adhunika blog

It was a busy Monday morning in New York City Penn Station. People were walking fast; some were running, everyone was trying to catch the train to get to work.
 
I was waiting for the Number 2 train. Lots of people were around me. Some looked stressed, some were looking at their watches, some were fidgeting, and some were reading the paper and a few kept leaning over to see if the train was coming.

The platform was full of people and finally the train came. As I stepped into the train, people started pushing me from the back and I almost fell over. The train was packed. There was no empty seat left and everyone was standing almost on top of each other. I felt like I couldn’t breathe. The train stopped at 42nd street – Time Square. I realized that an old woman in her late 80’s was slowly trying to get on the train. She had a bag on one hand and a cane on the other. People behind her pushed her in. I was afraid that she might fall. She was shaking a bit and trying to find a way to hold on as the train started to take off. She managed to hold on to the bar. As I was standing and watching her, I realized that no one sitting got up to offer her a seat. At that moment I thought to myself, what had happened to us? Were we that busy and self-centered that we forgot to be kind, generous and caring? What had happened to our world? What kind of example were we setting up for ourselves and our future generations? (more…)

 Today is Martyrs day. This February 21st day commemorates the lives sacrificed to make Bengali one of the national languages when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. The West Pakistani regime tried to force Urdu as the national language, a fact that was strongly contested by Bengalis. On that fateful day a procession by Bengalis was shot at by police resulting in the death of 4 martyrs. The nascent Bengali nationalism ultimately gave birth to the free nation of Bangladesh. 

Following a proposal made by Bangladesh, UNESCO created February 21st as the International Mother Language Day in 1999. (Source: VirtualBangladesh)

This article is based on the professional business environment in the Western world.  We would appreciate comments on appropriate interview attire for Bangladesh

As the old saying goes, the first impression is the most important one, it is true for job interviews as well. Dressing up for any formal occasion could be a skill itself one needs to learn, especially for us who come to the western world from a totally different culture. We sometimes need some guidance along this line. Today I am going to shed some light on some basic guidelines on this topic when it comes to dressing up for a very important event - Job Interview.  

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Pohela phalgun - the day we usher ‘Boshonto’ - which symbolizes life, and Valentines Day - which symbolizes love just passed us. We would like to know how did you celebrate these two occasions?

(This post is written by our blogger Nazia Hussein, this is a response to the requests we often recieve on how to write resumes or the curriculum vitae for job market in Bangladesh.)

In today’s highly competitive job market of Bangladesh, employers tend to be choosy. With this pressure on, it becomes most important for job seekers to make a professional impact at the basic level through his/her Curriculum Vitae (CV) or the Resume. Surprisingly, most of us still require quite a bit of an effort and more importantly, proper guidance to come up with an effective CV. This article will present a guideline for both inexperienced and experienced job seekers in Bangladesh to create an effective and professional CV for their employers. Understand What your CV is for:Your CV is simply a way of selling yourself to the employer. As your marketing document it should be tailored for each post, kept up to date with brief accounts of your education, qualifications, and previous experiences and should be attractive.
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We recommend the following movie ’Ontorjatra’ by Catherine and Tareque Masud. Watching this movie has touched many on different notes. If you have seen it already tell us what you thought of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The word ‘dawaat’ has a different connotation for expatriates of Bangladesh, it is a term for Bangladeshi party. When it comes to partying, Bangladeshis are all about food, we can call dawaats food festivals as well! Sometimes there is a hidden competition as to which party offered more entres. Really, is it the trait that we people like to feed and eat?

But that’s not all, there is more! It also includes chatting; we call it ‘adda’. In Bangladesh I was very much fond of addas, call me ‘adda-baaj’ with friends or families. I always learnt something new in those discussions, or at least gained pure joy of being with friends.

For Bangladeshi expatriates adda has taken a different shape in the form of dawaat. Here, we go to a party being all dressed up. Most of the cases male and female areas are separated. If you go with your husband or a male friend (although there is a risk of generating gossip if you are an unmarried women and taking a male friend with you), there is a risk that you won’t see him for the next few hours until the party is over. It seems to me to be the old days of ‘Andar Mahal’ (inner house for women); it also seems funny in a way that the same women who are working with both men and women in their real lives become ‘Antopoor Bashinis’ (captive women) here! (more…)

Many of you have asked us to put the link of the interview that Voice of America took of Adhunika, so here it is:

Voice of America Interviews Adhunika - January 2007 

This also gives us an opportunity to thank all the people behind the scene who make it possible for us to evolve. We greatly appreciate your support.