Hanging Tight to Our E-Collars

As says Wikipedia:

An Elizabethan collar or space collar (many people call it a cone) is a protective medical device worn by an animal, usually a cat or dog. Shaped like a truncated cone, its purpose is to prevent the animal from biting or licking at its body or scratching at its head or neck while wounds or injuries heal.

The biting and licking is of course prevented by limiting the animal's field of vision.

Moving on, there was an article yesterday in BDNews24 titled:
Twisted between two parties: CEC

Though Mr. Chief Election Commissioner A T M Shamsul Huda shows some love for the smaller parties, at large the concepts of elections and democracy seems to exist as delusions in people's heads when I peep through their ears. Years of shouting 'democracy!' and 'democratic!' is not really enough when people don't see what is happening around them. When I ask people why they vote to have this merry-go-round of AL and BNP going for years, everyone would say what? That there wasn't any other choice, or that we needed a party with experience, or something of that sort.

We've been on this merry-go-round long enough, and by now it should have started to appear, and not just to me, as a downward spiraling roller-coaster where everyone is wishing for it to stop.

Elections produced a government with a majority seats going to one party - and now, if the majority of that voting population who chose the winning team would be opposed to the abolishing of elections under a caretaker government, who would speak for them? BNP is constantly being called to the parliament to 'discuss' these matters instead of holding strikes. Its a sly move on the part of AL since any vote taken inside parliament will go in their favor no matter how much discussions there are. Some of the smaller party members who have become part of the government by forming an alliance with AL can be seen raising caution on matters of the government itself, and they are aware and weary of the situation - they are outnumbered.

I hope people see that there are many other nice shapes and pictures on the ballot paper the next time they look at it besides boats and paddy. So much for your alliances or the 'lesser of two evils' strategy.

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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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The Jokes on Us!

There was a desperate effort during the term of the interim government to try and salvage a few things - like a corruption free political field, and a society led by intellectuals. During that period, they coined a term 'সুশীল সমাজ' (pronounced 'shusheel shomaj' and translates loosely to 'decent society'), which I have seen met with lots of ridicule. To my discredit, I don't get whats so funny!

I laughed when I was a student at a Malaysian university about a decade ago, when I found out there was a subject titled "Moral and Ethics". I laughed since I believed, these are obviously things you pick up at home and just redundant as a university course. Over a few years, I changed my mind on that. Another target of ridicule is that person who has returned from outside and complains about the way things are. I could say if someone has been to a country better off and not found things here worthy of complaining about, then that person has spent time abroad with his vision stuck to the pavements they treaded there.

Lets unfold now from inside out, starting with the complaining individuals who has just returned. Those who complain, has just experienced a different way of doing things which are simpler and more efficient. Hence the complaints. The ridicule, I imagine, comes from not being able to comprehend that point of view. My ridicule for 'Moral & Ethics' as a university subject is definitely not there anymore. Now, I would say we need that kind of a course every year, coupled with extensive community service programs. I don't think people learn how to live as a community at home. I shudder at the thought of what the spineless and corrupted who are amassing large volumes of wealth, or the bitter public servants who are reliant on bribes are teaching their children. As for the term 'সুশীল সমাজ'... It could be possible to use it more casually in a decade to come, when all traits that define 'সুশীল' have disappeared almost completely, to reminisce, for some of us, about times gone by. Those who find it funny now, I see them as a reflection of me laughing at the thought of studying Moral and Ethics in a textbook.

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Corruption: How to fight this Way of Life?

The Prothom-Alo "Bodley Jao, Bodley Dao" billboards once filled the cityscape and airwaves, tv channels. What I thought was a well made campaign and empathized with, also met with a lot of sarcasm from a lot of people. At the same time, a lot of anti-corruption billboards also blocked the skyline along with the usual commercial ones.

Government offices are also adorned with posters with such messages, the same offices where they are still practicing what the the posters are frowning on. This really makes me think that we have no way to fight this! Its so deeply rooted into the characters of these people who get these jobs, after passing the BCS examination, which tests their knowledge on the government and history and I don't know what else.

I can understand that some of us are helpless victims of that corruption, but its also not unusual to find a so-called educated man accept this corruption as a rightful way of life. They would tell you, there is nothing wrong with paying for a service! Imagine going to a restaurant and ordering food, and the waiter is looking the other way and not listening to you, in wait for a bribe to take your order and bring you your food. A payment over the price of the food, the VAT, and Service Charge that the restaurant has set for their services. This is right?

So, for those of us who do think this is wrong, is there really a way to fight back or stop condoning these practices? If a thief who nabs a purse and runs away, can be beaten to death on the streets, what makes us feel that bribery is an acceptable thing?

NOTE: Hope no one responds with a 'Every country has corruption' or 'Everyone Does It' like Mr. Suranjit Sengupta did on TV. I am not looking for excuses and you're blind if you do not see we're taking corruption to a new level.

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E-Content & ICT for Development Award 2010

Found out through Faizul Khan of The Independent that awards were given out for people in the IT industry! Pretty good!

Visit Contest Site

Related:
Ministry of Science and ICT

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The Right to be Right

It seems that one property of a government is they want to be right. I had no idea that the Egyptian people held so much beef against their government, and from the news you can see how hard it was to prove to the government that they were wrong.

Relative to that, we have a news today that the TIB officials who were accused of libel have gotten their bail. Poor chaps tried to gather people's opinions on what the people thought were the most corrupt sectors of country. Through this lawsuit, TIB is being told that they are wrong, and since the TIB report, and subsequently, a portion of the country's people accused mostly government offices of corruption, the government's stance here is that they did, or rather DO, nothing wrong.

Article: TIB officials secure bails

Meanwhile, my last blog about the need for an online account of bribery in the country has led to a reader from India pointing me to this website:
www.ipaidabribe.com! I think This shows a kind of vigilance that is really required in countries where corruption and lawlessness is dangerously a way of life almost!

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Digital Bribetionary

You can dress a worm like a butterfly, but it doesn't change anything. As I collect my thoughts around my recent experiences and a few others of paying taxes, they accumulate into a wish for dissent, and sense of shame of where and what we have come down to.

Our government has tried to pursue its citizens to pay taxes and tried to embed a sense of the greater good of such acts over the years and held a few 'camps' too which would make someone think they're thinking out of the box regarding this. I had myself convinced a long time ago, that I would pay taxes. I had complaints about what the government is doing even then, but I told myself, I have to do this to say that I have done what I can to make this country better.

However, if you're supposed to pay bribes in getting your tax papers processed, and again, to collect the finished tax certificate, you are in a system that has gone really bad. The accounts manager of our office has gone till the manager of the bank where these are handled, only to get a "that's just the way it is" as a response. Alas, their way was accepted and the papers collected for an organization of over 75 employees. I have gotten mine, and I see a stray ']' printed one a blank part of my tax certificate and the slip they provide with the tax id number, says my taxes have been paid for 2010 - 2010! I am fearful that these little things will bite me quite hard the next year.

As we talk of moving into a digital age, assuming we have the power situation fixed by the time we set up the facilities for online financial transactions, we still have time to use the internet to some advantage during this time of lawlessness. I propose a website where you can get the running rates of getting something done to be a 'lawful' citizen. I could say I won't pay taxes as a protest, some corrupt policemen and a corrupt bureaucracy will no doubt come and arrest me for breaking the law. So, why not make it easier for ourselves and get a website going where everyone can see and update the rates of bribes for getting things done at the government offices! I would truly love that. Describe the process, how much for the desk clerk, how much for the senior official?



More Tales:
At BRTA, corrupt staff flaunt license to bribe:
Article from The Independent, Aug, 2010
A Look at DMCH:
Article Archived in Facebook
A Probe into Power Abuse by Dhaka Police
Human Rights Solidarity Website
The policeman and the Fish Truck:
Demotix Article, Jan 12, 2011
Rehash of 'that' TIB Report:
Dhaka Mirror Article, Dec 24, 2010
দুর্নীতি দমন: কাগুজে বাঘের হুংকারে আর লাভ হবে না:
Prothom Alo Editorial, Today

Most reports out there are for very major corruption and graft cases, and there is really no fully reported account of what a common man will have to do just for yearly survival and interacting with the public service sector.

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Vote Choices - Strategic Coalitions - Democracy

AL or BNP

?

NOTE: The author is busy collecting his thoughts.
A blog post will be posted soon.
Please enjoy the illustrations in the meantime.
Do come back soon!

(Photos:
Prothom Alo,
January 5, 2011)

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A Tablet, Not a Pill

Apple has the qualities of a trendsetter. They had their iPhones out, and every company knew, they had to do it! Same is happening with their iPads!

Just in this week: Motorola Xoom Tablet Unveiled At CES 2011 They have also separated their mobile development unit into a share selling entity: Motorola Mobility.

Whereas Apple has their own platform, the iOS, Samsung and a few others have been quick to adopt the Android platform. Android is brought to us by the good people of Google, and it really gave the other companies a good start in creating both touch phones, and tablets that contend with the popular Apple devices.

Samsung have been advertising in India a lot, which of course catches our eye, and just like Motorola, Dell and a few others have entered this field: Apple iPad Alternatives from Amazon, HP, Dell and More.

I remember I saw the first tablet PC back in 2003 or 2004, which was an HP. A friend who worked for a German buying house was given one from their office for their work. Its not anything new, but of course, Apple has the magic touch - or gives everyone the magic of touch. Their interfaces are good looking, easy, and usable. Android has created the equivalent of the experience of that magic, where others are still trying, had tried or starting to use Android.

Who Invented the First Tablet PC?

I am not a fan of tablets. Not as yet. They're handier than a laptop, but you'd still need a bag to carry around, and be mobile, so to speak. I was thinking of getting a netbook a while back, but had already gotten rid of that idea. Right now I am just contemplating the Motorolla Droid 2 Global instead - a good phone with the perks of touch technology, and a full keyboard so I can blog and do other tasks on the internet.

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The Good Looking Salesman

We've had a lot of software producers in the country since the 90's, and recently the PM when doing her selling bid during the last election created a lot of (or some, if you don't like exaggeration) talk, with her promise of a "Digital Bangladesh".

As of now, we're still not able to make financial transactions online, but we hear that Bangladesh Bank has made some progress and we will hopefully be able to use credit/debit cards online soon. And we hope so cuz there are now many sites where we could use this to good use, of course once we also establish a good delivery system.

CellBazaar and ClickBD are probably the oldest of the classifieds sites. GoromCha is new and I love the way it looks. There are lots more, click on the logos on the image above, and see for yourself. The newer ones obviously have lower number of listings, and some also have usability problems. Most of them list things from cellphones to land! Job listings are also available in some.

There are also specialized sites listing only cars, or real estate. There is actually quite a few of the latter, as the land and construction industry is growing without bounds, as it should not be. I found another interesting site called Expat Blog for anyone who is living outside of his or her country. They also have a classifieds section for the sake of those in the same country.

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In the mood for food?

My reputation is of having really strong reactions to small negatives that often don't bother many people. The following may as well fall into that category. My general feeling of visiting most restaurants is that I am paying for their rent. The prices are high, and do not translate into good food, or good service. Waiters can be pushy or unfriendly, and most of the times I raise an issue, I am met with a debate I cannot even fathom, let alone win.

Advertising in most fast food places probably get their images from Google, and they don't represent what they offer!

The anatomy of a burger. A bun, and a little piece of meat that fit well into it, and some old salad.

I do however have a few picks which I'll recommend to anyone I know:

Roll Xpress: This place in Banani is one floor below the place where I took the burger pic above. Roll Xpress, as its name suggests specializes in kebabr rolls! These are quite tasty and filling, and priced appropriately. You can sit outside and enjoy your food or inside. Its a good looking place, and the staff are very accomodating. Oh, they've got free WiFi too if you're technologically inclined.

Shawarma House: Just like R. Xpress, they specialize in what they put in their title. I actually went there quite often, and always wondered how their waiters could come to a table of 8 or 12 without any pencil or paper and not mess up their orders! The food and drinks here are really good, and prices affordable. I don't know if they are going through some management changes since the last two times I was there, I saw none of the staff that I recognize, and they did mess up the order!

Nandos: If you've had Nando's in another country, you might say the ones in Dhaka do not taste the same. Even then, it is a place where you can still have a good meal considering everything else around it. The places are well lit, well decorated, and their staff do their best to accommodate the customers.

Bar-B-Q Tonite:: If you're on road 27 in Dhanmondi, you can very well blow off Nando's to go to BBQ Tonight! Its the first place I had "romali ruti" (Handerchief Roti, thin and big round tortilla-like delight), and its the only place I want to have it. They have a one page menu, and they do it all very well. Their chicken tikka is the best in town for me! They have fast service, and and option to sit outside or air conditioned indoors.

Spaghetti Jazz: This is my favorite place for pizza. Though they've raised their prices recently, their flavors are still unbeaten by the others in my opinion. Their steaks and soups are alright too.

@Corner: I think its a funny name for a Thai restaurant, or rather the best Thai restaurant in Dhaka! I just love their soup, and have not had one time where something was below par. Consult their waiters about how much heat from spices and chilly you can stand when you order. You can also check their chilli meter on the menu - from zero to three chillis beside the dish's name to give you an idea of how much heat its packing.

As I heard from a colleague who has just returned from Thailand, about how inexpensive and good the food was during his trip, he got out the worst in me ... ranting, again, about our local restaurants. The truth is, in countries like Malaysia and Thailand, a large part of the population in cities eat out. A busy lifestyle where the majority of the people in a household is working leaves none at home to cook for others, and the resulting demand for places to eat out creates a market where food's quality is good and prices are affordable for daily consumption.

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Everybody does it!

TIB or Transparency International Bangladesh recently put out a survey which asked a question in the line of: Which service institution is the most corrupt you think?

Of course, what the people said outraged our ministers and broadly speaking, the government. A reaction that almost sounded like a "How dare you people! We are the government"*. Thats how I perceived it, and that was laid down in concrete last night watching RTV's Road to Democracy.

The panel had AL's Mr. Suranjit Sengupta, whose response to the whole thing was a song and dance routine which went like "Every democracy's got corruption! Even developed countries! Your survey's whack!" The survey, he complained, wasn't specific enough, not actionable. The TIB guy to this replied that the detailed report was not printed in newspapers (obviously), but is available on their website and he is happy and willing to make it available to him. To that, he just repeated himself in a louder voice, as you would expect loudmouth politicians to talk.

Here's the thing - the survey reflected what people's perceptions are of the system. If even a majority 6000 people say its true, there has to be something that needs looking into! Its not unheard of, its not unseen ... walking into most government banks (haven't been there in a while), police station**, BRTA, etc., will only give you a sense of chaos resulting from a lack of information - Which counter? Where do I start? Who do I talk to? If you find someone to talk to, what do you do if they won't give you the time of day and act human? Short of slapping the guy and getting arrested, are you expected to run off to write a complaint with someone? Where to go? The ACC? The police? Can you afford, at a time when you need to get something important done, to run around and setting things straight which should've been straight to start with? Hence the bribe or a dalal who are middlemen of the service sector.

I had hoped the government would take such a survey, no matter how faulty or inaccurate, and just humor us with an attempt to get to the root of it. I would be calmer now. Why does TIB have to tell you where exactly things are going wrong Mr. Sengupta? Most of the offices are filled with corruption and grave mismanagement and extremely bad processes, which when looked at, even a slightly bright matriculate student could suggest better solutions to!

* Some of them also tried to refute TIB's survey on intellectual grounds - like the authenticity of the survey regarding how many people were interviewed and so on.

** I once took a GD to Ramna station, where an officer accused me of not taking enough care in my writing! When I asked if it'd be alright if i corrected the text in place, he was appalled, accusing me that I wouldn't be this careless if I was writing something to the bank. He was offended! In fact, yes, the private bank I frequent would be much more accommodating to me Mr. Officer! When I asked for a piece of paper so I could rewrite it, he said they don't have any! Imagine that...

Since the mushrooming of satellite channels here, there has been a trend of politically charged talk shows. They have all been quite successful in getting people of power and heights in their guest chairs and also giving people the chance of joining in and putting forward their views via phone, sms or emails.What drew most of us in about these programs were the fact that they were raising points and debates that we are usually deprived of from our regular parliamentary proceedings. Also, historically, we've always had one in power - AL or BNP, and the other in opposition, and usually missing from parliament on some grounds, that the one in power will help carve using the mud they hold against each other. The mud slinging is also taken onto the screen sometimes in programs such as Channel I's তৃতীয় মাত্রা or 'The Third Level' which is debate centric and where many episodes saw two ministers from the opposite sides sit on either side of the host. Amusing to say the least.BBC's Sanglap was also commendable.

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Show me the Videos!!!

Well, i was gonna rant that there are no good music videos out there... then i realized that in this poor country, albums only get released, artists starve or work or live on inheritance (mostly), and the publishers take no 'extra' steps in promoting an album other than putting on some lousy posters. Demographics, and Marketing, mean nothing to them! So, lets forget about them.

I was watching the South Asian TV channel whose name i cannot remember at the moment and thus cannot link, and saw a pretty well done music video for a band in Nepal. There are quite a few talented film makers around now in Dhaka and I am sure they'd be able to make good ones if asked to.

Heres one low tech video I enjoyed, candid and all... if someone would just ask the vocalist to not fix his hair... enjoy:

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Today. Any Day.

Fire-fighters could not start a full-scale rescue operation even three hours into the incident as the lanes around the building are too narrow for rescue vehicles to pass.
Leakage in gas pipes and snapped electricity cables made the rescue work risky, said the deputy commissioner.

(The Daily Star)

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Out of the Box/Home Grown Solutions

"বাক্সে বাক্সে বন্দী বাক্স"
- অর্ণব-এর গান

I don't know what that song is actually referring to, but I remember we played it a lot when we actually put our years and years of life from Chittagong into boxes to move to Dhaka in July 2007.

Anyway, I am reminded of this song again, as I sit here and think of "Thinking out of the box". Where I am headed could be paralleled with HSBC's marketing campaigns where they claim to be "The World's Local Bank". Their ad campaigns showed two items or themes and they would both be the same thing, but in different contexts - the international, and the local.

Instead of prolonging further this introduction, let me get to the point: We need our own solutions to our problems! Think outside the box! Don't go for the obvious! Think about the local situation, the local mindset, the local environment, and costs before taking a decision. I am going to follow up these advisory statements with some ideas, which may very well be just the foolish rants of a lunatic who failed to read the "Don't Step on the Grass" sign.

Traffic Lights.
We spent a lot of effort, time, and money on putting up traffic lights all over town, and that was years and years ago, and we upgraded them in between also with some fancy stuff from Italy as I remember reading some years back. As it is now, there are traffic policemen on every road's end to contain the traffic. The red - light and orange go on and on and it doesn't really affect anything, since people are impatient and could care less for the law, and it actually takes a traffic policeman coming in front of the moving cars to stop them. 4 men at every crossroad (not uncommon these days to see traffic controllers at ends of alleyways inside residential and commercial areas either).

My big idea here is, instead of going with the rest of the world and the electronic traffic lights, why couldn't we have just put up those barriers that stop the cars in front of train lines?


Wonder how much costs we could have saved by putting these up, when there is already issues of sustainable power supply for this ever-expanding city of ours.

City Rail.
Having said that Dhaka is 'ever-expanding', if detailed you would notice its growing taller also as well as sideways. Sideway growth is to an extent good, but the fact remains that the number of businesses and apartments are growing tremendously inside the existing city limits and the roads are filling up with new cars every day. The situation is helped to some extent with lots of bus services around, but I would comment that they are almost 'inhuman' with their small seating spaces, and their mistreatment of passengers. Their sole goal to maximize profits, and they don't care how they do it, resulting in dangerously packed buses (sometimes very visibly leaning to one side), and dangerous driving to get places faster. So, them being there still takes up the road spaces and we are running low on road space. Hence the current declaration of projects to build expressways and overhead light rail trains to curb our congestion. Again, we are possibly looking at a few years' commitment, costs and not to mention, expanding travel ways don't necessarily take care of the growing city's increasing demand on utilities: power, gas and water.

We do however have rail tracks already running through the city, from Komlapur where the train station is to Uttora, and it runs through various key areas of the city - Moghbazar, Mohakhali, etc, ultimately stopping at somewhere in Uttora before finally heading out of the city. We could easily deploy some carriers and arrange the timings of the intercity carriers to accomodate them. Next, all we'd need are planned train stops, some kind of ticketing booth and waiting areas. I am no civil engineer or city planner, but seems to be, this could be worth looking into.

Bigger projects are however more lucrative, I suppose, for local leaders and international financial institutions, and we will always have that dilemma. Its pretty outside the box where ideas are just flowing and growing, but inside the box, the walls are high and slippery.
Get Pro Active Mrs. Government.

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পৃথিবী/Pale Blue Dot

পৃথিবী

গোলাকার এক পাথরে চেপে বসে আছি সবাই
ঘুরছি ঘুরছি দিন যায় দিন .. ঘুরছি সবাই
হাসি কান্না সুখ দুঃখ ভালবাসা ঘৃণায়

পৃথিবী

মানুষে অমানুষে মিশে মিলে সবাই
করি ভেদাভেদ অর্থ, রং, ধর্ম, রাজনীতি মিলায়
টানো দাগ আজ হয়ে যাক মিটমাট টানো দাগ

পৃথিবী

গ্রহ নক্ষত্র ভাসছে ভাসছি সবাই
লিখে চলি অদ্ভূত গান জেনেও যে গাবেনা সবাই
আমি তুমি তোমরা ... .... আমরা সবাই

পৃথিবী

Commentary by Carl Sagan
[as read on Wikipedia]

Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.

[gratitude: Khaotic Mind]

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Live Games: A Walk to the Bank

DISCLAIMER: This won't make any sense if you'd never taken a walk down a Dhaka city area. :D

Sure, its not a catchy title like "Halo" or "Wolfenstein" .. but its every bit as thrilling and challenging as those games.

Your Mission: Walk to the bank on Kemal Ataturk Ave. to pay off Credit bills, or else you get charged with a Late Fine! oh crap! Start from Bonani Road 4. Sure, tis a small walk, but just as deadly as Operation Desert Storm.

Your Obstacles:
Potholes: It has rained last night, and unlike the visible gathering of rain on roadsides due to bad drainage, these potholes are cheeky, take your head off the road for a sec, and you could get your leather footwear all dirty, and maybe smelly too!

Rickshaws: Incoming and sneaking up behind you... they're like playful little puppies running down the streets, left, right, and barking, but make no mistake, they are not sweethearts. Get out of their way with a ninja's agility to preserve your life force.

Smell: Oh, whats that smell!? Block your nose with your hands within a second of detecting that perverse smell of a mixed bag of rotten things. If you don't do this within a second, because of your attention getting focused on other simultaneous obstacles, you lose your life-force every second that passes!

Manholes: Round deathtraps and sometimes they are also disguised as squares! Make sure you don't get your feet in or worse while watching a rickshaw or the occasional pretty girl crossing the street! Focus! Come on!!!!

Pedestrians: May as well call them Zombies, for they won't budge from their routes. So jump left and right to avoid them and make your way to your destination.

This is your challenge and you have to accept it. Why not put on an imaginary virtual reality headgear and visualize your life force and controls you have to use to get your bills paid or go get some lunch! ...if you're not driving that is, or taking a rickshaw (better be on the offensive eh?)

Just another perk of an overpopulated city.

Cheers!

PS. This idea is borrowed from the scene in "The Beach" where Leonardo di Caprio is going through some similar visions while going nuts alone in the jungle.

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Oscar Wilde's Website

What an interesting world we live in! Or die in!

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Paris, je'taime > New York, I Love You

I thought Paris, I Love You was a brilliant film, and it came at a time when I was finding it hard to find the attention span to watch most movies. The concept of having film makers work on short films around a subject itself was brilliant, and the result was really excellent stories told without any unnecessary elongation.



Now, I just found out that a New York, I Love You is going to be released also! Looking forward to that!

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Rock 303, Buy it? Take it?

Finally, my band Rhee has gotten somewhere, and that is at the 13/14 place on a CD that was released on the 19th of September, 2009. This was a marvelous effort from Jewel of Miles/X Factor fame, who is a brilliant guitarist and producer. In a rush, he accepted 120 demos, and then chose 32 out of them primarily, and recording was arranged for them, and based on the quality of the song and recording, 28 bands got published in two albums: Rock 202, and Rock 303. These are a followup to his first arrangement Rock 101. But already, the consensus is that Rock 202/303 is the best rock compilation to have ever been released so far.

A lot of people were asking however, whether the songs are available online, or if I could pass them a copy of the song. One asked specifically, are you getting anything out of it? If yes, I'll buy the CD, otherwise I'll download it. The truth is, the band doesn't have any formal agreements about with the producers of this album. Donno if any of the bands do! All we get out of this is publicity (*?), and the recognition. It does feel good to be picked, and seeing all the bands around, you know exactly how you need to improve, step up your game, get serious.

I think theres a bad cycle involved when it comes to Rock and other subgenres which are loud, and edgy. There are artists like Momtaz, Asif, Habib, Balam, who enjoy a larger audience, and thus have a lot of sales and make the executive producers, labels happy. My theory is that their demographic also has the least amount of downloaders/freeloaders. And they also enjoy additional demand from tv, and movies etc. For Rock music, already with a marginal audience, has the most amount of people who download, listen to mp3 and thus share more. Also, there is the mixed feeling about whether the money spent on the CD is actually reaching the artist(s).

* The rock bands and other artist of such genres also have their works released to no efforts at publicity on the part of their labels! its mostly a lose - lose situation for the artist, with only the satisfaction of having released something to be gained. What do the labels gain from this? They must gain something out of it, my theory is that its not enough (according to their profit accountants) to pass on to the artists for them. My theory is that the fans of these bands need to 'create' a favorable market for their favorite artists by buying their albums and making sure, others around them are buying them. That's my theory. Whats yours?

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Kado Bangali Kado!

Wah! AL whenever it comes to power, does some branding gimmicks. It tries to name everything after the leader's father and her other relatives' names! Well, there was really no reason to have thought this time would be different, even though with the way the elections came about, I was almost convinced they had realized there were more urgent matters at hand.

The one I thought was sad was -
The Bangladesh - China Friendship Conference Center, which was changed to "Bangabondhu Memorial Hall" ... undermining the goodwill shown by a fellow country, the result of which was this beautiful convention center (really one of a kind in terms of space and design in dhaka, or maybe just a few grades above the Osmani Milonayoton Hall, tho the latter's auditorium has better acoustics).

Aug 15 was declared as a national day of mourning, which is fine, and then the month as the national month of mourning! And so in lieu of that started the now power blessed AL's programs... which apparently included covering up the gate to the Banani graveyard with posters of Sk. Mujibur Rahman, and to put up banners everywhere with the words "Kado Bangali Kado".

The show of respect from any sane person I thought should have differed from this. The graveyard has graves of many people, and to cover up its gate with the pictures of one person no matter how great he might be, is really sycophancy to the extreme - in my opinion, breaking the sanctity of a graveyard.

I found the statement "Kado Bangali Kado" quite interesting also. Our grief regarding the country's welfare, and political situation is heavy, to the point that people laugh about it, suggesting no real solution exists, and the laughter to an extent has elements of mad despair. To a level, I even found the statement insulting... how dare they?

All night long from the night of the 14th, someone started playing Sk. Mujib's powerful speech that really shook the nation's consciousness before our liberation war. They put out mics and broadcasted it all night! The love and respect that people feel for the man, and the power and strong nationalism that was in that speech, I think they both get diminished with this kind of display. People are trying to sleep and someone is blasting that all throughout the night. If they arranged a hearing of the speech instead, at the Ramna park from morning, so that people could gather in one place and listen to that speech, it would have been more appropriate, and maybe would have rekindled someone's sense of nationalism*. I would say that would have been a more sensible way of paying respect to the man, and his words.

Alas, its difficult to judge how much of this is actual paying of respect, and how much of it is just a vulgar display of power. Some women will say that they dress for each other, comparing styles of clothes or make up or whatever ... observing the power play between BNP and AL kinda gives you some understanding of that... Khaleda Zia really started having big bashful birthday parties (even 5 year olds would be jealous) ever since Aug 15 was declared a day of mourning! (More related to this here) And I laugh everytime I pass by Crescent Lake (Chondrima Uddan) thinking how the AL govt. moved the bridge from that venue when a bridge in some village broke to replace it! Every member of both parties... take a bow! Really!



* Nationalism, the way I see it around me mostly, is just about saying some things, and singing some songs, and other forms of ritualistic showings, without any commitment to actions that help the country or society.

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News!

Back when i was in school, we first started getting CNN. Cable tv was not there at the time and we used to get free broadcast of CNN for some portion of the morning in the same stream where our national tv would start broadcast at around 5 pm everyday.

Now, with cable tv everywhere, CNN can be seen in a new light. I have to say first of all, that I am not sure, whether programming is different in other parts of Asia or what, but I start comparing CNN now, mainly because I have Al Jazeera to compare with! BBC could be compared in the same light, they were once a good source of news, still not too bad.

Now, the channel of choice when it comes to news is Al Jazeera, and while watching I always get this in my head "Hmmmm, I wonder what CNN is showing!". This is how I found out 2 mornings ago, that Michael Jackson had died. Sad news, but also, the ONLY news almost for the whole day on CNN on that day! I guess I also don't compare BBC that much in these scenarios, coz of the way my tv is programmed... Al Jaz and CNN are next to each other, a click away.

CNN feels the need to be able to entertain with their shows, more than really covering what is happening in the world. They bring what is happening in the USA to the world, and nothing to take back I guess.

Al Jazeera has news of every country's elections, and sometimes has people with conflicting views on a single program that really help to show the two sides of the coin. Their music shows, go all over the world, and bring you really interesting views of all kinds of music scenes from around the globe, their philosophies and struggles and does not only focus on the best selling music category. Their show about movies is the same and has really great interviews.

CNN's news has lost all appeal to me, and the time I watch CNN is to catch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, who is really funny, and his show is brought to CNN courtesy of Comedy Central!

For Some Other Viewpoints:
Is It Al-Jazeera Or CNN International?
CNN to Al Jazeera: Why Report Civilian Deaths?
CNN's Anderson Cooper: What’s up with Al-Jazeera’s phone?

Jon Stewart:

(Thanks to Rajiv bhai for the lead on this. Apparently, the show Crossfire shut down after Jon Stewart's appearance and critique!)

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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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Target Group: Generation Halum

Went yesterday to buy a phone. I'd say it like that and not "went to buy a Nokia E63", thats how I am. Anyway, when i reached Shopper's World where Nokia has their sales center, I saw a big line of people standing outside! Today is the launch of the Nokia 5800, and they have all come for it! I asked one of the Nokia staff if I could go into the shop, and as they said, I'd have to stand in line! So, I did what my logic told me was right, Come back in the evening.

The shop was quite quiet in the evening, with the Nokia staff hanging around, young kids wearing cool Nokia uniforms, not many customers in sight. So I grabbed one of them and asked if I could see a Nokia E63, the young kid replied that they didn't have any, and that he could show me a brochure. Then he told me they are only selling Nokia 5800s today! What?! That didn't make sense and was a little infuriating for me, after all, its my second trip to that same shop in one day!

This is a post where I am ranting, and the major cause of that is not because of what I described above, but because of the following. I had approached the sales staff in Bangla, coz, thats the language that is spoken in Bangladesh! That's where we were, and the kid was replying me in English every time! I could have talked in English to him fine, but I just kept talking in Bangla to see how long exactly he'd keep it up, and he went all the way. His english wasn't all that great to suggest thats his first language, or his very best second option, but he did it. Maybe he'd be fired otherwise? I don't know, but I think its because they were instructed to do so. I imagine they had a big meeting beforehand, where they brought out statistics and discussed their target market for the Nokia 5800, the group of young people, who are cool, dress in the latest (or a decade old in USA or Europe) fashion, and talk in english, cuase they are smaart (!@#!@%!%)... or whatever! haha... shit, i matched most of that description didn't I, except I was talking in Bangla, and I found it quite insulting that a sales force could be trained to ignore Bangla like that! Sheesh!

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Political Role Model for 3rd World Countries?

Local newspaper "The Daily Star" had a title on the front page yesterday, something to the effect of "A US lesson for Bangladesh in positive politics ". While I myself admire the political attitudes as reflected through their presidential debates, their speeches and the focus given to the 'issues' at these times, politics is much more than speeches and elections*.

In terms of choosing a role model for politics, shouldn't we rather go with UK? In recent turnouts, there is the Economic Breakdown (was that a headline...? maybe it was termed differently), and that led to an Economic Bailout (definitely a headline). Apparently, the govt. hired private companies to handle the plan and there were no conditions given to the receiving banks, which led to some of them planning expansion with that money, and some to plan executive bonuses. Read More Here. In contrast to that, the UK bailout plan had necessary measurements to protect the taxpayers' money.

I recently caught Sicko on tv, and there was some scenes of patients waiting for treatment outside a US hospital, not unlike the horrible scenes at the DMC here! There is this whole hodge podge of health insurance and whatnot. Why strive for that when we can strive for universal healthcare** like the NHS in the UK? Its taken out on taxpayers and everyone gets free medical treatment, and almost free medicine. Even tourists there don't have to pay for healthcare!

My final point is that of a demand on the part of media and the people for accountability of the political offices. At the time of the wars on terror, one has to say Bush had smooth sailing if we compare what Tony Blair had to do for supporting that war. He had to appear before a committee and defend his decisions and that was broadcast over the news channels. Even when I happened to be there (December '06), there were posters all over London announcing another such session.

All 3rd world countries probably hold USA in high esteem, and frankly, we don't really see much of anyone else from here. USA's media exports are ubiquitious, unlike any other country. During the election, all news except the US election went to the ticker scrolling at the bottom of the screen. But, really, if we are looking for a political role model, we should really look around a bit more.


* You should remember the time when Al Gore lost in elections under some strange circumstances. The events were dramatized into a movie called Recount.
**US is supposed to be the only industrialized nation without universal healthcare.

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Mike Myers for pres

Y'day McCain was on CNN describing his plans for rescuing the financial institutions and the US economy from their downfall, and all the while, i kept thinking that his manner of speaking resembled someone. All the thinking led to the character of Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series of movies! :) Its mostly how stiff his upper body is and his arm motions when he is stating points. The voice too I think.

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Spike Lee Joints are great

after a winding day at work (on a weekend), i came home pretty tired and listless, and luckily i had a movie to make it all better - Inside Man. the movie started off with a hindi song!!! and then the words "A Spike Lee Joint" flashed on the screen... and that just made my day.

Its not the first Spike Lee film i saw, but it was the first time this line amused me so much. i have to say, i forgot all about it. inside man wasn't the greatest spike movie, but it had that style, the urban soundtrack, and occassional pipes, the brilliance of Denzel Washington, and Clive Owen etc.

My favorite Spike Lee movies have to be Mo' Betta Blues and He Got Game though.

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Sports Car

Ha ha ha
i laugh at u people
with sports cars in dhaka
stuck behind a rickshaw
zero to sixty
only in your dreams

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Junk Mail Greatest Hits

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Sightseeing: Paris, France.

Summer 2006, me and Fuad went on a trip to France (Paris, Varseilles, and Carcassone) and Spain (Andalucia + Barcelona and Madrid). This video is of the sights i recorded while in Paris, with my sony dsc-s40. thus the video quality is not soo good.

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Today is...

I have added the "On This Day" feed from reference.com to my iGoogle page, and everyday (everyday that i remember to check it) that tells me something that happened on that day. Also, each day they give you a stark reminder of how time passes:

Today is Tuesday, April 8, 2008. This is the 99th day of the year, with 267 days remaining in 2008.

What am I to do!?

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Our Right to Information Ordinance (2008)

From the Daily Star I learn today that the government is taking views from the public about the proposed Right to Information Ordinance (2008). The Ministry of Information has a website, and they are supposed to provide the information there about the ordinance, and other things, and the Daily Star has published a list of emails where people can send in their opinions:
www.moisecretary@yahoo.com
addsecmoi@yahoo.com
isadmn_moi@yahoo.com
jsdev_moi@yahoo.com (jsdev = javascript developer?!?#$!@)
jsbmoi@yahoo.com
The site works on IE, and on my firefox (iceweasel) I saw
<%@ Language=JavaScript %>
But all you firefox weasels, you can still ‘view source’ and get the info if you really want to know what the govt. is upto. To save some trouble, here are the links:
http://www.moi.gov.bd/moimenu.htm - Links relating to MOI. Here you will find a link to the ordinance. Its in a .doc format, and in Bangla, which I couldn’t open to view.
http://www.moi.gov.bd/left_menu.htm - Various Links (includes BTV, BD Betar, FDC etc.)
http://www.moi.gov.bd/Footer.htm - Will reveal who is responsible for the atrocity of a website.
http://www.moi.gov.bd/telephone.html - Their 'Contact Us' page, very elaborate with even the home addresses of their members! Not too smart.

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Corruption: Overrated

Underrated: Lame Bureaucracy (or a very Lame Work Culture)

"Why do it today, when there is tomorrow?"

"I must send an official letter to my boss, who will send a letter to his boss, and then his, and then the approval must come down the proper channels before I can give you your birth certificate"

"Its procedure"

"Please have a seat while I talk to my cousins on the phone about the birthday party last night"

"Lets have many meetings and not really do anything"

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Women's Day

(Photo Credit: Istela Imam)

It maddens me when I meet some people in my country who by default undermines a woman's ability to do a certain job. It is unwarranted. So, when my father and I were waiting for my mother and sister to get registered as voters, we met someone like that. As it happened, male operators were taking care of the male voter wannabes (unsuitable? probably), and female operators were taking care of the female wannabe voters. As it also happened, my father and I were done in a jiffy, and had to wait quite a long time for my mom and sister to come out. I asked a male guard there why it was taking so long, and it was then when he made his remark about women. I told him he was wrong, and that there was no reason that it should take so long, just because the operators there were women. I thought I had made my point. Then again, I didn't know that our wait was to be a lot longer still.

I asked them when they were finally done "what took so long?". So, as it happened the operators were slower and did take longer! That made me realize, that a woman's ability is still not a question here. I think society's treatment of women also play a large role here. If girls grow up in an environment where nothing is expected of them, they will not grow to explore their potential, or be aware of it. The 'default undermining' is our society's view of women, and that largely affects the outcome of the women workforce. Its not uncommon to find women with engineering or medicine or other educational qualifications just doing nothing afterwards. The expectations sometimes are that they will be educated but not needed to work. The demand/supply of arranged marriages play a strong role in this situation, or simply rather loose hypocritical viewpoint of the educated parents.

Whatever, it may be, I know there are women out there who are offering so much to this society and the world at large, and I hope the future 'woman' chooses the right role model and gets to see that there is much they can do.

Lastly, a few links:
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Is Islam Really Stuck in the 12th Century on Women's Rights?

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Rives Def Jam

Poetry from the school for the deaf

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Cholochitro.com

Finally, found a website that is keeping the glory days (or sane days) of Bangladesh's cinema catalogued. Do have a look.

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Fair Enough?

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LLLogic

Something is better than nothing, but nothing is better than the best!
Then, something is better than the best! Then nothing must be better than the best.

I guess the only illogical concept here is that of 'best'.

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Strictly Stupid

If someone asked me at 13 for what pops up in my mind when i hear "rules", I'd probably say "Rules were meant to be broken". Its a knock off of "Records were meant to be broken" I suppose, but it was very popular at the time when breaking rules at school seemed like the logical choice.

Now, in the real world, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, I still find people clueless to the whole purpose of rules. People are breaking rules that matter and abiding strongly to little ones that defy reason. Very little thought goes into achieving efficiency.

Last time i faced such nuisance was when i ordered a cake from Coopers. I wanted a two story chocolate fudge cake (yes i did) and they showed me a brochure with pictures of three white and blue wedding cakes and i chose one as a model to follow for my cake. I soon realized from talking to the Coopers guy that they plan to cover my chocolate cake with white icing and pink flowers to look exactly like the one in the pic. Why? Its a rule. I tried to reason with him, that i didn't want white and pink on my chocolate cake (that should be a rule), you can just do without it and put chocolate shavings on as decorations the way they would if i order it just flat! No can do. Was it written in stone? I guess it was and used as a foundation to the building Coopers existed in.

People limit themselves everyday, following baseless rules. Our government is quite famous for it, their bureaucracy or red tape. I say, its time to break these rules. Lets think for a minute why we do what we do!

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Sunday Bloody Sunday

My XMMS shuffle played Sunday Bloody Sunday today, and I realized, it is sunday. For a person who often forget which day he is living, it comes as a nice surprise at times to find out which day it is. The song had these lines:
"When fact is fiction and tv reality" (full lyrics)

and it made me think of the movie I watched last night called Wag the Dog. It started with a silly question of why does the dog wag its tail or something... and it finished all of a sudden but in between it was total amusement and grins. A president is accused of improper sexual behavior by a girl just 11 days short of the election and its upto Robert De Niro to save him. He takes the help of Dustin Hoffman and his colleagues who work in hollywood to stage a distraction for the public. The distraction in the form of a ghost war with Albania takes the heat of the issue of sexual allegations.

This movie was made in 1997, but watching De Niro and Hoffman plot the war will make you feel like this is where they got the idea for the Iraq war and the last threat on Iran. I see from IMDB the movie is based on a book. The movie is a political satire, and made me laugh. But there is also a hint of a feeling of desparation as I feel that this is how the world works these days in the age of high powered media.

Also starring: Woody Harrelson, Anne Heche, and Willie Nelson!

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New Heights of Vanity

Pimped water? Bling H2O? you are a unique snowflake.. yes you are!

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Buy Nothing Day!

Just found out another 'day' is out there. It was started in Canada as a day to raise awareness about over consumption, or over-consumerism~

The Horse's Mouth

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Write

I envy those who write
Write so well
Even if no one else reads it, it is there for themselves to look at. Later
The instruments are the pen and paper and things stay once put out
I wish I could make the music stay
Between my fingers and the strings, the things that come out flutter
Then its gone.
Later I struggle to remember, that chord, that note, the pull, that slide and the strum, and the beat that was in my head
A recorder could be my paper
But it isn't as white
And not as inviting

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তানিম ভালই অাছে

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Speaking of Ironies...

Equal opportunities is a big deal. The awareness however outside the seminars and talk shows are probably not so high. I guess so, since this happened -

Female equality ombudsman gets lower pay than male predecessor

Of course, it could also be bad timing... and she joined right in the time of budget cuts.

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Unplanned crash

It was one of those nights, when I had the sincerest intention to go to sleep early, and then the movie channel that almost never plays any good movies starts playing that movie I have been planning to see one more time. Crash. It is such a brilliant film, and takes you through a whole range of emotions - sadness, anger, triumph, hope, happiness. It is also a beautiful film, especially near the ending with the burning car. Brilliant.

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Children's Stories

Not everyone's stories are told. Some have their stories told over and over again.

www.picturebalata.net/

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Aha

'Aha' is an expression in bangla that is used to express sadness. When someone says that so and so had an accident, you can make a face and say 'aha'. Enamul Karim Nirjhar's film is titled 'Aha!'.

This is not a mainstream movie, thus, those who don't like 'slow' movies can just exclude yourselves. For those who can take the right mood to this movie, it will be enjoyable. It has good characters, and a marvelous old house in Old Dhaka whose history is now forever tied to this movie. It was demolished soon after the shooting of the movie was complete. It would have been destroyed sooner otherwise. The only two characters that didn't sit well with me is Ruba, the daughter of the owner of the house (played by Tariq Anam) and Asif, a distant nephew of the Tariq Anam's character played by Dhaliwood film star Ferdous. It is poor casting anytime this guy is put in movies like this. I fear though it has to do with promoting the movie to the usual movie goers or calcutta audiences (It could even be that my personal dislike for him is causing me to speculate too much :) ). Fazlur Rahman Babu played his part as Soleiman, the caretaker of the house, with extreme accuracy. He portrayed the simply complicated nature of interactions that a majority of our countrymen display. Maybe the fine moment was when he refuses to let a bunch of architecture students (interested in the old architecture of the house) to enter the house. Humayun Faridi was brilliant also as Kisslu (or Kissy Kissy Kisslu), a middle aged man who spends his days doing nothing, and has an underwear collection of bright colors.

There are many conflicts in this movie, and not all of them wrap up in the end, and the story survives as long as the house is standing. Within that time however, portraits of everyday life issues are painted.

@IMDB

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Note.

We nearly hit a rickshaw, and in the aftermath nearly hit a curb. The hired hand behind the wheel still speeds on. I don't say anything. How often do I get to speed home like this? Its after the holidays. Its always a bit different after this holiday. Things will be back to normal right after this weekend. Even the wind feels cool and fresh thanks to the recent rainfall.

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Neuz & PS - Man of the Year.

Summer Camp Teaches U.S. Teens To Fight Israeli Style

Nigeria fights Pfizer in court

PS. Saw a wonderful movie last night, called Man of the Year starring Robin Williams and Christopher Walken. A summary would be that a comedian runs for the presidency. Its surreal, sure, but if you are an idealist, you'll see the ironies.

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Visa? Not TODAY!

Just came back from the embassy for the dreamland, land of oppurtunities and whatnot. Our mother-ship there wanted some of us to go there to be part of a few conferences she is arranging. But it is not to be. For some arcane cosmic reasons, its not happening TODAY! thats what the lady at the counter told me and two of my colleagues. The word "today" is interesting cause it suggests that maybe we picked the wrong day to apply! Maybe tomorrow would work?

We got handed to us a piece of paper listing reasons for which our visa applications may have been rejected. None of which make sense considering the amount of paperwork we took with us. That is still okay. What is not okay, is being told "Its very hard to get a visa to the USA". That really doesn't work as an official reply! Is this some kind of rule? I am sure it makes sense in their heads, but in mine, it doesn't! :)

All I want to say is that, i don't want to deny them the right to reject these applications, but i wish i could deny them the right to treat us like fools. Give me a valid reason or just don't say anything! dandy!

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Govt's Bright Ideas

Or, Things that make you ummmmmm.....

Crackdown on internet users in Bangladesh

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Freedom King Burger Fries with Mustard and Mayo

Go watch a video?

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Term of the day

Military-Industrial-Media Complex
Came across this term in an article in alternet.org.

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DRockstars 2, The End!

When I first heard of this event, I was really skeptical and wholeheartedly believed that the winner will some spinoff of the great bands of the mid 90s: LRB, Nogor Baul, Winning, Miles or such.

The surprise came at the moment of the winner being announced. Two standing finalists on stage were Powersurge and Radioactive. Both had 55/60 from the panel of judges, and the rest of their 40 will be achieved through sms-es from the users of DJuice, who launched this whole competition. Even at this point, i thot popularity will definitely be with Radioactive. Their music is straight up rock, a vocalist that sometimes sound like Hasan (of Ark fame), and sometimes (astoundingly) like Sebastian Bach (not the classical composer, but the singer of the rock band Skid Row from USA). They have the general likability factor, unlike Powersurge who is definitely aptly named and follows the thrash/speed metal bands and in that way, they also put up killer performances with headbanging and great loud guitar solos and growling.
So it was a great surprise and a happy moment when the winner turned out to be the latter! Congratulations to the winners Powersurge.

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Open Source

Found a page listing the variety of open source and free software that one can use, e.g - Sun's Star Office is very reliable if you are looking for a free alternative to something like Microsoft's Office (Word processing, spreadsheets etc.); or one could use Gimp for graphics tasks instead of something like Photoshop and if the needs are for 3D, there is Blender which personal friends of mine highly recommend.

See list here, courtesy of John Hopkins University.

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Quote of the Day: Robert Frost

And were an epitaph to be my story I'd have a short one ready for my own.

I would have written of me on my stone:

I had a lover's quarrel with the world.

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Playing on technicalities

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Flood

So it has happened again. The waters have risen to make the lives of some people really difficult, with houses submerged and people made homeless, and without the basics. Diarrhea is widespread.

Dhaka till now has been spared and a lot of people has taken this opportunity to raise money to help out in these matters. The money can be sent out in different channels, I am laying out here before you some of the options I am aware of:

The Prothom Alo Fund
http://www.prothom-alo.com/issues/flood-2007/

The Chief Advisor's Fund
http://www.bangladesh.gov.bd/
http://www.sonaliexchange.com/
http://www.thedailystar.net/2007/08/10/d7081001097.htm

Hunger Project
http://www.thp.org/flood
Financial Statement

Bandhan
http://www.badhan.org/flood.html
Past Activites

The Music Fest that is going to be held this weekend (17 and 18) in Ashulia, will also donate from their earnings to this cause.

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Movie Moment: The Third Man

''For 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love and 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.''

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Of Protests

March in protest
A keen view of protest marches, if it is a useful tool today, and if not, how could it be?

Article by Matt Taibbi

That of course is talking about the situation in USA. Bangladesh has a totally different culture of protest marches. Its mostly the political parties, their followers and their hired followers who march around (and break things). The citizen will usually stay away from it all, the issues, and the politics. Unless its talking about it over a cup of tea.

Sing in protestFrom the Guerilla News Network, via Save the Internet, it is known that a webcast of Pearl Jam's concert underwent some censorship in the hands of AT&T. It was however, not any profane slang as such, but the words: ‘George Bush, leave this world alone’ and ‘George Bush find yourself another home’

Link to Save the Internet article

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