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Hookahs becoming antiques in Bangladesh

Once widely used throughout Bangladesh as a cheaper—and perhaps healthier—smoking alternative, the good old hookah is now turning into an antique piece owing to changing lifestyles and social mores. hookahHowever, it does not mean that hookah users have given up smoking. Arup Ratan, a campaigner against smoking, said smokers have shifted to other modes. Smokers now prefer cigarettes or bidis as a result of their changing lifestyles and greater financial abilities, and indeed, to make smoking hassle-free. Smoking a hookah is a bit cumbersome th...

Inclusive business from bean to brew

What do millions of people around the world enjoy every day at home and in the office, with their friends and their colleagues? Coffee, of course! Coffee has become such a staple of modern life that most of us can’t imagine our day without it. Worldwide, we drink over 500 billion cups of coffee every year, with 90% grown in developing countries where over 25 million people earn their livelihoods from it. With the average price of a latte costing more than a fast food meal, coffee retailers seem to make large profits from coffee sales. But in a competitive market dominated by large traders, it can be hard for small coffee growers to secure a fair price for their product.

Traditional country boats nearing extinction

Bangladesh's traditional country boats are on the brink of extinction as after about four decades since independence, Bangladesh has developed a first class road infrastructure linking almost all rural villages under every union parishad, the lowest tier of local government in Bangladesh. The country, which was set target to become a middle income nation by the year 2021, has attached the utmost priority in its infrastructure development. country boatNow Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government and her state machine appear particu...

Eco-garden gains popularity on residential rooftops

Gardening on the roofs of residential buildings has emerged as a poplar way of passing time and satisfying the mind in many of Bangladesh’s towns and cities, including its capital Dhaka, which environmental experts say will have a moderate yet positive effect on the environment. These gardens, at the same time, to some extent, benefit the families running them, economically. eco gardenMany owners of the buildings are making eco-gardens in the residential buildings to pass time and family members stop by to help the owners take care of the garden...

Simon Reeve’s Bangladesh: ‘I didn’t want to leave’

He spent half a year following the Tropic of Cancer for his BBC series, but Simon Reeve’s favourite place was a vibrant country that sits in India’s shadow

You hear the fish hunters of Narail, in western Bangladesh, long before you see them. Sharp screeching penetrates the air by the riverbank, on the edge of the village, where ranks of canoes hold large bamboo cages and pairs of furry otters, those world-champion fish catchers. Villagers in the area harness the otters for a fishing partnership that dates back thousands of years, and one that was used in Britain until the late 1800s.

Bangladesh on a slippery slope

While the world is watching with intense trepidation developments in what are known as hotspots around the globe---i.e. Iraq, Syria, Ukraine, Palestine-Israel---a major catastrophic setting is being created in a country that, unfortunately, is more often in the news for all the wrong reasons. Especially after the non-election earlier this year the ruling party in Bangladesh has evidently embarked on an obviously well-thought-out project of enacting laws that will build a state structure which will gift the administration the full freedom to ensure that its decisions cannot be questioned on any ground, thereby assuring itself of comprehensive control over all the tentacles of the state.
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