UNITY OF MINDS

In 2000, an article written by Bill Joy, a technocrat, in the famous magazine Wired, invoked a dystopic vision of the future. Entitled, “Future Does Not Need Us,” the piece feared a day when “nanobots”, “bioengineered germs”, and even “robots” will take over the universe. The vision of technology exceeding the human civilization is now an old one. We know that human “integrity” is one thing we must always rely on. The zest for life, one that we witness in our “utopic” visions of the world must also have their rightful place in all societies. Because utopia is not daydreaming, rather it is an essential part of life.
In Bangladesh, through diverse ways of living we have given rise to communities where everything must coexist in harmony. The modern comfort and technologies, our cultural identity, and, most importantly, the sense of belonging we always had to our communities, continue to weave our social fabric.
This Eid-ul-Ajha and Durga puja issue is dedicated to the strength of harmony. Between the covers, we zero in on seasonal fashion, its local history and on upkeep of your beauty and hair since both Eid and puja are right around the corner.
There are stories on leading women that testify to our emerging new vision of a society where woman’s contribution is treasured. Lilunnaher Chandni talks to Chayanika Chowdhury, now a famed director and writer in the television industry, who has won nothing but accolade, while she also writes on the Golden Girl — actor, director and singer Meher Afroz Shaon. On our rising women cricket team of the country after the recent triumph to qualify for the World T20, Bangladesh T20 skipper Salma Khatun talks to Samsul Arefin Abir.
On another register, Syed Gousul Alam, aka, Shaon, the guru of the advertising industry speaks to Mustafa Zaman on his life-long love affair with literature, TVC, and contextual filmmaking. In Cotton Day, Pallab Ahmed writes about the possibility of US-Bangladesh relationship at the level new business opportunity.
On matters of health, Persa Sanjana Hussain dwells on mind-gut relationship in Mindful Eating. In another article, she also ventures into the ethical domain, examining the costs to “moral muteness.”
Though a universal poet, Rabindrnath Tagore once gave a lecture at the Centre of Indian Culture, where he framed an Indian ‘mind’ as an outcome of “bringing the scattered minds of India into a co-ordinated activity.” Perhaps Eid and Puja are such occasions when communities across Bangladesh feel their unity of existence and minds. Both in its material and spiritual dimension, Bangladesh needs these occasions to bridge the gap between faiths and ideologies, to become ‘one’ at least at the level of imagination.
COLORS extends Eid and puja greetings to all.

Zakaria Masud
Editor