Life, Dreams and Reality -- Sohel's Blog

Oliver Childs, a spokesman for Cancer Research UK, said: "Tea drinking is part of many cultures, and these results certainly don't point to tea itself being the problem. "But they do provide more evidence that a regular habit of eating and drinking very hot foods and drinks could increase your risk of developing cancer of the oesophagus." Disturbing news. New studies, new findings. Hot, hot tea is bad, not too hot is cool. We all die in one way or other, now that's the point to drool. Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7965380.stm

The deaths of Border Guards in apparent tortures should be investigated. After the horrendous massacres of army officers, their relatives and others in the last week of February, Bangladesh has fallen into the trap of closing eyes to any kind of tortures befalling on BDR members who were detained for the alleged involvements in the massacre. The brutal murders of army officers were reprehensible and were condemned wholeheartedly by all the civil quarters, however, Human Rights Watch rightfully observes that "the government should resist demands and threats from the army for summary justice and ensure that all those detained are treated properly." Amnesty International says , "The exact number of BDR personnel held is not known but government sources have put the figure at more than 400. Little independent information is available about the circumstances under which the detainees are held, or their treatment in custody. In the vast majority of cases, family members hav...

Taken from Nowshin's page, this video gives a prime example of a radical fundamentalist who is doing great harm to his nation and creed than benefit. There should be more awareness and resistance to hatred spewers like this hideous creature who boast himself to be a human being without having the shred of universal humanity left in his heart.

Another hypnotizing song from AR Rahman, the maestro, whose brilliance is evident in this mesmerizing melody from Delhi 6.

1 e4 e5 2 f4 Bc5 3 Nc3 Nc6 4 Nf3 exf4 5 d4! Bb4 6 Bxf4 d5 7 e5 Bxc3+ 8 bxc3 Be6 9 Bd3 h6 10 0-0 Nge7 11 Rb1! b6 12 Qd2 0-0 13 Bxh6 gxh6 14 Qxh6 Ng6 15 Ng5 Re8 16 Rxf7 Bxf7 17 Qh7+ Kf8 18 Qxf7# (1-0) From Irving Chernev's Logical Chess: "The danger in playing plausible but perfunctory chess is finely illustrated in this game. Blackburne, who played this and seven other games simultaneously while blindfolded, relied on order and method to achieve victory."

"We are setting in motion processes now that will lead to sea level rises for centuries to come. They will burden many generations coming after us .” Maybe, long from now when our generations are all gone, historians of future generations will portray us as uncaring and uncouth bunches who ransacked and pillaged the word and its resources like ravaging thugs, without remorse. Perhaps, the war hating theologians or evolutionary scholars will utter the words of disrespect: "holy good riddance!" World will be renewed with new vigor. In new ages not foreseen and conceived with our tunneled imaginations, new generations of human beings or other more advanced species will emerge to replace past's destructive ignorance with caring knowledge and renewal of life. It wouldn't be so gloomy world after all when we are all perished and new life sweeps away our misdeeds. Perhaps, our decaying bones or evaporated "soul", fossilized or otherwise, will be reverberated f...

Furrowed Checkmate By Mahbubul Karim (Sohel) March 4, 2009 ( Dedicated to the memories of victims from BDR mutiny in Bangladesh ) Into the wild Where gilded leaves of grass Fungi, moss and shredded wood Trespass the land of blitz Mushrooms, discoloured and defrosted By beetle predators Like deflowered umbrella Open to shed rain and snow falling Into the fold of disquiet Have you seen the soaring eagle? Predator? Pursuing a fleeing parakeet Swishing by, gliding thru layer Of deformed cloud and dead cool air When corpses are buried Emblazoned guilty and non-guilty are hanged From ropes of stupor decor Wild ushers in sweeping swap Of clammy gambit Knights, bishops and pawns Sacrificed for furrowed checkmate In middle game of force, time and structure Don’t you mention the endgame! That remains sanctified for the bamboozled sacred

"How to measure or comprehend the terror - or perhaps it's the love - that propels a man to leave his family, quite possibly forever, and climb penniless into a boat to find uncertain work a thousand miles away in a place where he knows he'll be both unwelcome and liable to arrest? For that matter, what hellish existence could send a family fleeing to a refugee camp where conditions resemble, charitably, the 12th century?" For Burmese military junta, they are non-existent, for Bangladesh and Thailand, these are unwelcome refugees. Living in squalid refugee camps where basic amenities for a human life is considered a pompous luxury, the miserable lives of Rohingyas do not knock any palpable sigh from world's collective indifference. Should we just forget the agonies of these men, women and children? Politically marginalized Rohingyas flee their homeland Burma everyday, seeking desperate shelter in neighboring nations, getting on dingy boats crossing high seas to la...

Link: What 3.6 million jobs lost over 13 months look like

"We have been invaded by nothing, by emptiness, by animate dust. The invader appears to have no characteristic other than the ability to reproduce rapidly. It doesn’t hate us. It doesn’t seek our annihilation, our subjection and humiliation. Nor does it desire to protect us from danger, to save us, to teach us the secret of immortal life. What it wishes to do is replicate." Read this story in full from following link: The Invasion from Outer Space

Another brilliant music composition by AR Rahman from Slumdog Millionaire.

If you haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, you have missed one of the best movies of last few years at least. IMHO.

For Rohingyas refugees, this scandalous episode in Thailand where hundreds of them feared dead and dumped into sea and hundreds of them more were let loose in the sea without food or any basic amenities, to starve to death, aren't new. Even the military government in Myanmar doesn't acknowledge the existence of them , "There is no so-called Rohingya ethnic minority group in our history before or after our independence" , and the Thai government has entrusted the very military to conduct investigation on one of its own rank, as if mockeries to justice have no bound, no shame. Here is an observation from The Economist : "while soldiers act with impunity and royalist rioters get soft treatment, the country’s anachronistic lèse-majesté law is enforced rigorously. America and its allies long turned a blind eye to such stains on Thailand’s reputation, because King Bhumibol and his army were staunch anti-communist allies. Recalling that relationship, next month Americ...

Saturday mornings bring that sought after relief after any grueling hard work week for many. World economy's bloom and gloom stories are not appealing with a cup of morning coffee, but can sure provide necessary knowledge to protect one's own and loved ones. The following news story published in The Globe and Mail may not be comforting, however, it can illuminate reality from illusion. "Canada's recession is spreading from the car factories to the coffee shops, reinforcing the case for Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's $40-billion stimulus program and adding to the risk that he may have to do more. The baristas, shopkeepers, financial planners, technicians and consultants that make up Canada's services industries are starting to feel the same malaise that has gripped factories and exporters for the better part of a year, new government figures show. Output by the services sector — which accounts for 70 per cent of Canada's $1.2-trillion gross domestic produ...

While the world economy is falling into whirlwind recession, the abysmal depth of depression not seen since the infamous 1930s, the world doesn't need unnecessary tensions between China and America. "In a written response to questions from senators debating his confirmation, Mr Geithner accused China of “manipulating” its currency and promised that the Obama team would push “aggressively” for Beijing to change its policies. The sharp tone and use of the legally-loaded term “currency manipulation” ricocheted through financial markets as investors shuddered at the prospect of a Sino-American spat in the midst of a global slump." Is there any truth on following speculation? "American policymakers have long pushed Beijing to accelerate the appreciation of the yuan, arguing that China’s exchange-rate policy played a big role in creating the global imbalances and that—both for the sake of China’s economy and the rest of the world—the currency needs to strengthen." May...

Elizabeth Alexander's inauguration day poem was indeed memorable. Her somber recitation of each line describing the mundane, every not so praised events and uplifting the summation of all into universal theme of collective humanity with ease, in her careful selection of words, slowly delivered in a day of January winter while the leaders from past and current look on and the sea of crowds who had come to witness the change and hope over fear may indeed become the symbolic implication of the "Day" when it seemed goodness is still achievable and rottenness and hideous vileness are in sure retreat. Praise Song for the Day............. “Praise Song for the Day,” by Elizabeth Alexander, January 20, 2009 Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each other’s eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darni...

Gideon Levy has courage. Being in the middle of all the jubilation, proud smirks and chest thumping madness, this Israeli writer with conscience writes in Israel's prominent newspaper Haaretz what needs to be written about Gaza and deaths of more than 1100 of women, men and children and that the number is continually growing with increasing pace. "In the streets, people are running back and forth in panic, holding children and suitcases in their hands, helpless as the shells fall around them. Nobody in the diplomatic corridors is in any hurry to help those unfortunates who have nowhere to run. The handful of journalists trying to cover the events, despite the outrageous media closure Israel has imposed, are also in danger. The Israel Defense Forces Thursday shelled the media building they were in and now they are all crowded in one office, as fearful and horrified as the rest of the scorched city's residents. ................. This is how Israel now looks to the outside w...

Slumping oil demand has already caused thousands of job losses across Alberta. The heydays of oil boom is slowly eroding into coldness matching the chill of snowy windchill. The Economist surmises the brief history of tar sands, its spectacular rise and seemingly similar astonishing fall in coming days unless a real "miracle" turns the world economy back to its agonized feet: "Extracting oil from the sands took off in the late 1990s, boosted by technological advances that greatly reduced costs. Sitting on the equivalent of 173 billion barrels of crude, the provincial government dreamed of making Alberta a new Saudi Arabia (with moose instead of camels). Although some, such as Peter Lougheed, a former premier, called for “orderly” development, a wild rush ensued, causing provincewide labour shortages. Even servers at fast-food restaurants had to be lured with an iPod or other inducements. Now, though, employment is slumping: Steve Vetter, a manager at a firm that service...

The sons and daughters of ex-Bangladesh rulers siphoned of hundreds of millions of dollars to foreign banks. After BNP got ousted in recent elections, and Awami League got into power, the massiveness of corruptions committed by "prince" and "princesses" of this proud but still impoverished nation slowly started to emerge . It took the fall and the change of the government before the thieveries were uncovered. Awami League, the current ruling party in Bangladesh, that came to power very recently after winning a landslide victory in parliamentary election, must take serious note in the happenings and flattenings of once upon a time's big giants, the behemoth thugs and petty thieves who had sucked the nation of Bangladeshis dried and cold like brute vampires. Awami League's mantra should be avoiding this scandalous bruteness with representative governance devoid of the same fleecing of the nation wholesale. Otherwise, should there be any doubt among all respect...

Perhaps we can take a bit of break from watching entertainment news, and can learn a thing or two of suppressed history and contemporary miseries, and about men, women and children of a land where violent deaths, and utter humiliations are in abundance mostly due to the inaction and willful ignorance of global citizenry.