My days

North Bengal: Poor People or Poor Region

2011-12-10T20:29:00.000-08:00

I never lived in Rangpur. Besides Dhaka, the only other place in Bangladesh I lived in is Comilla, where I was born and brought up. Recently, I had the opportunity to visit Rangpur to attend a workshop, which was dominated by the discussion of regional disparity. Rangpurian expressed their anger and frustration for the ‘systematic negligence to North Bengal’ and called for immediate remedial measures. To substantiate their demand, some participants provided statistics highlighting the negligence to North Bengal.
I always love to travel by road as it gives me an opportunity to see the countryside. While traveling by road, my mind easily gets engrossed in seeing the natural beauty of my beloved country. This is the reason why I don’t like talkative fellow passengers in my travel.
After the workshop I returned to Dhaka by road. I was the only passenger in the car, yet my mind was distracted during the trip. I could not avoid thinking what the Rangpurian said in the workshop - the systematic negligence to North Bengal.
I noticed that there was not a single industry between the borders of Bogra and Rangpur town. Who doesn’t know about the Monga of North Bengal? Now-a-days, I see plenty of migrants from North Bengal in Dhaka, even in Comilla, doing the low-paid manual jobs. Undoubtedly, the North Bengal is a lagging region in Bangladesh. But, why?
Theoretically, as pointed out by a noted economist named Martin Ravallion, there can be two reasons for a region to lag behind the rest of the country. One of them is poor people of the region in the sense that they lack adequate factors of production which include not only land and capital but also entrepreneurship, skill, education etc. The second reason is the poor region itself in the sense that returns to factors of production is low in there. As a result, a certain amount of factor endowment does not yield the same amount of return in the lagging region as it does in the other parts of the country.
People of a particular region of a country can be endowed with less factors of production like skill and education as a result of sustained policy discrimination or their innate inability to acquire them. There are no ethnical or racial variations in mainland Bangladesh, except for some pockets here and there. Therefore, it is very difficult to presume that the people of North Bengal are less able to acquire human capital than the rest of the country. Whether the people of North Bengal have less factor endowment due to policy discrimination is an empirical question.
A region could be poor for many reasons. The most important ones are the lack of infrastructure and access to backbone services required for production and trade. The profitability of any investment depends on them. Why an investor will set up an industry in North Bengal if the quality of infrastructure and access to backbone services in there are not at par with the rest of the country?
Although the economic backwardness of the North Bengal is a much-talked about topic, I am not aware of any study that investigates whether it is due to poor people or poor region. In my next incarnation in research, I will definitely try to answer this question.

Ongoing Greece circus: Should we worry much about it?

2011-11-07T00:13:00.000-08:00

Given the ongoing circus in Greece, once again many experts in Bangladesh started reminding us of the tough time ahead for our economy. The logic is simple. The trembling Greece economy has already become a concern for the global economy. Being interlinked with the main economies of the world, Bangladesh will also feel the heat as a result. This is a text-book generalization. Most of the conjectures are based on this generalization. But sometimes the reality stubbornly defies the textbooks. The breadth and length of the cable interlining Bangladesh with the global economy will determine the actual transmission of global shock into our economy.
There are three possible channels through which a country is interlinked with global economy. The first and foremost one is trade. One index used as an approximate measure for the strength of this channel is the trade (both export and import) GDP ratio. A high trade-GDP ratio means the country is highly dependent on the rest of the world either to sell its product, or purchase its essentials, or both. The net effect of this channel is little bit complicated.
During a crisis, prices go down in the global market and hence favor the importing countries. When prices go down, for many commodities but not for all, demand goes up. Exporter of these commodities can make up for the reduced price by increasing the volume of their export.
At the same time, income or purchasing power of the people of developed countries also goes down during the global crisis. As a result they reduce or defer the consumption of some not so important commodities. As a result, the exporters of those goods are likely to suffer.
In case of Bangladesh, this index is around 48 percent. In global standard, it is not very high. For many economies it is close to 100 percent, for some countries it is even more than 100 percent, e.g. Singapore.
Bangladesh exports more than 80 percent of its exports to EU and USA market. About of 80 percent of Bangladesh’s total exports are apparels. Within the apparels, some are very basic need; some are high fashion items while some are in between. When income goes down, people first reduce their use of high fashion items rather than basic garments. Bangladesh exports basic garments and therefore less likely to suffer from the looming threat of another global economic crisis. This is the main reason why we don’t have to worry much. Export data of different years testify that our success depends more on the domestic factors not the global factors.
Another channel through which a country is linked with the rest of the world is foreign direct investment, popularly known as FDI. This refers to, for example, setting up of a factory by foreigner either independently or jointly with some local investors. During the global economic crisis, investable funds in the hands of the foreign investors shrink. As a result, inflow of foreign direct investment in developing countries shrinks as well.
The above channel is already very weak in Bangladesh. For example, total FDI in Bangladesh and Vietnam was US$ 768 and US$ 7100 respectively in 2010. Main constraints to foreign direct investment in Bangladesh are domestic. Until Bangladesh prepares itself to attract FDI by removing the existing constraints, it should not worry much about the likely effect of global economic crisis through FDI.
The third channel of inter-linkage with the global economy is the financial investment in the stock market. This is popularly known as portfolio investment. The transmission of global shock into an economy is more instantaneous through this channel. For example, the u-turn of Greece government from the agreed public referendum on the bailout package offered in G-20 summit immediately cost the world capital markets a 5 percent loss. Bangladesh is insulated from this loss as the country is not connected with global capital market. It is always important to remain vigilant to keep ourselves updated on the global economic dynamics. But at the same time, we should not unnecessarily worry about the current financial and banking crisis in some European countries. Our main problem remains within our country, so does our main determinant of economic growth. We should focus mainly on them. We are still too small to be severely affected by the unfavorable winds of the global economy.

When horses turn into printers....

2011-06-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

It happened that I agreed to buy a color printer for my 5-year-old daughter to put her to sleep one night. I did not think she would remember it in the morning. But on the following day, I was home as it was a holiday. She reminded me of my word and pushed me several times to go to the market to bring the printer for her.

So, in the afternoon I went to the computer bazaar to check the price for a reasonably good quality color printer. The price was way higher than I expected. I thought it would not be worthwhile to buy a color printer for her with that price. In any case, it would not have any use. After a day or two she would not take much interest in it.

I bought some of her favorite snacks and came home without the printer but a story. I told her that printers were not available in the market. The people who usually sold printers were sick and therefore I did not find any of them. I did not know whether she bought that story or not. But she did not big fuss of it, rather seemed to be happy to get the unsolicited treat from me.

I went back by 35 years. My father used to tell me that he would buy a horse for me if I studied hard and stood first in my class. I used to believe it. Unfortunately for my father, when the results came out, I surprisingly stood first. Naturally, I reminded my father of his word and pressed hard to bring the horse for me from the market.

So, in one afternoon, my father went to the nearby market. It was within the walking distance. I waited and waited for him. Back he came, but without a horse. Instead he bought some of my favorite fruits.

He told me that there was not horse in the market. The people who usually sell horse had lost their wives and therefore he could not find them. I believed my father’s story.

Time has changed, but the trick has not. Only the horse was replaced by a color printer.

Oh those days...

2011-05-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

End of summer is approaching, only in the pages of calendar though. The hot weather will continue for quite some time. This time of the year in Bangladesh bestows a number of very good quality and yummy fruits. In my childhood, it was the time to go to my maternal grandparents’ house. Oh those days! I used to pray for a storm in night. So, there will be plenty of mangoes to collect in the morning. My grandfather used to wake me up before sunrise for that. It was not all about eating them. Just collecting them was a great fun.

Those days are gone. My connection with village is very minimal. Now I buy mangoes from market, but with lots of anxiety. Hazardous chemicals are used to preserve mangoes. What was a fun in my childhood to eat, has become a matter of concern now to offer to my children. Growing commercialization of the economy has changed lots of things in Bangladesh, both in a positive as well as negative sense. But there is something that will never change. Love for dear ones still remains the same. The peace of mind to see own child healthy and happy does not change. Smile in the face of own child still lights thousands candles in the dark, blooms dozens of roses in the arid backyard. Too much greed for profit, now a days, stands as an obstacle in their way.

My heart constantly bleeds as the market limits the option to bring smile in the face of my own child…

Ora tinjon (Those three)

2011-05-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wonder who the most influential person in my life is. Surely, I have so many people who have shaped my mental construct at different point of time.
In my childhood, my elder brother late Abul Kashem, left the everlasting influence on me. He taught me to dream; sometimes I wonder whether I am fulfilling his or my dream. I still remember so many impressive names from past, who touched my life in so many ways. I name many of them even when I talk in my sleep.
In my young days, when I was not laden with so many earthly responsibilities, I used to read a lot, both left and right. I read whatever I could manage from friends, school library, political and religious activists. They made me what I am today.
Today, after crossing forty years landmark, when I look back, three names come to my mind who survived as the nearest kin of my heart. One of them is Lalon Fakir. His songs take me to a different world of peace and depth. The second name is poet Jibonando Dash. I feel like he knew the language of my heart, and he spoke for me. Even though he is not alive, I have never met him; he remains to be the best friend of my soul.
Finally, the name that affects each and every avenue of my life each and every day is Rabindranath Tagore. I love him. He wrote the most beautiful things that my heart and soul can imagine, even those which they cannot imagine. In days of pain and sorrow, his works provide me the most comfortable hugs. If I am to choose just one thing that I am to live my life with, it will be the literary works of Rabindranath Tagore.

Limon, forgive us for our collective failure to save you.

2011-05-04T21:19:00.000-07:00

I am angry with the way our state functionaries are torturing and terrorizing a 16-years old kid, Limon. I know some will throw pacifier ‘law is talking its own course’ at me. But I am not convinced that both direction and speed of the course are questionable in Limon’s case. Based on the electronic and print media reports, the whole saga goes as follows;
· A team of Rab-8, led by Deputy Additional Director Lutfor Rahman, shot him in the left leg while he was on his way to bring back a herd of cattle home on March 23 at Chhaturia village in Jhalakathi. The leg had to be amputated.

· Limon was not an enlisted terrorist, or a convicted fugitive, or charge-sheeted felon at that time of being shot. Apparently, RAB shot a good citizen of the country, for which nobody can ever recompense enough to him.

· Before Limon could overcome the horror induced in his life by one part of the state machinery, another part of the state machinery came heavily on him to add to his sufferings by framing some charges against him. The reason is unfathomable. Our friend police was very quick to submit the investigation report, so was the court to issue summon against him. He was eventually transferred to Jhalkathi in the middle of the night from a hospital in Dhaka where he was undergoing treatment just to heal his amputated leg.

· Senior Judicial Magistrate Nusrat Jahan on the same night gave the order to send Limon to jail after police produced him before her. What can be more horrifying in the life of this 16-year old boy? The horrified kid stop taking any meal in the jail because he thought by doing so he could avoid going to toilet which he cannot go alone by himself. At last, he was transferred to Barisal Hospital from Jhalkathi jail.

Shooting an unarmed 16-years old kid is a serious crime. RAB members are human being, and human can make mistake. I would assume that they made a mistake as I don’t have any reason at the moment to think otherwise. The state could simply say sorry to this 16-year old unarmed kid for causing the unthinkable horrors in his life, and provide him with the best medical service available in the country. But what did the state do instead? Our civil society and legal expert barristers and PhDs are just watching the wrongdoings of the state from distance.
Limon, forgive us for our collective failure to save you.

Death of Nasrin Khondokar- one of my most favorite teachers

2011-05-02T21:10:00.000-07:00

Prof. Nasrin Khondokar died yesterday. She was my direct teacher in Dhaka University and taught Microeconomics in my third year in the course. I really enjoyed her class. I was never happy with my teachers as their teaching quality and professional ethics were questionable, with few exceptions of course. Nasrin Khondokar was one of the exceptions.

Most of the teachers used to use the same old class notes that they once prepared in the early days of their careers, when they hairs were black, and muscles were stronger to write. As their hairs became grey and the power of their muscle to rewrite was lost, their class notes became yellow. And we were the victim of those yellow obsolete rags. By the end of the second year, I completely lost any interest in their lecture, yet my presence was close to 100 percent in them, mainly to avoid any reprisal for showing my audacity not to show in class. Frankly speaking, I lost my respect to them as well, as I was convinced that they did not care at all for my learning, let alone my future. I was afraid to deal with two types of people in the campus; the terrorists and my teachers. The former are well known to the nation for having no class, the latter are not.

It is in this backdrop, Nasrin Khondokar, who just returned to Bangladesh after completing her PhD from Boston, started teaching the microeconomics in the beginning of my third year. She was a fresh air for us and great relief as well. She used the most recent textbook. She was methodological. Her style was elegant. Her delivery was crystal clear. Her intention was to give something to the students. She cared for the students. It is only because of her, my interest in economics was revitalized before it was completely killed by a group of people whose responsibility was to grow it. She died, but my interest in economics will remain alive. With her death, many will be deprived of the fortune I once had. I will always remember her as one of my most favorite teachers, who introduced the wonderful world of economics to me. Peace be upon her soul.

Colombo

2010-03-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

It was Friday afternoon. I found some of the shops in Colombo are closed. I was little surprised until I realized that these shops were owned by the Sri Lankan Muslims and it was the time of Jumma prayer. Soon the prayer was over and people came out of the mosque in groups. This is how I identified the mosque. I also discovered that there was temple beside the mosque. Muslims and Hindus don’t find any problem in worshipping their God side by side in Colombo. Does their minority feeling in a Buddhist majority country bring them close and make them so tolerable? Interesting indeed!

My Sri Lankan colleagues invited me to join for a drink with them after office. I politely declined. This was my last day in Colombo. I wanted to take a long walk in the streets before leaving the country in the late night. Per capita income in Sri Lanka is more than 2000 US dollar, more than three times that in Bangladesh. Development is always self-manifesting. Sri Lanka is probably an exception. The part of the city I walked around was nothing different from Dhaka in terms of infrastructure, roads and conditions of transport. The main difference, however, was the absence of traffic jam. Spending last couple of weeks in Sri Lanka, I now know more than ever, how significantly quality of life increases in the absence of traffic jam.

I saw couple of banyan trees in Colombo. When I was a child, our family had two very large banyan trees. Their roots were so huge, we could easily play and sleep on them. Even the grownups used to sleep in them in the summer. One of them was partially damaged in a cyclone in 1982 and was eventually cut. The other one was also cut two years later to build a school. Sometimes I think how useful it would have been today had the second banyan tree were preserved while building the school. Kids could play on it during the break. Children and adults could still sleep in its roots in the summer. Anyway, Colombo reminded me of my childhood.

I saw a big pond in Colombo. This kind of pond is still found in many district towns of Bangladesh. I was really disappointed to see that the water was extremely polluted, green and stinked like anything. One of the things Sri Lanka is currently selling to the rest of the world is its ‘green’ garments produced without polluting the environment, and here in the heart of Colombo pedestrians have to try hard to hold their breath as long as they can while passing by this pond. This is called marketing and globalization. This is not the only pond of this kind to force the pedestrian to practice the breath holding exercise in Colombo!

Notwithstanding these pockets of pollution, the general environment in Colombo is very good. There is no air pollution. The town has preserved its greeneries very well. Life is still laid-back. The country in general has not done any significant damage yet to its natural beauty and greeneries. Sri Lanka is half of the size of Bangladesh with a population of about twenty million, only about one-eighth of Bangladesh’s population. The high land-population ratio certainly makes life more organic and environment friendly here.

At one point, I found a big signboard that says “Association of Colombo Housewives”. I have seen many associations, starting from butcher to medical doctors, but this is the first time I have seen housewives’ association. Naturally, first I was surprised but then I was rather impressed by the courage of the Sri Lankan housewives. In these days, it has become a fashion to talk big about women’s equal right and empowerment in Bangladesh. To many of the leaders of women’s right movement, equal right has become synonymous to joining the labor force. ‘Housewife’ as a profession is considered to be a failure. In imitating the west blindly, the importance of household investment is trivialized. The west can do that because of the (partial) substitutability between market and household investment and the existence of well-functioning market. The fools of our country are either dishonest or do not understand the limited power of our market to substitute the role of a mother to some extent.

While a hard effort not to identify oneself as a housewife has become the norm in a circle in Dhaka, a group of housewives in Colombo are very upfront with their professional identity. Rather than giving up the pride of their work of immense importance, they come out in groups to remind us not to disregard them in the name of so-called modernism. I salute them!

Power of flute …..

2010-03-15T00:43:00.000-07:00

Woken up tired at around 9:30 a.m., I took the shower before heading to the dining area to take breakfast. To my utmost pleasant surprise, I met a group of monkeys in the corridor. They were busy with something. I was not sure what to do. I did not want to be a reason of their anger. At the same time, I need to go to the dining area for breakfast.
This is the first time I came across with wild monkeys. So I decided to take some of pictures. They allow me to take three pictures before running away, possibly being annoyed by the flash of my camera.
By the time I went to dining area, the breakfast time was already over. Hotel boys were already setting the tables for lunch. But they were really kind to me and provided me with breakfast. This is called hospitability. There were plenty of items to choose my breakfast from. One of the items was ‘Sagu’- an item my grandmother used to prepare for me in my childhood. It is not a common item in our daily menu in Bangladesh. Therefore, seeing it in a foreign country after such a long time, I immediately became very nostalgic and decided to eat it in my breakfast.
I did not have any meeting or other engagement. After breakfast, I took a walk around the hotel. It was really very nice and serene area. I found many beautiful butterflies, listened to the sounds of so many birds that I haven’t come across before, and saw so many beautiful jungle flowers. They reminded me of the beautiful persons who are the reason for me to move forward with hope and determination. They are my daughters Tapur and Tupur, and my wife Farha.
I am always very fussy about food, not willing to experiment anything new. Farha told me to try some new food whenever they are available. In lunch today, I listened to her. I ate mostly the non-south Asian food. I even tried some Sri Lankan ethnic food. I did the same in the dinner too.
Our unit retreat hasn’t started yet. Therefore, I had plenty of free time. I had chatted with a group of colleagues for a long time after lunch. We sat on the grass and talked about a number of issues. I could not say that we had avoided politics in our discussion, but we did not let it to become the central issue. I felt really good by sitting on the green grass. I could not remember the last time when I did that.
In the evening we sat in the same place again. A hotel employee was playing flute. It really changed my mood. I became so nostalgic that my mind started visiting the paths of my childhood where I frequented a lot. I am staying in a hotel in the middle of a jungle in Sri Lanka, but my mind is visiting a village named ‘Dishabond’ in Bangladesh where I had my childhood. That flute really changed my mood…..

Enroute to Kandelama

2010-02-22T10:38:00.000-08:00

Spending 18 hours in Singapore in transit, I arrived at Colombo in the last hour of February 21st. The weather was reasonably good, not so hot not so cold, although little humidity is always obvious in an island country like Sri Lanka.
After performing the formalities at the airport, I found the driver who is supposed to take me to Kandelama with a placard with my name on it. I introduced myself to him and we exchanged greetings. By the time we started for Kandelama, it was half past twelve, a new day has started. I asked Vinay, my driver and guide to Kandelama, how long this trip would be. His prompt reply was ‘about one hour thirty minutes’. I made myself at ease in the car. Honestly, I was really excited for this journey in the night form one town to another in Sri Lanka, a country I have never visited before.
Unlike Bangladesh, the roads were literally empty. I expected to see larger number of transports and people on the street. I thought in each of the South Asian countries, 12:30 am is not that late for the hut-buzzers beside the inter-city highway to fall in a complete sleep. Sri Lanka proved me wrong. Does it have anything to do with the higher level of literacy rate of the country?
The road was narrow and bumpy, in many cases worse than Bangladesh. I was little disappointed. There were greeneries on both sides of the road. At one place, I found a restaurant open. What I found interesting was that the signboard of that restaurant also mentioned the fact that halal foods were available. I don’t know how big is the Muslim population in Colombo and how big the market for halal food is.
It was not a moonlit night, whatever moonlight we had it was gone. There was nothing much to see in the dark of the night. I start feeling bored. To keep myself tuned, I started thinking about the most beautiful gifts of my life- three most beautiful women on my life- my two daughters and one wife. I missed them whole day in Singapore. They each are unique in their own way. Tupur, my youngest daughter, is like a living doll. She is so innocent and adorable that sometimes we wonder if she was sent from the heaven. Yet, we started seeing how the worldly things are taking shape in her now –a- days. For example, she has now learnt to own something and fight over that ownership. The use of internet has become an apple of contention between her and her didi (elder sister).
Tapur, on the other hand, was little different at this age, she never fought to own anything. However, Tapur had no one at home until she was 6 years of old to share anything. Yes, we do not know how she would behave in that counter factual situation, but yet we could see the difference between them. Tapur is passing through an age when kids focus more on friends and get thrilled by the outside world. The paucity and complexity of urban life have really constricted her outside world. Sometimes, I feel pity for her. In her age, I spend hours in the ponds, trees, fields, and what not. But for her, it is always the bricks and concrete. Only access she has to the outside world is through internet. This is a matter of my concern also.
My wife, Farha, is one of the most amazing persons that I have met in my life. Being the closest person of my heart and soul, she touched my life in so many ways. May be not all ways are scripted in a fairy tale and hence not-so desired, yet she is the person that I want to wake up together in everyday, in every morning, to spend one more day in this world. Having her always beside me is my strength and source of inspiration. Keeping her always beside me is my prayer. Living my life till the last day with her is my dream.
I fell asleep while thinking about the tree most important persons of my life. When I woke up, it was about 2:30am, already two hours passed although I was supposed to arrive at Hotel within one and half an hour. I was worried. I got scared when I saw that the driver asked another who was cleaning his truck beside the road for direction to Kandelam. It seemed that the driver forgot the correct turn. This is not my country. Here I am in a private car, alone, in the middle of the night, in the country side with a unknown driver who does not know exactly how to get to my Hotel which is located in a secluded forest. I was ready for anything. My favorite faces started coming to minds. My sleep is gone away.
Suddenly he stopped the car. I did not see anyone on the road. I was really scared. I could not see his face in the dark, therefore could not read anything in it. That even made more scared. The driver took the key from the car and got off. He walked only a few steps and then started peeing beside the road. I felt relieved to see the real reason for stopping the car. He started the car again and drove another 30 minutes before asking a group of people who were unloading a truck for direction. This time I was not that scared. It came to my mind that this guy was trying to drop me to Kandelama resort. If he really wanted to do any harm to me, he did not need the direction to Kandelama.
He drove for another 20 minutes before stopping in front of a restaurant. He entered into the restaurant to ask for direction again. When he came back in the car, I asked him how far Kandelama was. He replied that it would take another 10 to 15 minutes. We got the entrance to the resort at one point of time. I arrived at the Kandelama resort at 4:00 am, after a journey of about three and half an hour’s in a totally unknown road with a completely unknown driver when no one could be expected to respond to my call for help if needed. I got of the car and thanked the driver before approaching to the reception desk of the hotel.

Reflection on 2009

2009-12-27T00:31:00.001-08:00

2009 is crawling to its end. It makes me one more year old, one more year close to my death. So what? Still it enriched my life with so many colorful things. I am little wiser and happier now in the end of 2009 than I was in the beginning of 2009. I could not keep you guys informed of my family and me mostly because I was lazy throughout the year. Let me try to take this opportunity to make up for my laziness.
Since 2006, I have a special reason to have a very good start of the year as my little daughter’s birth day is in January. I will always remember February 2009 as my first novel “Joler Deyal” was published in this month. I can never forget 6th of March because of the sudden death of my father. O Father! I will always carry you in my thoughts. I got reconnected two groups of my old friends- Comilla Zilla School and Comilla Cadet College, had lots of fun with them in this year. Almost completed a house in my village where I love to go to relax once in a while. I sang and play with them in the beach, swam with my elder daughter in the sea. I took the first picture of my daughter in the sea. Those were very happy days. Travelled to a number of new countries where I haven’t gone before. I enjoy my work in the World Bank.
Our little daughter, Ariana (Tupur) is doing great. She has become more active and can speak fluently now. We enjoy each and every moment with her. She has picked two favorite songs from our list- one from Krshnokoli Islam and another from Ridoy Khan. She wants us to play those songs only so that she can always karaoke with them. She fights with her elder sister a lot over the control of the desktop, which requires parental intervention for resolution. We had her first dental appointment a few weeks ago. The dentist was amazed by her level of patience and cooperation during the whole cleaning session.
Faria (Tapur), our elder daughter is keeping us happy by bringing home the ‘excellent’ marks from her school. She is our only ‘all A’ star at home (her school does not assign any A+). Like me, she has also developed a good habit of reading books. But little sadly for me, she prefers to read only English books, although recently she has read a few Bangla books on my request. She is also trying to learn music at home. She is yet to be proactive with that. Her mother is sincerely working with her on this. She had a very good time in Cox’s Bazar in July this year, and enjoyed a surprise mid-night snack with a Lobster brought to her bed in the hotel. She enjoyed each and every moment in the Bay of Bengal with me and became a mermaid at one stage. She has made some good friends in school.
I consider 2009 a very good year for Farha, my wife. She had done two musical programs in Bangladesh Television, something that she was really looking forward to. She got reconnected with her old university friends who made her very nostalgic during last 7/8 years that we spent in USA. In June she went to Bangkok with her friend Sigma for a week to relax. Within the country, while she brought music in the tea garden of Srimongol in March, Cox’s Bazar failed to impress her this time in July. But she had a splendid time in the river Jamuna in November. She is sincerely working on her music along with Faria. She is also enjoying reading. Most impressively, she is writing a book. The biggest news: she is going to join a job from the first day of 2010. Wish her luck for that. I wish all of you a very good new year.

The other side of the wall (1)

2009-12-07T01:09:00.000-08:00

It was not a quiet dawn there. I woke in the midst of chirping of birds. Of course, my sleep was interrupted several times by the growling of foxes. I cannot remember when was the last time I enjoyed the Hukka-hua of the wise. I woke up from my bed, opened the window with a desire to see them from close. As lucky as I could be, some of them were within yards from my room.
It was my first night here. I left Dhaka at about 1 pm day before. As the traffic was very bad due to Eid, it took more than 4 hours to get to Tangail. I spent the night in there and took the bus to Jamalpur in the next morning. It took almost another 4 hours to arrive at Dhanbari. The resort was within less than 100 yards from the main road. The resort was a 100 acres compound. As Eid was only two days away, the management did not expect any guest and were preparing to go home. To say the least, I was not very welcomed by them. They called the Dhaka office to confirm whether I made prior contact with them and felt helpless to find out that I followed their rules and regulations.
This resort used to be the house of Nawab Hassan Ali. It was originally built by a Hindu Zamindar named Dhan Singh or Chandra. The upzilla Dhanbari was named after him. I took a single room. It was big but does not have any furniture apart from the bed. But I did not find it uncomfortable at all. By evening 15 out of 16 staffs left the resort. It was only me and Veem, a gardener, only stay in that big compound for next couple of days.
There is a bazaar on the main road. I had my dinner in a restaurant dinner. A tall wall separates the resort from the bazaar. It seemed two different worlds on two sides of this wall. One side is full of actions and sounds; the other is serene and quiet. After taking my dinner, I ran to take comfort in the other side of the wall.

New cabinet of Bangladesh

2009-01-08T00:33:00.000-08:00

Year 2009 started with a huge change in Bangladesh. AL got a landslide victor in the last election defeating its main and old political foe BNP and Jammat alliance. The victory was solid and resounding people’s hatred against the war criminals who are now teamed up with BNP. Sheikh Hasina, who is now under a constant watch of the political critiques and the ordinary voters as well, has done well so far. She began with an impressive cabinet consisting of 23 honest people, express her commitment for a digital Bangladesh, reassured people that she would do everything required to ensure economic relief in people’s life.

I talked to many people from all across to see what people think about this government. They have been betrayed so much in the past by our politicians. AL is not the first one to accomplish such a solid victory. BNP and Jammat got two-third majority in the last election. But they got involved in so much corruption, nepotism and terrorism that people handed them only ten percent of the total seats. From 70 percent to 10 percent! This is worse than handing a red card in a football match. This time people are not so exuberant and they do not expect much from the new government. Even then, seeing the new cabinet, many of them are becoming hopeful that it will be different this time. All old faces are gone. Hasina selected a new group of people to run the government. She herself also seems to be very sincere and keen in bringing real change.

In my judgment, this is the best cabinet Bangladesh ever got. Most of them have no track record of corruption. They are young and seem to be committed. Many of them, being new and inexperienced, need guidance. Hasina has to be lead sailor, at least in the initial phase, if she wants to bring any real change.

A day of learning

2008-12-20T20:45:00.000-08:00

I spent the last weekend in my village where I met a group of people in a tea stall. Most of them are farmer and my known ones. As planting of Aman crop is over, they have nothing much to do at the moment. Besides, it was a Friday and the persistent raining due to the depression created in the Bay of Bengal made laidback hang-around the best snack of the day.

My entrance in the stall was a momentary distraction for them. Soon appreciating that perceived distance between me and them ostensibly due to my job in the World Bank and stay in the west for about 7 years is not real, they opened up to me. First they wanted to know from me about how politics of the country is shaping up recently. I, of course, pretended of knowing nothing about it to zip my own thoughts for obvious reason. That did not prevent them from expressing their views. But what I was enthralled with was their view on agriculture.

Mr. Siddiqur Rahman started, “Government has increased the price of fertilizer, and as a result many farmers cannot buy them which means total demand has decreased. Still there is a supply shortage. It does not make any sense.” Siddiquur Rahman is a surplus farmer. He continued, “I worked so hard to make some money by cultivating vegetables every year. I cannot do it this year because there is no fertilizer available. I am willing to pay the high price for it, but still I cannot buy it.”

Harun Mia, a rich farmer, took the floor, “you know vatija (vitaja means nephew), government has assigned the task of selling fertilizer to a specific area to a designated dealer. It gives him the monopoly power to create an artificial crisis.” I don’t know if he is factually correct or not, but I was amazed by his knowledge of economics.

Suja Mia now took the turn to surprise me by emphasizing the importance of having choices in our life. He asserted “In the past, we could go wherever we want to buy fertilizer. Now we don’t have that choice. We have to buy it from one shop. Our freedom is gone. This is not good policy”

Siddiqur Rahman took the floor again, “I don’t care that much about the freedom. The problem is that fertilizer is under supplied. The main fertilizers are TSP and Potash that we need for a good harvest. They are not available. The availability of Urea is ok. But this does not help much.”

Harun Mia added, “Bangla TSP (TSP produced in Bangladesh ) is best in the world. This is out of market now. Taking the advantage of this opportunity, the Indians TSP is entering into the country through the border. This TSP is not good and destroys the fertility of our land. It contains salt. Local dealers repack them with Made in Bangladesh label. Farmers use them unknowingly.”

Milon Mia became very emotional to add, “The whole fertilizer crisis is created artificially and it is a conspiracy of India ”.

Siddiqur Rahman also finds conspirators working to destroy the backbone of farmer by misguiding them. He mentions the name of Shaikh Shiraj. Shaikh Shiraj does a TV program in Channel I to promote the use of urea-ball instead of normal urea. It made him very popular among the urban people. Siddiqur Rahman continued, “first of all it is not the use of urea rather TSP that farmer should be educated on. Second, if we switch from normal urea to urea-ball, it will take up to 5 more labor days per acre of land to use fertilizer once. Being such an expert, why can’t he understand that in the end of the day use of urea-ball is costlier than normal urea because of the additional labor cost. Farmers will lose a lot.”

Humayan interrupted Siddiqur Rahman, “who tells you that Shaikh Shiraj does not understand that? He does. May be some company is paying him money to do that program so that the company can make more money by selling urea-balls.” I was thinking of our leftists in Dhaka but was sure that he did not spend any night under the same roof with them.

Siddiqur Rahman told me, “The World Bank is giving so much money to government. Tell them to force the government to ensure timely supply of fertilizer, especially the TSP. As a result we can give the government another comforting bumper harvest.”

I said nothing to Siddiqur Rahman in response. During my trip back to Dhaka I thought about Shaik Shiraj, bumper harvest, government, the World Bank and how less I know about my villagers. What a surreal world I am living in!

Bush could avoid it..

2008-12-18T01:25:00.000-08:00

I have seen how happy and excited are the people that I know of to watch the throwing of shoes at Bush by a journalist during the press conference. Undoubtedly, it was a symbolic expression of hate and anger of Iraqi as well as the Muslim from all over the world. Mainstream media in the USA obviously tried to trivialize it and portray it as an isolated incident. But the fact of the matter is this will be used by the historians in future with due importance to explain how much people used to hate Bush for the unjustified war that he started against humanity founded on lies.

Apart from being a war monger and a cheerleader of right wing politics, Bush also provided so much laugh and fun to American people by his idiotic words and expression. Many people wondered how he became the president of a country where he does not represent the mainstream intellect at all. Even those who voted him to power identified him as the “dumb” cowboy. I was amazed to see the sharp reflection of this dumb cowboy. He was smart enough to eschew his head to save it from the shoe that was thrown at him all on a sudden. Last couple of days, I thought had he thought little bit more to reflect on the human sufferings that he caused to the innocent people all over the world including his own country, this earth would have been a better place and he would have found a better exit, not the current disgraced one that he can no way avoid now.

I just hope the future leaders will learn from this event.

Will there be our turn?

2008-12-17T00:43:00.000-08:00

All old faces are back again, with their old comrades. We are afraid of seeing the same old things. Nothing significant happened during last two years except that our traditional politics was suspended. This itself was a great relief to us. Our daily life was better off without our 'patriotic' politicians. Our optimistic mind expected some qualitative changes but nothing happened. Army is taking off from the game. Apparently, they got accomplished that they wished for. Rumour is all over that army officeres became filthy rich during last two years. However, it is very difficult to verify that. They seem very content and promised to ga back to barrack soon.

Now and then Bangladesh experiences a clash between two power houses- the army and the politicians. Last two years was army's time, and now the politicians are will be back soon. But we, the commoners, are yet to get our turn.

Job market discrimination

2007-02-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

I have always been a vocal person against any kind of discrimination. Especially, I have always been deadly against any kind of discrimination against women. I grew up in the rural area of a developing country. I have seen that when poverty makes it impossible to have adequate food for all, it is the female who would be the last to eat. It hurtes me a lot.

But I have seen another kind of gender discrimination at the upper segment of the society. People usually generalize the discrimination against women, which is not right. Females belonging to the top segment are actually treated favorably comapared to male. Let it be Bangladesh, or let it be USA, the gender discrimination against women is prevalent among the poor, and at the same time favoritism towards them in the tope segment is very obvious.

I have reasonable experience both in Bangladesh and USA. There is no doubt in my mind now that the employers both in academic and non-academic sectors, and both in Bangladesh and the USA favors the female knowingly or unknowingly. If X and Y are equally qualified, the final offer of the job will be determined by their gender, with a significant favor to the females. More sadly, in some cases, a tradeoff between quality and gender up to a certain limit. What it means is in many cases a slightly less qualified female will get the job depriving the better male applicant. Yes, it happens both in Bangladesh and USA.

It is sad that the poor women are the victim of gender discrimination but the premium is paid off to the women belonging to the top segment!

Nature's force

2006-07-05T21:45:00.000-07:00

I was invited to a dinner on the 4th of July by an American family. My next door neighbor Ed talked about me to his friend Sam and Patty. Sam is a professor in the department of Physics in UW. Sam and Patty were kind enough to invite me to their home. So both Ed and I were picked up by Sam at 5:30 pm to their his home. It is a nice home. They have a nice garden and a nice view. Patty was so nice and kind to me.

It was apparently a sunny day. So they set the dinner outside. But it started raining all on a sudden with little thunder. Thunder is very uncommon in Seattle. They were excited about it. But coming from Bangladesh it was a very trivial thing to me. They were very excited to see one lighting. Ed started to count 1, 2, 3, ..... 7. He told me the rule that usually one can expect to hear the sound of thunder after seven seconds since seeing the light. I told him that once I saw the light and listened the thunder at the same time. It was in my chuildhood, possibly I was 8 or 9 years old. Thunder is very common in my country in the rainy season. In a rainy afternoon, I was playing inside the house with my brothers and cousins. All on a sudden we heard that big thunder and saw the light at the same time. The thunder fell right behind our house, in a tall coconut tree. The head of the coconut tree was completly burnt. My grandfather did not cut that burnt coconut tree. He left this headless coconut tree there for years. I asked him once when i was 12 or 13 years old why he did not cut the coconut tree. His replied, "this tallest tree reminds me how small are to nature's force". Ed was so excited to know this story.

My grad father died long ago. I remember him for so many reasons. He has significant influence in my life. Amongst all others, I hear his words "this tallest tree reminds me how small are to nature's force" in my ears. Indeed we are very small...

Friendship

2006-06-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

What is friendship? I don't know. But I define friend as a person who you feel comfortable with. In my young days, I used to cite one poem about friendship from a famous French poet. Anyway, what I have realized after coming to the USA is that friendship does not respect any cultural or age differences. The best friends of our family here in Seattle are mostly American. We can depend on them for anything, and can talk about anything with them.

I went to Alki beach again. I realized that if I stay at home, I waste lot of time in surfing internet. So, I took my reading material with me and went to the beach, it may seem unbelievable, but I really concentrated better there. After finishing my reading, I take the water taxi and then Bus 66, to come to get back to Seattle. When I was in the bus, Leif called me in my cell to check if I am available for dinner with them tonight. It was about 4:30, too early to expect a readily available dinner. But I was too hungry to wait. In many cases, I would have declined the offer as I am shy enough to ask how long it would take to prepare the dinner. But with Leif, I instantly ask if I can eat right away, or I have to wait. Becasue I am too hungry to wait. He asked Chantel about it. I went to Leif house and ate the dinner. I don't feel uncomfortable with Leif and Chantel about asking anything that I need. This relationship free of any kind of hesiation is friendship. Leif and Chantel are my best friends here in Seattle. I am Bangladeshi, and they are American. But we are friend.

Cry for Spain

2006-06-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

I watched the soccer match between Spain and France in a Irish pub. The crowd was big, but unlike Brazilian crowd, they were quiet most of the time. Spain scored the first goal from a penalty. So, Spanish supporters were so happy, they shout, they claped, and they hugged each other. They were few in number. I was indifferent, but slightly leaned to France becuase of Zidan, I think he is a very good and talented player. France come back in towards end of the first half, and scored two more in the second half to play their quaterfinal with Brazil now. When Spain conceed the second goal, I saw one spanish supporter was crying. I cannot belive it.

Often, we the Bangladeshi are blamed for being too much emotional for our team, let it be cricket or soccer. I thought the European can take everything easy. Seeing a grown up Spanish supporter crying in a public bar, I now know everyone has emotion. Someobody can control it, and somebody cannot. It is not only the Bangladeshi that go mad with their supported team. It is the same case everywhere.

Bainbridge Island

2006-06-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

I went to Bainbridge Island today in a Ferry. It is a small island in west of Seattle. My next door neighbor, Ed, a retired professor of Botany at University of Washington was with me. It is always so much fun and rewarding to spend time with Ed. He is such a nice, kind and sweet person.

We started at 8 am in the morning; take the bus to downtown ferry terminal. A ferry was just about to leave when we by the ticket. The ticket master told us that we could make it if we run to the deck. Ed is more than 69 years old. I thought it would not be appropriate to run. Realizing that I was not running for him, he started running ignoring my request to do so. And we made it. We were in deck. It was windy. A big group of cyclist was also in the ferry. There are mostly high school kids from Bloomington, Indiana, who were cycling to Canadian Rockies.

The temperature was more than 89F, but we did not feel that because of the wind. Ed and I sat on the shed and enjoying the surrounding scenery. Our long-known Seattle was moving away from us. This is the first time for me to see Seattle from water. It looks so nice. I also had a good view of the Mountaineer. But Ed could not see that because of his glass. I felt bad for him.

Ferry arrived in Bainbridge in 35 minutes. We got off, and walked to the downtown. It is a small town, calm and slow. They is no rush, no body was in a hurry. No one has tattoo or body piercing. We went to different shops. They were very friendly and talk to us cordially although we did not buy anything. We had coffee in one shop and had a long conversation. It was not about cricket, it was not about soccer, but even then I enjoyed it. Every time I have any conversation with Ed, I learn so much from him.

We went to visit the history museum of the island, but unfortunately it was closed on Monday. We took the return ferry to get back to Seattle at 12:20pm. We had lunch together in a seafood bar in the ferry terminal. Ed took me to the curiosity shop. A real surprise was waiting for me there. I have been living in Seattle for last 5 years. Nobody told me that there is a real Mommy in display in this shop. This real human body was found in the desert of Arizona. This man was killed by shot, and the dehydration of the heat and hot sand prevented the decomposition. It is preserved now in the way it was. I was so much thrilled to see that. Ed explained me the biology behind this and also how the old Egyptian learned to make Mommy by observing this natural process.

Then we take the water taxi to go to West Seattle. It was fun although the trip was only 12 minutes. We took the shuttle service from the water taxi stand to go to the Alki beach. It was crowded mostly by young people. Ed and I walked long along the beach. We talked about global politics, global economy, and many others. Both of us had a very good time in there. We returned home at 6pm. We were tired, but had a real good day after a long time.

Samba

2006-06-24T21:48:00.000-07:00

I watched the world cup soccer match between Brazil and Japan yesterday in a Brazilian restaurant with a Brazilian crowd in a big TV screen. It was really fun. There was live Samba music and dances. I could not hear the commentary at all. Of course it did not matter because the commentary was in Portuguese.

The crowd was fantastic. I knew soccer is popular in Brazil, and Brazilian crowd made it special by adding Samba music and dance with it. Yesterday I had the chance to have a glimpse of it. A section of the crowd was always dancing and watching the game with the sound of drums. It includes male and female from all ages. Samba seems so normal and instinct to them that they don’t have to miss a second of the game when dancing. Brazil won by 4-1. Ronaldo score twice. With these goals, he has now become the leading scorer in the world cup football jointly with Guard Muller with 14 goals in their account.

I also try some Brazilian food, chicken and beer, during the match. It was very good.

Summer dress

2006-06-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

This is summer here. Today is bright and sunny. Trees are full of colors. People are also enjoying the summer. I went to one of my friend's house to watch the world cup football match between England and Sweden. By the way, Sweden could have won, but luck was not in their favor. It was a 2-2 draw.

I took the bus to come back. I observed people's jolly mood. Everyone is happy. Unlike winter, when everyone is so grumpy, now all passenger were very happy. Some of them exchnaged sweet smile with me. It is fun time here. Seattle seems to be in its best in the summer.

I saw a lady, may be in her mid-30s, wearing a colorful dress. First I thought it was some African dress. She looks really beautiful in this dress. She was roaming around in front of our apartment building. Good weather and plenty of sunshine change peoples mood also. In a gloomy day, I would not have even noticed her. But this time, I looked at her, with appreciation may be. She said hi to me. I exchanged that greeting. I asked her whether her dress represented any particular country. She replied no. She come up with this dress to celebrate the summer here in Seattle. She explained to me that it was a mixture of Hawaiian and Indonesian way dressing. I told her that she looked nice. She was happy to know that. People like to be appreciated no matter on what ground. Any kind of appreciation makes people really proud of their work. So was she.

The beautiful girl

2006-06-20T10:27:00.000-07:00

I was always thinking to create a blog where I can write the story of my route of life. But it did not happen so far. But today I made it. Here it is now. I am an ordinary man. I will post my ordinary stories, in a way it will be the story of all average person like me.

I woke up late today, at around 7:30 am. When I was remvoing the curtain of my window, I saw a beautiful girl was looking for something in the grabage. She was very young, may be below 20. I was thinking why she has to collect things from the garbage for her survival? America is a land of opportunities, it ranks third in terms per capita income in the world. Why some one like her has to live in such a poor condition?

I was standing by the window to see what she gets? At one point she looked at me, and wave her hand with a sweet smile. I returned the gesture. I asked her "what did you get"? May be nobody ever paid so much attention to her. She was very excited to see that I care to ask her. She replied, "ask me what I am not getting!". Then she showed a full pack of cigarette that she got in here. She was very happy for that.

I was so shocked. I don't smoke, but that was not the main reason for my sadness. She must have got many other things, because her bag was really big and full. But the most happy thing for her was a pack of cigarette. She finds happiness of life on this sticks of tabocco. If that is the case, how limited would be her horizon. What is left on her life to dream about? How far she can go? I really feel bad fer her.