Drive Safe for Yourself

'Road safety' I feel has become an issue to take up on education. Most of us are driven around by drivers who are either not told to refrain from it, or are encouraged to drive with risks, going at high speeds and dangerously overtaking others oftentimes quite indecently. Kids and grown ups alike enjoy that (grown ups - sometimes, or some of the grown ups) thrill and for kids it must be akin the Need for Speed games they play at home. The cost of an accident are the last things on our minds, and its usual to face situations where the offender will blame you for the accident to get out of it.

I think the TV channels and sponsors could create public service announcements around this issue to raise awareness. If we can't control our drivers, be it for how they are parking or the way they are driving, we are constantly creating risk and nuisance, both of which should be things avoided in a 'civil society'.

The bus drivers are harder to get to, who probably get away with the most serious offenses. Apart from ensuring great penalties on the owners of bus services for these offenses - from damaging public property (road dividers, pavements, etc.), to minor assaults (bumping into other cars, buses and people), to killing; we should take steps to have them view some sort of mandatory educational material as part of their license test. Those should clearly outline the damage they can cause when someone dies or loses a limb due to their callous driving.

I have found a few public announcement videos that have been created in New Zealand to caution drivers. The first uses animation to show the effect of selfish driving and how being social can help you have a better day. The second and third are graver, and shows how split second decisions can lead to an unwanted situation.

Drive Social


Mistakes


Flying Objects


Related:
No More Road Accidents
www.wedemandsaferoadbd.org

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Innovation 2013!

This morning I was greeted with the Facebook Page of A2i, the Access to Information program that was developed by our government with the aid of UNDP. There they posed this question last night:

Did you know that Bangladesh ranked 130 among 142 countries in terms of innovation in 2013? In 2012, the ranking was 112. What can we do to improve the score?

The World Innovation Index 2013 is published jointly by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a UN agency. The GII 2013 looked at 142 economies around the world, using 84 indicators including the quality of top universities, availability of microfinance, venture capital deals - gauging both innovation capabilities and measurable results.

Take a look. http://tinyurl.com/kk68sl9

The report is quite interesting if you start noting the countries that sit ahead of us. Right above us is Ethiopia, and way ahead is Jamaica. I mention Jamaica, since I was cracking some wise ones seeing them innovating so well. The attempt at a quip went along the lines of - Oh, what are they innovating, cocktail recipes and strains of ganja? 

Displaying a bad sense of humor and racial stereotypes, I threw that one at my wife, who is more socially aware. She pointed out that Jamaica is a developed country, with a higher HDI than us by far.

Back to the question of the day, it clearly will require us to take a good look at the success stories such as Jamaica, Sweden and others, and figure out what we need for our unique challenges. Its possibly a good endeavor to ask people on Facebook, and there could be other formal approaches involving university academics and research think-tanks. The attitude from the government should be, How may we help?

We have over the years had innovations in the field of, and related fields of agriculture, but I don't recall that ever being promoted as a subject to go for to students leaving school who will join a university soon. Meanwhile a report from Daily Star recently outlined how these academics feel about the kind of remunerations they receive.

Should we consider Dr. Yunus' achievement as being 'innovative', when in the last 5 years there was a political whiplash on his work and him?

Either way, it seems like we have to take proactive steps to harbor innovation. A culture of respect among academics and for academics, ways of sharing information among them, a State that produces opportunities for research and innovation in academia that address local and national problems and so forth.

Related:
HDI - Bangladesh
HDI - Jamaica
A Jamaica Newspaper
Global Innovation Index : Compare Any Two Countries 

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Mirror Mirror: Hello Handsome!

Do We Congratulate Ourselves Too Much?

Let's not look at a mirror in awe of the sight before us, instead let us look at what we  see and question it. How can we do better? If we can make that sort of a critical eye part of our national character, I think we could progress much better in the coming years.

While in a concert, albeit brilliantly arranged (3 or 4-days long Eastern Classical  shows, great stage and a great crowd), I heard one of our politicians declare in her closing statement that we are the BEST audience in the world. Its not a big claim, and its not a usual claim. Even if such a competition exists, the claim is harmless. This might be one instance where we're praising ourselves unnecessarily, when we could actually do that better by our actions instead. E.g., there could be massive support from industry and government for artists in our country both locally and internationally. India has a world renowned flutist; how can we have a maestro too?

This post is closely aligned with what I've stated in Beware the Wide-Eyed Optimist, but today I was just thinking of our education system and whether we're preparing the population for the future. While doing interviews, going through CVs at the workplace, or interacting with random young individuals, I often meet people who are self assured, and confident (approaching cocky). While conversing I am not convinced I have the same confidence in that person as the person holds for his/her own self. At other times, the flashy self confidence is not there, and all of the inadequacies is just there for you to see. A few times, you find a candidate you can talk to or work with.

Our language has the saying 'অল্প বিদ্যা ভয়ঙ্কর' ∞ 'Its dangerous to know a little', implying that a person should not get cocky with what little she has learnt, but continue on the journey with humility gathering knowledge. Its blatantly unfair to just state that the young are at fault. Instead of doing that we really need to reassess our society's value system and definitely our education system.

We should prevent sentimental siding from society, starting from parents, peers and maybe even some educators; looking down on some subjects (such as Sociology) and vice-versa (engineering or medicine). It would be ideal to do away with those distinctions and provide school students a better understanding of what scopes, what industries our country holds, so that they may be inspired to choose a path and have an objective view of the purpose of education along with the broad perspectives that early education provides. The system itself should have mechanisms to identify a student's strengths and helping her grow.

So I think it is great that we recently did some reassessing of how we're testing our students, but a dangerous trend seems to be rising also since we see a great rate of passes and top grades are being used as proof of a political party's contribution while in power! Instead of using 'education' for such means, we need to think of decades ahead and harbor a country where social, technological research takes place, and the educated are employed in solving problems and puzzles to move our country ahead.

Related:
A College Degree Sorts Job Applicants, but Employers Wish It Meant More
EDU Tech Magazine (May 2012 Issue, India)
Breaking the Stigma of Social Studies

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Oh Sorkar Where Art Thou! (Not you Imran! Geez!)

On Mar 10, yours truly ranted on about how he thinks that people have forgotten the purpose of having a government, and how they seemed to have launched into the War Crimes Trial half cocked.

April 6, we're looking at a massive gathering of the Hefazat-i-Islam - the protectors of Islam at Motijheel, the older commercial center of Dhaka. When they announced it last week, they said it'd be to protest the blog posts that satired the life and character of Prophet Mohammad SA, the prophet of Islam. When the time came closer to their march of the 6th, they published 13 point demand that went beyond demanding punishment for the bloggers. The word 'punishment' there is listed as 'death sentence', and includes other things as demands to change the constitution to include a declaration of total faith and reliance on Allah and his messenger, and a stop to all development programs that are formulated around women or independence of women.

Again, the government seemed lost as to how to react to this one. To support or stymy?

Well, forget my analysis, this time, I'll share Prof. Ali Riaz's points from Prothom Alo's editorial of yesterday.

ধারণা করা হচ্ছে যে সরকার গোড়াতে জামায়াতে ইসলামীর বিপরীতে ইসলামপন্থীদের একটা আলাদা শক্তিকেন্দ্র তৈরিতে উৎসাহ জোগালেও হেফাজতে ইসলামের নাটকীয় উত্থান, তাদের আচরণ এবং তাতে জামায়াতে ইসলামীসহ বিরোধীদের লাভবান হওয়ার সম্ভাবনায় এখন শঙ্কিত।
 ---
একসময় নির্বাচনকালীন সরকারের কাঠামো অর্থাৎ তত্ত্বাবধায়ক সরকারব্যবস্থার দাবিই ছিল মুখ্য। এখন তাদের লক্ষ্য হচ্ছে সরকারের পতন ঘটানো। এই অবস্থা মোকাবিলায় সরকার যে শক্তি প্রয়োগের পথ বেছে নিয়েছিল, তার পরিণতি সরকারের জন্য ইতিবাচক বা অনুকূল হয়নি। সহিংসতা দমানোর জন্য শক্তি প্রয়োগের প্রয়োজনকে অস্বীকার না করেও বলা যায়, সরকার শক্তি প্রয়োগের ব্যাপারে যথাযথ ব্যাখ্যা প্রদানে সব সময়ই যে সফল হয়েছে, তা নয়। অনেক সময় সরকারি কর্মকর্তাদের, এমনকি স্বরাষ্ট্রমন্ত্রীর বক্তব্য ভিন্ন ব্যাখ্যার সুযোগ দিয়েছে।
---
পুলিশ বাহিনীর সদস্যদের ওপরে উপর্যুপরি হামলা কেবল জামায়াত-শিবিরের কর্মীদের ভয়াবহ অমানবিক চেহারাই তুলে ধরেনি, নিরাপত্তা প্রদানে সরকারের ব্যর্থতাও প্রকাশ করেছে। সরকার সংখ্যালঘুদের ওপর হামলা মোকাবিলা করতে পারেনি, এখনো পারছে না। কোথাও কোথাও সরকার-সমর্থকেরা তাতে যুক্ত ছিলেন বলেও অভিযোগ রয়েছে।
---
যুদ্ধাপরাধীদের বিচারের মতো এত বড় একটা বিষয় হাতে নিয়ে সরকার তার গুরুত্ব ও মাত্রা বুঝতে সক্ষম হয়নি বলেই এখন মনে হয়। কেননা, এ রকম একটা কাজের জন্য যে প্রাতিষ্ঠানিক কাঠামো তৈরি করা দরকার ছিল, যে ধরনের মানবসম্পদ বরাদ্দ করা দরকার ছিল, বিচার-প্রক্রিয়ার সমালোচনা এবং বিচারের বিরুদ্ধে প্রচারণা মোকাবিলায় যে ধরনের প্রস্তুতি ও কার্যক্রম দরকার ছিল, তার প্রায় কিছুই গত তিন বছরে লক্ষ করা যায়নি।
---
বড় কাজের জন্য যে ধরনের শৃঙ্খলা দরকার, অন্য অনেক আশু স্বার্থ জলাঞ্জলি দেওয়ার প্রয়োজন, তা আওয়ামী লীগের নেতারা এবং সরকার দেখাতে পারেনি।
---
২০০৬ সালে নির্বাচন সামনে রেখে আওয়ামী লীগ খেলাফত মজলিসের সঙ্গে যে চুক্তি করেছিল, তা হেফাজতের ১৩ দফা থেকে আকারে ছোট হলেও মর্মবস্তুর দিক থেকে ভিন্ন নয়, অনেক দাবি আসলে একই। এসব সত্ত্বেও গণজাগরণ মঞ্চের সমর্থকদের একাংশ যে আওয়ামী লীগের কাছ থেকেই আশা করেছে, তা-ও আমরা ভুলে যেতে পারি না। তাঁরাই এখন এই বলে এখন ক্ষোভ প্রকাশ করছেন যে ‘আগামী নির্বাচনে দেখা যাবে’। কিন্তু নির্বাচনের সময় যে সম্ভাব্য দুটো বিকল্প তাঁদের সামনে থাকবে, সেই দুই বিকল্পের মধ্যে কাকে তাঁরা বেছে নেবেন?

Now, its a little dangerous to have so many anti-govt. points on my blog, so to even the sentiments out a bit, I think both sides are playing with fire in terms of their (open or covert) collaborations and agreements with the fanatics we see gathered in the capital today. They've labeled this government as being Nastik, the bangla for Atheist, and representatives from BNP are sitting on that stage as these are being said. The two parties have always proved that their enmity is bigger than the good of the state and the citizens, and now at a most explosive time of our history, and on a larger scale than before.

(via The Daily Star, the actual 13 demands:)

• Reinstate the phrase “Absolute trust and faith in the Almighty Allah” in the constitution as one of the fundamental principles of state policy.
• Pass a law keeping a provision of capital punishment for maligning Allah, Islam and Prophet Muhammad and smear campaigns against Muslims.
• Punish the “atheist” leaders of Shahbagh, bloggers and anti-Islamists who make “derogatory comments” about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
• Stop killing, attacking and shooting Islamic scholars and madrasa students.
• Free all the arrested Islamic scholars and madrasa students.
• Lift restrictions on mosques and remove obstacles to holding religious programmes.
• Declare Qadianis (Ahmadiyyas) non-Muslim and stop their publicity and conspiracies.
• Ban all foreign culture including free mixing of men and women and candlelit vigil.
• Stop setting up sculptures at intersections, colleges and universities across the country.
• Make Islamic education mandatory from primary to higher secondary levels after scrapping women policy and education policy.
• Stop threatening teachers and students of Qawmi madrasas, Islamic scholars, imams and khatibs.
• Stop creating hatred against Muslims among young generation by misrepresentation of Islamic culture in the media.
• Stop anti-Islam activities by NGOs, evil attempts by Qadianis and conversion by Christian missionaries at Chittagong Hill Tracts and elsewhere in the country.

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Interesting Times at Bangladesh - Crimes, and War Crimes

A roommate once cooked something, or recommended a movie, I forget, to which I replied:
"Interesting!"

She just gave me a smile that let me know that she knows I am being nice to avoid saying I didn't think it was good! When, I title this post as "Interesting Times" - it is totally in that context.

I was just reading an article titled Sweatshop Garments Drag All of Us Down, which starts off with a little story from 102 years ago in New York, USA:

The turning point in the United States was the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, when 146 garment workers — mostly women seamstresses — were burned to death when an exit gate was purposely locked.

The article describes the reaction that incident caused from a huge number of people that ultimately led to reforms in laws and ensuring better protection for workers. That is an important result that we should be learning from considering the fires that are continually claiming lives of workers here. The thing to realize, is that businesses will be businesses, with their eye on profits, and it falls on a government to make sure the rights of the general people which includes workers, are set and protected.

Issues like this are all around us now in Bangladesh, but its amazing that most of us are not aware of our rights and what we can expect from the government. Two highly revered economists a few weeks ago tried to tell us on a TV show that the 'growth' stats that the government throws in the face of its critics can take place very much in spite of them. My own feeling is that the government hasn't taken very many steps to ensure growth of new entrepreneurs and in fact, that they step in the way only to move aside for a price. In USA today, big businesses are very influential, but they also have a culture of startups and small businesses. Big businesses are after all, now taking their production off USA to countries where their cost of production will come down. Again, on this end, we are relying on a pressure created from abroad, rather than local, to ensure our workers have a safe and just workplace.

I am now writing this from home while a hartal is underway. Called by the Jamaat-e-Islami party, whose many "top" members are on trial for war crimes of 1971. But they have on their side a factor that helped ease them into mainstream Bangladesh, despite their past - religion. Religion, namely Islam, is the religion of the masses here and that remains the one thing that can create a visible reaction - unlike workers dying in factory fires, unlike students being tortured by police, unlike any other issue that should create a massive uproar. The YouTube ban is an example. Jamaat's religious base helped them get a big following across the country who upholds their religious identity more than their national or any other. That resulted in them being invited into alliances time and again when the elections came and numbers mattered. They are also known to command a good financial hold.

Just like religion trumps most social issues we should've cared about, the war crimes trial is in a similar way clouding our already clouded consciences from other things happening around us. War crimes included murder, rape, and destruction. Each of those are still carrying on in this independent country of ours. Whereas to me it seems like the last ticket the ruling government holds over this country's people for a second term in office is this war crimes trial, its also a maneuver in the overall game to foil the chances for their arch nemesis, BNP. Meanwhile, the ruling party cadres are instructed openly to take to the streets on hartal days to protect the 'people', whereas just weeks ago a young boy named Biswajit was brutally stabbed to death by these people-protectors on suspicion of being a Jamaat-e-Islami! There were heart wrenching photos of that in the papers, and accounts of how he begged for his life, and tried to make them aware that he was hindu. The irony is almost forgotten. Even the police stand by while these party people go on showing their weapons - batons, guns or swords. Either the people don't know how to speak up against these things, or these events don't register in the heads of people as being serious enough for any thought for a significant amount of time. Right now, we just naively sit home and hope for justice from the war crimes.

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Just Wasn't Fair, Damini! Biswajit!

The world isn't fair to a lot of people. That may mean a person dies of an unexpected car accident, an unexpected heart attack could claim the life of a seemingly well-functioning health nut, one could lose his life savings at the hands of a close friend and eloping wife, or it could mean you are beaten and stabbed to death from a political case of mistaken identity, or you are gang raped in a bus that is circling the city you call home, to die in its arms a few days later.

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Beware the Wide-Eyed Optimist

As a loon, I am quite suspicious of the sane population, especially those wide-eyed optimists who insist the country is a beautiful place and that we're superior to so many countries around us.

Age is one factor that prevents these people from joining the legions of us loons. In fact, I can testify to the fact that I am much more the lunatic now than I was a few notches back. And I see a lot of the shades of positivity and compliance in a lot of the younger folks that I used to possess. Now and then I also meet the fascinating characters who have stayed those shades even at an age in proximity to my own! Well, Hallelujah!

I also, have lots of opinions about that, loony as they may be, that the wide-eyed optimism is harming us, - not doing us any good. As with the wide-eyed of any age, there seems to be a tendency to forget or forgive the authorities from any duty or accountability. If only having an increased number of cell phones on our hands, less child mortality and and sustained level of growth were enough to make our lives better, I imagine I would feel it. Maybe the wide eyed ones feel it, and I would only extend to them, my jealousy and admiration, but I don't perceive we're getting any better. I only see, in contrast to their views, a drop in every humane indicator (compassion, respect, courtesy, honesty and the like), and a drop in my sense of security* (yes even with all of our fine top-gun sunglassed policemen, RAB and armed police and their exposed weapons big and small, and their check posts**).

I would even go as far as saying that these wide-eyed-ness is a threat to our road to developing out of this mire of corruption and bureaucratic vertigo.


* Actual security and the sense of security, I think are different. I haven't died yet from a stabbing or got robbed of my car or belongings, which might mean I am secure, but I don't feel its very hard to die from a stabbing or get robbed, and I don't feel I can get justice if it should come to that - that's the 'sense of security'.

** Sometimes giving me the impression of this being Palestine or Iraq!

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Art of Talking (or Spaking*)

From watching this program to that during this eid holiday, a noticeable thing was the way people on TV are talking. Being able to describe someone as 'articulate' is tough these days, unless you have someone like Abdullah Abu Sayeed as a guest or presenter. There are not just problems with phrasing and vocabulary, but also with pronunciations. A regional dialect is hardly meant for a national TV channel anywhere in the world, but even from our news reporters, we hear such speech.

During a better part of the morning, we were mesmerized by the stories told by Saadi Mohammad on '71 - Ekattor TV's Facebook Page (a channel), on a live music show hosted by Alif Alauddin. The show was very entertaining where the songs were being presented on the self-narrated timeline of Saadi Mohammad's life (though prompted by the host), starting with his childhood, to first growing a liking to Tagore music after hearing Hemanta Mukherjee on the radio, to his time at Santiniketon as a student and so on. He also mentioned how pronunciation was an issue with some of his students. People may tell me off for criticizing someone for having a dialect on the news, but what happens when people are trying to sing a song? It makes for temporary comedy, but on a larger scheme of things, its sad. Saadi Mohammad himself mentioned at that point of the show, that its nice to hear someone articulating thoughts and emotions properly, especially for singers and people on television, but really, for everyone (even a prime minister, he proceeded to mention).

Having seen that, when later at night, we see an interview of Ananta Jalil by Munni Shaha, its frustrating.

Ananta Jalil, with all his money and stunts, thinks he has found the formula for good movies, and is out there to claim that he is a properly educated inidividual who has passed O' and A' Levels, and has a bachelors in business (BBA) from the UK (though its commonly known that they provide BComm and not BBA). These claims are meant to throw off everyone who says he has pronunciation poblems (he is often heard with a silent 'r' when it should appear after a 'p') in both Bangla and English.

On the other side of the ring was Munni Shaha, who is a senior reporter for ATN News, and conducts a lot of interviews. Ignoring her annoying nasal voice and frequent 'ehhh's when shes browsing her vocabulary mid-sentence, she (like a few others) has a habit of trying to put words into the mouths of her guests. All in all, it was a pretty bad show of where we are, and who gets to be on our 'media'.

Thats another thing, I see a lot of so-called celebrities, refer to themselves as 'people of the media'. I don't get that! Its like they are trying to elevate themselves to somewhere or something, their own little planet. It just sounds weird to me.

Related:

* Ananto Jalil @ Radio Foorti 88.0 - with English Subtitle

Lawmakers should talk and behave with dignity says Prof Abdullah Abu Sayeed

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Political Secrets

Diplomacy. The recipe for diplomacy has secrecy, disguised statements, or sweet nothings. As politics have evolved throughout the world, we've seen how dear they hold their right to secrecy.

In highly educated societies who have a certain level of consciousness and enlightenment, the population has been ascertained certain levels of access or guarantee of openness with regard to public or international policies the state establishes.  At least thats how I perceive how things are, in contrast to living here in Bangladesh, where the politicians word, not matter how far away from reality, is seemingly final and 'true'.

The contrast to everything as it stood came in the form of the Wikileaks/Assange affair. Before that we were able to get government documents out of the USA every 5 or 10 years, a provision by which let us know that the Nixon/Kissinger regime was against granting independence from Pakistan. That seemed like quite a gesture from the biggest or loudest proponent of democracy. Wikileaks however has taken off the tablecloth off of it and now we can see who are rubbing legs or kicking under there.

We saw the website and the founder Julian Assange come under fire not long after major news vendors started peddling articles with information from the leaks. The sites were being taken down and Assange charged with rape! Assange is now eagerly waiting for a way out of his stay at the Ecuador embassy in UK, but being careful still. The man has every reason to be careful, with fear that he might disappear and no one would leak that story.

Seeing these events turn out on my TV screen, I am pressed to believe once more, that politicians are just all alike. I wish I was a psychology major, because I would like nothing better than to study the psyche of these guys in whose hands we put our tax money and all the resources of our lands.

Related:
Assange Is A True Democrat: Chomsky
Assange Extradition Fact Sheet
UK 'withdraws threat' to Ecuador embassy

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POLICE: Fundamentally Lacking

What they can do in broad daylight
probably surpasses anything
you might expect to see in other countries

I think TIB (Transparency International - Bangladesh) once conducted a public survey on what was perceived as the most corrupt public office. The people, not surprisingly, gave the top prize to the two which are responsible to provide justice to the masses - the courts, and law enforcers.

If you follow some of the links above, you'll see that they both cried "foul" at the survey, and loudly protested this marring with falsehood of their angelic characters.

Meanwhile, some brave journalists have shown reports even way back then of the corruption of the police force. Even the news of the Police HQ opening up for everyone to come to file cases contained an important fact - that the public was having a hard time getting regional police stations to make simple general diaries:

থানায় সাধারণ মানুষের ভোগান্তি দূর করতে ঢাকা মহানগর পুলিশের (ডিএমপি) সদর দপ্তরে সাধারণ ডায়েরি (জিডি) গ্রহণে বিশেষ সেল খোলা হচ্ছে। তবে আগের মতো সংশ্লিষ্ট থানায় গিয়ে জিডি করার ব্যবস্থাও চালু থাকছে।

... এ বিষয়ে জানতে চাইলে ডিএমপির কমিশনার বেনজীর আহমেদ প্রথম আলোকে বলেন, ‘অনেক সময় থানায় জিডি করতে গেলে নানা ধরনের ভোগান্তির শিকার হতে হয়। কখনো কখনো পুলিশের বিরুদ্ধে টাকা নেওয়ার অভিযোগ আসে। এসব বন্ধ করতে শিগগিরই ডিএমপির সদর দপ্তরে জিডি গ্রহণে ওয়ান স্টপ সার্ভিস চালু হচ্ছে।’
(March, 2012)

One TV report showed how a police officer was in shady operations with confiscated drugs in either Gazipur or Ashulia. And now, its back again on today's news: থানায় ফেনসিডিল ব্যবসা!

We've all also seen how they've stood back during hartals/strikes while the student wing of BAL played vigilante against the opposition.

Another report even more disturbing, since it tells about the state of our humanity and not just the police: Cops 'discipline' orphan kids

There are plenty that we received through the news and there are plenty of stories we as citizens can tell from our own experiences, and the only answer we seem to be getting is a denial. That is to say that we are all liars, and to look away from the fact that there is something fundamentally wrong with the system, something deep rooted that needs to be taken care of immediately to ensure that a country's citizens don't fear and loathe the very people entrusted with their safety! What the DMP commissioner admits above, doesn't make sense of the solution he is offering. Again, a lack of focus on the what is really wrong. We need a system that trains people to serve the public, instead of a system which ensures they can turn the public away, or worse, play them for a quick buck! (I wonder who had the idea to change the color of their uniform and put the slogan: "ও পুলিশ, বন্ধু আমার" (~o police, my friend)! I bet they had many meetings to get that far. If someone could just let them know, it was a waste of time and money!)

Related:
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Citizen Help Request
DMP's Feats
Guerilla Street Art (The police-mime photo manipulation is from here)

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Runaway/Udhao - Upcoming movie

I recently through the online social spheres came across a trailer for a movie titled "Runaway". As is custom here, we always have a bangla title, and an English title. The bangla title here is "Udhao", which better translates to "Vanish" or "Disappear". Its is also custom that the titles in the two languages don't exactly translate into each other. However, there was nothing customary about what the movie promises in its trailer. The story looks mighty interesting and the trailer was also well made.


(Details on Facebook.com/RunawayTheFilm)

I blogged earlier about the movie producer/actor Ononto (or Ananta) who has now produced three movies I can count (Khoj: The Search, Goti: The Speed, and Hridoy Bhanga Dheu: Heart Breaking Blow) was on a television show giving an interview. From that I have actually grown some respect for the guy. He is young, and apparently a successful businessman, and he talked about his business sense playing a role in his role as a producer and director. He explained why the lax and inefficient FDC was not the place for him, since he wanted an efficient and strict work-plan, team and environment for making his movies. He may not be well educated, that could be just how things had turned out for him, but his speech is very direct - stating matters very simply, and he made a lot of sense! These are often missing from people with a lot of education gleaming from their speech. The man in the centre with a gun below, is the man!

Related:
Released Full-length Movies By Year(FDC Stats)
Interview with Ananta on The Speed: Do or Die
Movie Review with Pictures  

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Movievolution - Bangladesh

Picking up a fashion magazine, it took me no time to browse till the back cover, and finally, I read. It was an ad for the latest Ananta film "Speed". I hear the producer, Ananta, is a very successful businessman, and this is as far as I know his second movie. I saw the first one "Khoj: The Search", and this is a followup "Goti: The Speed". In both, he is the star actor, the hero.


Back to the ad, it did a marvelous job of marketing it, boasting such things as:

• a Russian Dancers - I assume all women
• a film crew from Gujrat or some other place in India
• use of cameras that are used in Hollywood, etc...

I quickly remembered another movie that came out, "Lal Tip: The Red Point". (Apparently, Tip doesn't have a proper translation into English, but its a colofrul, circular or often leaf shaped ornamental piece, that women from the Indian subcontinent can put on their foreheads, a little above the level of the eyes. Point, however sounds wrong). This movie also boast such things:

One single love story, 2 continents; 4 countries involvement, 4000 actors & extras, 180 different locations, used 3500 individual shots, more than 200 crews at home & abroad, best music, IMPRESS TELEFILM's biggest venture, Swapan Ahmed with his promises = LAL TIP

 The above is quoted from their trailer on YouTube. You can actually catch the trailers for both these films over there - Goti: The Speed (Trailer) | Lal Tip: The Red Point (Trailer)

From these trailers, I am not intrigued. These are not movies I am looking forward to watching. The intention behind watching Khoj was to get a few laughs, even though its from the action genre. For as long as I can remember, India has served as the inspiration of our mainstream film makers. Their films of the late 80's are still copied and imitated. Think Jitendro, Anil Kapoor, shirts unbuttoned near the chest showing some of those man hairs, comic relief characters in the backdrop of a social drama or an action flick, rape, corruption, heroes saving the day in the end bringing feuding family members together.

Lal Tip and Goti are instances of breaking away from that, and many claim that its something we should be thankful for. These are now just imitating the Bollywood movies of the late 90's, or maybe someone like Karan Johar. Good cameras, shooting in foreign lands (France, Italy, Malaysia, etc), item songs (google that if you don't know, can't bear to explain), etc.

My bone with these movies, is the lack of attention to a story. A story that is hard to turn away from, a story that says something relevant to our times, a story that awes and evokes and entertains. Those, to me, are the reasons people make movies.

If we are to look towards India, I'd like to urge our film makers to take a quick glance at this brilliant film "Nobel Chor"


There are lots of other examples out of India which have showed an extraordinary understanding of storytelling and movie making then and now, but I think the wrong reasons for making movies are driving what we call Dhaliwood.

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Maid of Honors

If you told me the maid who does your house chores had a bachelors degree, second division or not, I could get the impression that the state of your country is such that no jobs are available even for people who graduate from college. I remember reading that once in Korea, even PhD holders were taking up low end jobs due the a bad job market.

However, I would be wrong of course, if:

1. The BA course was actually teaching how to do house chores - dishes, cleaning floors etc., or
2. The maid is doing your homework, like reading and extracting information from reports and writing articles

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Honesty, Transparency VS. Greed and Lack of Vision

When an established actor, sets up a TV channel, can you expect him to run things differently? There is an expectation, on my part, that he will remember the hardships that went into getting to where he is today. He would have experienced first hand, what goes into making a show, the people, the story writers, the post production team. All that should amalgamate into an executive who values his employees, values the creative people who are contributing to the success of his channel, and he will reward them justly so that they may continue to contribute and excel. What happens when he doesn't keep an eye on things and people within his organization are withholding rightful payments? An aggrieved client may write a public opinion that this is wrong, and force them to pay up to avoid a media scandal. Should the reaction then be to announce that the client can expect no more business with the channel?

Our country lacks the amount of universities to cater to the amount of students graduating out of high school. So new universities are starting up all around. My wife recently almost signed up to one of them for a job as a lecturer. Why would a new university advertise faculties they haven't been able to staff at a point of time? Should this not be taken as an urge to earn a lot of money rather than to start small and establish a good base? Why would a university urge that salary should not be important since the person applying as a lecturer has a family that can support her? Taking all that into consideration, when signing up she found out that they also want her to teach something in another faculty. The grand total of subjects she would be teaching at the university, had she taken the job would have been 7.

Music, as with other fields in the arts, are areas where you are nothing without passion. Lets face it, parents don't push their children into the arts - there is no future there, not like becoming a doctor, or a banker. Musicians die of old age, and some of them through lack of treatment they could not afford. Since the birth of this country, I have felt that we've seen a decay in the quality of music, and cinema. I cannot claim to know much of the literary world, but a few friends who are passionate there have claimed similar. Its not that there aren't excellent people in those fields, but that the mediocre are crowding up the space by their ludicrous large numbers. Had we had proper nurturing of the arts by those who could, instead of a run for quick bucks through cheap thrills, I might have been in a different mood this morning.

"Piracy" is another thing that we hear of these days when the music industry comes in question. Labels have been under scrutiny from artists for not establishing intellectual property rights and being greedy with the income of music. Musician get a down payment of money for handing over al rights to their work to the label - that was the norm. The storm that was kicked up did well in some aspects, since now someone like Grameen Phone wants the labels to show that they have the rights to distribute the music in the form of 'welcome tunes' or ring tones, etc. I just signed such a paper yesterday to a song my band recorded. Labels have joined in the fight to stop piracy, and to them, its the fight to stop their sales from diminishing. We have so far, given away three singles to a series of compilations from the same label, so I have signed away the rights before, also, but the last time I was not there for the 'lecture' The 'lecture' is what the labels are telling kids who are forming bands and eager to release their songs and eventually make an album. Its goes like this:

"Tell your friends, not to download the songs! Buy the originals, stop piracy. Don't put up your singles on your websites! If you know the administrators of the forums where they put out these songs, try to get in touch with them. If they are downloading for free, its like 'stealing'!"

At that point I just smiled. There was one reason we are giving our singles away - we wanted these songs to be out there, for people to listen. We knew the risks, yet we complied. BUT, I have a feeling that the label was so short sighted, they didn't realize there could be other ways of doing this - mainly, taking a lesser cut to make the bands feel appreciated. A compilation CD is packed with singles from different bands. Considering the costs of putting out a CD here, the label will make enough with just the sales from the friends and family of each of the bands' members during the ecstasy of eid. More friends than family. The label is just paying up the recording costs of the songs, and then its the cost of pressing CDs and printing the sleeves. This is the 4th release in this series and the third time that its a double CD. I believe they have figured out the marginal cost/profit ratio here of releasing one CD vs. two. What they could've easily done in the third cycle, is to arrange some royalty for the bands' works, instead of buying it up and advocating against piracy. Oh, the irony! Its almost like they are counting on the bands to carry on a few years like this and then to get disheartened and disband along the way. Instead of establishing good faith between these fresh, passionate bands, they choose the old ways. Talking of intellectual property rights, I don't see much relevance here since most of the labels are unscrupulous businessmen who would just lie about album sales and you have a far worse fate than the old down payment.

I heard the chairman of a start up software company once say, "we want to make money, but if we wanted it to make it quickly, we could have gone into internet pornography or internet poker, but we wanted to do something that helps people, even if it takes time". That software company makes billions a year now creating software for a niche within the health sector in USA. The proper mindset is needed, a bit of humanity alongside the profit seeking. The lack of vision and greed I see, I blame it on our education system (not just schools and teachers, but parents too), which puts us in a race very early in life that helps shed values.

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A lack of something. Do you feel it?

I am writing this at the backdrop of many happenings.

A prime minister is persecuting the murderers of her father and many other family members while a president just pardoned a murderer who butchered a man... a murderer well known, and known to be an ally of the rulers.

"Gonotontro", or Democracy is on every politician's lips while they push changes to the constitution that'll strengthen their stances as a ruling party against anyone who wishes to raise a voice against them.

A truck carrying over 40 young boys collapsed on highway resulting in most of them dying while drivers grow even more daring and even more restless.

6 boys from the city are beaten to death on the suspicion of being burglars, whereas some months ago, a woman at another village suffered the same 'cause of death' (almost, as she was stoned to death), and a few cases of sexual assault on girls from teachers made the news.

Grown men are in apparent loss of direction or leadership again (happened once before in another party), or just bending backwards waiting for an inept leader, or the leader's child to come and take the helm, and lead them on. Shame!


I have often ranted on the lack of 'value' for the goods or services we pay good money for. However, this is not just bad service at a restaurant, or an inferior material on a shirt. It also includes many critical things like medicine (remember please, the case of the "paracetamol" that killed many children) and health care. The latter is an industry here which is also myopic in its business goals to get the money from their customers' hands. Recently, large and fancy hospitals have been built in the city which resemble five star hotels from the outset, and yet fail to deliver 'care' services.

Some argue, that this has always been and shouldn't alarm me so. That statement has always failed to calm me, and I just see how our education or our religions did not equate to enlightenment. We are busy, very busy and cannot stop to make way for others, or stop to think for one minute of what can come out of our actions. So now, everyone fails - teachers, lawyers, doctors, police, politicians... you, and me.


Related:
Citizens Blacklisted Docs and Hospitals
Stand Against Medical Negligence in Bangladesh
No More Road Accidents

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Lunatic on "Brain Drain" and "Democracy"

Brain Drain

I think its fair hour that we contextualize 'Brain Drain'. Its no longer just the fleeing masses who just happen to like 'A Good Life'! The threat now lives among us. This metaphorical drain is draining and its visible in the clogged streets and the clogged physical drains and the dark waters of the Buriganga! We could all write books and books on titles like "Nonchalancy" or "Guide to Self Aggrandizement at the Cost of your Neighbor" and that's the result of our education system and society at large.

To prevent this drain, read more books than the doctor prescribes, and think before you do anything. Sitting silent in a room and breathing deeply is also recommended. Listen to rock music. Oh, and heres a concept - "Decency"!

Democracy?

This -cracy continues to allude and make people -crazy (not the lunatic kind)! Come election time, people usually head back to their mindset of 'I must pick the winning side'. Its all a game, and all it ever was, like betting on a winning horse! The horses dress up nice just before the race and its really tired and wants to sit back and be fed carrots and get manicures after its won. No shit!

I know coups are illegal, but what if the military had the obligation to run in an election? Then, if a mass is really tired of a "Merry-Go-Round" of political choices that are not really comfortable or fun, or they don't want the ACC being neutered, they could opt to go on a Paintball shootout instead!

To get more out of democracy, remember:
- You don't have to win. "Winning" could very well mean "Losing"!
- Be not afraid to post a ballot in the name of someone who you've never given a chance (that should rule out a least a couple of parties and parties 'friendly' with those couple of parties).

Related:
The Decency Project
What is Self Agrandizement?
Evergreen Democracy

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Movement of the People

Firstly, I am here to discuss the issue of mobility, and not a revolution or politics. Just in case ...

Dhaka's population is now at a very bad size. I don't know the number exact number, but the effect of it is not invisible. The government is taking and pondering drastic and desperate steps, such as not approving any more power lines for new apartments or houses, or gas lines (which would be used for cooking), where as there are many people moving into this city and waiting to move into their new apartments or houses. Construction work all over the city is rampant, since that demand is ever increasing with the movement of people into Dhaka. The roads, transport systems are all insufficient at the moment to support this many people.

Long term plans to avoid a deadlock situation someday in this city is however not clear to me. My feeling is that "labor mobility" could be one answer. Dhaka, as the capital, has justly become the place for commercial enterprise, education, entertainment, etc., and also has the largest international airport.

So far as I can see, any suggestion for industries to move out of Dhaka has meant to move to Gazipur or Ashulia, somewhere adjacent, and not really going that far out of Dhaka. As things are going, those places could one day be part of Dhaka City. I think the government should take a more active effort to develop other parts of the country to specifically serve one or two industries and improve communication to those parts with major cities such as Chittagong and Dhaka.

From the top of my head, two industries come to mind -
1. Education (Honors and higher), and
2. IT

Both these industries could be lured in with simple incentives. The government could scope out land that would be suitable for universities and keep them priced low, provided, that a university will be set up with the proper measures. The land's development could also be controlled by dictating what amount of land goes into playing fields (considering university level development of future athletes, footblallers and cricketers?) and parks, and what into buildings for classrooms, offices and lodgings. This should be accompanied by a ban on further development of universities in the cities of Dhaka and Chittagong. The capital possessed by anyone preparing to invest to build universities in Dhaka should be more than enough to carry on with the phased development of universities elsewhere. Research in those universities should be directed around potential sectors of its locale.

For IT companies, in this day and age, deliverable items are most likely transferrable online. Technology companies need good infrastructure, and the prime one is good connectivity. The government should consider building up a massive region with proper ground up planning of infrastructure considering consistent power and connectivity. Silicon Valley might have gotten its reputation as a place for technology companies by natural turn of events, but Malaysia used it as a learning experience and built Cyberjaya and its Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) from it. The government actively pursued companies to be part of it, and also universities who specialize in technology to go there and set up. Its a beautiful place, with the proper infrastructure, with everything people need in proximity. Being in the IT industry myself, I am pleased just imagining myself living and working somewhere from where Cox's Bazaar is an hour or hour and a half's drive and all the roads to there and Chittagong or Dhaka are so well made and well kept that the drive back to my hometown of Dhaka is a breeze and even enjoyable! If anyone wouldn't be pleased by the thought of that, then I don't know what! I have seen many signs of "IT Park" or something close to that in the city, where its really just one building! I think if we had a whole expanse of land where office buildings (already constructed) or land (for those with the capital to construct their own) was offered up by the government for a real and true "IT Park", it would have to be something like Cyberjaya, possibly scaled down in different aspects.

We obviously have lots of construction companies working in Dhaka now, and an undertakings such as these could utilize a lot of their expertise, and related industries would also flourish in making this a reality. Once complete, other business opportunities would naturally open up around these areas to support both the companies and the population that reside there.

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Word of the Day: Impugn

impugn \im-PYOON\, transitive verb:
To attack by words or arguments; to call in question; to make insinuations against; to oppose or challenge as false; to gainsay.

Perfect for the way parliament is shaping back to its old days of mud slinging. All hail the golden goose of democracy, blind leading the blind.

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Freedom King Burger Fries with Mustard and Mayo

Go watch a video?

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Old School!

hey! my old school is online! wat a surprise while registering for MySpace!
Go Chittagong Grammar Schoool!

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