Appendix 2 Lalbagh Fort script of podcast

Lalbagh Fort or Fort Aurangabad is an incomplete Mughal palace fortress. It is situated in the Southwestern part of old Dhaka, on the bank of river Buriganga. The Lalbagh Fort has a long and interesting history like many other archeological treasures in Bangladesh. It is also widely agreed that it stands as a monument to the unfulfilled dreams of Prince Muhammad Azam. He began the construction of the fort complex in 1678. During that time Prince Azam was serving as the Viceroy of Bengal. He was called back to his father Emperor Aurangzeb to assist in the war against the Marhattas, before the constructions of the fort was completed.

            Subedar Shaista Khan was his successor. After Prince Azam, Shaista Khan continued with the building project. He also did not complete the work, though he stayed in Dhaka up to 1688. The reason behind was his daughter Iran Dukht. She was fondly known as Bibi Pari (Fairy Lady). She died here in 1684 and this led to Shaista Khan to consider the fort to be ominous. Bibi Pari was betrothed to Prince Azam at the time of her death.

            The main purpose of the Lalbagh Fort was to provide a defensive enclosure for the protection of the palace buildings. It is therefore more of palace fortress than a siege fort. The shape of the fort is rectangular shape with many outstanding features. The fort was considered to be a combination of three buildings- the mosque, the Diwan-i-Aam and the tomb of Bibi Pari. There were also two gateways and a portion of the partly damaged fortification wall.

            The shape of the mosque is rectangular with huge three domed. It is situated in the western part of the complex, with a water tank in front on the eastern side. It also contains a water channel with fountains at regular interval. The water channels and the fountains are very common feature of Mughal architecture.

            The double storied Diwan-i-Aam attached with a single storied Hammam on its west and it is an imposing building. Hammam is the bathing place of Nawab Shaista Khan. This complex also includes one platform, a small kitchen, an oven, water storage area, a dressing room and an extra room.

            The tomb of Bibi Pari the building in the middle is the most impressive of the surviving buildings of the fort. It consists of eight rooms’ surroundings a central square room, which contains the mortal remains of Bibi Pari. This central room is covered by an octagonal shape dome, which has been overlaid in bronze. The walls of the rooms are covered in decorative tiles work and marble.

Lalbagh Fort is a place of Mughal archeological beauty. Mughals were world famous for their art and culture. The beauty of the Lalbagh Fort premise attracts the visitors and tourists. You may submerge the historical past of the Mughal period if you visit the place. The flowery and green natural site surely offers majestic charm to you.  Lalbagh Fort remains open for tourists six days a week in day time except Sunday and government holidays.

Appendix 1 Ahsan Manzil script of podcast

One of the most noteworthy architectural monuments in Bangladesh is the Ahsan Manzil. It is situated at Kumartoli, Dhaka on the bank of the river Buriganga. It was then the dwelling palace of the Dhaka Nawab family. Before it became the residential palace, it was the Garden House of Sheikh Enayetullah, the illustrious landlord of Jalapur during the Mughal Period. His son Sheikh Motiullah sold the Garden House to the French traders in 1740. French traders used it as their business center. In 1830 Khwaja Alimullah, the father of Nawab Abdul Ghani purchase that French trading center building and renovated it into his residence. Nawab Abdul Ghani employed Martin & Company, a European construction and Engineering firm, to make a master plan for their house. The construction of the palace begun in 1859 and completed in 1872. Abdul Ghani named it Ahsan Manzil after his son Nawab Khwaja Ahsanullah.

            Ahsan Manzil is a witness to many historical events of Bangladesh. The Muslim leadership of East Bengal emerged from this palace, from the last part of the 19^th century to the initial years of Pakistan. It was used as the chief of the Panchayet (village council) of the Nawabs of Dhaka to conduct their court affairs every day. Almost all the Viceroys, Governors and Lieutenant Governors of British India who visited Dhaka spent some time at the Ahsan Manzil.

            Ahsan Manzil is one of the most important architectural structures in Bangladesh. The structure is built on a raised platform of 1 meter. The structure measures 125.4m by 28.75m. The palace is two-storied building. The height of the ground floor is 5 meters and the first floor is 5.8 meters. The palace is divided into two parts: the eastern side and the western side. The eastern building with the dome is called the Rangmahal and the western side with the living rooms is called Andarmahal. The dome which is placed on the central room is in octagonal shape. The construction of the famous dome took a lot tedious planning. The eight corners of the octagon was slanted gradually to make the dome look like the bud of lotus ( kumud koli). The peak of the dome is 27.13 m above the ground. The east side of the palace contains large drawing room, card room, library, state room and two other guest rooms. The western side contains the ball room, the Hindustani room and a few residential rooms. The drawing room and the ball room were decorated with a beautiful vaulted artificial ceiling which is made of wood. The floors of the dining and darbar halls were decorated with white, green and yellow colored ceramic tiles.

            There are attractive wooden stairs in the room that is attached to the north of the domed room. The balusters were ornamented with vine leaves of iron along the railing of the stairs. The verandas and rooms are covered with marble. The doorways are placed within semicircular arches. The inner doors contain multi-colored glasses. The roof of these rooms is supported by wooden beams. The architecture and decoration is one of a kind in whole Bangladesh.

            On the 7^th April 1888 during the tornado the palace was severely damaged. The western block of Andarmahal was entirely demolished. Later it was entirely rebuilt. During the time of reconstruction the present day dome was built, which is situated on the top.

             The government of Bangladesh took the project to repair the Ahsan Manzil after recognizing the historical and architectural significance of it. It was taken under the control of Bangladesh National Museum in 1992, after the ending of the reconstruction work. A museum has been launched there. Today the visitors of Bangladesh have the opportunity to see the beautifully restored and preserved Ahsan Manzil. It remains open for tourists six days a week in day time except Thursday and government holidays.

Importance of online learning

Online learning is very important for us and the internet gives us the opportunity. Whenever we have time we should spent at least sometime in the internet. There you can have any information about anything. Internet makes the English language learning fun. you will find thousands and thousands of free websites where you can practice any kind of activities of any skills. If you want to practice vocabulary you can just go to www.vocabulary.com. On the site you will find so many words with pictures and pronunciation so that you do not have the chance to get wrong pronunciation. After you finished the lesson you can now check how much you understand through the online activities and after that you will receive feedback. If you want to do reading comprehension, article, preposition and some other activities of grammar then go to www.usingenglish.com. Here also you will find a huge number of online practice that is fun. The most important and major advantage of doing online practice is you can get instant feedback of what you understand. So, online practice can help you to learn English with fun. 

Ahsan Manzil Appendix 1

Lalbagh Fort Appendix 2

Ahsan Manzil

Ahsan Manzil is one of the most noteworthy architectural monuments in Bangladesh. It is situated on the bank of the river Buriganga. Ahsan Manzil was officially the palace for Dhaka Nawab family. The palace was the house of Sheikh Enayetullah the illustrious landlord during Mughal period.

Historical Places of Bangladesh