OSCH

Sender:  Rehaan Syed Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK  Receiver:  Nabil Hasan Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Hello Nabil, My name is Rehaan, I am currently in my 5th year of high school working towards achieving my higher (you’ll know them as SSC’s) and hopefully getting the grades to be accepted into university, although I’ve also applied to a couple graduate apprenticeships, which are like 4 year courses where you are paid to work and also go to university and work towards your degree at the same time. Aside from academics, I enjoy listening to music, playing the drums and occasionally going out to eat or shop with friends. Anyway, that’s enough about me, I wanted to talk to you a bit about different regions in scotland, and the different stereotypes/preconceptions associated with them as I’m curious to know if they have similar regional biases in Bangladesh. For example, here in Scotland you can drive an hour in any direction and be greeted with a completely different accent

Sender:  Razin Haque Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK  Receiver:  Afsana Jahin Nice Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh

Sender:  Nahian Iftekhar Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK  Receiver:  Minhazul Islam Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Hey there! I hope things are going great for you and I’m really excited to write this letter to you! It’s been quite a while since I wrote a letter to anyone about anything so I apologize beforehand if there are a few mistakes here and there. Like many people born in the 90s, the last few years were quite challenging, mostly thanks to COVID-19, one of the deadliest pandemics in the 21 st century. We’ll talk about that soon. Before that, let me tell you a little about ‘pandemics’. Although the definition of a pandemic is broad and debatable, generally any physical and mental health conditions that extend over large geographic locations, that could be transmitted from one place to another, has a high attack rate, have minimal population immunity, and is widely infectious could be called a pandemic. In that sense, COVID-19, AIDS, Cholera, Dengue, and even mental hea

Sender:  Sadiya Taher Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK  Receiver:  Sarifa Islam Satu Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Dear Sarifa Islam Satu, I am Eva and I am excited to write you! You are actually my first pen pal, so this is a great new experience for me. I am currently doing my Masters in Journalism and hoping to work in a related field after my graduation. What about you? I was in a local shop today, getting something to eat between my classes, when I had the strangest sensation- a spontaneous awareness of the unlikeliness of this life. I started to think about all the rest of the human population in Bangladesh- most of whom live in what you and I would consider poverty- who have never seen or entered such a shop. And this is all their life sustains. This lifestyle is for people like us! All the various brands of soft drinks in plastic bottles and all the pre-packaged lunch deals and confectionary in sealed bags and store-baked pastries- this is it, the culmination of all t

Sender:  Sahil Amin Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK  Receiver:  Mariom Bentee Rahman Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Hello Mariom,  I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to you today to talk about my experience with the cultural heritage of Scotland. As an 18-year-old student who has lived here for much of my life, I have experienced some of the wonderful traditions and customs that make Scotland such a unique and special place. As you have already read, I am studying at Heriot-Watt University, where I study Computer Science.  I moved to Scotland from England as an 11-year-old, and have lived here ever since. Because of this, I have seen many things that only Scotland has, such as a fizzy drink known as Irn Bru, which is the most popular drink in Scotland. Here are some of the things about Scottish Culture and Heritage which affect Scotland to this day: One such attribute of Scottish culture is the rich history and heritage that is present in every corner of the count

Sender:  Zidan Imtiaz Sender Location:  Glasgow, UK  Receiver:  Md. Mahady Hasan Zony Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Dear Mahadi, I hope you are doing okay, I thought that I would write you to tell you a bit about my education here in the United Kingdom. I am currently an undergraduate student at the University of Glasgow, and I am in the third year of my pharmacology course. Pharmacology, in a nutshell, is the study of drugs, and how these affect the human body. It is a very challenging course as it requires lots of work and dedication. Currently, I am doing a project on stem cell implantations in patients with multiple sclerosis, as this is a topic that particularly interests me. Before my university life, I used to live in Italy, from where I moved in 2015 to Glasgow. That was a massive change in my life, as I moved from one culture to another, from one language to another. I spent 6 years in high school education here in Glasgow, where I learned the English language, broa

  Sender:  Aryan Kamal Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK  Receiver:  Ali Haser Al-Amin Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Hey there, Ali! I’m really excited to have you as my pen pal for this task. I have been asked to write you a letter about many different topics however I have chosen to tell you about energy costs and the UK inflation rates! In November 2021, I participated in a COP-26 Public Speaking event where I discussed my views on Climate Change. I avoided overheard stereotypes and used words that could be acted upon. So, following that, energy costs were one of the main topics I am still thinking of to this day. Do you think of it too? Let’s delve deeper into this. Do you know what the number one reason is why energy prices have risen so much? If you did not, it is because Russia invaded Ukraine. I found a source that stated: “between 23 February, the day before the start of the conflict, and 31 July (27 September), European gas and electricity wholesale prices increased

Sender:  Suad Khan Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK Receiver:   Samsad Jahan Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Hello Samsad Jahan, My name is Suad Saber Khan, I am very excited to be part of this project, and to get to know you. I am 23 and currently studying BA Honours Graphic Design at West of Scotland University.  I lived most of my life in Italy where I was born and raised, when I turned 16 we decided to move in Scotland for study purposes and I have been living here since then.  Scotland is an amazing country full of culture, heritage, buildings, people and I am really glad to be living here.  I am passionate about graphic design  because of both its importance and uniqueness and I want to tell you more about it. Everywhere you go, you see the work of graphic designers. When you go to the airport and see the colorful signs, or if you go to the mall and look at the posters with deals on them and the pictures to attract customers.  Graphic design is more than just attractive vi

Sender:  Tazra Khan Senders Location:  Glasgow, UK Receiver:  Maesha Marium Receiver Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Hello Maesha, I hope you are doing well. My name is Tazra, I am one of the mentors for this project. I have been assigned as your pen pal, so hope this letter-writing activity allows us to get to know each other a little more. I wanted to focus this letter on the aspect of culture and language in Italy as this is an area of interest of mine. To allow you to understand why, I will tell you a little more about myself. My parents are Bangladeshi, after they married, they moved to Italy, where my siblings and I were born. I was raised in Italy for 14 years after which I moved to Glasgow.  When I was 2 years old, my parents took me to Bangladesh, where I spent 3 years learning Bangla. It was the first language I learned, and although I never went to school in Bangladesh, I was able to pick up the language by talking to family and friends. ‘Til this day, it is the language I s

Sender:  Nabil Hasan Senders Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Receiver:  Rehaan Syed Receiver Location:  Glasgow, UK Translation:  Dear Friend,                I am Nabil Hasan, living in Rajshahi. Rajshahi is a district in the Northern part of the country. It's a very neat and clean city. It is quite cold in the winter, and some serious heatwaves can be felt in the Summer. Even though I was excited about writing this letter for the past few days, I couldn't do it as my final examinations are going on. So, here I am writing the letter as I found a break in the exams.       Though I am a student of Civil Engineering, I find comfort in working with different types of people. And that feeling has led me to join the “OSCH'' project. A tempting promise of knowing and understanding historical architectural establishments, figuring out how we got to today’s world through change, development, and refinement, and how our culture got to today’s position were the other reasons. I am

                                                                                   Sender:  Maesha Marium Senders Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Receiver:  Tazra Khan Receiver Location:  Glasgow, UK Translation: 21.02.2023 Rajshahi Dear Pen-friend, I've been planning to write to you as a part of the 'letter-writing' activity of the OSCH project for a while now, but I just couldn't find the time. I wanted to write to you about an archeological site in my hometown, Rajshahi. But I couldn't visit the place due to being extremely busy with my studies and music. So I thought, why not tell you about one of my favorite events since childhood? It also happens to be a cultural heritage of this city. It's Rother Mela, which loosely translates to the 'chariot carnival'. It's a fair that is hosted every year during the Hindu festival Rothojatra of Jagannath. Jagannath is a Hindu god who does not have any arms or legs and travels on a chariot. The chariot is dra

    Sender:  Ali Hase Al-Amin (Mahi) Senders Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Receiver:  Aryan Kamal Receiver Location:  Glasgow, UK Translation:  Dear Ariyan, How are you? Hope you are well. Today I am writing to you for the first time. I am Al-Amin Mahi. I am from Rajshahi, Bangladesh. I am studying here at a private University. According to reports Rajshahi is the cleanest city in our country. Numerous historical sites in our city illustrate its evolution. Today I will write you about one such place. "Borokuthi" is the oldest erection in the Rajshahi region of Bangladesh. I am writing this letter right next to it. The construction period of this building can not be determined precisely, but according to various sources it's believed to be the first half of the 18 th century. It was initially a trading center for the Dutch. In the early 19 th century the Dutch decided to wind down their activities in India and in 1814 signed an agreement with the British to hand over a

    Sender:  Sarifa islam satu Senders Location:  Rajshahi, Bangladesh Receiver:  Sadiya Taher Receiver Location:  Glasgow, UK Satu wrote this letter to Sadiya sometime during February of 2023 sharing her experience of  visiting "Shat Gombuj Mashjid" in Bagerhat, Bangladesh Translation:  Dear Friend, I hope this message finds you well. My name is Sarifa Islam Satu. Recently I graduated from the University of Rajshahi. I am originally from Khulna but currently living in Rajshahi for the last six years. Today, I wish to share a memorable experience I had at the Shat Gombuj Masjid (Sixty Dome Mosque) in 2010. Although I had visited the mosque several times before, this particular visit stands out in my memory. My youngest uncle from my mother's side was visiting us and expressed a desire to see the mosque. My father thought it would be a perfect opportunity to make it a family trip since we had none for a while. So, our whole family set off for Bagerhat from Khulna early in