While searching for a rendition of “Tumi Robe Nirobe” (Silently shall thou dwell), I came across this outstanding video of this exquisite composition, sung by a young artist I had not heard of earlier. Gifted with a melodious, tenor voice (with a slight tremor, which…
The second monsoon has hit Uganda and temperatures have suddenly plummeted. I can’t describe how pleasant and beautiful it is. The early mornings in particular have this unusual translucent quality and the nights are deep and still, broken only by the occasional waft of the…
In many of Tagore’s songs and poems on nature, we find an intense yearning for the distant – for something inexplicable and otherworldly; for something or someone, far away in space and time. Some of these songs and poems convey a sense of restlessness and…
Navapatrika – The Worship of the Regenerative Force of Nature and a Fertility Ritual The five day long Durga Puja is a Hindu festival that celebrates the eternal conflict between good and evil and the eventual triumph of forces of good (represented by Goddess Durga)…
One can never say enough about this maestro, this legend of Indian classical music. An ace student of Ustad Baba Allauddin Khan of Brahmanbaria (Bangladesh), Pandit Ji belonged to the Maihar Gharana — the “house of music” which his formidable Guru created in the early…
The Original Hand-Crafted Indian Constitution Very few Indians probably know that the original Constitution of India that we adopted on 26th January 1950 was not a printed one, but a hand written one. Very few people also know that this exquisite original hand written edition…
‘Collective art’ is not an individual ‘leisure time’ occupation, added to life; it is an integral part of life itself, corresponding to a basic human need. It means the same as ritual; it means to respond to the world with our senses in a meaningful,…
From various historical accounts, folklore and religious texts, it appears that very fine fabrics were available in Bengal as far back as the first century BCE. Once such celebrated fabric of the subcontinent is the Jamdani of Dhaka (present day Bangladesh). The Jamdani weave as…
Dr. Sanjida Khatun [along with the late Waheedul Haq and many others] is one of the principal architects and leaders of the Bengali cultural nationalist movement in this country. Along with Haq and other comrades, she founded the Bangladesh Mukti Sangrami Shangsthan and Chhayanaut —…