BRACU Express - Volume 2 Issue 7

Volume II | Issue VII

March 6, 2018

Get Up Speak Up places second in Washington to fill that lack through dialogue and the sharing of experiences.

Working mainly online through their Get Up Speak Up, a social Facebook page, the team organised campaign against online hate workshops aimed towards student speech and extremism founded audiences and hosted by student and run by five BRAC University guest speakers of different faiths. students, reached the finals of the Their largest workshop was at BRAC EdVenture Partners Peer to Peer: University’s own Savar Campus.

T h e team said that they were taken aback at the sheer scale at which the problem e x i s t s locally when they began, and that they Quazi Navila Zaman, Zareef Tajwar Karim, Dr Samia Huq, Adeepto tried to Intisar Ahmed, Rojin Ammar, and Fatimah Akhtar (Left to right). fo r m u l a t e Facebook Digital Global Challenge solutions to individual causes of held last month in Washington. the problem through their work.

They secured second place in the Adeepto spoke on the local scene: global competition with their work “People of the majority faith do not on peace-building and interfaith generally think actively about faith, platforms. The team represented or faith-based violence. The national Bangladesh in the finals against shock at the Gulshan terrorist attack teams from Germany, Lebanon and in 2016 is evidence of that.”

Brazil.

Upon their return from the States, The students behind Get Up the team lost no time in getting Speak Up are Fatimah Akhtar back to work, hosting a workshop (senior, Economics and Social at Mymensingh’s Just Peace Festival.

Sciences), Zareef Tajwar Karim, The festival is an annual peace(senior, ESS), Rojin Ammar (senior, building event, organised by the Computer Science and Engineering), Mennonite CentralCommittee Quazi Navila Zaman (senior, BRAC Bangladesh and Shanti Mitra; its Business School) and Adeepto theme for this year was interfaith Intisar Ahmed (alumnus, ESS). They harmony. were accompanied to the finals by Get Up Speak Up brought their Dr Samia Huq, advisor to Get Up campaign to school-going and Speak Up and Associate Professor in university students attending the the Department of Economics and festival, their audience from around Social Sciences. the Mymensingh district. The The team began the campaign experience of conversation there with hopes to envision possible was rather different from that held by countermeasures to online hate students in Dhaka; the dialogue was speech and extremism, which richer and involved more quotidian is the theme of the Peer to Peer concerns, showcasing an audience challenge. The campaign’s outlook of students who had thought about was in addressing the lack of religion in more empathetic terms. communication and shared The team, having had their first compassion on the topic of faith international exposure, said they and religion. Stemming from the aim to continue working, focusing belief that extremism often times their operations around schools and evolves from a lack of empathy, universities. They said that their isolation, and ignorance, Get Up target has always been working with Speak Up aims to provide platforms the youth. ■

Lamia Mela Reporter

Spring XVIII

University Building 7 open for classes Suha Tabassum Reporter From the month of February this year, the seventh university building (UB07) has been officially opened for classes to the students of BRAC University. The building is located just to the left of our current UB04 and, over the past month, has been the source of much anticipation.

In conversation with Mr Md Nurul Islam Bulbul, Senior Assistant Director of the Administration, we learned that BRACU owns a total of five floors in the new building – the fourth, ninth, eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth. The fourth and nine floors were bought first on the 1st of December; later came the eleventh and twelfth floors on the 3rd of January and the most recent addition

(the thirteenth floor) in February.

The entirety of the fourth floor is occupied by classrooms and the eleventh and twelfth floors have 3 Computer Science labs on each floor.

The Centre for Peace and Justice is located on the ninth floor and the Centre for Entrepreneurship has been shifted from UB01 to the thirteenth floor of UB07. A new classroom with the capacity of 120-125 people, along with a convenient partition, is scheduled to be built in the vacated space in UB01. An Electrical and Electronic Engineering lab will also be built on the thirteenth floor of UB7 within the coming month.

We may expect new floors in the near future, as well as a new building. The first 2 floors of a Building 8 have already been acquired and, in the words of Mr Bulbul, more to be added soon. ■

Moot Court team set for Washington Faisal Bin Iqbal Reporter The Moot Court Team of the School of Law, BRAC University, came out as the runners-up in the National Qualifying Rounds of the Philip C Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition 2018.

The team members Hafsah Abdullah, Maimuna Syed Ahmed, Adnaan Uddin Ahmed, and Tasneen Ahsan are now set to

court competition in the world, with participants from approximately 700 law schools in over 90 countries.

A core member of the team, Maimuna Syed Ahmed shared her feelings about the competition: “Frankly speaking, only our coach and the juniors in our team believed that we could make it this far. I had had my own doubts, but now that we did it, it feels surreal.” Regarding the preparations for the finals in Washington, she added: “We mastered the art of speaking and persuasion during the National Rounds; now we have to master the knowledge of law.”

The Bangladesh National Round of the competition was held between February 8th and 10th, at Independent Un i ve r s i t y, Maimuna Syed Ahmed, Adnan Uddin Ahmed, Tasneen Bangladesh. The Ahsan, and Hafsah Abdullah (Left to right). adjudicators’ panel represent Bangladesh in the International consisted of judges from the High Court Rounds of the competition which will be Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh taking place in Washington DC later this and Ms Amy Ray, Assistant United States April.

Attorney and Appellate Chief, Western A moot court represents a mock District, North Carolina. court or a court simulation where law students argue on imaginary cases for practice. Jessup is the largest moot

The International Rounds will begin the 1st of April and the team will depart the day before. Best of luck to them! ■

2 | BRACU Express

BRIEFS Ayesha Abed Library wins award On February 2nd, BRAC University Ayesha Abed Library was awarded the The Librarian Times (TLT) Excellence Entrepreneurship Award 2018 for “Library of the Year”, at the TLT Awards and Fun Night, held at the Business Faculty Auditorium in Dhaka University.

Dr Md Akhtaruzzaman, Vice Chancellor, University of Dhaka, was the chief guest at the event. Hasina Afroz, librarian of the Ayesha Abed Library was there to receive the award.

The colours of “Bashanta Uthshab” On February 13th, The Heritage Forum, Cultural Club and Art Society, in association with the Office of Co-Curricular Activities (OCA), organized the Bashanta Uthshab to celebrate Pohela Falgun.

Alongside the festival staples of stalls selling traditional products and food, a special event was planned with the children from Hashimukh School in Paribagh and BRAC School in Korail.

Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Ansar Ahmed, inaugurated the event along with Treasurer and Acting Registrar S N Kairy. The children participated in an art show and released balloons into the air to welcome spring. The programme concluded with a performance by the Royal Bina, a team of folk singers from Brahmanbaria who put on a puppet show to entertain the children.

BUAC presents 4th Adventure Carnival The BRAC University Adventure Club (BUAC) hosted an Adventure Carnival on February 12th, in the Building 2 Indoor Auditorium. The carnival was had a cultural programme, a photo exhibition, and a food festival in Prangon.

The Adventure Carnival, in simple terms, is a tourism fair for various online tourism companies to congregate and promote tourist spots around the country to young adventurous souls of the university. Travel groups The Travelers of Bangladesh and Ba Travelers had stalls displaying beautiful pictures of places like the Shimul Bagan in Shunamganj and the Dim Pahar in the Bandarban Hills of Chittagong. Other stalls included e-shops founded by BRACU students like Goynar Baksho.BD, Memory Parcel, A&M Fashion, just to name a few.

Science Exhibition by BUNSC The BRAC University Natural Sciences Club is set to organize a “Science Exhibition” for BRAC University students. The event, scheduled for 11th of March, will feature a project showcasing event, where participants will get to present their projects in different fields such as architecture, biology, engineering and mathematics.

Students can participate individually or in pairs. Registration for this event ended on 25th of February.

March 6, 2018

CAMPUS NEWS BRACU breaks roundabouts in English Olympics Sumaiya Tasnim Reporter From January 7th to 13th, Bina Nusantara (BINUS) University hosted the English Olympics on their campus in Jakarta, Indonesia. BRAC University’s ENH department formed a group of three and participated in debate and news casting.

BRAC University stood 20th amongst 56 teams.

BINUS University has been conducting this, one of BINUS English Club’s (BNEC) most prestigious events, since 2004.

Starting with the Nationwide English Olympics for 6 years, it has since developed into 1-year of Southeast Asian English Olympics, and 6 years of Asian English Olympics with more than 500 participants from Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Hong Kong, Macao, India, Bangladesh, Laos, Cambodia and South Korea. This year’s theme was “Discover Your Extraordinary” and the competition sought out competitors who could display their talent in debate, storytelling, radio drama, news casting et cetera.

The participants in the debate team were Abrar Farhan Zaman and Sumaiya Tasnim, who successfully broke the preliminary roundabouts and stood first in rounds 1 and 3, and stood second in round 2. Abrar Farhan Zaman stood 13th and Sumaiya Tasnim stood 26th as speakers, amongst 114 students competing for the main break and novice break.

Farhin Rahman participated in the news casting section and passed two rounds. A team of six participants comprising of Afsara Tasnim, Fariha Anika, Humaira Maisha Mahmud, Maisha Ferdawsi, Naveed Hossain and Samin Azhan Fariel, took part in the radio drama section of the competition through the online competition. BRAC Bank sponsored the team.

“This was our first time competing on an international platform and we did not do too badly for first timers. We are optimistic for next time. I also believe that the fact that we met new people with similar perspective was the biggest achievement,” says Farhin Rahman. ■

Photography in a different light Farhin Ishaque Reporter On February 4th, the Department of English and Humanities held a seminar titled ‘Re-visioning the Past: The Photograph as a Bridge between the Public and the Private’ conducted by Professor Malavika Karlekar. The seminar was on how photographs can be used to create a biography or an autobiography of a person. To demonstrate this, a biography of Kalpana Datta Joshi – famed for the Chittagong armoury raid in 1930 – was constructed using just photographs and presented to the audience.

Professor Malavika Karlekar is a social anthropologist, and co-editor of ‘Indian Journal of Gender Studies and Curator’ and ‘Re-presenting Indian Women: A Visual Documentary 1875-1947’, at Centre for Women’s Development Studies in New Delhi. She has also been a university teacher, researcher, editor and curator of archival photographs.

During the event, Professor Karlekar shared her insight on how photographs can reconstruct social history. “Photographs can be read as a text,” she said, and it is open to different interpretations by different people. She also spoke about how photographs are a visual memoir, a “haphazard collection of an individual’s life to create a visual narrative”. The highlight of the seminar was the discussion on how through a series of photographs, not only can people reconstruct their own interpretations of someone’s life, but family photos can also be a record of social change, bridging the gap between the public and the private.

A very engaging question and answer session took place towards the end of the seminar. The discussion ranged from photography as a research methodology to whether texts are more reliable than photographs. The event wrapped up with a few words and thoughts from the Vice Chancellor Syed Saad Andalib and Chairperson of the Department of English and Humanities Firdous Azim. ■

BRACU celebrates Chinese New Year Nishat Shahara Reporter BRAC University celebrated the Chinese New Year on February 11th with a day-long event held in the Building 2 Indoor Auditorium. The BRAC Institute of Languages (BIL) has been organizing annual events for the Chinese New Year since 2009. This initiative has been taken to create awareness about the benefits of learning Chinese, and the opportunities for higher studies available in China.

BIL faculty members Farina Haque, Imam Zafar Numanee and Yang Jiansheng were the coordinators of the festival.

The Pro-Vice Chancellor Dr Ansar Ahmed and the Cultural Counselor, People’s Republic of China in Bangladesh, H E Sun Yan, attended as guests speakers.

The cultural programme and games began after the opening ceremony and continued for the rest of the day. Traditional

Chinese songs and dance routines were performed by several students, along with a drama portraying the hilarity faced by Bangladeshi tourists in China. The games included a calligraphy competition in which students currently enrolled in the Chinese language course, CHN101, participated. Film screenings were held from 2.30 pm onwards.

Sheikh Korban Ali, a fellow alumnus, deserves a special mention for his time and effort in coordinating the cultural performances and providing gifts for the participants. He was invited to talk about his experiences of moving to China for higher studies and settling there. He shared valuable information on prospects of education in China and encouraged students to have an open mind while planning ahead for their future. The event wrapped up with a closing speech from Farina Haque thanking the students for their enthusiastic participation all throughout the day. ■

March 6, 2018

OPINION & ACADEMICS Why did the BRACU student cross the road?

BRACU has placed two university guards on either side of the road who occasionally stop the incoming traffic to allow students and faculty to safely cross the street.

Bir Uttam AK Khandakar Road is one of the busiest However, students seldom wait for this opportunity and streets in Dhaka. Connecting Mohakhali and Gulshan-1, resort to jaywalking. This not only puts the pedestrians at it is lined with banks, shops, hotels, offices, educational risk of road accidents, it also creates a disruption in the flow of traffic. institutions and Often, we get many other annoyed at commercial the drivers buildings. It is who refuse to a road that is slow down in almost at all times order to let us bustling with cars pass, though it and pedestrians. is us who are One of the very in the wrong. first things that This blatant BRAC University disregard for students have to pedestrian quickly get used laws by both to is the constant pedestrians need to cross this and drivers road. popularized Whilst it is the saying “You (Source: The Daily Star) true that a zebra know you are a crossing has been Bangladeshi when you look both ways before crossing a conveniently placed in between Buildings 1 and 6, the fact one-way street” on social media. remains that not everyone makes proper use of it. Add We take lightly the fact that we jaywalk on a regular to this the fact that not every driver respects the zebra basis, but it is both a safety risk and a punishable offense. crossing nor the pedestrians using it, as they should, We know that being late to a class might get us in trouble, crossing the street is as dangerous as it would have been but one moment of misjudgment might put the word “late” without it. in front of our names. ■

Muntaqa W Bari Reporter

Legal luminary on her visit to Istanbul Roshni Shamim Reporter Even a few months ago, Mahpara Sanjana Khan, a senior from the School of Law, BRAC University, could have hardly guessed the experience she would soon have; in a foreign city surrounded by delegates from all over the globe, listening to lectures concentrated on her own area of academic interest. Mahpara had applied to the Winter Academy of International Law, more widely known as WAIL 2018 Final program, more on a whim than with any actual expectations.

The application process consisted of submitting an updated CV, participant’s current CGPA and a motivation letter of about 400450 words. While the paper submission was deemed optional, it served as a great way to display one’s intellectual capability.

The paper also had to be specifically written on International Humanitarian law and be submitted along with a motivation letter highlighting one’s reason to apply for the conference.

Having an interest in the field of human rights

herself, Mahpara submitted her motivation letter and was delighted to find out she was one of the selected participants for the program.

The conference was a 7 day program that held lectures around refugee law, the global refugee crisis and international humanitarian law. The program was held at Istanbul University in collaboration with Istanbul Center of International Law. The week long workshop integrated lectures that were carried out by professors, jurists and refugee advocates who work with Syrian migrants. It was a highly diversified conference, with participants from all over Europe, Nepal, Japan, Bangladesh, Tunisia and many more countries.

They were taken to 3 different NGOs: one working with Syrian refugees, a second which works with Syrian refugees as well as internally displaced people, and one working with economic and EU migrants.

The conference was held to discuss in depth the ongoing refugee crisis and how different countries are currently reacting to it. Mahpara raised concerns about the Rohingya crisis presiding in Bangladesh and found solid answers where she previously had found only vague ideas.

Mahpara has participated in two other international conferences but she declares WAIL 2018 Final program to have been her favourite among the three. The faculty was interactive and friendly, and the entire conference beautifully organized, much to the pleasure of the attendees.

Given that her interest lies toward human rights in the field of law, this conference served as a great stepping stone for a bright future ahead. ■

BRACU Express | 3

Thesis Spotlight: Combatting chikungunya Subah Shaheen Reporter Advancements in medical science have seen the eradication of several diseases in recent years. A cure for Chikungunya however is still being investigated. In her thesis paper, completed in February 2018, Sheikh Anushe of the MNS department took on the project of using bioinformatics tools to design a vaccine against the chikungunya virus.

The virus, transmitted to humans by mosquitoes, has no vaccine or antiviral drug to treat it completely. The purpose of the thesis was therefore to develop an epitope based peptide vaccine against the chikungunya virus which would narrow down the information or the number of proteins with which to start working in the actual laboratory.

“The chikungunya virus does not have any commercial vaccine yet. Moreover, the fact that through computational biology I can narrow down the information, using which I could develop a vaccine for an organism got me quite interested in this,” expressed Anushe.

The thesis took more than a month of labour to complete and was supervised by Shamira Tabrejee, lecturer in the Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. While most of the research was conducted smoothly, an unexpected challenge did present itself in the form of server crashes. Since bioinformatic tools are mostly computational softwares, the large volume of results often took a whole night for a computer to process. In fact, several different computers had to be used to prevent time lag.

“The purpose of my present study is to promote the designing of vaccine against chikungunya virus with in-silico methods taking envelope glycoprotein E1 into consideration,” said Sheikh Anushe of her research which compared to other proposed vaccines would be cheaper, easier to administer and would trigger a stronger immune response in humans. Moreover the vaccine would be effective against all strains of the virus.

The main benefit of research theses of this category is that it eliminates a large portion of the trial and error by providing a direction in which to take the laboratory experiments, thereby boosting the probability of a cure being developed. ■

4 | BRACU Express

From the excited freshmen to the overworked seniors, every BRACU student anticipates the club fair. We are all aware of the festive aura of the campus during that time, but do we know exactly how much work goes into these events to make it successful? BRACU Express brings you a behind-the-scene look at the Club Fair so you can find out!

March 6, 2018

SPECIAL FEATURE work harder.

Organizing such large events like the Club Fair takes smart and thorough planning, organizers need to be able to take troubles in their stride. Under the steady leadership of their President, Tazvir Farhim, BUEC managed to do just that; and the many hurdles they faced seemed to be no more than small inconveniences in their earnest efforts.

Fall Wayniacs Following “Summer Grooves”, the responsibility of the next club fair fell to BUMA (BRAC University Marketing Association), and they started arrangements for Fall 2017 immediately. Foregoing the search for a unique theme, BUMA organised the club fair as a comic convention simulation, in the spirit of such popular festivals like the Dhaka Pop Culture Expo and Unmad-JCC Comic Con, and named it “Fall Wayniacs”. The design theme was comicbook superheroes and supervillains.

“

The tasks were divided to different departments such as the creative team, the communications teams, the logistics team and the finance team.

Pro-Vice Chancellor Ansar Ahmed delivers speech at the inaugaration of Club Miniver, the Club Fair of Spring 2018. This fair, in a first of its kind, was organised by a united front of all BRAC University clubs.

The entire game plan was finalized within four meetings. The tasks were divided to different departments such as the creative team, the communications

Summer Grooves Back in the summer of 2017, BUEC (BRAC University Economics Club) hosted the club fair and named it “Summer Grooves”. The members unanimously voted on a 70’s theme, in hopes of bringing some of that era’s vibrant colours to the blistering heat of the summer semester. This would mark the first time that the club undertook the hosting and organisation of the semesterly club fair.

At the time, BUEC was not recognized as one of the bigger clubs. With a small number of enthusiastic members, they immersed themselves in the tedious task of planning the entire fair. General members and executive members alike were involved in securing sponsors and guest performers for the event. Their scurrying certainly paid off, with musicians like the band Avoid Rafa and the popular hiphop group Jalali Set coming to BRACU and giving stellar performances students still remember well.

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Cooperation is key when it comes to making an event successful. There will always be something that challenges the plan.

While the Office of Co-Curricular Activities (OCA) provided as much as they could, BUEC hit a snag in garnering a large budget since, due to its relatively low club membership at the time, allotting a formidable budget could not be justified. The club members worked throughout the week, weekends included.

They attended meetings, gathered supplies and handcrafted decorations.

“Any form of event needs a core team to manage the entire workflow.

Cooperation is key when it comes to making an event successful. There will always be something that challenges the plan, and that’s why we have contingencies.” explained Ashraf S Khan, an active member of BUEC. It was because of this mentality that resulted in the success of the “Summer Grooves” Club Fair. They had backup plans for backup plans, with emergency measures in place for any situation that could go wrong. For example, when a plug malfunctioned and ruined the charger for the laptop connected to the soundbox, there was an extra backup-laptop to save the day.

It was dedication to planning and executing a perfect event (despite being the little fish in a big pond) to showcase the talent and hardwork of BUEC that fuelled these efforts. A perfect event is shooting for the moon in any circumstance, but any club that has organised an event on any magnitude at university knows the multiduinous variables that seem to specifically exist to make the organisers

The Student Team of BRACU, manning their booth and greeting the crowd of freshmen making their way to the Auditorium, the mainstay of the club fair.

Club members prepare for the onslaught from the impatient crowd outside the Building 2 Cafeteria doors.

March 6, 2018

SPECIAL FEATURE

BRACU Express | 5

teams, the logistics team and the finance team, in charge of fixing the budget for approval from the OCA. “Our creative team worked on the decorations for club fair. The logistics team handled almost everything else, like buying necessities from the market, ordering T-shirts and managing banners. The communication team worked on the overall set-up, and met with the other club presidents,” said Mazedul Alam Rakib, Vice-President of BUMA. There were often long meetings with the other clubs to fix the locations of their booths, and with restaurant-owners, found specifically for the foodfest on the third day. The team had to oversee and arrange invitation cards for the faculty, banners and posters for decoration, and manage sponsors to help fund the entire club fair.

The results are self-evident! A crowd of students milling about in the Building 2 Cafeteria, checking out the various stalls set up by the clubs.

BUDTF’s poster for Club Miniver, projected in the Building 2 Cafeteria, the “main hall” of the club fair, with club members and students standing in front.

Club Miniver “This was a record breaking club fair: every club had their highest recruitments till date!” said Sakib Siddiqui, President of BRAC University Drama and Theatre Forum.

Unlike other semesters, the club fair of Spring 2018 was the result of a united effort from all 26 clubs of BRAC University. Hence the name: CLUB MINIVER. It has been a long-standing tradition that the host club members alone stay back at the campus on the day before the event. However, this tradition was set aside this time as members from all clubs rose to the occasion and played their part in the success of CLUB MINIVER. “This was my first semester as President of the club, so organizing the biggest event of the year was indeed very difficult and challenging,” said Sakib, as he explained how the event would not have been such a huge success without the combined effort of members of all clubs, including his own.

“

This was a record breaking club fair: every club had their highest recruitments till date!

Each club worked on their own stall, and their respective performances.

During the event, individual clubs also helped to attract the biggest crowd in BRACU history. The event was powered by Daraz and co-sponsored by Pathao.

This proved difficult, as each company had their own steep marketing objectives in exchange for the sponsorships.

Sakib Siddiqui credited the presidents and executives of many different clubs,

who helped them acquire the required sponsorships. In addition to the other clubs, Sakib mentioned that the support and encouragement from the members of DTF and Ms Dilara Afroz Khan, Director of OCA, were crucial for event’s success.

Behind the scenes with the OCA The OCA, Office of Co-curricular Activities, acts as a guide for every club, helping them to smoothly navigate the trials of organizing a club fair. The office maintains a unique rotational calendar to decide the hosting club for each semester’s club fair.

The process then involves several meetings with the host club’s representatives to finalize on mutually decided plans for the whole event. The OCA also works closely with the Administration, the Public Relations Office, and Accounts Office in order to provide holistic support to the clubs to their full capacity.

Photographers For Club Miniver, the OCA sent Md Rezwanur Rahman out individual invitations to the Sakib Ahsan Vice Chancellor and all the related administrative offices; Departments; Written by and, of course, the clubs. A press Kazi Saad Asif release was also published on the 8th of February on the BRAC University Najibah Rahman website to ensure maximum Rashaad Habib circulation. ■

6 | BRACU Express

March 6, 2018

OFF CAMPUS & SPOTLIGHT

Fourth edition of Dhaka Art Summit Lamia Mela Reporter The Dhaka Art Summit, a biennial international art festival that was founded in 2012 by Samdani Art Foundation and funded by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs, was hosted at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy to provide a platform to bring art lovers together.

BRAC University’s Department of English and Humanities visited the festival on its second day, February 3rd, with students of the course ENG331: Culture Studies. Professor Firdous Azim, Department Chairperson and course instructor, had urged the students to visit the summit as a part of the course requirement. The hope was to gain knowledge deshi art culture and its values and how art has shaped the global culture that we know today.

The exhibition site had been strategically set up different pieces, some fitted in amusing corners or the walls of the rooms, escaping the traditional exhibition format. It was an effort based in creativity, all to highlight the thought-provoking artwork in the exhibition.

Accompanying the exhibition were scheduled seminars and performances. This year’s arrangement brought together artists and speakers from around the globe, and the festival took place from February 2nd to 10th, marking the fourth edition of the Summit.

Aditto Ahsan Bari, senior, said, “It was a place that transcended race, ethnicity, nationality and everything in between. The only language spoken was the language of art. It was indeed very special to see that and I am definitely looking forward to it the following year.” ■

The beginning of Conclusion Najibah Rahman Reporter With a lot of modern music being more akin to obscenity and noise pollution, it is difficult to find people who still play music because they have a passion for it, and not because they want fame. The fact that this could refer to a band comprising mostly of university-going students makes the whole thing even more commendable.

Tale of a concert photographer Muntaqa W Bari Reporter A BRACU student by day and a concert photographer by night; this is the double life that Jawad Mahmud Chowdhury, a BBA student currently in his sixth semester, leads. His unbridled passion for photography has taken him from being an amateur with a camera to being Nemesis’ official photographer and the co-founder of Second Studios Inc. When did you realize your passion for photography and know you wanted to do it professionally?

To be honest photography was always my passion but I had never thought about doing it professionally. I started doing it simply because I loved doing it. I bought my first camera in November 2014 and took it to my college’s Rag Day where I clicked some photos of the prank performances.

That is how I got started. I was also a huge fan of bands like Nemesis and Arbovirus.

I used to go to their shows with my camera and take pictures.

One day I went to the North South University with Nemesis. Zohad bhaia used to know me very well. They really liked my photos and asked me to keep up the good work.

How do you get your subject in front of the camera in just the way you want?

In concert photography, I personally feel it is important to know the band very well. You have to know when someone is going to do something, like, what Zohad bhaia is going to do in this part of the song or where Zafir’s guitar is going to be during that part of the song. I will have to wait throughout the entire show to get a perfect picture. And you only get two seconds at max to get the picture and if you miss that shot, it is over.

What kind of tools and gear do you use?

I started off with a Canon EOS 600D and a 50mm lens, the cheapest model back then. After that my brother got me an 18-135mm kit lens for Eid and I still use that. And whenever I need something else I simply rent or borrow it. Also, for post processing I use Lightroom and only sometimes Photoshop Pro. What would you say to aspiring photographers who are just getting started?

You do not need expensive gear to become a good photographer. If it is your passion and you keep at it, sooner or later it will pay off.

You will also have to be a little crazy.

The night before my HSC exam I took my camera and went to the BCB celebration concert on Manik Mia Avenue.

That is how it is. ■

On Friday, 26th January, Conclusion launched their first album “Mohakashchari” at a convention hall in Uttara. The band comprises of Ekram Wasi from BRAC University, Zakir Hossain and Ali Nafi on the guitars, Atif Imtiaz, also a BRACU student as the vocalist, Maheyan Hasan as the bass guitarist and Zakir Hossain as the drummer. Conclusion’s music is influenced by bands like Pink Floyd, Incubus, Karnivool, Failure, and others, and have worked tirelessly to establish their own band similar to their favorites.

To quote directly from a fan-turned-vocalist about how Mohakashchari came to be, Atif Imtiaz says, “The journey was enlightening but not at all easy. There were various changes to the songs in sequence, and various changes in band members too.

The fact that we live in Dhaka made it even worse.

Our drummer lives in Savar, I live in Dhanmondi, and most of our practice sessions were in Uttara.

If it weren’t for all of our dedication, we would not have been able to reach this point, neither would we have been able to finish recording in time. We never used to miss out on practice sessions, even if a fellow band member was absent on that day.”

Despite the many drawbacks, Atif claims they had an unexplainable amount of fun at the stayovers, gigs and practice sessions. They attribute much of their success to the band Owned, insisting that without Owned, and their unending love and support, Conclusion’s venture would have been next to impossible, and their dream would have stayed a dream. The journey to Mohakashchari was difficult, yet fantastic. And with the album now out, Conclusion’s journey has just begun. ■ The album is available for streaming on YouTube, Spotify and GAAN, and for pay-what-you-want at www.conclusiontheband.com

March 6, 2018

SPORTS NEWS

A lesson in experience for BRACU Cricket

MVP of 2017, Musaab Mushfiq Fahim Imtiaz Editor Musaab Mushfiq was awarded the prestigious Player of the Year award for his outstanding performance throughout 2017. He has won many honours during his time playing for BRAC University, including Best Young Player of BUFL 4, Player of the Tournament (and champions) of BUFL 6, Player of the Tournament of interuniversity along with a few others.

When asked, Musaab had a hard

Remember the name.

time choosing a single highlight that stood out from the previous year: “If I had to choose one, it would be the semifinal against Green University.

Even though we lost to them 3-0, it was a great experience for us, playing against some true professionals of the game.” Playing in Bangabandhu National Stadium for the first time, bus rides to the venue, and the infectious energy of the BRACU support were also some of the things he recalled fondly.

The most important factor in his consistent form last year, he said, was fitness. The key to fitness is regular workouts, and playing at least two to three times a week to build stamina, and to maintain a good touch of the ball.

During his pre-match rituals Musaab likes to listen to Led Zeppelin, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and “anything that gets the blood pumping.” For Musaab, being able to rely on his teammates helps minimize the stress before a big match. “I feel comfortable when Shahriar Real (Vice captain of BRACU Football team) plays alongside me in defence. He is a solid defender and puts others at ease.”

We hope that Musaab continues to shine in the BRACU colours, and that the team continues to give us reasons to celebrate in the future. ■

BRACU Express | 7

Islam Jony taking three wickets for JCA. In the second T20 of the day, JCA defeated BRACU by 7 wickets. BRACU batted first, and were bowled out for 86 On February 2nd and 3rd, BRAC University Cricket Team runs, with Choton scoring 19, Shoumik 16, and Rakib 14. Jony played in a three match T20 Friendship Series organized stole the show again, taking 4 wickets. JCA chased down the

by Jamalpur Cricket Academy, against their home team. target in only 7 overs, for the loss of three wickets.

The series On Saturday, the 3rd consisted of February, a 35 over of two T20 One-Day match was held. matches and JCA won the toss and a One-Day came in to bat, posting a match, with huge total of 218. BRACU all matches managed to score only 103 held at the runs in reply, after being Jamalpur bowled out in 33 overs.

Zilla School Shoumik scored 31, Rakib ground. scored 23.

In the In the end, the first match Jamalpur Cricket of the series, Academy squad proved BRAC University Cricket team at the Jamalpur Zilla School Ground.

Jamalpur to be too strong for the C r i c k e t BRAC University Cricket Academy ( JCA) chose to bat first after winning the toss. team, as they finished 3-0 in the series. Mehedi from JCA, They scored 175 runs in 20 overs, losing 6 wickets; with Babu and Rakib Mahmud from BRACU were named the men of the scoring 36, and Momin scoring 64, while Ifty and Rakib took series, with Mizanur Rahman Mizu, the General Secretary two wickets each for BRACU. The target proved difficult for of the Jamalpur Cricket Academy, and BRAC University the BRACU Cricket Team, as they were bowled out for only Sports Coordinator Md Mahmudul Hasan handing out the 38 runs, with former Bangladesh U-19 all-rounder Ariful awards. ■

Safir Zawad Reporter

First badminton tournament in four years was intense. The players faced off against each other in 3 sets during the finals. Aminul Islam Munna secured his trophy in the Singles (male) category against BRAC University Indoor Games Club (BU-IGC) Toufiqul Islam Rumi by recovering from his loss in the organized a ten day long Intra-University Badminton first set and winning 2-1 in the final. Rifat bin Reza and Spandan Sarkar, in tournament the Doubles (male) from the 1st of c a t e g o r y, won February. Since with two sets as it had been four well. Iffat Rubaiyat years since the played and won last tournament, only two sets, not there were no needing a third, in barriers to the Singles (female) participation. final. Iffat paired up BU-IGC tried with Sabera Shahrin to facilitate all Aony for Doubles participants (female), and won who signed up. in the first two sets As such, the again. Abdullah Al tournament Maruf and Tamanna was divided into Islam Trina five categories: ( Doubles, mixed ) Singles-Male, Players battling it out in the male doubles category. earned themselves Singles-Female, Doubles-Male, Doubles-Female and Mixed Doubles the champion’s title by winning the first two sets as (Male and Female) with many partaking in multiple well. categories. Over 120 participants battled it out in the Buoyed by the success of the tournament, BU-IGC indoor section of the BRAC Driving School in Niketon, hopes to organize another badminton tournament Dhaka. soon after their plans for a ‘Battle of the Clubs’ and Given the number of participants, the competition an Intra-University Carrom Tournament. ■

Rafsan Zia Reporter

8 | BRACU Express

March 6, 2018

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A beloved sci-fi young adult novel adaptation brought to you by Selma director Ava DuVernay, the first woman of colour to helm a feature film with a black female lead, played by newcomer Storm Reid (previously in 12 years a Slave), this movie is both highly anticipated and trepidatiously celebrated.

Everyone deserves a great love story. For seventeen-year old Simon Spier, love is a little more complicated than what you would call conventional: he is yet to tell his family or friends that he is gay and that he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he has fallen for online.

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With the popularity of the prequel raising expectations, the sequel Uprising will fastforward to the story of Jake Pentecost, son of the late Stacker Pentecost, played by John Boyega.

If the trailer is anything to judge by, the sequel aims to up the volume on Jaegers, monsters, and battle-hardened friendships.

Another sci-fi bookto-film adaptation, this time by director Steven Spielberg, set in a nearfuture dystopian Earth, where the protagonist Wade Watts attempts to find the Easter Egg in a virtual reality game OASIS, that will name the winner the sole heir of the billiondollar company and its fortune.

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