Bangla blog musings: Mosque, mausoleum, music and Marxism · Global Voices
Aparna Ray

The Taj Mahal has won a place of glory in the recently announced list of the seven wonders of the world, much to the delight of Bangla bloggers. Shaukat Husein details out the complete list of winners  but rues the absence of the Pyramids amongst them. A debate has ensued over the selection process. While some bloggers feel that this was a transparent method by which people had been given the right to choose the wonders by popular vote, others argue that many people who voted had no awareness of the various  sites eligible and could not have voted right. According to them, labeling should have been left to the experts and not the common people.
Taj Mahal photographed by Flickmor.
And talking of seven, the date 07.07.07 was touted as a lucky date. Shafik Rehman writes about how down the ages, humans have always been fascinated by the number 7. Apparently Saturday 07.07.07 was a ‘lucky day’ and people across the globe tried to drum up various things to do on that day, including getting married by the droves. Blogger Bhranto Pothik is upset that he could not find the suitable bride and hence had to give up his plans of getting married on such an unique date. He is now going to wait for 08.08.08 to do the needful :)
The lucky date notwithstanding, troubles at Islamabad's Red Mosque (Lal Masjid) continue and bloggers have picked up the conflict for discussion. Royesoye tells us how the Red Mosque rose into prominence with the patronage of erstwhile Presidents and Prime Ministers of Pakistan and how since 9/11 there has been a conscious effort to distance the mosque from links with Islamic fundamentalists. He then goes on to detail the events that led to the current day stand-off.
From mosque to Marxism. Conflict and dichotomy are the buzz words in Marxism writes Bhaskar, and that there is more to a conflict than simple opposites and taking sides like black-white, yes-no or for-against. However, he wonders if it is practically feasible to go beyond these opposites.
Well someone else is suffering from conflict and it has nothing to do with either politics or religion. Blogger Tasman has bought a new piano, hoping to churn out lilting musical pieces. He even attended some classes to learn piano playing but has come across a fundamental barrier. He was taught the notes in English (ABCD…) in his music class and is now struggling to connect this piece of learning to Bangla notes Sa-re-ga-ma (similar to do-re-mi- fa ). Frustrated with his efforts, he is now left staring balefully at the piano keys, while his friends keep their ears stuffed with cotton, to tide over his musical experiments.