Sylhet

Sylhet /sɪlhət/ (Bengali: সিলেট, শিলহট্ট; historically Shilahatta; also Jalalabaad) is a major city that lies on the banks of Surma River in north-east Bangladesh. As of the 2011 census, the city has a population of 479,837. It is surrounded by tea estates, sub-tropical hills, rain forests and river valleys; the region is one of the leading tourist destinations in the country. The city has one of the highest literacy rates in the country. Many Sylhetis live abroad, particularly in London of the UK, where they form a prominent community.

Sylhet is a prominent Islamic spiritual centre and home to numerous Sufi shrines. It hosts the 14th century mausoleums of Shah Jalal and Shah Paran. The Sylhet municipality was constituted during the British Raj in 1867. It was part of the Bengal Presidency and the Assam Province. Upon a referendum, it became part of East Bengal in the Pakistani Dominion after the Partition of British India in 1947. Sylhet became a focal point for Bengali revolutionaries during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. It was the hometown of General M A G Osmani, the Commander-in-Chief of Bangladesh Forces.

Sylheti language

Sylheti or Syloti (সিলেটী Sileṭi or ছিলটী Silôṭi) is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language variety, primarily spoken in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and the Barak Valley region of southern Assam. It was originally a form of Hindustani vernacular, but over the years it gravitated towards standard Bengali to be considered as a dialect of the Bengali language. Despite incomplete mutual intelligibility, it shares a high proportion of vocabulary with Standard Bengali: Chalmers (1996) reports at least 80% overlap.

Name of the language

Sylheti is the common English spelling of the language name after the accepted British spelling of the Sylhet District, while the usual transliteration of the Standard Bengali spelling of the name is Silheti.

History

In ancient literature, Sylhet was referred as Shilahat and Shilahatta. In the 19th century, the British tea-planters in the area referred to the vernacular spoken in Surma and Barak Valleys as Sylheti language. In Assam, the language is still referred to as Sylheti.

Kotai

Kotai is a village in Bhuj Taluka of Kutch district of Gujarat, India. It lies on the shore of Greater Rann of Kutch.

Places of interest

Kotai has the remains of an old city and several ruined temples of perhaps the earlier part of the tenth century.

Amanullah Asaduzzaman

Amanullah Mohammad Asaduzzaman (occasionally spelled Asad) (Bengali: আসাদুজ্জামান) (10 June 1942 – 20 January 1969), was a student activist whose death at the hands of police during an unlawful protest on 20 January 1969 "changed the nature of the student-mass movement and ... turned into a mass-upsurge against the Ayub regime and its repressive measures", according to Banglapedia.The Daily Star reports him as one of three martyrs of the 1969 uprising in East Pakistan which "set the stage for the liberation war".

Biography

Born in Shibpur, Asaduzzaman graduated from Shibpur High School in 1960 and subsequently studied at Jagannath University (then known as Jagannath College) and Murari Chand College. After passing the latter in 1963, he entered the University of Dhaka, receiving a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in 1966 and a Masters of Arts in 1967. In that year, he organized the Krishak Samity in Shibpur, Monohardi, Raipura and Narsingdi areas at the direction of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, President of National Awami Party and Krishak Samity.

Hanif Sanket

Hanif Sanket (born 23 October 1958) is a Bangladeshi television host, writer and producer. He is best known as the creator and host of the television show Ittyadi.

Career

Sanket first appeared in television on a show Jodi Kichu Mone na Koren in 1980s. Later, he moved on to create his own TV show Ittyadi, which successfully pioneered televised comedy program in Bangladesh and went on to become the most popular TV show in the country.

He also produces drama during Eid seasons.

He also produced other shows - Jhalak, Kothar Kotha, Eid Annondo Mela, Prothom Alo Awards Program, Bangla Vision 6th Anniversary Programs. Under a joint venture with EMS Films of Netherlands he has directed a television documentary, Bridging Two Worlds, in 2005.

Awards

Sanket was awarded the Ekushey Padak on 21 February 2010 for his social activities.

References