Weekend-5-13

Dhaka Tribune 

vol 5 Issue 13 | friDAY, jUly 21, 2017 

8 

Mehreen 

Mansur 

9 

Rising 

stars 

12 Silence 

around sex

CONTENTS 

Volume 5 | Issue 13 | July 21, 2017 

Editor 

Zafar Sobhan 

Features Editor 

Sabrina Fatma Ahmad 

Magazine Editor 

Farina Noireet 

Deputy Magazine Editors 

Khan N Moushumi 

Shuprova Tasneem 

Weekend Tribune Team 

Saudia Afrin 

Mahmood Hossain 

Moumita Ahmed 

Tasfia Huda 

Baizid Haque Joarder 

Saqib Sarker 

Mahmood Sadi 

Sabiha Akond Rupa 

Editor’s note 

Dear Readers, 

In a society that seems to be turning 

increasingly conservative, it isn’t 

everyday we are able to talk about 

issues such as sex, or anything 

pertaining to our basic biology without 

welcoming a torrent of aggravated 

retorts, if not worse. If history has 

taught us anything though, restricting 

open discussion of issues considered 

“uncomfortable” only leads to more 

problems, simply because any form of 

suppression is hardly ever a solution. 

This week’s magazine features 

a piece that talks about the issue 

of silence around sex, and how it 

contributes towards creating a hostile 

environment where people are afraid 

to voice even basic queries about our 

bodies. 

We also have a couple of interviews 

of two people from vastly different 

educational and professional 

backgrounds, but both having 

achieved a great deal in their field of 

work. 

Finally, for all the gamers out there, 

we have a fun list of the top ten 

classic games of the 90s. 

Wishing our readers a pleasant 

weekend. 

Farina Noireet 

Contributors 

Jishnu Brahmaputra 

Raida A K Reza 

Farzana Romine 

Cartoons 

Syed Rashad Imam Tanmoy 

Priyo 

Graphics 

Md Mahbub Alam 

Alamgir Hossain 

Shahadat Hossain 

Colour Specialist 

Shekhar Mondal 

Advertisement 

Shahin Ahsan 

Production 

Masum Billah 

Circulation 

Masud Kabir Pavel 

Website 

dhakatribune.com/weekend 

facebook.com/WeekendTrib 

Email your letters to: 

weekend@dhakatribune.com 

News 

2 News 

3 Meanwhile 

Features 

4 Tailored | Men’s fashion 

5 Trending | Women’s fashion 

8 Interview | Mehreen Mansur 

9 Profile | Rising stars 

12 Issues | Silence around sex 

14 Event | Dinner and dance 

15 Workshop | Art writing 

16 Gaming | Retrospective 

17 Tech | iPhone review 

20 Science | Dreaming 

Regulars 

18 Biz Info 

19 Stay in 

On the cover 

We’re in a sink or swim 

situation, where technology 

is taking us forward, but age 

old prejudices hold us back. 

What’s it going to be? 

Photo: Christopher Campbell 

WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017 

1

News | world at a glance This week 

18 dead, 18 more missing in China 

flooding 

Flooding in China’s northeast has left 18 

dead and 18 others missing since last week. 

More than 110,000 were forced to flee the 

city of Jilin due to heavy rain. 

The government had sent over 32,000 

rescue workers to the area. 

China has been hit by a series of fatal 

floods this summer, leaving dozens dead 

and displacing huge numbers of people. 

Last week, authorities said that at least 

63 were killed by landslides and floods in 

central China, which forced 1.6 million to 

flee. 

Photo: AFP 

Local 

Employer 

gets life 

imprisonment 

for torturing 

Aduri 

Pakistan’s Supreme Court starts 

hearing to decide PM’s future 

Pakistan’s Supreme Court began hearings 

that will decide the fate of Prime Minister 

Nawaz Sharif, who is fighting for his job as 

he contests the damning conclusions of a 

corruption investigation into his family’s 

wealth, on last Monday . 

The Supreme Court could put Sharif on 

trial on corruption charges or disqualify him 

from office, but few expect the judges to 

Swiss couple found on glacier 75 

years after disappearance 

The bodies of a Swiss couple 

who disappeared in the Alps 

more than 75 years ago has 

been found preserved in a 

receding glacier last week. 

The bodies were found 

lying near each other in the 

Diablerets massif in southern 

Switzerland on Thursday, 

along with backpacks, a bottle, 

a book and a watch. 

A DNA search has been planned to 

definitively establish their identities, but 

dismiss the case after an investigation team 

submitted a 254-page report into his family 

wealth last week. 

Sharif has denied any wrongdoing. 

The investigators alleged his family’s 

wealth was beyond its means, and accused 

his children, including his daughter and 

presumed heir Maryam, of signing forged 

documents to obscure ownership of posh 

London flats. 

Sharif, 67, the son of an industrialist 

serving his third term as prime minister, has 

had a fractious relationship with the army. 

He has talked about a conspiracy against 

him, but has not named anyone. His allies, 

however, privately claim that elements of 

the military and the judiciary are bent on 

toppling him. 

Photo: AFP 

Maryline Dumoulin told AFP 

police were “99 percent” 

certain the remains were of 

her grandparents, who went 

missing on August 15, 1942. 

Marcelin Dumoulin, a 

40-year-old shoemaker at the 

time, and his wife Francine, a 

schoolteacher aged 37, had 

left their village of Chandolin 

in Valais canton on foot before disappearing, 

orphaning five sons and two daughters. 

Photo: AFP 

A Dhaka court has handed down life 

imprisonment to Nourin Jahan Nodi, in 

a case filed for torturing an 11-year-old 

domestic help and dumping her in a 

dustbin, assuming her dead in Dhaka 

in 2013. 

After examining 14 witnesses, Judge 

Jayasri Samaddar of Dhaka Women 

and Children Repression Prevention 

Tribunal-3 delivered the verdict on 

Tuesday. 

The court also fined the convict Tk1 

lakh, in default of which, she will have 

to serve one additional year in jail. 

The trial court, however, acquitted 

another accused, Nodi’s mother Israt 

Jahan, for allegations which were 

brought against her but were not 

proven beyond a reasonable doubt. 

Israt was on bail, while Nodi has 

been in jail for nearly four years. 

They both appeared before the court 

when the judge was announcing the 

judgement. After hearing the verdict, 

Nodi burst into tears in the courtroom. 

Nodi in her confessional statement 

in October 2013 stated that her 

husband Saiful Islam Masud brought 

Aduri to their residence to work as a 

domestic help in December, 2012. 

Nodi, whose conjugal relations 

were degrading over financial crisis, 

confessed to torturing Aduri and 

accused her husband of beating her 

over trivial matters. 

News and photo: Dhaka Tribune 

2 

WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017

. . . Meanwhile 

Photo 

of 

the week 

Say what 

Dhaka City Corporation finally stepping up and 

spraying mosquito repellent to fight the chikunguniya 

epidemic 

 

Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu 

Flight attendants really want 

you to stop ordering Diet Coke 

when on a plane 

Other fizzy drinks are fine, but Diet Coke is a 

big no-no in a flight for a specific reason. 

Flight attendants dread a passenger 

ordering it because it takes a lot longer than 

other carbonated beverages to pour. 

In the time it takes to pour just one Diet 

Coke, a cabin crew member could have 

served three other passengers. 

The reason for this 

is because of a cabin’s 

lower air pressure 

making it even easier 

to release the CO2 in 

the drink, making it 

even fizzier than usual. 

The aircraft cabin 

is not pressurised to 

sea level, but rather 

to the equivalent of 

about seven or eight 

thousand feet. 

It also means soft 

drinks foam up a lot 

more when poured out 

of a can, and the worst 

culprit for this is Diet 

Coke — a cabin crew literally has to sit and 

wait for the bubbles to fall before s/he can 

continue to pour. 

The crew member in charge of the food 

and drink trolley is a powerful person, so 

we’re taking note of this.• 

News and photo: Daily Mirror 

Aries (Mar21-Apr19): A nebulous link 

suggests that the influence of certain 

friends may not be as helpful as you think. 

While confiding can often bring many 

benefits, this time you might find the 

opposite. 

Taurus (Apr20-May20): You might feel 

like doing something on the spur of the 

moment to relieve a feeling of pressure. It 

might be more beneficial to stick with an 

idea and see it through to the end. 

Gemini (May21-June20): You may easily 

absorb other people’s energies this week, 

which could have an impact on certain 

decisions. In fact, Monday might not be the 

best time to try a new solution because 

your thinking may not be as clear as usual. 

Cancer (June21-Jul22): Unexpected pitfalls 

could lie ahead, which is why you shouldn’t 

rush into anything. Things become steadier 

as the week progresses. 

Leo (Jul23-Aug22): There is a positive 

shift in the air this week that will enliven 

and invigorate you. You will feel you’re in 

your element and ready to make some 

significant changes. 

Virgo (Aug23-Sep22): Your social life 

continues to look upbeat, with a focus on 

this sector coinciding with a reunion, or 

perhaps you will look up someone you 

haven’t heard from in a while. 

Libra (Sep23-Oct22): You may lack energy 

in a situation that calls for action at the 

start of the week. However, your social life 

will have extra sizzle just in time for the 

weekend. 

Scorpio (Oct23-Nov21): If you’ve been 

experimenting with various, you might 

be tempted to take one of them further 

without thinking it through properly. Later 

in the week, a more ambitious phase begins 

for you. 

Sagittarius (Nov22-Dec21): Doing the best 

for everyone may mean that plans become 

watered down, and it could be because you 

don’t want to upset anyone. But do what 

seems best to you and don’t worry what 

others say. 

Capricorn (Dec22-Jan19): If you want to get 

the coming days off to a productive start, it 

might help to slow down and think things 

through. 

Aquarius (Jan20-Feb18): Go easy with your 

money at the week’s start, as something 

that seems worth purchasing could turn out 

to be a disappointment. 

Pisces (Feb19-Mar20): While opportunities 

for fun continue to present themselves, 

there’s a shift in the air this week that could 

encourage a more dedicated outlook. 

horoscopes 

WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017 3

tailored | men’s fashion 

Another overnighter 

Preparing for an impromptu trip for work can look both professional 

and stylish 


Depending on your profession, there might be an occasion or two (or many) when you’ll be setting off from an assignment that requires some 

travelling. Keeping in mind this trip might last a night or two, it’s important to pack these specific items and take them with you. 

What’s in the bag? 

Before you put together the outfit, you 

need the carry-on luggage that does it all. 

Keyword: carry-on. You need a suitcase and 

a bag combo. You need a mobile carry-on 

that carries your clothes, shoes, toiletries 

and other necessary accessories. 

An effective luggage has the right sections 

for each of your items with a separate nylon 

sack for your shoes. The quality of the 

luggage is absolutely important, especially 

the way luggage, nowadays, are treated 

through one terminal to another. So if you 

spill a little extra cash, get yourself a scratch 

resistant exterior, light enough for you to 

carry or roll with ease. 

A little extra 

This particular item 

will have to go a little 

beyond than usual. 

Plain and simple, 

choose your dressiest 

jeans in your closet. 

If you don’t have 

a dressy denim, 

not sure why you 

wouldn’t, get your 

butt out there and 

buy yourself the most 

sophisticated pair of 

jeans you can or as much as your budget 

allows you to. 

A very dark indigo coloured dressy jeans 

is the perfect pair for an evening out. Swap 

out your suit trousers with these, with your 

suit jacket intact, and you’ll go into the night 

in the classiest way possible. 

More support 

There’s always the addition of bits and 

bobs that round off the entire look. A solid, 

contrasting pocket square or a tie bar adds 

that extra “oomph”. Even better, they can 

be taken off or replaced easily so you won’t 

have to fuss about it during transitional 

periods throughout the day. Just make sure 

they are worthy in quality, as they can only 

add to your look rather than take away. 

Go-to tie 

Light and with 

great effect is 

the solid colour 

silk-knit tie. 

There really 

isn’t too much 

to say about 

this selection 

of tie. Again, it goes with the entire versatile 

look. Whether it’s in navy or black, it looks 

classy and sharp, but not too serious either. 

The unbeatable 

A crisp, white 

dress shirt is 

the epitome in 

formal wear. It’s 

the base item 

in which others 

have to work 

around with. 

While we’d 

prefer to have 

a completely 

new dress shirt 

that is reserved 

for this occasion, you can always use one of 

your white shirts that are fresh out of the 

dry cleaners. A short-spread collar, with a 

little stretch in the smooth cotton poplin 

fabric should be number one on the list. 

One of the more important things about 

a white dress shirt is it becomes a blank 

canvas. You can wear almost any tie with it 

and layer it with pretty much any suit. 

Great in grey 

The most ideal suit to 

sport and pack into 

your carry-on luggage 

is a tailored one in a 

darker shade of grey. 

Remember, we’re still 

deep in the summer 

months, so bringing 

in the grey suit is a 

balanced choice. It’s a 

neutral colour so it’s 

professional enough 

for a conference room, 

and it plays quite well 

for a brunch or lunch 

meeting, releasing the 

stress of a stuffy situation. 

In other words, the medium grey suit is 

versatile, almost the perfect choice for a 

semi-formal outfit. No matter where you 

take it, you’ll be taken seriously and never 

mistaken for someone with a stiff upper lip. 

These shoes are made for 

walkin’ 

A smart pair of loafers are going to be the 

bridge between your suit look and the 

semi-casual affair you’ll have outside of 

work hours. You can wear them with socks 

when you don your suave suit, and without 

socks when there is no actual business to 

be had. One of the other reasons for opting 

for a lace-less shoe is to make sure the 

comfort and ease remains while looking 

sophisticated. Most likely, you’ll have to be 

on the move and sneakers might not be 

the most appropriate choice where work is 

related. • 

4 


trending | women's fashion 

Someday, my prints 

will come 

5 deshi motifs to get you inspired 

Sabrina Fatma Ahmad 

Last week, we went around the zodiac to find you some trending prints to go with your star sign. International fashion covered, we now 

look closer to home for cool deshi options to inspire you. Local textile art usually incorporate a lot of floral and botanical motifs, geometric 

patterns and some illustrative art. We bring you five fresh prints to add to your wardrobe 

Jamdani jam 

The perfect blend of florals, 

geometry and illustrations, nothing 

says deshi more than our illustrious 

jamdani. While the saris are a 

shoo-in for any formal event, these 

beautiful motifs are finding their 

way into bags and kotis, so there’s 

plenty to play with. 

Rickshaw painting 

Nothing says “Dhaka” like some 

bright and colourful rickshaw art. 

In recent years, these bright and 

colourful motifs have spilled from 

our three-wheelers onto our boxes, 

shoes and shades. Find creative 

ways to tuck a little local colour into 

your wardrobe and you’ll be turning 

heads all season long. 

Alpona got me floored 

We’re really good at decorating our 

floors with floral and geometric 

motifs. In fact, we’ve got a world 

record for plastering our roads with 

it. Stands to reason a lot of that 

creativity would find its way into our 

clothes. Look for alpona-inspired 

cotton block prints if you want to 

wear this festive print. 

A stitch in time 

Urban fascination for this rural art 

has made for some decades long 

fashion symbiosis. If there’s one 

style that’s perfect for this weather, 

it’s cotton with nakshi details. Look 

for monochromatic nakshi to stay 

on point this season. 

Chundri chic 

Like polka dots but want a little 

more ethnic flavor? Head to 

Chandni Chowk to grab some 

bolts of chundri fabric. Whether 

you’re making blouses or shalwars, 

or mixing and matching colours 

for complete ensembles, these 

diamond-dots are equal parts kitsch 

and class. • 


Cook your own way | Kitchen chronicles 

A lotta panna cotta 

An easy dessert duo 

Farzana Romine 

Panna cotta is an easy dessert you can make with very few ingredients and can be made ahead of time. You can infuse it with any flavours and 

other components to turn it into a fancy dessert. I like experimenting with panna cotta flavours. 

Today I am sharing my two favourite panna cotta recipes. Green Tea and coconut panna cotta – both are so different from each other but 

equally yummy. 

Green tea 

Pannacotta 

This recipe makes 6 medium 

sized panna cotta 

Directions: 

1. Grease your moulds lightly with a 

flavourless oil. 

2. In half a cup of milk mix the gelatin 

powder and set it aside for five 

minutes, allowing it to bloom. 

3. In the mean time, heat the rest of 

the milk, cream and sugar together 

in a saucepan until very hot but not 

Ingredients: 

• 500ml heavy or double cream 

• 100ml milk 

• 2 tsp unflavoured gelatin 

• 2 tbsp matcha powder (Japanese 

green tea) 

• 50 grams of sugar (More if you like 

it sweeter) 

boiling. Add the matcha powder and 

mix well. Now add the gelatin and 

mix until the gelatin is dissolved. 

Strain it to get rid of any possible 

lumps. Now pour it evenly in to your 

prepared moulds. Cover the top 

and refrigerate for at least five to six 

hours. 

4. When set, it should still wobble in the 

middle but won’t be liquid. 

5. To un-mould the panna cotta, dip 

the moulds in hot water for five to 10 

seconds and flip it on to the serving 

plate. If you have a hard time taking 

them out, then leave in hot water a 

little longer. 

6. Serve with your favourite berries or 

sorbet. • 

6 


Coconut 

panna cotta 

with coconut 

crumble 

Directions: 

1. To make the panna cotta, in 1/4 

cup room temperature water, add 

the gelatin and keep aside for a 

few minutes, allowing the gelatin to 

bloom. Now place all the ingredients, 

except gelatin, in a saucepan and set 

over medium heat. Heat the mixture 

to the point just before simmering, 

remove from heat. Now add gelatin 

and whisk until dissolved. Strain the 

mixture and set over cold water to 

cool down. 

2. Lightly oil six to seven medium size 

moulds. I used ramekins, as I don’t 

have special mould for panna cotta. 

Pour the mixture evenly in the 

mould. Cover the moulds and let 

them set in the fridge for four to six 

hours. 

3. For the coconut crumble, preheat the 

oven to 330°F/160°C. 

4. Combine a major portion of the 

desiccated coconut and the rest of 

the ingredients in a food processor 

and blitz until combined. You can use 

Ingredients: 

For the panna cotta: 

• 1+1/3 cup coconut milk 

• 1 cup cream 

• 1 cup milk 

• 1/2 cup sugar 

• 3 tsp unflavoured gelatin 

• For the crumb: 

• 1/3 cup cold butter 

• 1/3 cup sugar 

• 1/4 cup flour 

• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut 

• Mango, orange or any fruit 

for garnish 

your finger tips too, to combine the 

mixture. Transfer to a bench and roll 

out flat. Bake until cooked through, 

about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove 

from oven and cool. Crush the 

crumble to resemble breadcrumbs 

and add remaining desiccated 

coconut. 

5. To serve, run a knife along the side 

of the mould of the panna cotta. Unmould 

it gently. Sprinkle the crumb 

on your serving dish. Now place the 

panna cotta. Add your favourite fruits 

on top. • 

Photos: Farzana Romine 


Interview | Mehreen Mansur 

‘I want to do my part 

to raise the bar in 

the food scene’ 

Moumita Ahmed 

Weekend Tribune sits down with the lady behind Sushi Samurai and Shanghai 10. 

Why did you decide to 

pursue a career in the 

restaurant business? 

I’ve always been inclined to all things artistic. 

But the real reason I started this was to fill 

a socioeconomical gap in the food scene 

in Dhaka. It seemed as if all the “good” 

restaurants were overpriced or snobby, 

preferring to cater to elites who can go 

to the West for food on weekly travels 

overseas anyway. It seemed to me that the 

vast majority of people in Dhaka were stuck 

eating fried fast food items with little variety 

and below par ingredients. I wanted to fill 

that gap and create high quality but still 

affordable food. 

What’s your secret to 

keeping customers coming 

in? 

Great customer service, all the way! 

Customer first attitude. Striving for higher 

consistency standards than many in town. 

We truly stand by it. 

in our main dishes or other fillers, only silky 

pure meat. 

How much should we expect 

to pay at your restaurants? 

Both average to around Tk800-1,000 per 

head, but depends on how hungry you guys 

are! It can be as low as Tk350 per dish and 

that is really satisfying! You will get a fine 

dining experience no matter what the bill 

size. 

How did you get started? 

I was just curious to try my hand at a small 

business run from my home kitchen. At 

first, I never anticipated more than a few 

orders a day, max! I started Sushi Samurai 

for a variety of reasons – I really wanted to 

ramp up the competition and do my part 

to raise the bar in the food scene here. I 

craved North American style Chinese food 

which is why Shanghai 10 came about. It’s 

not the typical Chinese you get here and we 

boast that we have no onions in our kitchen! 

Pure white meat. Training the chefs for both 

brands was equally tough, as I wanted to 

implement close versions of what I grew 

up eating overseas, moving away from the 

traditional Japanese options available, and 

just having more fun with the food and 

allowing our customers to partake in that 

too! 

What are some of the items 

from the menu which 

are popular among your 

customers? 

Our sushi of course are popular for Sushi 

Samurai. Whether basic California rolls (of 

which we have four varieties) or fancier 

flame torched highly complex artful options, 

we are here for all tastes. Our sticky rice 

and bulgogi and lettuce or kimchi bowls are 

super popular as they offer all food groups 

in a bowl. Our Nagasaki Ramen is a big hit! 

Our sashimi tartare salad bowls are a super 

healthy option that I created for myself and 

family as balanced light lunch options. 

At Shanghai 10, our medley of dim sum 

are top notch and at Tk350 per platter 

with sauces. We have lots of items. Prawn 

sui mai, Prawn Hargao, Broccoli cheese 

mushroom, all of our dim sum are popular. 

In hot dishes, general tso, orange chicken, 

wow fried rice, and chicken bok choi reign 

supreme. Crab Cream cheese Rangoon 

wontons are a hit too! We don’t use onions 

What are your future plans? 

Horse & Horse is the Continental cuisine 

restaurant we are opening in Banani, Road 

11 – it will feature proper NYC style weekend 

brunch, authentically seasoned continental 

foods, and a great selection of modern 

cutting edge salads and dishes for Dhaka to 

enjoy! 

What is that one thing 

you would like to tell your 

customers? 

I am a mass market high quality brand. 

We hope you enjoy our contribution to the 

food scene in Dhaka, and look out for more 

yummy treats coming your way! • 

8 


Profile | rising stars 

‘In countries like Bangladesh, data 

is in a really vulnerable position’ 

Mahmood Sadi 

The youngest tenured faculty in the world-renowned Krannert School of Management of Purdue University, USA – 35-year-old Dr Mohammad 

Saifur Rahman speaks to Weekend Tribune about his life’s work, and how the new world is built around data. 

How did you end up as the youngest 

tenured faculty in the history of Purdue 

University? 

I completed my HSC from Notre Dame 

College in Bangladesh, and went on to 

Southern Illinois University in 1999 for a 

Bachelors in Computer Science. After I 

graduated, I enrolled in the MBA program 

at the same university. My interest area 

was management information systems 

(MIS), and I moved on to Purdue University 

to pursue my PhD in the subject. After 

four years of research, I was employed 

at the University of Calgary in Canada as 

an Assistant Professor, and became an 

Associate Professor in 2013 with an early 

promotion. After this, I came back to Purdue 

University as an Associate Professor in 2014. 

What do you consider to be your greatest 

accomplishment? 

I think the best accomplishment of my life is 

being an ‘educator’. Being a faculty member 

gives you an opportunity to impact a lot of 

people. I love to talk to my students, excite 

them, share insights with them, and learn 

from them. Besides, being a faculty member 

at one of the best universities in USA gives 

me the opportunity to learn and research; 

I mean I practically have the scope to learn 

every single day. 

Teaching or research – what do you 

prefer? 

I think I like research more because I can 

take its outcomes to my class and teach 

them about it. Incidentally, the classes I 

teach, whether its undergrad or PhD, there 

is always an influence of my research - it 

is an important part of my life. However, I 

enjoy teaching too. I get to see fresh young 

minds, hungry to learn new things, and 

steer them to new directions and lifelong 

journeys. And it always feels great to hear 

a student say - “because of your class I am 

doing this and that.” Nothing can give me 

such pleasure - the fact that I can actually 

influence somebody. 

What are you researching on currently? 

I work on fields like Internet commerce, 

technology usage, retail and web analytics, 

consumer behaviour, and decision making. 

My work combines massive amounts of 

data from different sources (eg server 

logs, transactions, US census) to generate 

insights on how technology drives consumer 

behaviour, and how online and conventional 

markets are using new channels to 

compete and target consumers. I also have 

particular interest in analysing consumer 

debt management strategies in the era 

of Financial Technology. A few of my PhD 

students are also conducting research 

on peer-to-peer loans and how that 

environment is interacting with the local 

financial market structure. 

This is basically a method of debt 

financing that enables individuals to 

borrow and lend money, without the use 

of an official financial institution as an 

intermediary. Peer-to-peer loan removes 

middlemen from the process. You can call 

this social lending. 

For example, you need $5,000. Instead of 

borrowing it from a single bank, you borrow 

it from 100 individuals, each of whom will 

loan you $50. These loans will be disbursed 

through a digital platform which will act 

as intermediary between borrowers and 

investors. 

For lenders, these loans will generate 

income in the form of interest, often 

exceeding what can be earned by traditional 

means. For borrowers, peer-to-peer loans 

give access to financing that they may not 

have otherwise gotten. 

Does blockchain technology have any 

relation to this? 

Yes. With blockchain, many people can write 

entries into a record of information, and a 

community of users can control how that 

record is amended and updated. However, 

considering the present stage of the peer-topeer 

industry’s evolution, I can say that it’s too 

early for it to adopt blockchain technology, as 

it is still establishing itself into the mainstream. 

There is also still a great deal of uncertainty in 

respect to the regulatory environment. 

Do you think companies here should 

focus on analysing customer data for 

their online platforms? 

Of course. Bangladeshis are still not that 

habituated with buying things online, 

but the amount of mobile and mobile 

data proliferation in Bangladesh is quite 

encouraging. Mobile operators have lots of 

data about their customers and they have 

information on what kind of activity they do 

and what kind of apps they use. This data 

could be effectively used to begin a mobile 

based e-commerce in Bangladesh. It could 

be accelerated with the introduction of 

mobile wallets. 

How do you address the controversies 

surrounding privacy and security in 

relation to data driven technology? 

Whenever we are working with data and 

consumers, we sign a Non-Disclosure 

Agreement regarding the company. Usually, 

when I get the data, I don’t know who the 

customer is or what is his/her name. They 

are just numbers to me. 

What about cyber security breaches? 

Security breaching is an unavoidable 

problem. Of course there are antivirus, 

firewalls etc. but it might happen anytime. 

In countries like Bangladesh, data is in a 

really vulnerable position. It is not difficult 

to hack and that is a scary thing. If I know 

your national ID and bank information and 

all of that, I might use those against you. In 

this era, data is your biggest identity. I think 

appropriate measures need to be in place 

for protecting data. Then, even if you fail, 

you can at least say that you tried.• 


Photo Story | Exhibition 

'Potchitra' 

Shambhu Acharya may be the only contemporary living ‘Patua’ in 

Bangladesh who has devoted his career to ‘Potchitra’. 

‘Potchitra’ or scroll painting has been practiced in the Bengal 

region since the 12th century. Historically the ‘Potchitra’ art 

depicted scenes from cultural myths and religious events. 

Shambhu Acharya is the ninth generation of the family of 

practitioners of this art form, the first being Ramlochon Acharya. 

This week’s photo story features Acharya’s work displayed at 

an exhibition held from July 8 – 18 at the EMK Center in Dhaka. 

 

Photos: EMK Center 

10 WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017


Issues | Silence around sex 

Can we just talk 

about sex already? 

The silence and stigma are only making matters worse 

Shuprova Tasneem 

Sex. It’s everywhere. All you 

have to do is turn on the TV or 

flip through a magazine – and 

you’ll see a glamorous, packaged 

version of sex waiting to shove the 

latest products down your throat. 

The sex on our screens will have 

you salivating over the freshest, 

sexiest bodies out there, probably 

dancing away provocatively to 

the latest ‘item song’ while giving 

some very strange messages on 

body positivity along the way. 

And while so many families 

around the country, and the entire 

subcontinent, seem perfectly 

open to Bollywood and ‘bideshis’ 

teaching their children about sex, 

they are completely and totally 

against talking about sex or 

anything remotely related to sex – 

not the glitzy version of it in mass 

media, but the regular, everyday, 

average things that happen to a 

person’s body as a result of real, 

biological processes. 

Sex education in our schools 

is still unthinkable, but even a 

basic conversation about sex and 

sexuality in an informal setting 

is considered to be promoting 

“oshleelota”. We have now 

mastered the ostrich complex 

in our increasingly conservative 

societies – we must all pretend 

that sex and everything related 

to it does not exist, whether it is 

problems faced by teens going 

through puberty, sexual assault 

and issues surrounding consent 

in a patriarchal society, or simply 

questions surrounding a natural 

process that is still shrouded by 

shame and mystery for most 

people in Bangladesh. 

Artworks by Liza Hasan 

12 


Not even a basic idea 

However, there are a small but 

growing number of people working 

to dispel myths and boot the taboos 

that surround a wide range of issues, 

including the stigma on talking about 

sex. One of these initiatives is Maya 

Apa, a virtual platform that anyone can 

access anonymously and ask questions 

on issues that affect our daily lives, 

including health, psychosocial and legal 

matters. 

A cursory glance at some of the 

questions received in the app provide 

us with an idea of just how little people 

in Bangladesh know on sexual matters, 

including sexual health. Ranging from 

ludicrous to downright alarming, this 

article contains only a sampling of a few 

of the most talked about issues. 

• I want to have children but I 

don’t know how many times 

you have to try, or how much 

sperm has to come out for it to 

happen. Can you help me? 

• Does masturbating cause 

physical harm? Can it stop me 

from gaining weight or growing 

taller? 

• If I don’t cum after 

masturbating for a bit, can 

that cum stay in my body and 

poison me? 

• Sex is extremely painful for me. 

My husband thinks it is because 

I do not have a big enough 

opening. How do I solve this? 

These may seem like the most basic 

questions about sex to many, but the 

truth of the matter is, too many people in 

the country just do not know. The stigma 

around talking about sex means they are 

not even able to talk to their doctors or 

families about it, meaning people suffer 

from sexual health problems all the time, 

with no recourse to any kind of solution. 

Meanwhile, the taboo around sexual 

needs and the shame that is so intrinsically 

attached to it mean that there people who, 

in this day and age, think their bodily fluids 

can actually poison them. 

Practising safe sex 

Looking into questions asked through Maya 

Apa also prove one thing – there are plenty 

of people out there having sex, unmarried 

or not, with little to no idea on how to 

prevent pregnancies, and save themselves 

from sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, 

the shame surrounding sexual activity 

means young people out there end up using 

emergency pills on a regular basis instead 

of using proper methods of contraception, 

which can have negative impacts on your 

body, such as fatigue, nausea, irregular 

bleeding, and in the case of some of the 

more dodgy pills, maybe even infertility. 

Crossing a line 

Once you delve deeper into the censored 

world of sex in Bangladesh, you also realise 

there are grave issues at hand that are 

not being addressed at all. While the first 

question here is only one example, there are 

plenty of such cases that prove that people 

are having under-age sex. This constitutes as 

rape and is a criminal offence – something 

that a large portion of the population are 

not aware of, and even if they are, do not 

take seriously at all. 

• How do I use a condom? 

• I am 25 years old, and my period 

is very irregular. If my period 

doesn’t happen within 28 days, can 

I have unprotected sex and not get 

pregnant? 

• I want to have sex the natural way, 

without any protection. When can 

I do this to make sure there is no 

pregnancy? 

• Over the last month, I have had 

sex 5-6 times, and have had the 

morning after pill every time, but 

I still haven’t had my period. Does 

that mean I am pregnant? 

• We only touched each other and 

didn’t have full penetration, but I 

came a little. Can my girlfriend still 

get pregnant? 

• I am 18 years old. My family fixed 

a girl for me to marry when I was 

a child. We like each other, but I 

want us to live together first. She 

is 14 years old. Is there anything 

wrong with that? Please tell me. 

• I am an unmarried man and I am 

addicted to porn. How can I get 

myself out of this? 

• My wife did not bleed when we 

first had sex. Does that mean she 

is not a virgin? 

But it is not only sex with minors that comes up on the Maya Apa platform, but other grave 

issues, such as porn and drug addiction, that people are unable to talk about without being 

ostracised. 

And the final question displays everything that is wrong with the silence surrounding such 

issues. Women in our country are forced to wear their virginities like a badge of honour and 

questions such as these only show the proliferation of a culture that values modesty over 

consent. You may consider such things to be too ‘modern’ and ‘indecent’, but until we are 

able to reduce this stigma, we cannot build a society where people are free to talk about their 

issues without shame, whether it be about sexual violence, sexual health or safe sex. • 

WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017 13

Event | dinner and Dance 

Viva La Dance! 

An evening of Latin Exposure 

Weekend Tribune Desk 

14 

There was a sense of long awaited catharsis 

this past Thursday night at "An Evening of 

Latin Exposure" as a large dance troupe 

of ten worldwide acclaimed dancers and 

choreographers took the stage to perform a 

blazing set of the most popular Latin dance 

styles at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Dhaka. 

The event was a glamorous and glitzy 

affair with the who’s who of Dhaka 

city, dressed to the nines to attend this 

invite-only event sponsored by Standard 

Chartered Bank, Qatar Airways, Mercedes 

Benz, Direct Fresh and Jarwa House, with 

event partners Dhaka Tribune and Daily 

Ittefaq. 

Choreographed by veteran British 

dancers, Kelly and Stacy Franklin, the tenmember 

dance troupe flew in from the UK 

to perform a body of dances ranging from 

classical ballroom to urban street dance. 

The crowd was hypnotised from the start. 

The show started with a bang – all ten 

dancers twirled, kicked and leapt on stage 

with such high energy and precision that the 

crowd was rendered speechless. Following 

the fantastic start, each dance style was 

introduced. The sexy tango and lively 

mambo titillated the audience and when 

salsa swag was performed to the current 

international musical sensation – ‘Despacito’ 

– the crowd went wild. 

A total of nine dance styles were 

presented and the show lasted for 

approximately two hours. The audience was 

enthralled. At the conclusion of the show, 

Kelly and Stacy Franklin, wearing identical 

fiery red gowns and sparkling in Jarwa 

WEEKEND TRIBUNE | FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2017 

House diamonds, said thank you to the 

sponsors and organisers, and had a raffle 

draw for participating audience members. 

The first prize was two round-trip tickets 

to any destination of the world on Qatar 

Airways. 

Radisson Blu was the host of the event 

and Head Chef Jed Archdeacon created a 

special Latin themed three course menu to 

showcase the diversity and complexity of 

Latin cuisine. Each course had a variety of 

samplers of different dishes from different 

countries. Our culinary journey started 

in Andalusia, Spain and ended on the 

mountain tops of Peru. 

The food was scrumptious, the show 

mesmerising and the energy of the room 

was electric. The dancers also had amazing 

things to say about performing in Dhaka. 

Matt Harris, the dance instructor on the 

feature film Beauty and the Beast said 

“performing in Dhaka has been an absolute 

privilege. The audience was so tuned in and 

appreciative.” Vladimir, who is originally 

from Latvia and now based in the UK, said 

“it’s been a wonderful experience. The 

people of Bangladesh are so warm and 

friendly and go to great lengths to make 

sure you are comfortable and well taken 

care of. I can’t wait to come back!” 

Mishal Karim, founder of SpaceDawg, 

which organised the event said, “The 

response from the crowd was overwhelming 

and we feel proud to have organised such a 

high calibre show. We hope to continue to 

set the benchmark for events organised in 

Bangladesh.” • 

Photos: Courtesy

Art writing | Workshop 

Expression of art 

Bengal Foundation’s three day workshop on art writing, led by 

artist, writer and critic Mustafa Zaman 

Raida A K Reza 

Art is supposed to evoke a sense of feeling when you look at it, and expressing that into words can become a challenge. From that tug of 

heartstrings to a deep understanding of philosophy, an artist can put all of it on a canvas and convey that to the viewer. And for the times we 

can’t understand, words make their way towards translating art into that feeling. 

The most common form of an exchange 

of thoughts and sentiments are through 

words, and what an abstract painting would 

fail to tell a viewer, words will express by 

forming an effective bridge between the 

artist and the viewer. This is the best form of 

connection between two strangers, and this 

also paves a way towards a public dialogue 

with the artist, enabling them to reach a 

broader audience. 

An art writing workshop was conducted 

by Bengal Foundation for a span of three 

days, from July 9-11, which catered to a 

group of professionals who would like to 

further their skills in writing about different 

arenas related to art. This was led by artist, 

writer and critic Mustafa Zaman, editor of 

Depart art magazine. One of the organisers, 

Punny Kabir, tells us that this workshop will 

act as a way towards tapping into a different 

arena of the art scene and create a more 

diverse community of artists, writers and 

art lovers. Art exhibitions are the only focal 

point of the art scene in Bangladesh, but this 

workshop serves as a way towards mapping 

the scene and bringing in a different light 

to it as newer forms of expression of art is 

being experimented with. 

This workshop was broken into two parts 

each day where the first session focused 

We wanted a space where 

we could talk about art in 

an open manner 

on lectures, text materials and multimedia 

presentations and the second session 

focused on a vibrant, open and interactive 

discussion session between the lecturer and 

the trainees. “We wanted a space where we 

could talk about art in an open manner,” 

Zaman explained. This is the first workshop 

of its kind organised by Bengal Foundation, 

and they hope to expand this workshop in 

the future. 

The first day consisted of simple concepts 

of art such as the different genres of art 

writing, aesthetics and other fundamentals. 

The second day moved on to some historical 

context of art and how it has evolved in time 

and the socio-political aspects of it, and the 

third day moved on to heavier topics such 

as colonisation. 

An interesting part of the discussion 

session was when the time came to discuss 

the topic of learning how to write about 

art. Zaman explained how you can always 

write following certain guidelines but they’ll 

always be different from other people as 

your personality always reflects your writing. 

According to him, art writing is important 

as there is a need to contextualise the 

practice of art. It also answers questions to 

the issues that a particular art conveys to 

the masses – ideologies and philosophies 

can be succinctly interpreted through art 

writing. He also talked about how this 

workshop delved into theory and strung 

it with practice. “Theory is one aspect 

that we wanted to explore and also the 

psychological, philosophical and social 

aspects of art,” he elaborated. 

The workshop ended on a rainy afternoon 

and the trainees are required to choose a 

focus of their own and compose a piece of 

writing and after a review, certificates will be 

provided. • 


Gaming | retrospective 

Top 10 classic video games 

Part 1 of 2 

Jishnu Brahmaputra 

Remember having to ask permission from a parental figure to be able to sit on the computer and play games that they would turn on for you 

(in case you accidentally destroy the computer by typing gibberish into the DOS prompt or, more realistically, delete important system files on 

windows)? I’m sure the older ones among you do. For those who are younger or simply haven’t experienced the wonders the following games 

have to offer, these were absolute gems back in the day and still hold plenty of replay value. That being said, dated graphics alert - most of 

these were made when the average graphics card had between a few kilobytes to a whopping eight megabytes of memory. 

Mortal Kombat 4 – 

10 Midway/Eurocom, 1997 

After the unmitigated successes that 

were Mortal Kombats 1 through Trilogy, 

Mortal Kombat 4 was met with mixed 

reviews due to its low character count, ‘3D’ 

aspect, the introduction of weapons and 

the subtraction of fixed combos. The only 

reason this makes the list above its earlier, 

hailed-as-better counterparts is because it 

was the first variant of the game to include 

almost completely customisable combos, a 

much higher balance between characters 

and much less frustratingly unfair AI. Even 

Goro was far more manageable (even if you 

don’t count the few available exploits) than 

the maddeningly annoying Motaro. More 

than anything else, what really spurred 

on the popularity of this game is the fact 

that it was installed into what seemed like 

every computer to roll out after its arrival in 

Bangladesh. 

Brian Lara Cricket 99 – 

9 Codemasters, 1998 

Released at the end of ’98 with the ’99 world 

cup looming ahead, this is a game that’s 

still considered by most to be the best 

cricket game ever made. That may not be 

much of a compliment for a dry niche in 

an otherwise oversaturated genre, but for 

its time this was truly a masterpiece. With 

decent graphics and a revolutionary engine 

that remains unique to this day, the game 

had countless Bangladeshis trying and 

succeeding to win the Cricket World Cup as 

Bangladesh, albeit after uncountable hours 

of frustratingly and unfairly getting out in all 

kinds of ways despite playing good shots 

with good timing. For a nation that was only 

beginning to fall deeply in love with cricket, 

this was a godsend. 

Age of Empires 2: The Age 

8 of Kings – Microsoft, 1999 

Barely contained within our timeframe, this 

game grew a fan following that lives on to 

this day, with people lining up to buy the HD 

remake and three recent official expansion 

packs which came 14+ years since the 

last one (The Conquerors). Although the 

immediate sequel was far more popular, 

this was the foundation on which one of 

the most popular RTS games of all time was 

built. With state-of-the-art graphics and a 

masterfully envisioned user interface, the 

game had an incredible set of campaigns 

as well as one of the best multiplayer 

experiences any RTS has ever offered. A 

massive array of units also helped the game 

become extremely complex with a nearly 

endless learning curve that was still lenient 

on casual players. Word of advice, though; 

if you think you’re really good just because 

you’ve completed the campaigns and beaten 

hardest AI 1 on 1 and buy the game for a 

multiplayer experience, prepare to have 

your medieval behind handed to you. 

WWF: Wrestlemania 

7 – Acclaim/Sculptured 

Software, 1995 

A staple for 90’s kids, this brilliant little 

number featured eight of the most famous 

wrestlers of the 90’s, exciting and often 

hilariously comical gameplay (including 

a plethora of glitches) and the incredible 

experience of either winning the Co-op 

mode with your friend or bashing his face 

in in the Versus variant. Despite its very 

dated graphics, the sound effects and theme 

music were brilliantly memorable, as were 

the various moves and combos each player 

could pull off. 

Virtua Cop 2 – Sega, 1995 

6 Who hasn’t played this? Who wouldn’t 

want to, after seeing others? This point-andshoot 

masterpiece was an instant hit when 

it came out and with good reason. Granted, 

many friendships were broken over who got 

to use the mouse and who had to use the 

keyboard (the latter was noticeably clunky 

no matter how good you were), and granted 

that this is probably the only game in history 

where you end up hating the civilians more 

than the bad guys, this game was a stupid 

amount of fun. 

You didn’t seriously think I was going to 

give you the whole list all at once, did you? 

Like an episode of Alif Laila, this one ends 

on a cliffhanger. Until next time, ladies and 

gents!• 

Honourable Mentions 

Skyroads – Bluemoon, 1993 

Duke Nukem 3D – 3D Realms, 1996 

Resident Evil – Capcom, 1996 

Command and Conquer: Tiberian Sun – 

Westwood/EA, 1999 

King of Fighters Series, ’94-’99 – SNK, 1994- 

1999 

Paranoid – Bit Bucket Brothers, 1992 

Fifa 98 – EA Sports, 1997 

The House of the Dead – Wow/Sega, 1996 


tech | iphone review 

Apple’s next gen 

Rumoured specs and what to expect from the new iPhone 


The latest beta version of the iOS 11 has, so far, been received well, yet is still a risk. We aren’t brave enough to test the waters as our friends 

have so we can only hear from a second-hand account. While that’s still in the process, we’ll have to wait until September for a full-on rollout 

for our Apple devices. With the latest devices and OS updates right around the corner, we take a look at what we know so far. 

Future in specs 

• Expect three different models, alongside 

two minor “S” upgrades, and of course 

the new iPhone 8 

• There is a possibility that the home 

button and Touch ID is embedded 

beneath the display or located on the 

back 

• We might see iris scanning and/or facial 

recognition like the LG’s 3D sensor tech 

• New body design is curved with edgeto-edge 

OLED display and possesses the 

iPad’s True Tone technology, and also 

might have Ion-X glass 

• A surprising addition could be “wireless” 

charging. In other words, inductive or 

magnetic charging like the Apple watch 

• The dual-lens camera might be laid out in 

a vertical manner with AR capabilities 

• Support for the Apple Pencil 

• USB-C charger that connects with Apple’s 

existing Lightning connecter 

• Further steps for advanced water 

resistance and waterproofing will be in 

place 

• Better quality for the earpiece so that 

there’s a slightly louder and clearer audio 

• The obvious would be the A10X or A11 

processors in place of the predecessors 

• Better stainless steel and glass body build 

• There will definitely be an upgrade 

in storage and memory and possibly 

starting with 64GB and 3GB of RAM 

• The new iOS 11 will either be supported 

by Intel or Qualcomm modem 

• Only on assumption, the phones will be 

priced between $850 to $1,099 

Timing on point 

As far as we know, Apple will report that 

they are right on schedule. However, there 

are many sources claiming that there have 

been minor issues with supply chains 

through manufacturing in its hardware 

upgrades and new phones. Analysts predict 

the new devises won’t start shipping out 

until October or even November. While the 

“S” models might launch in September, the 

major release will follow in the 

coming months. 

What’s in a name? 

Since we have no idea what the 

company is planning to call the 

new mobile device, we can only 

refer it to as the iPhone 8. Earlier 

in the year, we saw Apple replace 

the iPad Air 2 with simply the iPad. 

What is most likely to happen is the 

introduction of the iPhone 7S and 

iPhone 7S Plus. Another possibility 

would be that they skip past the 8 

and 9 and claim the phone as the 

iPhone 10 or iPhone X, referring to 

the phone’s 10th anniversary. 

Staying home 

One of the biggest and long awaited 

changes to the iPhone is the home button 

and Touch ID. Leading sources like Kuo 

continue to emphasise that the physical 

home button will be replaced with a virtual 

one, sitting neat and tight under the display. 

However, the Touch ID will be positioned in 

a different part of the phone. The reason for 

this is the technology hasn’t been properly 

implemented, tried and/or successfully 

tested. It would be a mistake to make this 

technology available for the mass market 

when it hasn’t had the appropriate time 

period to be tested thoroughly. But who 

knows, Apple could pleasantly surprise us at 

the time of launch. In truth, this technology 

is very difficult; so don’t get your hopes up. 

A little bit more 

The new iPhone 8, according to JPMorgan, 

will definitely come with the AirPods. These 

Bluetooth earphones currently sell for 

$159. Staying within the price category, the 

iPhone 8 could cost a little over $1,000 in 

the US. Theories, if they turn out to be true, 

suggest that the 64GB entry-level model will 

start around $850, just like the Galaxy S8 

Plus. The 7S and 7S Plus models would start 

around $649 and $749, respectively. 

And for those hoping that Apple has 

heard the groans and pains of the average 

consumer, it is highly unlikely that they will 

bring back the 3.5mm headphone jack. 

While other Android phones have kept 

the favoured headphone jack, there are 

no signs of Apple nudging on their new 

design stance. Keep in mind all of these 

specifications have yet to be confirmed by 

Apple, so we’ll just have to assume and wait 

once the marketing goes on full affect. • 


Clues 

Mini cryptics 

ACROSS 

1 Nothing returns after 

French sea wizard (6) 

6 Look back, as in relaxes 

(5) 

7 Monkey medic makes 

cloth cover (5) 

8 Identity in one direction 

is most broad (6) 

DOWN 

2 Gem confused mere lad (7) 

3 Takes on board and lets sin 

change (7) 

4 More inquisitive on rise anew 

(6) 

5 Field commercial in cat 

language (6) 

stay in 

Sudoku 

Use the numbers 1-9 to complete 

each of the 3x3 square grids such that 

each horizontal and vertical line also 

contains all of the digits from 1-9 

DIY lush bath 

bombs 

Tasfia Huda 

There is something incredibly 

relaxing about a warm bath, 

and these home made salt bath 

bombs take the relaxation up 

a notch! Moreover, you can 

customise your bath bombs with 

your favourite fragrances and 

colours, too! 

diy 

Last week’s solutions 

Solved it? Email answers to weekend@dhakatribune.com and win one free 

month of the Dhaka Tribune. 

Last week’s solutions 

You will need: 

• 1 cup baking soda 

• 1/2 cup citric acid 

• 1/2 cup Epsom salts 

• 1 tsp water 

• 2 tsp essential oil 

• 3 tsp oil (olive oil) 

• food colouring (any colour you 

want) 

• bowl 

• whisk 

• jar 

• bath bomb mould 

ACROSS 

1 Funny energy source keeps 

microphone (7) 

4 Land transport carries British 

Queen (7) 

6 Lively music or legal change (7) 

7 Rank the man held by strange 

clone (7) 

DOWN 

1 Over the top, initially, in prison 

home (7) 

2 The French drink up art on the 

wall (5) 

3 Presidential shade of green? (7) 

5 Leg up under an Elysian being (5) 

Solved it? Email answers to weekend@dhakatribune.com and 

win one free month of the Dhaka Tribune. 

Step 1: 

First of all, place the dry 

ingredients in a bowl and then 

mix them all evenly with the 

whisk. 

Step 2: 

In a separate container, mix the 

liquid ingredients together. Note 

that in this step, the essential 

oils, fragrances and colours are 

added. Make sure to pick out lots 

of fragrance oils to try out here. 

Step 3: 

Slowly add the liquid mixture to 

the dry mix, one small spoon at 

a time. 

Step 4: 

After mixing it well, simply pack 

this mixture into a bath bomb 

mould, pack it tightly, and let it 

dry. Work quickly so as not to let 

the bath bomb mixture dry out.• 

18 


Biz info 

MAX Super Speciality Hospital Saket offers 

special packages for Bangladeshi patients 

Widely acclaimed for its special treatment 

facilities, MAX Super Speciality Hospital 

Saket in New Delhi just launched a 

number of special treatment packages for 

liver disease patients from Bangladesh. 

An expert team from the hospital led 

by Dr Subhash Gupta visited Dhaka last 

Friday, during which Dr Gupta exchanged 

views with the people of different walks of 

life. Professor of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic 

Surgery Department of BIRDEM Hospital 

Dr Mohammad Ali, who performed 

the first ever liver transplantation in 

Bangladesh, was also present at the view 

exchange meeting. 

“The first liver transplant in Bangladesh 

was successfully completed at BIRDEM 

Launching of social communication app 

Telvo held 

Launching ceremony for a social 

communication app titled ‘Telvo’, 

developed by the Bangladeshi IT company 

lnvariant Telecom was held on July 13 at a 

five star hotel in Dhaka. 

The Economic Affairs Adviser to the 

Prime Minister Dr Mashiur Rahman 

attended the event as the chief guest. 

“Our prime minister has always dreamt 

of an independent Bangladesh. We 

believe that the social media application 

in 2010 where Dr Subhash Gupta 

played a special role by providing 

technical assistance, expert surgeons and 

post transplant care,” Dr Ali said. 

Since 2005 Dr Ali’s team has been 

getting special support from Dr Gupta, 

including getting training for Bangladeshi 

doctors. “In one word, Dr Subhash Gupta 

has played a very important role in liver 

transplantation (liver replacement) in our 

country,” Dr Ali added. 

About 2300 doctors and 10 thousand 

staffs work at 14 hospitals run by the 

Delhi based Max Healthcare. Other than 

the liver translation program, these 

hospitals offer different treatment 

facilities for various complicated diseases 

including renal, heart and bone marrow 

transplantation. 

Under the supervision of Dr Subhash 

Gupta, over two thousand successful liver 

transplantations have been completed 

successfully. A large number of patients 

from Bangladesh go to India for liver 

transplantation and other liver related 

surgeries. Over 150 Bangladeshi patients 

have so far undergone liver transplants by 

Dr Subhash Gupta’s team. 

The various healthcare packages for 

Bangladeshi patients at special rates 

include liver transplant. • 

Telvo will be an outstanding way to move 

Bangladesh towards achieving its digital 

ambitions,” Dr Rahman said. 

The managing director of lnvariant 

Telecom Jashimuddin Chisty said, “Telvo is 

the ultimate solution to all of the barriers 

we face these days with other social 

communication 

apps. A few of our remarkable features 

are dial pad calling, group video calling, 

incoming call waiting, multiple number 

registration, etc. Besides all of these 

features, we are also focusing on making 

Telvo user friendly to all, including the 

senior people.” 

Chairman of Parliamentary 

Standing Committee on the Ministry 

of Environment and Forests Dr 

Hasan Mahmud, Director General 

(Administration) Prime Minister’s office 

and the Project Director of the a2i 

Program Kabir Bin Anwar were also 

present at the event.• 

Workshop on 

Public Health and 

Epidemiology: 

Application in 

Research and 

Program Planning 

University of South Asia organised a 

public health and disability workshop 

in collaboration with the Asian Institute 

of Disability and Development (AIDD) 

and CSF Global at the university’s Prof 

M A Matin Memorial Auditorium, on 

July 14. “Workshop on Public Health & 

Epidemiology: Application in Research and 

Program Planning” was attended by 147 

participants including dignitaries from NGOs 

and educational institutes, researchers, 

academics, international and national 

students, and various professionals. 

Inaugurated by the vice-chancellor of 

the University of South Asia, Prof Wadud 

Mondal, the workshop consisted of a 

series of interactive working sessions by 

the resource persons, Prof M A Muhit, 

Chairman, University of South Asia and 

Dr Gulam Khandaker, Senior Lecturer, 

University of Sydney, Australia. 

The workshop sessions covered the 

introduction and key aspects of public 

health, concepts of epidemiology, methods 

and study design, evidence in public health, 

and case studies of childhood disability 

programs. The speakers focused on applied 

concepts of public health to portray the real 

essence of the discipline. The significance 

of public health in various spheres of 

everyday life, including areas of medical 

and allied health professionals, engineering, 

journalism, economics and other disciplines, 

was highlighted. 

It was stressed that evidence is required 

to campaign for health programs and policy 

planning aimed towards prioritising public 

health and health expenditures in the 

country. 

This event was the first in a series of 

public health workshops with international 

public health experts organised by the 

collaborators as part of their efforts to guide 

and implement training and education 

programs for the next generation of 

public health leaders who are focused on 

improving the health and lives of people.• 


Science | Dreaming 

Dreams unfolded 

An easy-to-understand anatomy of your dreams 

Saudia Afrin 

Do dreams often urge you think about your past, or are you constantly bothered by the hidden meaning behind them? After waking up, we 

often face the mysterious dilemma of not being able to decipher our dreams, especially if it is a bad one. Interestingly, all you need is some 

basic knowledge to find the influences that affect our dreams. 

Dream recallers 

Scientists at France’s Lyon, Neuroscience 

Research Centre, studied groups to figure 

out how well wide-brain activity dreaming 

relates to our waking life. Lyon’s study says 

people with the ability to recall dreams 

have high brain activity while low-recallers 

have less. Moreover, this pattern remains 

the same for when you’re awake too. 

Interestingly, during the times when they 

briefly awaken at night, high-dream-recallers 

often aren’t even aware that they’re awake. 

Mastering dream retrieval 

However, the good news is that we can all 

train ourselves to recall our dreams. Here’s 

how it works. Before going to bed, make 

a vow not to let yourself go to sleep after 

you’ve dreamt of something. You must be 

firm in your resolve for this to work. Once 

you wake up, try to remember what you 

dreamt about. Practise this again and again, 

for this is the only way to master the art. 

One fact we need to be aware of is that 

the human brain does not store fresh 

memories while it’s on sleep mode. When 

we are done dreaming, we usually continue 

sleeping and hardly wake up right after. This 

drastically lowers the chances of retrieving 

the dream. High-dream-recallers awaken 

twice or more at night to maintain their 

ability to recall. 

Endless mystery 

Scientists have been working hard to find 

clear reasons and establish many theories 

behind dreams. This includes practising 

response to threatening situations, creating 

wisdom and psychotherapy. Despite these 

efforts, the main reasoning behind dreams 

remain a mystery. As a result, dreams are 

brushed off as nothing but a creation of 

our minds. Carey Morewedge, an assistant 

professor at Carnegie Mellon University 

thinks, “There is still a lot more for us to 

understand about the night productions of 

our minds.” It is clear that by valuing and 

analysing dreams, many aspects of our lives 

can be experienced differently. 

Photo: Bigstock 

Dreams are shaped by our 

beliefs 

Michael Norton, an assistant professor at 

Harvard Business School surveyed general 

beliefs about dreams. Most of the students 

from 149 universities from the USA, India 

and South Korea, consented to the theory 

that our dreams tell us about the hidden 

meaning of our lifestyle and culture. 

Researchers wanted to find out if 

humans should consider all dreams to 

be equally meaningful, or should they 

consider the interpretations to be biased as 

it is determined by their waking beliefs and 

desires. Morewedge stated, “People attribute 

meaning to dreams when it corresponds 

with their pre-existing beliefs and desires. 

This was also the case in another experiment 

which demonstrated that people who 

believe in God were likely to consider any 

dream in which God spoke to them to be 

meaningful. Agnostics, however, considered 

dreams in which God spoke to be more 

meaningful when God commanded them 

to take a pleasant vacation than when God 

commanded them to engage in self-sacrifice.” 

Social relationships shape 

dreams 

In 2001, neurologist Patrick McNamara began 

working on a hypothesis based on the idea 

that social relationships can have direct 

impact on our dreams. After observing 300 

universities, his team categorised the students 

on their level of attachment security. Based on 

their comfort level in relationships and how 

included or secluded they are in their daily 

lives, they were classified as either “secure” 

or “insecure.” McNamara found that students 

from the insecure attachment pole had more 

dreams every night which were reported 

to be much more morbid, intense, and 

traumatising than the other groups. Morbid 

dreams were boosted by isolation and poor 

attachment, and as a result, it created a solid 

foundation for trauma and other issues, that 

make it harder for individuals to reach out 

and connect with others. Filmmaker Ingmar 

Bergman commented that his dreams were 

his inspiration. Not only him, but there are 

plenty of creative people who find inspiration 

for their work from dreams. 

Lucid dreaming 

Have you heard about lucid dreamers 

who use their dreams effectively to solve 

creative problems? Recently, researchers 

are working with lucid dreamers who 

troubleshoot using their dreams. Dreams 

are about perception and revolves around 

what happens in your surroundings. 

Drugs have an effect on 

dreams 

Certain types of anti-depressants may affect 

dreaming. SSRI (Selective Serotonin Uptake 

Inhibitors) may decrease the ability to 

recall dreams as well as intensify dreaming. 

SSRI may lead to the presence of more 

positive emotions in dreams. Removal 

of SSRI, on the other hand, may lead to 

nightmares. Alcohol, too, is a reason behind 

alterations in our dreams as it breaks the 

normal, healthy sleep cycle. Studies show 

that consuming alcohol leads to having 

more negative emotional content in our 

dreams. Insomnia and sleep disorder can 

heighten dream recall and also lead to 

more stressful and disturbing dreams. 

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may 

cause nightmares and disturbed dreaming. 

PTSD mostly happens to people with past 

experience of trauma, including assault, 

disaster, war and combat.•

Weekend-5-13

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