LIFE AS IT IS

C lear azure skies, cotton-like fluffy clouds, fragrant night jasmine, and kans grass swaying to the autumnal breeze symbolise the advent of Durga Puja in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi diaspora spread across the world miss not only the Durga Puja \"vibes\" at this festive time of the year, but also their friends and family, the sound of  dhaak , the smell of  dhoop , the food stalls at puja mandaps, the shopping spree, and the pandal-hopping experience. "I miss the  \"puja-puja-bhaab ,\" which is felt in Dhaka\"s air at this time of the year," said Puja Karmakar, a Bangladeshi American who now calls Delaware, USA her home. "We look forward to celebrating Durga Puja every fall, but the energy, vigour, and grandiosity around the festival that you witness back home are missing here". The festival, which symbolises the triumph of good over evil, is not an elaborate five-day affair abroad. Durga Puja organisers generally choose a weekend to celebra

Ask anyone who has grown fruits, vegetables, or even culinary herbs if homegrown produce savour better in comparison with store-bought varieties. A gardener's answer will be an unequivocal yes. Even simple green chillies or coriander leaves taste so much better and fresher when they are grown at home. I have a small backyard, most of which is dedicated to flowers. However, we have been growing edibles for the past two summers. Although not a seasoned vegetable gardener, I can still vouch for the freshness homegrown produce add to my meals. This year, we have grown Malabar spinach (pui shak), red amaranth (lal shak), lemon cucumber, Serrano pepper, two types of eggplants, and three varieties of tomatoes in our small space. We shared our harvest with friends and neighbours, too. Growing fruits, veggies, and herbs at home gives you the freedom to choose the varieties you love to eat. When you grow your edibles from seeds, the options are even wider. Although it does take some ti

T his fall, schools around the US are welcoming children for face-to-face instruction despite a new COVID-19 surge. My daughter was six months into her first grade when a state of emergency was declared and our schools were closed down. From her bedroom, my daughter completed her first grade, began her second grade, and finished that, too. Now after one-and-a-half years at home, she has gone back to school to start her third grade. She could not contain her excitement when I gave her the news of school reopening in person! If you are a parent, you know how much you and your child are waiting for schools to reopen, because being away from school and their friends has been tough on our children — the pandemic has left their little world in a disarray. Many children, who have started school in this pandemic, do not even know what a school really is. "I can’t wait for the COVID-19 to go away! My son, who is in playgroup, attends his school online. He does not even know what an actual

My husband and I are urbanophiles, so it was little wonder that for our first getaway in nearly two years, we chose the City that Never Sleeps. New York, which was the US epicentre and a global COVID-19 hotspot, has lifted most of its pandemic-induced restrictions after having hit the vaccination mark. At the time this was written, more than 70 percent of the New Yorkers aged 18 and above have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. We spent three days at the Big Apple as it was swiftly returning to life after more than a year under lockdown conditions. I felt alive the moment we crossed the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson River. The 1.5-mile long tunnel connects Weehawken, New Jersey to Midtown Manhattan, New York City. After having spent most of my time at home since March 2020, the urban cacophony of construction, traffic, honking, ambulance wailing in the distance, and chattering of tourists and locals was music to my ears. I felt like myself after a long, long time, for I

Ratul Hasan,  6, lives on St.  Martin’s Island, the southernmost point of Bangladesh. On a nighttime magical journey with “the Old   Man of the Winds,” Ratul sees two kinds of possible future of his country and the world - - one bleak and one bright.  In the bleak future, he sees lands inundated by rising waters, displaced people migrating to the north of the country for refuge, widespread poverty, crowded cities, and illnesses caused by pollution. However, the bright future shows a prosperous Bangladesh, where imposition of additional taxes on fossil fuels (natural gas, coal, oil) and subsidies for renewable energy sources (solar panels, windmills) have created new jobs and made the country once again green and livable.  The Daily Star link ‘Tomorrow’ is a 26-minute 3D animated film on climate change directed by Mohammad Shihab Uddin and produced by the entrepreneur-climate activist duo Kazi Zahin Hasan and Kazi Zeeshan Hasan of Kazi Farms Group. Tomorrow was released on Deepto TV’s Y

We all love to shop. Some of us are shopaholics while others are not, but we all, from time-to-time, purchase things we do not need. While it is not always possible to make a shopping list every time we go shopping, it is a good idea to make a grocery list before you step inside a food mart or a kitchen market. Why? You will find out in a while. Saves money No one is asking you to be stingy, but wasteful spending does you and your family no good. Sticking to the shopping list when you go grocery shopping can keep your impulsive buying behaviour in check. When we do not have a shopping list, we often end up buying food items that we already have at home. Because food is perishable, buying more than you can consume is a bad, bad idea. Saves time Yes, you save time when you are armed with a grocery list. You know exactly what you need, so you do not roam about aimlessly in a supermarket, trying to remember if there is enough cooking oil at home to last you one more week. Reduces food wast