Russell's Cyber Journal » Bangladesh

Beauty of Bandarban

Russell — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 21:35:32 +0000

Enjoy the slideshow – pictures taken on 9th and 10th November 2010.

I’ll go there again during the rainy season next year and return with more photos!

Bangladeshi Currency

Russell — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:03:37 +0000

The currency of Bangladesh is Bangladeshi Dollar. Eikkk, just kidding, they called Taka (৳). Like many other countries, they are issued as notes and coins. Notes are of one taka, two taka, five taka, ten taka, twenty taka, fifty taka, one hundred taka, five hundred taka, and one thousand taka. Coins are of one paisa, five paisa, ten paisa, twenty five paisa, fifty paisa, one taka and five taka. Notes from five taka to one thousand taka are issued by Bangladesh Bank, while one taka and two taka notes and all the coins are issued by Bangladesh Government. Here’s what they look like:

One (1) Taka:

Two (2) Taka:

Five (5) Taka:

Ten (10) Taka:

Twenty (20) Taka:

Fifty (50) Taka:

One Hundred (100) Taka:

Five Hundred (500) Taka:

One Thousand (1000) Taka:

Coins from left to right: one (1) paisa, five (5) paisa, ten (10) paisa, twenty-five (25) paisa, fifty paisa, one (1) taka and five (5) taka:

Don’t try to make counterfeit notes out of these scans, if you do so do it in your own risk!

Hartal, Hartal!

Russell — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:32:19 +0000

The National Committee on Protection of Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports called a half-day strike on 14th September 2009 in capital Dhaka to protest the government’s recently announced gas exploration deals with international companies. It was first hartal since 2006, and also the first one after the current government came to power early this year.

I was at Paltan the entire morning, and here’s the coverage of the hartal processions, protests, more.

Crowd Fashion Contest

Russell — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 16:56:28 +0000

Check out rest of the pics here (87 pics in total).

Song of Bangladesh

Russell — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:38:44 +0000

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

The story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By blind men who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nation stands
Which is to sacrifice a people for a land

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

Once again we stand aside
And watch the families crucified
See a teenage mother’s vacant eyes
As she watches her feeble baby try
To fight the monsoon rains and the cholera flies

And the students at the university
Asleep at night quite peacefully
The soldiers came and shot them in their beds
And terror took the dorm awakening shrieks of dread
And silent frozen forms and pillows drenched in red

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

Did you read about the army officer’s plea
For donor’s blood? It was given willingly
By boys who took the needles in their veins
And from their bodies every drop of blood was drained
No time to comprehend and there was little pain

And so the story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By all who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nations stand
Which say to sacrifice a people for a land

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

“Song of Bangladesh” was written and sang by American folk singer Joan Baez. You can buy the song from Amazon only for $0.99.

DST Starts in Bangladesh

Russell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 01:14:07 +0000

Bangladeshis experienced 23-hour long day yesterday. At 11 o’clock at night country’s clocks were turned to 12, introducing daylight saving time (DST) for the first time. I congratulate the government for taking this initiative, something they should have done long ago just the way they should move the weekend to Sunday from Friday, but that’s another issue.

Microsoft has released a DST patch that I heard works, but if you’re a Linux users then use your package manager or update manager to update your tzdata version so that your computer is DST “compliant” too. Bloggers and social networking site fanatics should change their timezone to GMT/UTC +7 from the respective settings page/control panel, so that the correct time is displayed.

I’m really happy that I’ll now get an extra hour to shoot pictures outside. Earlier I had to packup by 5:30, but not anymore! Yay.