Reality, Bangladesh and me

What is real to me? This is indeed a complicated question. Do I truly know the answer? In one sense, everything feels real to me, yet at the same time, nothing might be real. It raises the question: Who defines what is real? Who constructs reality? To me, reality is what I believe in. It signifies the existence of something. Normally, we believe in what we see, but sometimes, what we see may not be true. Growing up, our parents taught us what is real and what isn’t. We live in a society constructed by people, where the entire system influences what we perceive as real. Therefore, it’s difficult to definitively say what is real and what is not. Reality, I believe, is an abstract concept. In the context of Bangladesh, reality has multiple meanings. For instance, the fact that we are Bangladeshi is a significant reality. But who defines this? We could argue that the whole world is our home, but that’s not how society operates. Every country has its land, people, and culture. Society defines boundaries, and the system tells us we are Bangladeshi, Americans, or others. In Bangladesh, another stark reality is poverty. Many people live below the poverty line and cannot meet their basic needs. Some have no roof over their heads and struggle to eat even two meals a day—something unimaginable to others. During a multimedia production project last semester, I spent a day with construction workers in Dhaka. I was shocked to see their working conditions. They labor under the scorching sun, boiling coal for pitch—a task in an unbearably hot and unsafe environment. I asked them how they endure it, and they replied, “It is our work, and we are bound to do it.” This is their reality—a harsh one—and it’s part of ours too. Another reality is the inequality faced by women. Women are often subjected to physical and mental abuse, a grim truth shaped by societal norms. Many people believe women are incapable of doing certain things and expect them to follow rules created by men. But this isn’t real to me. I believe I’m a smart woman, pursuing my education, and I will do what I want. What others think about me doesn’t concern me. My reality is that I live according to my beliefs and aspirations. Living in Dhaka presents its own challenges. The endless traffic jams, corruption, and issues with law enforcement are often accepted as unchangeable realities. However, I believe these are constructed illusions. We have solutions, but we don’t try to implement them. Instead, we have normalized these problems as part of our reality. For me, reality is something entirely different. I strive to evaluate things using my knowledge and reasoning. I refuse to accept illusions or blindly follow societal constructs. Reality, to me, is not external—it is deeply personal. It is what I am and my existence. This revision enhances the structure and flow of your ideas while maintaining your original message. Let me know if you’d like any further adjustments! What is real to me? This is indeed a complicated question. Do I truly know the answer? In one sense, everything feels real to me, yet at the same time, nothing might be real. It raises the question: Who defines what is real? Who constructs reality? To me, reality is what I believe in. It signifies the existence of something. Normally, we believe in what we see, but sometimes, what we see may not be true. Growing up, our parents taught us what is real and what isn’t. We live in a society constructed by people, where the entire system influences what we perceive as real. Therefore, it’s difficult to definitively say what is real and what is not. Reality, I believe, is an abstract concept. In the context of Bangladesh, reality has multiple meanings. For instance, the fact that we are Bangladeshi is a significant reality. But who defines this? We could argue that the whole world is our home, but that’s not how society operates. Every country has its land, people, and culture. Society defines boundaries, and the system tells us we are Bangladeshi, Americans, or others. In Bangladesh, another stark reality is poverty. Many people live below the poverty line and cannot meet their basic needs. Some have no roof over their heads and struggle to eat even two meals a day—something unimaginable to others. During a multimedia production project last semester, I spent a day with construction workers in Dhaka. I was shocked to see their working conditions. They labor under the scorching sun, boiling coal for pitch—a task in an unbearably hot and unsafe environment. I asked them how they endure it, and they replied, “It is our work, and we are bound to do it.” This is their reality—a harsh one—and it’s part of ours too. Another reality is the inequality faced by women. Women are often subjected to physical and mental abuse, a grim truth shaped by societal norms. Many people believe women are incapable of doing certain things and expect them to follow rules created by men. But this isn’t real to me. I believe I’m a smart woman, pursuing my education, and I will do what I want. What others think about me doesn’t concern me. My reality is that I live according to my beliefs and aspirations. Living in Dhaka presents its own challenges. The endless traffic jams, corruption, and issues with law enforcement are often accepted as unchangeable realities. However, I believe these are constructed illusions. We have solutions, but we don’t try to implement them. Instead, we have normalized these problems as part of our reality. For me, reality is something entirely different. I strive to evaluate things using my knowledge and reasoning. I refuse to accept illusions or blindly follow societal constructs. Reality, to me, is not external—it is deeply personal. It is what I am and my existance.

Sex issue Through a Bangladeshi Eye

Sex is a topic often kept secret in Bangladesh. Most people are not comfortable discussing it, as the socio-cultural structure of the country discourages open discourse on this matter. This is largely because Bangladesh is a nation deeply rooted in religious values—both among Muslims and Hindus—and people are expected to conform to societal norms and values. However, it is important to understand that sex is not a vulgar topic; rather, it is a matter of education and awareness. In recent years, AIDS has become a significant public health issue. One of the primary causes of AIDS is linked to unsafe sexual practices. I remember when I was in school, there were songs about AIDS broadcast in the media. However, they failed to clearly explain how AIDS is transmitted or what precautions people should take. Instead, awareness campaigns depicted a man in a wheelchair, covered in a white cloth, with a black cat nearby, and no one around to help him. As a child, I mistakenly believed the black cat caused AIDS. Thankfully, the media’s approach has changed over time. Now, campaigns emphasize the message: “If you want to live, you have to know.” The media is playing an important role in raising awareness. However, these efforts remain confined to the media and have not yet penetrated the family space. Many families still switch off the television or change the channel when advertisements or discussions related to sex or AIDS are aired, believing such content is harmful for teenagers. This is problematic because adolescence is a crucial period of physical and mental development. Teenagers need a clear understanding of relationships and sexual health. Unfortunately, many children and teenagers in Bangladesh become victims of sexual harassment but are unable to share their experiences with their parents, who often consider sex a taboo subject. In contrast, some foreign countries include sex education as a formal part of their school curriculum. Even in India, sensitive topics are discussed in schools. In Bangladesh, however, schools avoid these issues entirely, leaving the younger generation uninformed and vulnerable. As a result, many young people lack an understanding of what is right or wrong and fall prey to exploitation. For instance, video game shops often expose children to sexual content, and many teenagers become addicted to pornography, which negatively affects their lives. I believe this also contributes to the rising addiction to drugs like “Yaba.” Family upbringing plays a critical role in shaping attitudes toward these issues. Yet, the societal perception that boys and girls are fundamentally different often reinforces harmful stereotypes from a young age. This perception, coupled with limited guidance, leads to destructive behaviors among teenagers, including addiction to pornography and casual attitudes toward unhealthy relationships. This situation must change. Society and family systems need to evolve to address these challenges. Media can play a pivotal role by disseminating educational programs, dramas, and news targeted at teenagers. Schools should also employ counselors to provide students with proper guidance on these topics. Despite the current challenges, I remain hopeful that this situation will improve. Change takes time, but with consistent effort, a more informed and open society can be achieved.

Narrative, Media and Genre

Narrative means the story telling and basically it is a mental construct which describes a sequence of real and unreal event. According to literary theory narrative may be spoken, written or imagined story or a part of a story. Narrative is consisting of signs that are combined into codes to transmit messages. A narrative must have a form and also content. Great philosopher Aristotle said that a narrative has a beginning, middle and an end. Some formalist like Vladimir Prop, he identified the functional components and analyzed the plot of narrative. Another formalist Victor Shklovsky analyzed the relationship between composition and style. A narrative must have a structure and the structure can differ from one country to another country. Every country has fictional and non fictional stories but the structure of the story are not always same. For example, in our country we have popular fictional story. The structure of the narrative is – there is a king, a prince and his flying horse, princes poisoned by a giant and the prince rescue him and at last they marry and start living happily. To tell the narrative need a narrator. To disseminate narrative we use media. The media can be transmissive or semiotic. The transmissive media means radio, TV, internet, film and the semiotic media are sound, image, language etc. we transmitted narrative through the media and sometimes media define the shape of narrative like what kind of story can be told or not. As far as I have said, narrative has a form and content. Whatever the form is but the content is depending on social conventions and media decide what kind of content can be transmitted. Non fictional contents are concerning the real life events and peoples. Sometimes a single story can use many medium. For example, a person is telling a story of a book through the TV or radio. Genre is the way of telling story and genre is defined by the conventions chosen for both cultural and personal reason. We choose particular genre to tell the narrative.

Cyclone Sidr

Sidr, now this word has a fearful and horrible meaning toward the whole Bangladesh. The whole country went through a terrible experience on 11/15 night. In a couple of hour, cyclone Sidr left a trail of death and destruction of unbelievable proportions. It was said to be that Sidr was fiercer than Hurricane Katrina. The actual death is hard to estimate as many people have washed away by the sea and rescue efforts are facing problems in the many hard to reaches places. According to newspapers and television news, 23,000 acres of crops completely wiped out and more than 10,000 people believed to be dead. The most affected beings are domestic animals. According to information, nearly two and half lakh domestic animals are eradicated. It is important to mention that after two or three days of Sidr, I have seen news on ntv that in ‘Dublar Char’ there is only one buffalo alive. All the animals are died there. Sidr caused a trail of devastation in the whole south area of Bangladesh. The mostly affected areas are Sundarban, Dublar Char, Patharghata, Barguna, Khulna, Bhola, Sharonkhola and Mongla port. Most of the houses are destroyed completely. We can not imagine the actual situation and no statistics cannot do justice to the actual human sufferings caused on that fateful night. With wind speeds up to 240 km/h and a tidal surge of up to 20 feet high at some places and everything in the path of Sidr was flattened to the ground. In one night Sidr robbed people’s possession which they ever owned. Sidr first hit on Hiron Point of Sundarban and then in Dublar Char. Sundarban is the pride of Bangladesh but it is badly damaged by the cyclone and the devastation is beyond our imagination. One fourth of the forest area has been completely damaged and the exact loss of flora and fauna is yet to be calculated. Dhaka was not the path of Sidr but the whole city was awake through the whole night and felt the power of the storm as windows rattled as well as the ominous sound of the wind. The whole country immersed into darkness for 24 hours because of the failure of national power grid. There was no electricity in Dhaka on Friday. So, at first I could not imagine the situation but in Saturday when I saw TV, I was totally surprised. Every family of affected areas lost many relatives and member of their family. My grandfather’s houses are in Barisal and many relatives of mine live there. They said that that night was really very fearful and cyclone destroyed there many trees cost of lakhs. Now relief work is going on the affected area. Donations are coming from home and abroad. Media have given huge coverage on it and playing a great role till now. But the very sad thing is that many NGO’s are trying to impose the peoples to pay their weekly loan. Thousands of the poorest of poor people are living under the open sky. Rehabitation program is very necessary for them and it is going on now. People of the affected area want work and we have to take some steps on it. We cannot stop the natural disaster but we can reduce the losses. To protect this, we have to make good and suitable shelter houses, raise awareness among the people. Every year all the disasters come to poor people and destroyed them. But they pick themselves again and start a new life and smiles come back on their faces. It’s really a wonder to us.

Viewing Photography As A Text

I have always found a great interest about photography. I love to see good photographs and like the photographers. I think they are very intellectual person because they are capturing time, emotion, etc many things in a frame. The most wonderful thing about a photograph is- it has a very descriptive situation in only one frame. We can bring out thousands of word from a single photograph. When I was in school, I used to think that I would be a photographer in future. Then I have changed my mind, but there was a wish ' I will take photography as my hobby'. Few days ago, I won the first prize for a photograph in my university. When I gave my photographs to the media club, I did not imagine that my picture would be first. The most interesting thing is that one of my peer said me ' don't give this photograph, it doesn't has any good subject' but that picture placed the first position. It was a great experience to me, I know that my photographs were not so good but I am not a professional photographer and I have very few experiences about this. As we, all know people have many wishes in their mind from the childhood and I am not an exceptional. I was a student of an art school for three years and I love to work with silent media. The cause is to me that silent media are more powerful than the other is and photography, painting these media needs high involvement. In the last semester, I worked for a multimedia production under a course. For that project, I visited some places and our subject was working people below the poverty line. For that, I have taken some pictures of construction worker. Then I submitted those photographs to the media club and three of them were selected. The first one was ‘Durashar Drishti’ it means an eye without any hope. The second one was ‘Narrow Life’; the interesting thing about this is when I took the picture I did not imagine about the concept. After taking, when I saw I observed it has enormous meaning. To clarify this I want to give some information. The denotation of that picture is – a woman is working and I am focusing her from back through two rickshaws. It means her life is continuing with narrow facilities like the narrow portion of two rickshaws. Therefore, I mentioned that picture as narrow life. Third, one was ‘Dahon’ means burning. The main cause to write these things is the course ‘Reading Media Text’. This course is encouraging me to look the world differently. In past my observation or viewing power was very different but now I can read a photograph as a text. It is a great and different kind of experience. Now I can tell many words by viewing media. The photography exhibition is encouraged me a lot. Now I want to work seriously on photography and I want to mention another thing that is Brian sir’s comments has inspired me a lot.

Representations..........?

Representation is so ambiguous to understand. Obviously, it has denotation but it has number of connotation's meaning both positive and negative. A single thing can represent a number of other things. It is not so easy to get a particular meaning about this. Before doing the 'Reading Media Text' course, I had a common concept about representation. Now I am felling great to say that I completely have different ideas about this word. For example, if I talk about a simple word like 'Rose', what doest it represent? Well the answer is that very first thing about the word rose- it is a kind of flower, then it represents beauty, love, affection, adore and so on. Now if I add some other words before rose as if red rose represents love, yellow rose represents friendship, white rose represents peace etc as far as I know. As I am observing the various function of representation, I am getting more interest about this. Now take another example, 'Bangladesh', this word represents as many things that we cannot imagine. First, it represents a very small country, and then it represents a country that got its independent through a liberation war. It represents a part of colonialism then a group of people with different culture, natural beauty, a country with fighting spirit people. These all are positive connotation’s meaning. It also represents some negative meaning toward the whole world like natural disaster, corruption, economically weak etc. Why does representation so critical in its meaning? Because sometimes a thing, object or a person represents a meaning on behalf of something but at the same time it also represents its own identity. Therefore, these two things are happening simultaneously. I think it is going to be very critical, to make it simple I want to give another example. Political leaders of a country represent the whole countries need, want, achievement, development etc. in parliament. Nevertheless, at the same time they are representing their personalities, attitude and behavior as well as their social class toward the whole nation. Now I want to consider this topic with myself. If I ask a question to me – ‘What am I representing? Indeed, I am representing a number of things. As a person I am identify with human being then Bangladeshi then women and also my gesture, way of talking, educational level, attitude, behavior all these things are representing my family background, social class, economical level and many other things. Well I will love to add another thing that is somehow a person or an area represents some myths or other superstitious belief. If we talk about media, we will see different kinds of media represent different things. Like a 200 years ago novels represent the time, people, and their behavior, culture and so on. Print media are representing society’s culture, difficulties, achievement, changes and many other things as well as other media are doing it. Therefore, I cannot say, I represent a particular thing. At last, I want to say it is very interesting to analyze this issue in different connotation and I am getting surprise to think about it.

Feminism in Bangladesh

Like the whole world, woman’s, are dominated by the man in Bangladesh. As we all know that woman’s are not physically strong like a man. In Bangladesh through the decades women are dominated by the man for man's own interest. Man want to show their power and authority toward a woman and for this cause they are doing this using religious values and beliefs. The concept of feminism has been rising in Bangladesh since last 20 years. Most of the women are illiterate in Bangladesh and our social system doesn't treat a girl like a boy. From the beginning of a woman's life she is facing many obstacles in her family. Family is the very first thing of our education and social activities. Unfortunately, family is creating the discriminations between boys and girls. For this cause and to show their power man’s are behaving very negatively toward the woman. For all these cause and to protect women from physical and mental harassments, feminists are working in Bangladesh. Indeed, we can’t say that feminists are working very well in Bangladesh. There are lots of problems; the main obstacle is our social system, though it is our creation. I have an opinion that sometimes feminism concept is creating some kind of assumptions in our society. Men are very used to think that there is no need to have a concept like feminism. But the fact is that to ensure the rights and respect of a woman, the feminism concept has risen. We agree or not, woman has lots of problems to survive in the world, our world is not so easy to live particularly for a woman. In Bangladesh, wife beating, throwing acid, torture for dowry, sexual abuses etc are very common problem for a woman. Now we can imagine why feminism is so important in Bangladesh? Feminism concept creates the concern and tries to show the actual facts among the people about woman. In our country we have many seminar, conversation, campaign to protect woman, but is it actually working? Well we couldn’t give a positive answer. Women in urban area are facing many problems rather than city area. But the feminism concept is not known to them, they don’t know their rights. So it is very important to make aware them about their rights. There are lots of debates about feminists in our country. I think it is not a issue to debate, we have to take some step to ensure the rights of women.