FREE DE SOUL

Topic: Reclaiming freethought from the accusation of "Western import." Whenever a freethinker in Bangladesh questions religious dogma, the immediate rebuttal is predictable: "You are brainwashed by Western ideas." This argument completely ignores our own regional history. Long before modern internet blogs existed, the Bengal Delta was a cauldron of radical skepticism. Think of the 19th-century Bengal Renaissance, Henry Derozio and his Young Bengal movement questioning every s

Topic: The art of living a double life in a traditional Bangladeshi family. Every year as Eid approaches, the living room fills with discussions on qurbani prices, sermon clips shared via WhatsApp groups, and gentle inquiries about my morning prayers. Like thousands of young people across Dhaka and Chittagong, I nod along. I smile, pass the shemai, and participate in the rituals expected of me. To come out as a non-believer in a Bangladeshi household is rarely a simple intell

I used to seek comfort in the idea that the universe had a plan. That every hardship, every joy, every trivial detail of life was orchestrated by a benevolent intelligence. But the universe doesn’t care. Stars explode, earthquakes strike, humans are born and die, and the cosmos continues without notice. At first, this idea was terrifying. It felt like all meaning evaporated, leaving only a cold void. I clung to rituals, traditions, and stories, desperate to convince myself th