in 2020, they launched an international Kaggle competition in collaboration with Google. Over 2,000 teams from all over the world partake in this competition regardless of their native tongue. These teams consisted of some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence like NVIDIA and H20.AI – all joining forces to build algorithms for Bengali optical character recognition.
Current projects:
Bengali.AI is asking people to submit their voice samples for a public-domain research dataset. They are running a campaign called ‘৫২ এর ৭১ বছর পূর্তি’. Since February 21st of this year, they have accumulated around 2000 hours of speech data from 23000 users through online campaigns – a major milestone that had taken English a significant amount of time to achieve. The objective of this campaign is to assist in the development of powerful and publicly available automatic speech recognition systems – paving the path for our own Bengali Siri or Alexa.
The team is also working towards a domain study on Bangladeshi Sign Language (BdSL) diversity. They aim to target 20 major regions in Bangladesh and run a survey of sign language users from these regions. This will provide the policymakers with much-needed context for sign language dissemination in the country.
On a global stage, Bengali.AI will be co-hosting the first-ever Bangla NLP workshop at arguably the largest NLP conference in the world – Empirical Methods on Natural Language Processing (EMNLP) 2023. Bangla NLP practitioners and enthusiasts will be called upon to present their amazing research works in Singapore as well as participate in research competitions on Bangla language technology.
The importance of working with Bengali:
Bengali is one of the world’s richest languages, yet, existing language technology for this language is often quite lacking, earning Bengali the unfortunate tag of a low-resource language. Moreover, there exists a large demographic for whom, access to technology is limited due to their ineptitude in English. Bengali.AI dreams of bridging this gap and making technology accessible to everyone in Bangladesh via Bengali voice, text, and signs.
Film Alliance Bangladesh is an alliance of the stakeholders of the film and media industry professionals based in Bangladesh who are considered as the think-tank. Today’s world demands the film industry of Bangladesh to cope and redefine its business model, policy, and strategy for a sustainable future. FAB has arranged a day-long summit on 30 December, FABfest 2022, in the presence of the decision-makers, investors, and mass media sharing their aspects and opinions allowing them to strengthen their views to cope with the hostile situation the industry is facing. Besides, a film screening and music performance will be held. The slogan for this event is “Reform Now.”
The summit is sponsored by Chorki, Ekattor TV, Star Cineplex, Channel I, Nagad, HoiChoi, Toffee, SMC, and City Bank. The event will be graced by the presence of the likes of Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Amitabh Reza Choudhury, Piplu R khan, Syed Ahmed Shawki, Iresh Zaker, Nuhash Humayun, Nur Safa Julhaj.
The new laws of the creative field are frightening to aspiring filmmakers. The process of ensuring freedom has to start right now. Successful and renowned personalities will execute many sessions and joining them will allow the participants to explore deeper. There is no registration fee for students.
To register and for further information, visit: https://filmalliancebangladesh.com/
From the 18th to the 20th of December, Scholastica Senior Campus Uttara hosted the sixth edition of its renowned Scholastica Model United Nations Conference. This conference observed 350+ participants (commonly referred to as delegates in the MUN circuit) from over 15 of the most prestigious schools in Dhaka City.
One of the committee from SCHOMUN
The event was kicked off by a musical performance by the school band and an insightful speech by none other than CEO of the 10-minute school, Ayman Sadiq. Mr. Sadiq gave a fun and exciting speech on removing negativity in life and changing perspective; like treating life in percentages instead of raw numbers. The Principal and Head of the Section of Scholastica SRU, Ms. Farah Sophia Ahmed, was also in attendance at the opening ceremony. She shared words of inspiration and encouragement with all delegates while wishing them luck for the conference. Delegates were then escorted to their committees which hold mock sessions of real-world UN committees, for instance: SOCHUM, UNHRC, UNHCR, and DISEC amongst many more.
Shah Zaowad Ahnaf, Secretary General of the Conference
This event had been months in the planning, led by the Secretary General of the Conference, Shah Zaowad Ahnaf, and his 60+ person team. The organizing throughout all three days was flawlessly coordinated, from an extensive menu of food to beautiful decorations. There was even a Grand Dinner on the second day sponsored by Le Meridien Hotel Dhaka.
Ayman Sadiq, CEO of the 10-Minute School
SCHOMUN VI was sponsored by title sponsor Suvastu Space, accompanied by Asia Insurance Limited, Brothers Furniture, and Erfan Traders. Stalls from Thanda Garam, Madchef, Cheez, Butter the Bakery, Love Triangle, and Waffle Up were also present. In addition to that, SCHOMUN VI also partnered with Le Meridien, PRAN, The Front Page, and Valore.
The three-day event came to a close as delegates received awards for their efforts. SRU concluded its sixth successful MUN conference, leaving all those involved with an unforgettable experience.
While it’s new to pretty much everyone, obviously since only one player in history has ever won it before – but such a thing called ‘The Super Ballon d’Or’ does exist, and Leo Messi could be the 2nd ever recipient to receive it; which happens to be football’s most rare & prestigious trophy.
….what exactly is the ‘Super Ballon d’Or’? It is a trophy that has been awarded only once in football’s history and is believed to be given to the best-performing footballer of the past 30 years. The legendary Alfredo di Stefano is the only one to win it, beating the likes of Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini to the award, after helping Real Madrid win the first five consecutive European Cups back in the 1950s.
In that time, Di Stefano won two ‘normal’ Ballon d’Ors, as well as one Intercontinental Cup, two Copa Latinas, eight La Liga titles, one Copa de España, and a Small Club World Cup, scoring 308 goals in 396 appearances for Real. France Football has never given the Super Ballon d’Or out since, but that could finally be about to change now as things stand and if rumors are to be true – and the change can happen by someone who has surpassed & broken most of the records there is. From trebles to sextuples, league trophies to finally international ones, Messi has won it all while scoring 799 goals & providing 388 assists in 1,025 career games, along with having 7 Ballon d’Ors to his name in the meanwhile, and the 8th in contention after his stunning leadership in Argentina’s World Cup win; making him the 2nd contender ever for the ‘Super’ prestigious trophy for his consistent performances for nearly two decades.
Leo Messi’s career has been a fantastic story so far, and he’s 35 with no signs of slowing down yet. Giving such recognition to a player of his caliber will undoubtedly be the cherry on top of the cake.
Anisa Murshed is a Bangladeshi bead artist holding 20 years of experience. She took up the craft as a hobby when she was just 10 years old, and mastered bead art with years of self-practice.
On August 12th, 2022, on her birthday, Anisa broke the Guinness World Record for the “Longest Thread of Beads Made by an Individual in One Hour” as part of her initiative to promote bead art as well as her expertise in this field. An official declaration from Guinness was given on 1st November 2022 after a series of evidence reviews.
She is currently the only female to still hold an individual Guinness World Record title from Bangladesh.
A marketing specialist by trade, Anisa initiated her passion project “Hey AniSay” back in 2021, through which she showcases creatively unique and millennial forms of bead art.
Breaking a Guinness World Record is a goliath task, for it demands numerous steps of preparation, submission, and evidence-proofing over a span of months. Sometimes it takes years.
The thread of beads that Anisa created was 42.3 meters long, with 1,671 beads in total. The previous record for the same title was 32.7 meters which Anisa successfully exceeded by almost 10 meters to claim herself to be “Officially Amazing!” Less than 10 individuals have claimed the Guinness World Titles from Bangladesh.
“The creativity, effort, and time put behind a piece of bead art gets overlooked as bead art is not a very popular form of craft. Particularly in Bangladesh, where handcrafted products do not gain the admiration it deserves. Beading is not just a craft; it is an exercise that helps develop creativity, focus, and patience. Through my initiatives, I want to inspire Bangladeshi crafters to take up bead art, earn from it and eventually take local bead art initiatives to the world.” says Anisa.
Education is priceless. Education is what empowers us. It gives us knowledge of the world and allows us to experience life in all its beautiful colors. Human evolution over thousands of years is a result of formal and informal education. The youngsters need to understand the value of getting the proper education. They should know it is the most important thing in shaping their future. But at the same time, it is our responsibility to create an environment in which they can reach their maximum potential.
Bangladesh has one major hindrance when it comes to creating an ideal learning atmosphere for students to flourish. The ever-growing number of Coaching Centers. During the 90s, there was hardly any coaching center around Dhaka City. The business of coaching boomed in the early 2000s and now it has spread all over the country as a money-making machine. These coaching centers rarely give enough effort for the betterment of the students. They focus more on improving their bank balance rather than the students’ future. But despite the government’s pledge to outlaw the practice, this informal form of education continues to dominate the lives of students throughout Bangladesh. Now it is about results than actual learning. Hence, the pressure of joining any coaching center has increased tenfold. And this has created an ideal breeding ground for many unethical coaching centers. Almost all of the existing coaching centers in Dhaka city fall into this category, except for a few institutions.
Fyruz Education Services (FES) is one of those institutions. It started its journey with the sole intention of bringing a change that is quite unseen in the education scenario of Bangladesh. By nurturing each student with a unique method, FES distinguishes itself from most coaching centers in the country, if not all. And behind this one-of-a-kind teaching approach, is Mr. Fyruz Khan. Intending to inspire students to help them learn something worthwhile and, of course, help them with their careers, Fyruz Khan founded Fyruz Education Services (FES). He is the great-grandchild of Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah, so it is safe to say that his penchant for education is hereditary. After doing his Undergraduate Degree in Business and Marketing from De Montfort University, Fyruz Khan completed his Postgraduate Degree in International Education from the University of Leicester. After returning home, he started FES to provide better education to its students so they can realize their true potential. FES wants to give all its students better odds of reaching their intended heights, no matter which background they came from.
Depending on social standing, cultural background, or financial capabilities, families vary largely in our country. They don’t have the same income, and they don’t have the same ideology either. Every family got a distinct set of rules and regulations for their children and they also give different lessons in life. That makes every student unique. Diversity like this is beautiful, no doubt about that. But it is tough to make a generalized study plan that works for everyone. There should be no one-size-fits-all solution at all. FES acknowledges this and tries to provide the best possible solution to its student through a mandatory monthly counseling session. Students will always make mistakes. They are often confused about what to do in life. FES is determined to show them the right path to follow. FES believes each student should be treated according to their needs as it will help them make the most out of their learnings.
Teachers play an essential role in the success of the students because a competent teacher not only shares his/her knowledge with the students but also guides them on the path to success. With appropriate direction, the journey toward success becomes much more manageable. Their highly qualified teachers make sure that the students get the best advice. All of their teachers have studied abroad at some point in their careers, which made them perfectly capable of realizing exactly what their students are missing out on. They give their best effort to nurture a young mind and show the right track.
In this era of unparalleled technological assistance, creating an environment that is completely suitable to support a positive learning experience is also very important. Fyruz Education Services (FES) is one of those institutions where students get that exact feeling. The facility is equipped with all the latest technologies, which is exactly what the current generation of students thrives on. On top of all that, FES is designed in such a way it doesn’t even look like a regular coaching center in Bangladesh. The well-maintained and exquisite interior gives it a feeling of exclusivity, unlike any other similar institute. Students, along with their parents regularly experience something they have never had before.
Progress is a continuous process. Along with its students, Fyruz Education Services is also gradually improving and establishing itself as a giant in the field. Rather than being just a coaching center or a consultancy agency, FES is trying to reach the pinnacle and improve the curriculum of Bangladesh. And we can safely say, they are on the right track.
“It’s pretty much how we expect or imagine it to be. It’s pretty much what we read in books or see in English movies or shows. Thanks to the internet and social media, we are much more aware of how things are in other parts of the world. Honestly speaking, I wasn’t too taken aback with the culture over here.”
This is how Faria Tahsin, who moved to England last year to pursue her postgraduate studies, described her overall experience of moving to a new country on her own for the first time after spending more than two decades in Bangladesh surrounded by family and friends.
But, with 70,000-90,000 Bangladeshi students from various parts of the country and growing up in different environments traveling overseas for higher education each year, does everyone find it so easy to cope with all the sudden changes that come with moving to a different country?
Definitely not. This is why, even 62 years after the first time it was coined by anthropologist Kalvero Oberg, the phrase “culture shock” comes up so frequently in our conversations. Loosely defined, culture shock is the feeling of disorientation that a person experiences when moving to a different cultural environment than their own.
When asked about their experience, students who have studied abroad or are currently doing so mostly talk about the positive aspects of moving to a foreign country, such as the opportunity to meet new people, the opportunity to see new places, and the satisfaction of being able to do whatever they want and whenever they want. What they leave out are the gut-punching shocks, unfamiliarity, and loneliness.
In February of this year, I moved to England to pursue a long-held ambition of becoming a Barrister. I had been mentally preparing for the move for over two years, and I had planned for it for the majority of my life. However, once here, I realized that no amount of mental or physical preparation would’ve been sufficient for such a significant change in my life.
The majority of what you will hear about this putting you in control of your life and giving you the freedom to do whatever you want is true. You don’t have to answer to anyone for your actions in a strange, foreign country.
Your parents will not be waiting for you at home, and they will not interrogate you as soon as you walk in the door, asking where you’ve been all day. They won’t even call you as frequently when you are out having fun with your friends or doing something else.
However, this feeling is accompanied by a sense of sadness that develops after a few days, when the sense of missing home sets in and the excitement of freedom fades. Trust me when I say that the honeymoon phase in this case does not last long.
No one will ask you if you ate today, if you’re feeling well. If you get sick, no one’s going to bring you soup in bed nor do you have the opportunity to lie all day in bed because you have chores waiting for you.
With no one to look after them, most students tend to let go of self-care when they move abroad. They forget to stick to a normal eating and sleeping schedule as these aspects are easy to overlook.
When I first moved here, I started eating unhealthy snacks instead of normal healthy meals, and this continued for a month, until it became a habit. For months, I couldn’t get back into my old routine, and because of this, I had almost no energy to do anything all day.
But, with time, I was able to pick up some tricks that helped me deal with the culture shock. I’d like to share my top five tips with the readers, especially those who are moving abroad to study, in the hope that they can benefit from my experience.
Gather as much information as you can about the place and its people beforehand:
This will help you adjust to your surroundings and interact with the locals to some extent. Not interacting with others can be a more serious issue for someone who has recently moved to another country than many people may realize.
With all of the additional challenges you will face, not talking will almost certainly lead to a decline in mental health. In fact, I’ve recently started taking therapy to deal with this.
Knowing about the place will save you from a lot of unnecessary troubles as well. For example, because I didn’t do enough research on the weather in the UK, I suffered from a skin condition for the first three months I lived here.
Learn to cook the foods you enjoy eating:
Learn to cook your favourite foods and get used to eating the same meals for a week because you won’t most likely have time to cook more than once a week. Learning to cook will also help you save a lot of money.
Understand the academic expectations:
As a student, you will most likely have to follow a completely different academic structure. This is going to take some time. The key to solving this puzzle is to not become frustrated and to give yourself that time.
You must also remember that it’s okay to ask for help. Professors and advisors are extremely helpful and will usually help you with whatever you need.
Never compare your progress to that of others:
Everyone is unique and learns at their own pace. So, our responses to change will undoubtedly differ from one another. When learning how to deal with culture shock, avoid comparing yourself to others, especially if they have previously visited that country.
Find stress-relieving techniques that work for you:
To say the least, adjusting to culture shock is a nerve-wracking ordeal. So, it is crucial that you find ways to relieve stress. Again, no two people are alike, so what works for one person may not work for another. Best of luck figuring out what works best for you.
The authors
Arafat Reza is a journalist and an aspiring legal academic.
Nafia Haque is a Research Associate at Stellar Chambers.
I went into this film without watching any trailers and with zero expectations. It’s safe to say I went in absolutely blind(which is the recommended way to watch most films, I mean why watch trailers and get spoiled?). The only thing I knew about this film beforehand was that apart from Dr. Strange, Wanda and Evil Strange are in this film. I presumed that the plot of this film would be something like this: Dr. Strange gets in trouble against Evil Strange and he gets Wanda’s help to fight him off. You can probably guess now how surprised I was after I actually saw the film. I am really glad that I didn’t watch any trailers for this film. It highly improved my experience with this film.
Firstly, this film is very scary. The atmosphere and action in this film is very different from what we are used to seeing in the MCU. Sam Raimi finally got to make his dream Superhero film and he went all in. This film is brutal. If you are a fan of Raimi’s horror films, you will love this film. Don’t get me wrong, this film has a lot of issues but Raimi’s direction isn’t one of them. In fact, I would go as far as to say that Sam Raimi’s direction is what saved this film from being a failure. In terms of action, this film is on a whole new level when compared to the rest of MCU. This film honestly feels like a horror movie. The action is very gory. It’s accompanied by the fact that people actually die in this film unlike most MCU films. Characters die like flies in this film. There are scenes in this film that feel like they are straight out of an R-Rated Slasher film. Let me rephrase what I just said, ‘THIS IS A SLASHER FILM’. Because, if you take out the superpowers out of this film, what remains is an unstoppable villain who obliterates anyone and anything in their path. I genuinely felt terrified while watching this film. Marvel picked the perfect director for this film.
Now, let’s talk about the characters. Dr. Strange continues being the most likable MCU Superhero. Benedict Cumberbatch gives another great performance. It’s also great to see him play the role of a villain again after a long time. Evil Strange is very menacing, however he doesn’t really have much of a screen time. Scarlet Witch on the other hand is the crown jewel of this film. She single-handedly carries this film. Elizabeth Olsen nails her performance. However, the way Scarlet Witch’s character arc ended wasn’t very satisfying. It felt predictable but everything leading up to it was amazing. I also liked America Chavez. While America wasn’t as well developed as one might expect, by the end I really liked her and I look forward to seeing more of her in the upcoming films. Christine and Mordo also return from the previous film. Not much has changed about them. If you liked them in the first film you will like them here as well. There are a few surprise cameos (not really surprising if you have watched the trailers). These cameos are not really handled well at all. They feel kind off out of place. Not really that much interesting too (except for a certain casting choice for a certain character which I won’t spoil). This film has some really great CGI(as expected from a MCU film). The scenery is very enjoyable. The soundtrack is good but it could have been even more haunting.
The plot of this film is very mediocre. It pains me to say this but despite getting so many things right, this film gets the plot wrong. Firstly, the plot is kind of predictable. After the surprises of the first hour are over the rest of the film is very straight forward. It’s just the plot of every other Slasher film ever made with MCU clichés added to make things even worse. The character arcs are all over the place. Specially this film messed up Wanda’s character arc very much at the end. It should have been handled better and more realistically. It’s not bad, it’s just predictable. Also, certain characters feel like they have very lackluster reasons for doing what they do. I liked what happened in this film, I just didn’t like the reason it happened.
So far, MCU Phase 4 seems to be very experimental. MCU is now at a state where whatever it puts out will be a sure financial success. It puts them in the position to experiment with new things and create new and more bold storylines like this. While Phase 4 has a lot of issues, I am personally really liking the fact that Marvel is trying different and refreshing things. I appreciate the fact that the MCU is trying to evolve.
Footsteps Bangladesh, a renowned next-generation organisation, is extensively working to ensure safe water access in marginalised communities across the country through its venture Project Trishna.
Since 2015, Project Trishna has been working to create water accessibility by installing filtration units in government and non-government schools where safe water availability is very limited due to high levels of contamination.
Besides providing water facilities to schools children, thousands of people in several public places and government hospitals have been served every day through the water filtration units that Footsteps has provided.
Since last year, the project has expanded its operation by setting up tubewells in rural communities where the people struggle to meet their daily need for water in their regular activities. Till date, Footsteps impacted over lives of 3,00,000 people in 27 different districts through its projects.
Like every year, Footsteps has launched a month-long campaign in this holy month of Ramadan where they are accepting donations and Sadaqah from the loving hands of mass people. Taslima Begum is one of the beneficiaries whose family has been provided with a tubewell by a portion of the funds Footsteps collected from last year’s campaign.
Following this year, Footsteps is working diligently with an aim to ensure water accessibility for 5,00,000 people across Bangladesh this year only. With your participation in the campaign, you can spread and share their joy across boundaries where people are devoid of even the basic necessities of life.
Amal Foundation, a local NGO which mainly focuses on poverty alleviation in remote locations, has partnered with IPDC, a non-bank financial institution, to tackle child marriage which has been a pressing issue during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both partners collaborated to develop a unique project to prevent child marriage: the IPDC Child Marriage Prevention Loan, powered by Amal Foundation, launched as a pilot project in the Bogura district in March 2022, said a press release.
The Child Marriage Prevention Loan (CMPL) is a conditional zero-interest microfinance loan that helps poor parents to start sustainable businesses if they meet the following three criteria.
The loan applicants must be parents of 12- to 18-year-old girl children. Secondly, the girls cannot be married before the legal age. Lastly, they must be educated until the end of high school.
IPDC and Amal acquire, validate, and authorise loan applications based on these criteria. Then, parents commit to marrying their daughters off only after they are of legal age and have completed high school, added the press release.
Teletalk’s mobile broadband service will effectively reach rural users now. The Government of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission have facilitated the state-owned Telecom operator with two projects to expand its network. Teletalk, having struggled to improve its coverage in comparison to that of multinational telecom providers, may benefit from these new investments.
“Expansion of Teletalk’s Mobile Broadband Network in Coastal, Hill Tracts, and Other Hard-to-Reach Areas” is a project that will deploy 420 new sites (2G/3G/4G) via a direct procurement Method with funding from the BTRC Social Obligatory Fund.
Furthermore, project “Expansion of Teletalk’s Network to Rural Areas and Network Readiness for 5G Services” will deploy 3000 new (2G/3G/4G) sites with other essential equipment using the Open Tender Method financed by the Government of Bangladesh
According to BTRC data, Teletalk’s customer base has grown by 80.6 per cent in recent years and with the upcoming projects will be able to expand its network coverage and provide affordable services to Bangladesh’s rural population.
Have you seen people write words in a dramatic fashion using the Batman Name Generator in the past month? Well, it turns out the creator of the name generator is a Bangladeshi University Student named Shajid Hasan.
Shajid, your Batman generator was incredibly popular. How are you feeling?
I’m feeling great! And yeah, it’s alright. Yeah, it kinda blew out of proportion. I had absolutely no clue that this would get this big.
When did you first realize that it went viral? What was your reaction?
Okay, so I shared the link in some Bangladeshi communities and people seemed to like it. I was happy and then I kind of forgot about it. The next evening, I was checking my emails and I saw someone wanted to contribute to the project in GitHub. GitHub is a place where you can host codes for a program/website/app. It was quite surprising, but I was absolutely blown away when I visited the GitHub page of this project and found out there were 97 stars!
Now, 97 stars is a big deal because a very small percentage of the common internet users are actually developers. So the fact that there were 97 stars meant a lot of people must have visited this website and 97 of them cared enough to visit its GitHub page and put a star there.
Then, to investigate how it happened, I did a Google search and found a publisher called Collider covered this website. There were lots of posts about it on Twitter too. I literally gasped and showed everything I found to my friends and family. This was honestly a huge surprise because never in a million year would I think this would get this big. I was super happy.
Screenrant covered your website and it’s a really amazing deal. How did you feel when you realized an international outlet recognized the generator?
I was, of course, on top of the world when I spotted it. I casually searched for “The Batman” to take a look at the reviews of the film. I saw ScreenRant covered the website, and it was right there on the front page! I was triumphantly happy! Not long after, I also found publishers like CBR also posted about it.
Does it bother you that not many not know you yet or are aware of the fact that you’re behind the generator? Honestly, a lot of people don’t know that it was created by a Bangladeshi.
Umm, I saw many people mad about it, that their compatriot didn’t get much credit for this. But frankly speaking, no it doesn’t bother me. I’m just happy that a lot of people had fun with it. I mean, if they mentioned my name somewhere obviously, I would love that but overall, it doesn’t matter a lot to me. If I’d care for credit, I would’ve put my name on the website. I left the GitHub link there just so someone can take a look at the source code of the app.
What tools did you use to make the generator? Did you use any framework or did you make everything from scratch?
I don’t know how technical you need me to get here but basically I used JavaScript, HTML Canvas and a little bit of math. I used the Svelte framework!
Have you been programming before starting university or is this everything from university knowledge?
I just got into university this year. I’ve been programming for quite a while now. Doing little projects every now and then. I happen to have an Android app that has over a million downloads a year too! The app is called Likhon- Bangla on Photos.
What inspired you to create the Batman name generator?
Oh, it’s just that some people were posting their names that looked like the Batman logo. And a lot of people were commenting on those posts, saying they wanted one for themselves too.
I thought I could automate the whole process so I went ahead and built the web app. To help everyone get this logo in a jiffy.
Are you planning on working on something in the near future?
Oh yes! I have loads and loads of plans. I have a couple of apps, but I need some data and some marketing materials to launch them. I firmly believe these apps would benefit a lot of people in a very awesome way.
I mean I’m already working on a lot of stuff.
How long have you been programming to be specific?
Since 2014, I guess. Although I’ve developed interest in web development only recently.
Do you have any message for us or people read this interview?
“Do what you love and magic will happen!”
The Front Page had a really nice time talking with Shajid and we hope to see many more initiatives by Bangladeshis in the future.
If you ever wondered these questions, Matt Reeves’ The Batman portrays it perfectly! With every superhero movie plot focussing so much on the villain and his motives, this is a movie all about Batman, everything he is, everything that he stands for, but without neglecting the antagonist either. It shows Batmans principles, his methods, and the way he thinks. As weird as it sounds, I couldn’t spoil this movie for you even if i wanted to. This movie is an experience.
NOTE: This is a very dark and serious movie, not one with the usual comic book punchlines and laughs.
Started the movie thinking it’s interesting, went into it looks cool, then it went this is good, and at the end all I could think was this is Perfect. Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson brought to us a version of Batman never seen in movies, one that resembles the one we’re so used to seeing in comics and the animated shows.
It’s a crime, mystery, thriller, that portrays what we love about Batman, and if you’ve ever played any of the Arkham Games, you’ll really feel as if its a story in the game that you’re trying to solve. The plot isn’t exactly mind blowing, but it’s just right for what a comic book Batman movie should be like. A lot of references to source material, history lesson about the background of each character, and a few homages to the Batman mythos as well. Action sequences were very well done, very realistic, and the great cinematography work making the viewers feel the rush and emotions occurring in the scenes throughout.
Every actor and actress portrayed the characters incredibly, with Pattinson having one of the most natural and convincing Batman voice to date, and Collin Ferrel looking unrecognisable. Zoe Kravits as catwoman deserves a round of applause as well. Not to mention Paul Dano for his take on the genius psychopath.
If you’ve read this far and still haven’t watched the movie yet, you really should. Some people might not like the movie because of it’s dark and gloomy setting though.
It’s a 9/10 for me.
A solo Batman movie after 10 years, and it’s done the character Justice.
President Biden announced tough new sanctions on Thursday aimed at crippling Russian banks such as Russian banks and financial institutions, freezing assets of some elite businessmen of Russia, cutting off the Russian economy from much of the global financial system and preventing the country from importing technology critical to its defense, aerospace, and maritime industries.
John Tully/Getty Images
The new US sanctions include Russia’s two major financial institutions, which account for more than half of the country’s total assets. The Biden administration pledged to impose harsher economic sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, which began on Thursday morning. The US government’s package is expected to echo throughout Russian businesses and households, whereas the financial consequences of Mr. Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has already begun to show with the Russian currency hitting record lows and stock prices to crash.
List of the US sanctions:
• Severing Russia’s global financial transactionsby adopting measures that cut off Sberbank’s access to dollar transactions, the US financial system has denied access to Russia’s largest financial bank, Sberbank, and its 25 subsidiaries. Sberbank controls approximately a third of the banking sector’s assets in Russia.
• Sanctions on Russia’s VTB Bank (VTB) and its subsidiaries, the world’s second-largest financial institution, have their assets frozen which are connected to the US financial system and barred US citizens from conducting business with them. VTB has almost one-fifth of Russia’s banking sector assets and is heavily exposed to the US and western financial systems.
• Similar full-blocking sanctions on assets from Bank Otkritie, Sovcombank OJSC, and Novikombank and dozens of its subsidiaries, with measures blocking any of these institutions as well as the assets that encounters the US financial system and forbidding Americans from doing business with them.
• New debt and equity restrictions on all transactions that are incoming, provision of financing, and other dealings in new debt and new equity issued by 13 Russian state-owned enterprises, including restrictions on all transactions in, provision of financing for, and other dealings in new debt and new equity issued by 13 Russian state-owned enterprises. On the list are Sberbank, AlfaBank, Moscow Credit Bank, Gazprombank, Russian Agricultural Bank, Gazprom, Gazprom Neft, Transneft, Rostelecom, RusHydro, Alrosa, Sovcomflot, and Russian Railways. These businesses will be unable to raise money on the US market due to their projected assets of $1.4 trillion (about $4,300 per person in the US).
• Additional full-blocking sanctions against Russian leaders, Elites and their families, as well as people “who have profited at the expense of the Russian state.” The heads of Russia’s main financial institutions, as well as those in charge of supplying the funds required to finance the invasion of Ukraine, are among those targeted.
• Two dozen Belarusian individuals and entitieswere also sanctioned for supporting the attack on Ukraine. Two prominent Belarusian state-owned banks, nine defense firms, and seven individuals are among those affected.
• Russia’s military and Defense ministry restricted from buying nearly all US items and items produced in foreign nations using certain US-origin software, technology, or equipment.
• Defense, aviation, and maritime technology subject to Russia-wide restrictions aimed at choking off Moscow’s import of tech goods. That also includes a Russia-wide denial of exports of some technology. The US sanctions will also impose Russia-wide restrictions on some US technologies produced in other countries including semiconductors, encryption security, lasers, sensors, navigation, avionics, and maritime technologies.
• Licensing exemptions for countries that adopt export restrictions on Russia will be implemented, eliminating US licensing requirements for items produced in their countries. The EU, Australia, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and the UK have already communicated their plans for parallel actions.
The global economy remains precarious at the start of the third year of the pandemic, and many governments are grappling with the highest inflation rates in decades. At the same time, Ukrainian leaders and some US lawmakers urged Biden to go even further to punish Moscow and Putin for the attack on Ukraine.
There was disappointment that the round of sanctions unveiled by the US and Europe following the Russian invasion did not remove Russia from the SWIFT financial messaging system. Removal from the secure messaging system, which serves as the backbone of global banking payments, trades and currency exchanges, has long been viewed as the equivalent of a financial nuclear weapon — the harshest penalty that could be imposed on a country integrated in global markets.
A Bhelpuri-Panipuri wala mama in Dhanmodi area of Dhaka is so famous that he is available on Food Delivery platform Foodpanda as well.
He is seen setting up his stall near Dhanmondi Lake beside Road 5/A.
Selling bhelpuri and panipuri for 25-30 Taka, Mama said prices of commodities have gone up, that’s why he is also forced to increase prices of his bhelpuri and panipuri items.
He also takes order for Marriage and Holud events and sets up stalls in the event places as well.
Model United Nations Conferences. An academic simulation that delineates the art of diplomacy, negotiation skills, lobbying, public speaking and keeping up with the foreign policies of each delegation. Model United Nations or MUN has grown popular worldwide in contemporary times. MUN is a student-run model of the United Nations, which is associated with the modeling of hundreds of entities that comprise the renowned international organization. MUN provides an unprecedented opportunity to hone public speaking, international relations, and diplomacy abilities.
It has expanded much beyond this traditional framework. The first conference to model UN practice was held at Swarthmore College in 1947, and included debates about nuclear weapons, refugees, and postwar rebuilding, all of which are still discussed at conferences today.
The popularity of High School MUN grew substantially in the second half of the twentieth century, as more and more conferences began to form throughout the world. Currently, it includes models of everything from General Assembly organs like the United Nations Social, Humanitarian, and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM) to regional supranational entities like the European Union (EU) to cabinets, corporate boards, and more! Delegates from all over the globe go to attend MUN conferences, where they mimic one of dozens of committees and collaborate to solve the world’s main problems in accordance with policies and perspectives of their assigned country.
BUP Global Affairs Council is a recognized club in the Bangladesh Model United Nations community that has been keeping its prestige and excellence since 2015 by organizing innovative and successful MUN conferences every year. BUP Global Affairs Council held its first model United Conference in 2016. is one of the best MUN conferences that the country has ever seen. BUP Global Affairs Council set up BUP Intra MUN 2017 as another way to find bright people who need to improve their skills. In the same year BUP International Model United Nation conference, BUPIMUN 2017 was held with much prestige. BUPIMUN 2018 preparations began soon after that.
In 2019, BUPGAC organized its first non-MUN event called “Lead It.” It got a lot of attention and turned out well. BUP Intra MUN 2019 gave out some of the best prizes to the people among the participating delegates.
History changed for BUPGAC in the year 2020. A lot of events, like QuaranTeen Week, EiFAC-Exchanging Ideas For A Change, and Brink 2.0, were put on to make the pandemic as big as possible. “BUP International Model United Nations Conference 2020 ” was a huge success as well.
BUPIMUN 2020 took into account the COVID-19 issue’s sensitivity by adhering to social distancing norms. As a result, the entire four-day conference was held online, making it easier for delegates to work and giving each person more chances to be heard. In 2021, Brink 3.0 came out which was a great way to address important issues with new ideas and empower these future leaders. On top of that, the club also made a web show about the Palestine-Israel conflict. BUP Global Affairs Council is still working at an exceptional level, exceeding all expectations, in order to help young people learn more about this field through skill development.
BUPGAC has hosted a bunch of Model United Nations conferences and other seminars. BUPIMUN anticipates unique phenomena from its delegates and executive board members, and strives to create successful conferences worth remembering for a lifetime. Students take satisfaction in MUN’s hospitable capacity and also in the full-fledged best academic learning recorded in their thoughts. The Secretariat members have the compatibility and commitment to deliver the best experience possible for the delegates, and they have never failed to impress. With the goal of serving the greater good and arranging an educational and intellectual conference for students each year, the forthcoming event is the BUP International Model United Nations Conference 2021, which will take place from February 10 to February 12. In terms of commitment and promise, this time around, the allure and excitement are greater. The excitement of the sessions with eight energetic committees is poised to raise the conference’s flag with an exceptional flag bearer named Md Nazmul Hasan Swapan, the Secretary General of BUPIMUN 2021. The 14 departments and their extraordinary sense of hospitality, which awakens delegates’ dormant spirits, welcome guests with boxes of surprises.
COVID-19 has created a new chapter in the digital and e-commerce sectors all over the world; as well as in Bangladesh.
And, in this new chapter with the beginning of the New Year, a group of young and creative individuals has come up with an innovative business idea called Sell Bee.
‘???? ???’ is a ‘B2B2C’ (business to business to consumer) platform that handles all aspects of e-business. Bee360° and Bee180° are the two primary services that they offer. Bee360° is for those who want to start a new online business from scratch, while Bee180° is for those who already have a business and want to improve it.
Through these two prominent services mentioned above, they provide a wide range of facilities, such as Website, Product Supply, Product Packaging, Product Photography, Delivery System, Online Marketing & Boosting service, E-business Analysis, and Promotional Content.
Sell Bee is integrating all of these services under one roof, which makes an online trader’s work easier and motivates them to make more engagement with their business to accomplish their desired goals.
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Evaly is one of the most progressive online e-commerce marketplaces to exist in Bangladesh. Its rapid growth in popularity has steely changed the way e-commerce markets are viewed today.
Evaly ensures to be an online platform under which general consumers can buy and sell products with highly discounted price tags. Discounted entities were a notable deal that appealed to many, setting off Evaly’s profit records. By selling products way below the market price, Evaly has been operating at a net loss of 316.4 crores as of 14th March.
For the past two years, Evaly has faced immense backlash for its product delivery issues. Many customers had to pay for the product without receiving it, in months. Enraged, they sought out Evaly’s customer care, where they were ghosted from time to time. Several complaints were issued, even on Facebook pages, with no proper response from the e-commerce site.
Evaly’s cashback policy (100% to 150% cashback), gift cards, vouchers along with mind-boggling discounts, were placed on items for half the market value. Manufacturers provide a maximum input of 15% discount for their dealers. Evaly enlists inflated discount rates on products, luring consumers to easily fall victim to damaged goods. CEO, Mohammad Rassel directs the blame on systematic limitations.
Even after noticeable outrage, none of the customers filed an official case against Evaly, in hopes of eventually getting their product(s) or the ‘tantalizing’ cashback offer back.
A prolonged investigation was then commenced by the DNCRP, the Ministry of Commerce, the anti-corruption commission and the Bangladesh Bank where evidence of at least eight types of irregularities was found, with provisions for the imprisonment of seven years for such offence.
After receiving countless complaints from unsatisfied customers, BRAC Bank, Bank Asia and Dhaka Bank Ltd proceeded to temporarily suspend card transactions made with 10 e-commerce sites, including Evaly.
The Ministry of Commerce decided to introduce legislation regarding e-commerce market policies. Advanced payments made to the e-commerce merchants will be kept in the Bangladesh Bank, which will only be provided to the merchants or platforms after the customers receive their products. This protects buyer-seller contracts, ensuring satisfactory customer service and the overall wellbeing of the e-commerce market.
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