LIFE AS IT IS

    রান্নাঘরে উঁকি দিলে ভেসে আসে ফুটন্ত তেলে পেঁয়াজু-বেগুনী ভাজার শব্দ। বাতাসে উড়ে বেড়ায় হলুদ-মরিচ-ধনেপাতা-ডাল-বেসন মিশ্রিত এক ধরণের পোড়া-পোড়া মুখরোচক ঘ্রাণ। পেঁয়াজু, বেগুনীর সাথে এক একদিন যোগ হয় আলুনী, কপিনী (ফুলকপি বেসন মেখে ভাজা) কিংবা মুরগীর কিমা দিয়ে তৈরি আলুর চপ। বড় সাদা কাচের বাটিতে পেঁয়াজ, কাঁচা মরিচ, ধনেপাতা, সরিষার তেল সহযোগে মাখা হচ্ছে মুড়ি। বুট ইতিমধ্যে চুলা থেকে নেমেছে। তৈরি হয়ে আছে জগ ভর্তি লেবু কিংবা তেঁতুলের শরবত, তাতে ভাসছে বরফের স্বচ্ছ টুকরো।  এখন বাবার জন্য অপেক্ষা - হয়তো অফিস থেকে ফেরার পথে আনবেন জিলাপি, হালিম কিংবা সুতলি কাবাব। আমার যতদূর মনে পড়ে বাবাকে কখনও সুতলি কাবাব ছাড়া অন্য কোন কাবাব রমজান মাসে আনতে দেখিনি! রোজার মাস ছাড়া সুতলি কাবাব আমাদের খাওয়াও হতো না। পুরান ঢাকার ঐতিহ্যবাহী এই কাবাব কখনো খেয়ে না থাকলে অবশ্যই খেয়ে দেখবেন - পরোটার সাথে খেতে দারুণ সুস্বাদু।  খাওয়া-দাওয়া দিয়ে শুরু করলাম কারণ রমজান মাসে আমাদের খাবারে একটা ভিন্নতা আসে। রোজা রাখার আনন্দটা বৃদ্ধি পায় ইফতারে কি খাব তাই ভেবে! ছোটবেলায় ইফতারের বিশেষ খাবারগুলি ব...

  Climate change is changing weather pattern, requiring us to constantly adapt and adjust to the new normal (I hope not). One way to battle high temperatures is to give some thought to the clothes you pick, especially during the daytime.  Growing up in Dhaka, summer was hot but not as hot as it gets today. I spent my childhood at home and school without an air conditioner. I did absolutely fine, so were people of all ages. However, summers are now hotter than ever, not just in Bangladesh, but across the world. In summer 2022, here in Delaware, USA, where I live, I had switched on my air conditioner more frequently than I ever had to; there were days when the heat index rose as high as 105F or 40C.  As someone who adapts well to changing temperatures and does not need the aid of air conditioner, unless temperatures get dangerously high, I have found my own ways to survive in sweltering heat. One of them is choosing my clothes keeping in mind the day’s average temperature....

  Not once in my life before the year 2020 had I thought of recording audiobooks, and that too in Bengali. Having been educated in the English-medium school system of Bangladesh, my exposure to Bengali literature was quite limited, limited to works of Humayun Ahmed and Satyajit Ray, Sunil Gangopadhyay’s Kakababu series, and Rakib Hasan’s Tin Goyenda books, I confess. And although I tried to blog in Bengali in the past, I could not carry on, because my vocabulary did not flow smoothly. I was a person who lacked confidence in her spoken and written Bengali; I was also under the impression that I could never undertake a Bengali-language project and become successful. But life had its own plans for me.  We do not know what life has in store for us. Like I never thought I would one day run a YouTube channel that targets a niche audience, I also never thought before 2020 that I would bear witness to a pandemic and live under a stay-at-home situation for more than a year. The CO...

  Fairy lights that lit up streets, doors and windows of houses and shops, reindeer sleigh and Santa Clause that gave the common area of every shopping mall a festive appearance, and holiday tunes that filled the air of cafés and diners are now gone for a year. In contrast to October, November, December, and the first day of January when Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year are celebrated respectively by most Americans, January is not only colder-grayer but also quiet and uneventful.     Whether you want to partake in the above-mentioned festivals or not, if you live in the West, their festivies will touch you in one way or another. Come October, you see Halloween costumes and Halloween-themed home decor, food, and much more all around you. Your child’s school might even hold a Halloween parade on campus. And on October 31, you will have kids trick-or-treating at your doorstep. I am not a Halloween fan but usually buy small treats to give out to kids who knock...

  There is no other fabric that feels as luxurious as cashmere against the skin. Well, mulberry silk does. However, because this is winter time, we will discuss cashmere and cashmere only, world’s most sought-after fabric of the cold season.  The Daily Star link Cashmere is a word that derived from the angilicisation of Kashmir, the place where the cashmere goat originated. It is a fibre that is obtained from cashmere goats, which live in mountainous areas and cold climates. Today, China is the largest producer and exporter of cashmere wool. However, Mongolia is known to be the producer of the world’s finest cashmere. Grade-A cashmere has the highest quality, followed by B and C.  Cashmere being an expensive fibre is primarily used by mid-luxury and high-end fashion houses to produce everything from sweaters, dresses, coats to scarves, gloves, beanies, socks, even scrunchies, and more. However, cashmere which was once only worn by the royals and wealthy have become more a...