Chill Bangladesh Thread

[Banglar Bir]

12:00 AM, May 30, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 12:15 AM, May 30, 2017
Spare us this beautification, please!

Because of lack of trees the Airport Road now resembles a desert. Photo: Sayeeda Sultana
Naznin Tithi

A few years back, as I was walking past the National Museum in the cool afternoon breeze, I stopped under the shade of a huge tree. As I looked up at the leaves in an attempt to recognise the tree, I heard someone say, “Pagol naki?” (“Is she insane?”) I turned around to find three young men on a rickshaw, bursting out in laughter. I had almost forgotten the incident. But when a friend, a regular commuter on Airport Road, told me with frustration that a large number of trees on that road had been cut and replaced with strange looking bonsai trees, I instantly recalled that incident.

The news that 500 bonsai trees imported from China and Taiwan are being planted on a 6 kilometre road from Banani flyover to Shahjalal International Airport as part of a beautification project didn't surprise me at all. It rather reminded me that we have a history of this kind of beautification. I still remember how the Dhaka North City Corporation took an initiative to beautify the central reservations of some important roads with concrete structures, uprooting the plants and saplings placed there, ahead of the ICC T20 Cricket World Cup in 2014.

This effort of 'beautification' also reminds me of the construction of ugly and disproportionate sculptures at different points of Dhaka over the years. The sculpture of a tiger at Karwan Bazar (not there at present, thankfully), the sculpture of elephants at the Science Lab intersection, the horse-cart sculpture near Sonargoan Hotel, etc., are some of the examples of the horror inflicted upon the public in the name of beautification. Can anyone even relate to these structures which do not reflect an iota of our rich culture and heritage? What is more horrifying is that the disproportionate tiger sculpture, which was built as part of a beautification project ahead of the ICC Cricket Tournament in 2011, killed a poor rickshaw puller when it collapsed on him.

We have learnt that the Roads and Highways Department has hired the advertising firm, Vinyl World Group, for the bonsai beautification project. If any of you have been to the Jahangirnagar University campus lately, you must have seen a lotus sculpture in the middle of a lake, and wondered how such an unpleasant looking object could be part of a campus that is famous for its abundant naturally grown water lilies. The concrete lotus is just one example of this firm's work. In 2014, this firm also undertook the renovation work of the central reservation of the road starting from Jahangir Gate to Kakoli intersection, where they used bathroom and kitchen tiles on the concrete structures!

Coming back to the bonsai beautification project, we are worried for a number of reasons. First, a large number of fully grown local trees (Krishnochura, Jarul, Radhachura, Nageshwar), which had lined the 6 km road for the last 20 to 25 years, had to be cut down to make way for the imported trees. According to environmentalists, this was done in the darkness of night, most likely to avoid any confrontation with the public. The authorities explained that the trees had to be cut down to make way for wider footpaths. However, this seems like a flimsy excuse, as with foresight and a proper planning process, the footpaths could have been wider but not at the expense of these trees. And we could accept narrow footpaths at some points of the road, but how can we accept a road without trees? The whole road now looks like a desert; thanks to this 'beautification'.

Second, why do we have to import foreign trees which are so expensive, fragile and so difficult to take care of? Let's not talk about how bizarre they look on our roads. Apparently, these 15-20 feet tall saplings had to be brought to the country in a Tk 3 crore container, and Tk. 2 to 3 lakh has already been spent for each trees. Bonsai moreover, is an indoor plant and it can't live and grow on roadsides. Dust would gather on the leaves and eventually the leaves will die. As Dhaka's surface water level is very low, these trees have to be watered regularly and special care has to be taken of the leaves. Experts argue that these bonsai trees are most likely not going to live for more than two years. We have heard that Krishnochura would be planted alongside the bonsai trees. But if there is a full grown Krishnochura tree beside a bonsai, the bonsai will not get enough sunlight to survive. And since the roots of the bonsai do not go further than a foot under the surface level, what if any of these trees collapses on some pedestrian during a nor'wester?

Third, the firm's assurance that five lakh local trees will be planted on that road sounds like a joke. We have to do some simple math to know that this is not doable. There is not just enough space there to plant such a massive number of trees. Was it then said just to placate the public?

Fourth, if we plant five lakh ornamental plants, will they be able to remove much carbon from our air? Can big trees be replaced by shrubs and ornamental plants? According to Dr. AFM Jamaluddin, Professor, Department of Horticulture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka's temperature is usually 7 to 8 degrees higher than in the villages. The level of CO2 is increasing and the level of O2 is decreasing in the city's air. When the carbon level in the air is more than 0.04 percent, people face difficulty breathing, but the carbon level in Dhaka's air is .01 to .02 percent higher than the ideal level.

Considering the weather and temperature of Dhaka, while residents regard planting trees as the most environment-friendly and sustainable option for a city makeover, our city corporations and the firms given the charge of beautifying the city seem to believe in the contrary.

We have so many organisations working for improving Dhaka's environment, but sadly there is no coordination among them. What we should do is involve our urban planners, landscape architects, historians, horticulturists, environmentalists in such projects if we really want to see anything beautiful happening to this city.

Last week, while passing the Airport Road, I told my auto-rickshaw driver to stop, and got down to take a close look at the bonsai trees. The driver said, “These trees came from China.” I smiled at him. He then remarked, “How come trees look like that? Will they give shade to people?” When ordinary people of this country quite clearly realise the uselessness of these bonsai trees in our city, why is it that the authorities concerned fail to understand this? I guess the kind of people who consider looking at a tree an act of insanity are on the rise in this unfortunate country.

The writer is a member of the Editorial Department, The Daily Star.

 

[bluesky]

http://www.thedailystar.net/wide-angle/unseen-world-worth-preserving-1391254
MUDFLATS
An unseen world worth preserving

Photo : Sayam U Chowdhury
Sayam U Chowdhury

I remember my failed attempts to draw the convoluted coast of Bangladesh during art classes possibly 25 years ago. To me it always looked like thework of a confused painter, or like the crisscross scratches of a tiger's claws. The twists of the Sundarbans on the east, intersecting thousands of creeks and hundreds of rivers, then to the west of the Sundarbans there are countless islands, constantly disappearing and emerging, swallowing the homes of some and creating new niches for others. Further east of the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, there is a more stable coast that has remained unchanged for a long time.

I first visited the coastal islands of Bhola District in 2004, since then the coast has enchanted me. The loneliness of boats sailing into the horizon, the space between islands, the desolation of semi-feral buffaloes or the men in charge of them, the call of a solitary goose, or the sight of a fisherman waiting for the right tide. Most travellers see these images when visiting our coast, not just the villages but beyond.

It is interesting what people from different backgrounds see when they look at a landscape, the contrast between seen and unseen beauty and value, the urge for preservation versus the greed for alteration. What most people do not see in these coastal mudflats are the hidden treasures of our biological diversity. Every year more than one hundred thousand birds visit our mudflats to feed on the invisible life that flourishes on mud, silt and clay found in intertidal areas. These areas generally support a range of invertebrates, which are extremely productive biologically. These include benthic organisms, molluscs, crustaceans and marine worms.

Mudflats provide an important nursery and feeding ground for many fish species. Shallow water zones along our south central coast are critical habitats for Hilsa and Pangas. It's striking that our coastal mudflats still hold seven globally threatened and twelve other near-threatened resident and migratory birds. Irrawaddy Dolphins still come to the water surface to breathe and to offer a smile to the fishermen. Most of these areas are still wild and unchanged, such as Sonadia Island in Cox's Bazar and the islands around Hatia, Sandwip and Bhola. They are yet to be marred by development.

In our travels along the coast over the last decade, my colleagues and I have come across many puzzles in science, especially in case of the critically endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper. This is one of the rarest birds on planet, with only 200 breeding pairs left, and it is likely to go extinct if we do not take action. I was fascinated by very basic questions: Where have they come from? Where are they going? Why they are on one mudflat and not another? Where do they roost during high tide and forage during low tide? We have now solved many of these questions, and finding these answers give meaning to the lives of biologists. However, the answers that science provides merely underpin conservation policy and practice, they do not constitute the actual protection of species and their habitats.These answers are only relevant if our decision-makers listen to the recommendations that we as scientists offer.

Conservation in Bangladesh has mostly focused on the forests and their fascinating diversity, although how much we have managed to protect our forests is debatable. Attention to coastal or intertidal wetlands has been largely limited, or even totally omitted as areas of conservation interest by many of our decision-making bodies. Yet mudflats and tidal areas offer immense and irreplaceable value in biological diversity, number, uniqueness, beauty and their contributions to human livelihoods.

There is beauty anywhere you look across these mudflats, as I have tried to illustrate in the photographs here. Hundreds of tiny organisms live in and on the mud, offering food for birds at low tide, and feeding fish and dolphinsat high tide. Finding these new lands where no scientist has ever explored is exciting but depressing at the same time. The terror of losing it engulfs me every time I see something worth preserving. Not because of any conflict with the local community, but due to the ignorance and arrogance of the decision-makers on the value of ecosystem conservation. Glimpses of such undisturbed wilderness are rare treasures for a conservation biologist. At the same time, the sight is filled with the fear that it will not remain untouched for long and we may lose it tomorrow.

I hear people talking about large-scale development or reclamation, or relocating people along the newly emerged land to find more room for people. This misses several critical issues that we should be more concerned about: human population stabilization, holistic policy that will strongly consider environmental concerns and protecting the natural resource including fisheries base found in such places that ultimately we depend on for food. Not to mention that Bangladesh is committed to conserve its coastal wetlands, migratory species and biodiversity in general as we have signed major international agreements and partnerships such as the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the Ramsar Convention, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) and the World Heritage Convention (WHC).

The gap in understanding by decision-makers here is in thinking that these areas are barren, unoccupied and lifeless; when they are actually inhabited by all manner of life that we need in order to sustain our own food supply. In a recent interview world-renowned conservationist George Schaller said: “One thing people tend to forget is that everything you have, need, want comes from nature. You can't say we are going to have GDP of 8% forever -- endless growth is impossible. So, your economists are a century behind in their thinking if you don't protect your nature. Growth doesn't measure destruction, the pollution, erosion, loss of plants and animals and so forth, so you have a figure but then what? It will ultimately go down.”

Ultimately it is our decisions and actions that will either allow life on mudflats to thrive, to give us life-giving services that we so seldom see or calculate, and to retain the chance to one day listen to the surreal songs of the shores. Or to alter the landscape in the name of development for short-term benefits and change our colorful coast into silent shores forever?

(The writer is a Conservation Biologist and Ornithologist, currently working on threatened species conservation and research in Bangladesh and abroad.

I am considering a project where locals can do fish farming or something like that in order to create jobs for villagers. Or maybe some kind of environmental project, to clean up garbage and stuff.

Is there in local partners in BD that i can contact or choose to enter partnership with? If we get funding, it may be as much as 10 million USD over 4-5 years. Any opinions or advice?

I may not be that helpful because you will regard me as a negative minded person. I planned fish farming in my own property of about 2.79 acre surrounded by a marsh land (Beel). Finally, I decided to sell out the land without digging it. Because it is almost impossible for me to live in BD and I could not trust anyone with the project during my absence.

I had excellent source for fish fries, and have collected information about the types of fish I would raise, and the types of feeds and the way of feeding. But, without honest and sincere people to help me during my absence I finally decided not to start something that I cannot probably make profitable.

Internet warriors here do not necessarily know the reality that BD people are basically insincere. I believe that only your personal presence round the clock, correct source of fish fries and direct marketing to the wholesalers may ensure your farming profitable. I would like to say that you can do it if the ponds are adjacent/very near to your farmhouse in the village.

 

[Banglar Bir]

I believe that only your personal presence round the clock, correct source of fish fries and direct marketing to the wholesalers may ensure your farming profitable. I would like to say that you can do it if the ponds are adjacent/very near to your farmhouse in the village.

You are 100% correct here, you just even cannot trust your own bloodline.I also tried a similar project along with other related profitable initiatives, however, due to rampant looting/stealing, I was compelled to abandon the entire project,which was intended to generate employment for the rural youths inclusive of empowerment of women.

 

[Banglar Bir]

Faceless fish among weird deep sea Australian finds

The month-long journey off the country's eastern seaboard has been surveying life lurking in a dark and cold abyss that plunges four kilometres below the surface, using nets, sonar and deep-sea cameras AFP
At such huge depths, it is so dark that creatures often have no eyes or produce their own light through bioluminescence
Faceless fish and other weird and wonderful creatures, many of them new species, have been hauled up from the deep waters off Australia during a scientific voyage studying parts of the ocean never explored before.

The month-long journey off the country’s eastern seaboard has been surveying life lurking in a dark and cold abyss that plunges four kilometres below the surface, using nets, sonar and deep-sea cameras.

Chief scientist on board “The Investigator” Tim O’Hara from Museums Victoria told AFP Wednesday the search area was “the most unexplored environment on earth”.

Bright red spiky rock crabs, puffed-up coffinfish, blind sea spiders and deep sea eels have been collected since the scientists began their voyage — from Launceston in

Tasmania north towards the Coral Sea — on May 15.

They also came across an unusual faceless fish, which has only been recorded once before by the pioneering scientific crew of HMS Challenger off Papua New Guinea in 1873.

“It hasn’t got any eyes or a visible nose and its mouth is underneath,” O’Hara said from the ship.

At such huge depths, it is so dark that creatures often have no eyes or produce their own light through bioluminescence, he added.

Another find was carnivorous sponges that wield lethal spicules made of silicon, effectively glass. They get small crustaceans hooked on their Velcro-like spines, to be slowly digested in-situ.

This technique differs from most deep-sea sponges, which feed on bacteria and other single-celled organisms filtered from passing currents.

“We’ve got 27 scientists on board who are leaders in their fields and they tell me that around one-third of what we’ve found are new species,” said O’Hara, with several thousand specimens so far retrieved and two weeks of the trip still to go.

Life at such depths is one of crushing pressures, no light, little food and freezing temperatures, with animals that call it home evolving unique ways to survive.

As food is scarce, they are usually small and move slowly. Many are jelly-like and spend their lives floating about, while others have ferocious spines and fangs and lie in wait until food comes to them.

Working in such an environment was challenging, O’Hara admitted, with each fishing expedition taking up to seven hours to deploy and retrieve the equipment and its eight kilometres of cable from the sea floor, given it is so far down.

But the data gathered was helping to improve the understanding of Australia’s deep-sea habitats, their biodiversity and the ecological processes that sustain them, O’Hara said.

“This will assist in its conservation and management and help to protect it from the impacts of climate change, pollution and other human activity,” he said.

 

[Banglar Bir]

Home-made classics
Farzana Romine

• 

With ramadan around the corner
Born and raised in old Dhaka, I grew up eating the most authentic Dhakaiya food. During Ramadan, my dad used to make sure we had a feast every evening. Apart from the regular fried food, we always had something more substantial, which my dad used to call second iftar. It was usually some kinds of biryani, tehari or some meat curry with paratha or luchi from the famous restaurants like Al Razzak, Star or JhunurPolaughor. Sometimes mom used to make her famous beef or chicken dishes with paratha or luchi.
Today I am sharing two of my favourite childhood iftar dishes that mom used to make often.

Beef with chopped spices – Kata moshlay mangsho
Ingredients:
1 kilo bone in beef, chopped
2 cups of chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped ginger
2 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
4 to 5 cardamom pods
3 small pieces of cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup yoghurt
8 to 10 red chillies, sliced and deseeded (if you prefer a milder curry)
2 bayleaves
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
Salt to taste

Directions:
First, heat the oil in a pan. Add the cardamom, cinnamon and bay leaves. Fry for one minute. Now, add the onion, ginger, garlic and sliced chillies. Cook until the onions have softened.

Add the chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and yoghurt. Cook for two to three minutes. Add the beef and mix it well. Now add the vinegar and salt to taste. Bring it to a boil. Add one cup of water and cover the pot with the lid.

Cook it over medium low heat for an hour or more. Stir it once in a while so that the beef and spices don’tcatch in the bottom. Cook until the beef is tender and the oil has separated from the gravy. Cooking time will vary with the quality and size of the beef chunks you are using.

Once the beef is cooked through, add the sugar and mix it well. Cover and cook for a further two to three minutes. Taste the curry and adjust the seasoning. Once ready serve with luchi, paratha or any rice dish.

Fluffy luchi
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water

Directions:
Mix the salt and oil in to the flour. Now add the water. Keep 1/4 cup water aside. Add this water a little at a time, as needed.
Knead the mixture intoa smooth, soft dough. This takes about five to six minutes of good kneading. It will be soft but not sticky.
Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Heat enough oil over medium high heat in a deep frying pan.
Take a small portion of the dough and shape them into small balls.
Test the oil temperature by putting a small piece of dough into it. It should sizzle immediately but should not brown the moment it hits the oil.
Now add one luchi at a time into the oil. The moment you put it in the oil, take your slotted spoon and gently push the luchidown so it is submerged in the oil. This technique makes the luchi puff up like a ball. Cook it on one side for 15 seconds. Turn it over, and cook the other side for another 15 seconds.
The colour should stay white, but a pale brown is also okay. The browner the luchi, the crispier it will get, which in this case, is not the desirable outcome as it will make the luchi tough to eat. So make sure not to over-fry them.
Serve hot with your favourite curry.

 

[Michael Corleone]

Who's watching apple event today? WWDC?

 

[BDforever]

Who's watching apple event today? WWDC?

huh ? :/

 

[Michael Corleone]

huh ? :/

I'm the only nerd ain't i? The reason reason I still look up to software events are WWDC and google io

 

[BDforever]

I'm the only nerd ain't i? The reason reason I still look up to software events are WWDC and google io

 

[Banglar Bir]

12:33 PM, June 06, 2017 / LAST MODIFIED: 01:00 PM, June 06, 2017
The lost legacy of Chittagong’s wooden boats
Minhaz Uddin

In the middle ages, Chittagong was famous all over the world – for the towering boats it made that voyaged into the deep seas and fended off the great tides.

Merchants from as far as Turkey, Egypt and even Germany used to sail to the banks of Karnaphuli to get a hand on the big wooden boats hand carved there.

In course of time, as steel and iron replaced wood, the great craftsmanship of the once famous wooden shipbuilding industry faded away – but not completely.

A handful of crafters have still kept the art alive – barely – at the banks of Karnaphuli, making smaller boats for local fishermen who sail at night into the sea.

 

[Russell]

Fellas...how's the fasting going? Back from my ban and visit from India.

I'm going to make an effort to make my next banning permanent. Still, sorting out how to go down in a blaze of glory

 

[Michael Corleone]

Fellas...how's the fasting going? Back from my ban and visit from India.

I'm going to make an effort to make my next banning permanent. Still, sorting out how to go down in a blaze of glory

You tell me... 18.5 hrs and today felt like Kuwait 52°c, at 32°c

 

[Banglar Bir]

Sniffer ‘Made in Dhaka’ to reduce household gas accidents

• Tribune Desk

The sniffer not only detects gas leakages but also can be useful as a smoke detector Photo: Collected
The sniffer not only detects gas leakages but also can be useful as a smoke detector
An electronic device, called a sniffer, which detects gas leakages in households, has been invented by a Bangladeshi youth under the banner of JolPi Electronics.

Rezaul Kabir, who invented the device, said it can detect as low as 200ppm of gas in any given room and an alarm goes off immediately to bring the leakage to the resident’s notice.

He said the driving motive behind creating the sniffer was the alarming rate of deaths that occur annually due to gas leakages in Bangladesh.

It not only detects gas leakages but also can be useful as a smoke detector.

The innovative and useful device has been awarded third place, as one of the most promising start-up enterprises, in a competition held on May 25 on National Demo Day.

In this competition, the government awarded 10 Bangladeshi tech startups and also linked the winners with local and foreign investors.

Also awarded the “Top Investable Startup” by ICT Innovation Program 2017, JolPi Electronics has partnered with Grameenphone and SDAsia to market the sniffer.

The device has “Made in Dhaka” printed over it to proudly state where it is from.

“There is a huge demand for the sniffer. We are currently selling the device online,” Rezaul added

 

[Michael Corleone]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suparn...orrupt-country-while-japan-comes-in-last/amp/
@Nilgiri thoughts?

 

[Nilgiri]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/suparn...orrupt-country-while-japan-comes-in-last/amp/
@Nilgiri thoughts?

Already brought up in another thread.

1) Bribery is a small portion of corruption (though correlated for sure). Like saying infant mortality is the only measure of socioeconomic development.

2) How can it be most in Asia when whole of Asia (eg. BD, North Korea, Afghanistan, Middle East, Central Asia etc) not covered in the study?

Hence why I follow corruption perception index and cato freedom index closer for monitoring this. India definitely has long way to go on the issue, but its getting better than before and its nowhere near the worst in Asia for corruption overall.