The Parallax View: A Collection of Critical Essays (Paperback)

This is the third volume of Crosstalk published by the University Press Limited. The two other collections of this popular column were published in 2004 and 2008. Crosstalk has been appreciated by readers for its lucid language and thought-provoking bold commentaries on matters close to their hearts. Each of the essays contains interesting facts, critical information and convincing insights that weave together compelling arguments on contemporary issues.

The columnist invokes a moral world where right and wrong coexist but people fail to be accountable for their actions. His fundamental assumption is that Bangladesh has lost its innocence; accountability has been frittered away in exchange for political convenience. It started the day the first freedom fighter certificate was sold for the price of a pack of cigarettes. After that came the mad rush for licenses and permits, followed by the festival of fictitious academic certificates: when education turned into a pay-per-view privilege and leaking question papers was the logical conclusion. From the narrow lanes of condoned aberrations, this nation eventually embarked on the highway of gross violations.

Contents:
Four Hundred Years of Solitude / Will the Earth Expire by 2050? / Three Minutes of Shahbagh Spring / Robbing a Bank without Firing a Shot / A Sorcery Written in Blood / A Monument of Greed Collapsed / Instant History is Our New Constant / When Some Men are Monsters / Mollah Nasiruddin Moment in Ramu / Railroading Rampal Power Plant / Elite Force or Force for the Elite? / The Need for a Poverty Museum / Ershad Made a Parody of Himself / The Suranjit Paradox / Journalism in Jitters / The Muhith Doctrine / Gapping the Bridge / All that Fuss Over the First President / The Pirates of High Finance / Plus One, Not Minus Two / Nine by Three Patriotism / The Same Old New Year / Abul in a China Shop / Allama Shafi has Wasted His Breath / Ambition is Destroying Greatness / Sacrifice for the Padma Bridge / Repressed History Syndrome / Getting to the Bottom of BDR Tragedy / Submarine in the Sky / Nattering Narendra Modi Makes Us Nervous / Finance Minister’s Barber Paradox / An Embarrassment between the Covers / Indian Secretary’s Existential Crisis / Why are BSF Men So Angry? / The Tale of a Splitting City / Golam Azam and Our Revenge Paradox / Ershad’s Cinderella Complex / India is Liable for Felani’s Death / The Psychosis of a Former Dictator / Ershad Keeps Going, and Going and Going / Saying Goodbye to Gabo / The Bold Telegram from Blood / Life after Suchitra Sen / The Vampire Model of Banking / How Happy is Bangladesh? / Chronicle of a Death Retold / Is India Cheating in Love? / If Al-Zawahiri Means Business in Bangladesh / The Journey of IS Jihad / Sleeping Thermometers of the Mahatma / The Monstrous Burden of Mediocrity / Toward a New World Moral Order / Politicians should have a Retirement Age / Mr. Ershad Goes to Delhi / Hidebound by History / King Canute’s Call for Unity / Let Grameen Bank be Grameen Bank / A General in His Labyrinth / The Men Who Killed Sheikh Mujib? / The World According to Dipu Moni / The Bridge over River Padma / The Ultimate Tragedy of Bangladesh Politics / The Personality of a Nation / An Investigation Foretold / Pardon Me, Mr. President / When American Help Hurts even More