10:10 Remade Workshop
10:10 - a global campaign to raise mass awareness on climate change by reaching out to people, educational institutes, businesses and organisations to cut carbon emissions by 10% every year. 10:10 Bangladesh is lead by Country Coordinator, Ishita M. Rahman. 10:10's Activity Remade workshop was concretised by Activity Coordinator Farzana Islam. The event is also linked up with 10:10 Photofest 2012 was conceptualised by Ishita and Campaign Manager Dr Tashique Alam in 2011.
Yes ladies and gentlemen, I'm talking about the kids in the bright pink t-shirts we've seen walking around pelting plants and leaflets at people in the Gulshan and Dhanmondi areas for the past 2 years during the month of October. Their main task is to make the people of our country aware of climate change problems.
Since the 10th October 2010, 10:10 has been organising such events in the Dhaka metropolitan area. Last year, me and a friend decided to see what this was all about, so we went on down to the Gulshan area to check things out. The event started off slow due to our country's weekly political drama and surprise rainfall. After signing in, and being fed, we were asked by the organisers to carry out surveys and give out plants to people. We had a good time interrogating people and suggesting not to waste electricity and pelting plants at them, we also made a few new friends and actually learnt something. The surveys that were carried out will be used to compile a publication on Climate Change issues in Dhaka.
This year April is the REMADE month! And 10:10 hubs in 39 countries are hosting their remade projects in “Remade around the world- 1st 10:10 mini campaign 2012”. 10:10 Bangladesh held a workshop on creating useful items with recyclable materials such as newspapers, cartons, tissue boxes, plastic bottles, soda cans, old tin containers and bicycle parts.
25 to 30 volunteers from Scholastica, New School Dhaka (NSD) and BRAC University turned up to create vases, water filters, showpieces and wristbands using plastic bottles. They made paper birds, flowers and wallets from old newspapers and discarded clothes. Floatation vests were also created using bottles, nets and t-shirts. Recycle bins were also made using cardboard and newspapers. And the students of BRAC made a mirror using glass with paper as frames.
Sculptor Professor Hamiduzzaman Khan was present at the event as a judge, all the projects will be sent to the 10:10 Photofest 2012, which will be held at the Shilpakala academy on the 12th and 16th of May, submissions are open till 30th April for pictures of items remade.
Star Insight
Tea time
By Ibrahim
Tea is quintessentially Bengali. Everyone enjoys a sip of that refreshingly hot liquid no matter what time of the day it is. And given our unique style of inventing/incorporating our very own 'deshi' touch into everything, we've also managed to come up with awesome and utterly delicious styles of teas. What's more, these are available at tea shacks all around Dhaka, where you can hang with your buddies and enjoy a hot cup at a very cheap rate. While every possible tactic had been employed to uncover the recipes of these teas, some tea-sellers just would not part with the secret (something about legacy and a generation of secrets worth dying for). Here's a list of the best and where you can find them:
1. Inside Abahani field. This little shack serves the most unusual blend of tea with orange juice and sometimes infused with orange peelings. It tastes amazingly refreshing and quite heavenly after a game
2. Corner of Taj Mahal road, Mohamm- adpur. Another roadside shack quite famous among people in the area for its quirky tasting tea drink. At only 8 bucks a cup, this is a must have for any tea lover. The drink offers a very rich aroma and is infused with many spices, one of which (after persistent questioning by yours truly) was revealed to be cardamom. Try it at home. Tastes wonderful!
3. Near Bailey Road. This little shack is annoyingly difficult to find but the trek is worth the tea waiting for you. They serve an amazing kulfi/ice-cream tea which melts in your mouth. Though the owner refused to give away the ingredients, a few tries with your choice ice-creams should work. Ask people in the locality to point the way.
4. Smack in the middle of Kakrail. This stall, known as the Isobali teashop is all the rave among people of the locality the tea definitely lives up to the hype. With real cow's milk and a few 'secret' ingredients, it surely leaves a lasting taste.
5. Khilgaon Market. And lastly, we come to one of the most fascinating tea drinking experience you will ever have. 'Rangdhanu Cha Ghor' provides its customers with layered tea ranging from one to seven different colours and flavours. For Tk.70, it's definitely worth it. No recipes in this case, as they are apparently sworn to protect it.
So there you have it - a guide to satisfy your tea-loving self. This is, however, nothing close to being a definitive list, because people seem to come up with weird add-ons everyday. Experiment and come up with your own. Who knows, you might just be able to start a legacy/cult with other awesome tea-people.
Why girls have better handwriting than guys
By Neshmeen Faatimah
A study by Columbia University about the differences in structure of male and female brains states that in the adult brain, the overall cerebral size is larger in men than women, but there are specific parts that are larger in women. This writer admits to not being a bio student and hence not being aware of what 'caudate nucleus,' 'hippocampus,' some 'prefrontal cortical regions,' or 'superior temporal gyrus' means, but these seem to be some of the parts that are larger in women than men. I will now dramatically quote a few lines from the study with a straight face: Research found that men tend to use one side of their brain, particularly the left side while women tend to use both cerebral areas for visual, verbal and emotional responses. These differences cause a difference in behavior between the two genders. Women tend to be better at sensing emotional messages in conversation, gestures, facial expressions and are thus more sensitive. Women start to speak and read at an earlier age than men and are generally better in verbal skills, such as learning a different language. They tend to have better grasp on grammar and spelling, and girls have better handwriting than boys do. Women have better sight at night and have a more acute sense of smell, taste and hearing.
It's funny how I set out to prove that women had better handwriting but achieved so much more. Except, I surreptitiously just left out all the things that men are better at. Oh yeah. And of course all of these aren't rules, but typical circumstances.
Another study shows that it's because girls are more calm and patient at younger ages and so learn to write neater and is encouraged and praised to do so more than boys are. Young boys find it cool to be sloppy and not care and take pride in spending little time on things; being action people, as it is termed, is the epitome of awesome to them, which results in neatness not being an option. These might be true too, but you can't argue with the science. I repeat that this isn't a RULE, but just what happens generally, so if you're a girl and scrawl on paper like a crow, or if you're a guy with beautiful handwriting don't come gnawing at me, please.
