News Editor
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is being observed across the globe today (December 3). And, this is the best occasion to share my personal thought about my inspiration, Sister Valerie Ann Taylor. The story of Valerie Ann Taylor inspires all those who care for the distressed and the differently able.
‘Amar saradeho kheyogo mati' (O soil, take my whole body), ‘Amar babar mukhe prothom jedin shunechhilam gaan' (The day I first heard my father singing)’ and ‘Ami tomat duti chokhe duti tara hoye thakbo' (I will be the apples of your eyes)… These songs sung by Andrew Kishore, have become immortal to the generation of the early 80s and 90s. The lyrics and melody of these songs still touch and yearn. These timeless songs are from the Bangla movie ‘Nayoner Alo’ made in 1984. Many of the 80s and 90s generations can remember this film even today.
The largest sewer in the metropolis, which runs through the middle of Rajshahi city to the Padma River, was once called 'Barahi'. This Barahi is now the largest sewer in the town. As per British geographer James Rennell's map, a river came from the north and merged with the Padma at the east of Barakuthi in Rampur-Boalia. In the 19th century, this river came to be known as Barahi. Until independence, this river was known as Maranodi from Rajshahi city to Baya and as Narahi in Nowhata. According to Bock's design, this Barahi once passed through the Mandar Beel (wetland) of Atray and passed through the Ter-Khadiya Beel to the north of Rampur-Boalia, first into the Mahananda and then into the Padma. At that time, it was quite fast-flowing and wide. And today's vast Padma was not so wide in this area at that time. So, how did the Padma take on a huge shape and how did the Barahi become a drain? The answer is: an earthquake.
To understand the social realities of Bangladesh during and after the Liberation War, one must sit face-to-face with Afsan Chowdhury and listen to him. Though he has conducted research on the Liberation War, he has never looked at it through the lens of a state researcher. He has viewed it through the eyes of a social being. To him, the Liberation War is a people's war, where the fragmented stories of individuals reveal the wartime reality far more than the history documented through state mechanisms.
Spent the entire day going from morgue to morgue before returning home. During this whole time, I did not have the courage even once to point my phone at any bereaved parent and ask a question. The small bodies of children, charred like coal, were laid out in rows in the morgue. My eyes welled up, my feet staggered, my throat tightened. Pushing all those emotions aside, I coldly planned the news with my team. But I did not have the courage to point a camera at the grieving parents and relatives of the deceased. At this stage of journalism, I find myself becoming useless.
My strongest opinion regarding the establishment of women's equal rights is that to enjoy rights, one must fulfill duties. This is the rule. If a woman's status or the family's attitude towards her is not equal and respectful in society, the desire in women to fulfill their duties will not arise. If a woman is not regarded equal within the family, she will not develop self-confidence. The most urgent need for a woman is to acquire the ability and courage to make her own decisions. Without that, equal rights to property will only become a source of suffering for her.