BangladeshWeb Blogs

It’s not unusual to see a person that makes it from street to stardom in places like New York and London. It is not so common in Bangladesh but it does happen. Omar Ali, a 45-year old white bearded rickshaw wala from a village in the outskirts of Dhaka with his golden voice has found the way out of a struggling life that leads to nowhere. Thanks to the satellite television channels that changed the lives of many like Nolok Babu, Salma Akhtar, Omar Ali and many other performers and behind the scene artists and technicians.

Omar Ali

Rickshaw men excel in 'Pop Idol'
Omar Ali is Bangladesh's unlikely new music star - he's a white-bearded rickshaw puller from an impoverished village a day's drive from the capital, Dhaka.
But his voice is golden and millions of viewers voted for him to win a television "Pop Idol"-style talent show, which has just reached its climax.
Magic Tin Chakar Taroka, or Three Wheel Star, was only open to the riders and drivers of Bangladesh's one million-plus three-wheelers - its cycle- and auto-rickshaws.
Their work is badly-paid and back-breaking and they seldom have anything to cheer about.
But Omar Ali's final performance of the Bengali folk song Lovers Never Drown was so powerful it had the audience, which included many of Bangladesh's leading pop stars who have backed the show and coached the rickshaw-men, dancing in their seats.
With the release of a CD and DVD - and prize winnings of nearly $2,000 - the wiry Mr Ali can now afford to abandon his rickshaw cart, with which he used to transport goods to market.
Continue…

Those who grew up in Dhaka that are in their 30s now, I am sure you have vivid memory of walking or biking through various ‘goli’ (lanes) of your ‘para’ (subdivision, area) and quenching your thirst with a glass of ‘matha’ or ‘ghol’, snacking on ‘ghal muri’ or ‘chotpoti’. For those who have been sheltered from it for a while due to emigration or being wrapped in upper middle to upper class Dhakaities life, that is now unthinkable. It goes even beyond that now – nondiscriminatory purchase of nonperishable food items and even fresh food items like fruits, vegetables, meat and fish is unthinkable due to toxic chemical use to preserve their appearance and for longer shelf life in the market.

Our country has finally realized that the problem is beyond the capacity of spot checks, periodic intervention and various actions taken by so called mobile court in the last few years. We are finally talking about setting up a watchdog organization modeled after USFDA to check minimum standards and safety of various food and drugs locally produced or imported. It wasn’t the Urea usage in ‘muri’ (puffed rice), industrial oil for cooking or formalin usage to preserve fish and fruits, it was the melamine in imported Chinese food items that finally got our attention. I guess it’s better late than never.

Laws are ubiquitous in our country though many warrant amendments. However, it’s not the lack of laws; it’s the lack of enforcement that has been the problem in our country. Will the BDFDA, when established, be another layer in the bureaucracy and red tape or will it really be able to ensure the citizens have access to un-tampered food and drugs? I sure hope so; last thing a citizen should worry about is if the food and drug they are PURCHASING with their income is adulterated. USFDA, which the authority is talking about modeling our FDA, is not without its own problems. There have been cases when even USFDA approved the usage of unsafe substance for food processing and approved of unsafe drugs like Vioxx. It’s not a secret that USFDA plays a big role for the high cost of drugs and lengthens approvals of drugs in the US. For Bangladesh with an emerging pharmaceutical industry, this may be a double edged sword. It will be a positive for our international customers to know that there is a national agency to oversee the standards. On the flip side, it may delay approval of drugs and increase the cost of production in Bangladesh.

Should we be optimistic for the day when we can buy anything at your local bazaar that looks fresh, bring it home and put in on the table for your loved ones?

Did you ever wonder what was printed on the foreign newspapers when Bangladesh was going through the struggle for language movement and later for independence? Wonder no more! You don’t even need to go to your local library and go through microfiche to find that. Google has just launched a service to bring old newspapers that predate the internet to the masses. Unfortunately many of the news in that archive require subscription from the newspaper companies to read the full news but lots of them are free.

I was browsing through it and made sure to search using keywords like “Dacca” and “Bangla Desh” as it was known to the world back in those days. Here is an excerpt from Time Magazine’s May 3, 1971 issue on what was going on in our quiet city of Dacca with population of only 1.5 million:

Within hours after launching a tank-led offensive in Dacca and other East Pakistani cities on the night of March 25, the Pakistan army imposed a virtual blackout on the brutal civil war in Bangla Desh (Bengal State) by expelling foreign newsmen. TIME Correspondent Dan Coggin, who was among them, recently trekked back from India by Honda, truck, bus and bicycle to become the first American journalist to visit Dacca since the fighting started. His report:
Dacca was always a fairly dreary city, offering slim pleasures beyond the Hotel Intercontinental and a dozen Chinese restaurants ^ that few of its 1,500,000 people could afford. Now, IP in many ways, it has become a city of the dead. A month after the army struck, unleashing tank guns and automatic weapons against largely unarmed civilians in 34 hours of wanton slaughter, Dacca is still shocked and shuttered, its remaining inhabitants living in terror under the grip of army control. The exact toll will never be known, but probably more than 10,000 were killed in Dacca alone.
Perhaps half the city's population has fled to outlying villages. With the lifting of army blockades at road and river ferry exits, the exodus is resuming. Those who remain venture outdoors only for urgent food shopping. Rice prices have risen 50% since the army reportedly started burning grain silos in some areas. In any case, 14 of the city's 18 food bazaars were destroyed. The usually jammed streets are practically empty, and no civil government is functioning.
"Kill the Bastards!" On every rooftop, Pakistan's green-and-white flags hang limply in the steamy stillness. "We all know that Pakistan is finished," said one Bengali, "but we hope the flags will keep the soldiers away." As another form of insurance, portraits of Pakistan's late founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, and even the current President Agha Mohammed Yahya Khan, were displayed prominently. But there was no mistaking the fact that the East Pakistanis viewed the army's occupation of Dacca as a setback and not a surrender. "We will neither forgive nor forget," said one Bengali. On learning that I was a sangbadik (journalist), various townspeople led me to mass graves, to a stairwell where two professors were shot to death, and to scenes of other atrocities.

Related Links:
Google News Archive Search

Iqbal Quadir, the man behind GonoPhone which serverd as the stepping stone of GrameenPhone, talks about how technology has empowered the poor of Bangladesh and how it can benefit us in the long term. The Q/A session at the end was rather interesting and many good questions were asked and answered. One of the interesting and delicate question came up when one of the audiences asked him about the current state of democracy in Bangladesh and how have cell phones changed that.

Iqbal Quadir: How Technology Is Empowering the Poor

Just about 22 years ago, Bangladesh Cricket team played their very first one-day international match. That game against Pakistan on March 31, 1986 in Asia Cup brought a huge loss without much surprise for a new entrant to the international cricketing world. Coincidentally, in the recently concluded Asia Cup, Bangladesh played their last game against Pakistan. The result - still a huge loss! There has been recent sprinkle of success of our national cricket team but after many years, many selection committees, many coaches, many player and many captains, it seems like we have not elevated much further from the time we took off 22 years ago. We are lucky that the international cricket governance and powerhouse has shifted to the Indian subcontinent and we have always been given the vote of approval by our neighbors. Beside the fact that we have a nation full of cricket lovers and sponsors, can we keep getting the vote of approval from the authorities without getting where we should be? What is our real problem anyway for not being able to get where we should be after all these years? It can't be "time needed" as I think we clocked enough time in international cricket; it can't be selection committees or coaches or player or even captains as we have had complete makeovers many times over in each of these departments over the years. Damn it - we can't even blame it on politics as we have seen many changes and all forms of governments in 22 years. So, what is it? Are we lacking the basic temperament of the game?
 
Bangladesh v Pakistan 31 March 1986
Scorecard
 
Pakistan v Bangladesh
4 July 2008
Scorecard

The record breaking SSC exam results yesterday with 70.41 percent pass rate and 41,917 with GPA of 5 suggest that some things are changing in the education system of Bangladesh.

Over the years, education system of Bangladesh slowly but surely changed quite a bit especially in the post-elementary levels. It is not just the names of the board exams and degrees like Matriculation becoming S.S.C. and Intermediate becoming H.S.C. but the whole approach has been changing. The emphasis is shifting more towards understanding the concepts rather than memorizing (even better it the notes are from so and so highly rated private tutors), ability to use as many antiquated quotes and taking and filling up as many extra sheet of papers in the exams. The grading system also went through much needed change to be more relevant and meaningful in a global world that we live in; for instance, the adaptation of GPA scale instead of First-class, second-class, pass and percentage scale.

But the biggest change is that the system is no longer glorifying a dozen students out of thousands and thousands. Not that I fell out of the top ten ranking because of a few total points back when I took the SSC exam but the system just didn’t seem fair and right when there could be thousand others that were just few points shy of the top ten students but without deserved special accolade. It was eye pleasing to see the news clip of a wave of new generation ready to take on the future with the fruit of their hard-work in form of GPA 5 instead of reading about ten students and wondering when these selected few would disappear in “brain-drain”. Coincidentally, fellow blogger Rumi Ahmed also touched on the same sentiment in one part of his writing on this SSC results and his recollection.

There is much to cheer about but much more work lies ahead in fostering this wave of capable new generation to the next level of education and creating an environment of opportunities that would ultimately benefit the country and the people. Based on New Age report, roughly 52 thousand students scored GPA 5 of which most would seek admission to the 12 renowned colleges of the country (Notre Dame College, Dhaka College, Viqarunnisa College, Holy Cross College etc.) that have combined 13 thousand seats only. What chances do those with GPA 5 like Sabir Hossain that are fighting the odds have in this race of life?

See the label above that reads “Product of Bangladesh”? I am sure first thing that will come to your mind as far as what’s inside the wrap is what would come to my mind – Garments, Textile or Clothing. That’s typically what a general consumer sees in a retail store in North America as far as goods made in Bangladesh. I was more excited than surprised when the seafood section of a local super market (a.k.a. grocery store) caught my attention today when I saw one of the packages read that it originated from Bangladesh. I thoroughly inspected the entire shrimp section ignoring the “look” from others around me. I got even more excited to see that the majority of the packages of variety of shrimp on the shelves were from Bangladesh!


I have a tendency of checking where a product is made before buying especially garments. Of course I always prefer to buy garments that are made in Bangladesh. In one funny “in excess” instance, I once bought a pack of undergarment that I desperately needed but only packages that were left that day at that particular store were made in a different country and I was aware that the particular brand is also made in Bangladesh which I bought in the past. I went home with a pack that was NOT made in Bangladesh but I felt so guilty that I decided to drive back that same day to a different store of the same retailer in the area that happened to have that same brand of undergarment but made in Bangladesh. I am not suggesting others to be that extreme about buying Bangladeshi products. I just hope we all, the emissaries of Bangladesh don’t put down or make negative connotation about a fine product simply because it’s made in Bangladesh without any basis.

Anyway, going back to the shrimp – I have checked the seafood section many times before at that same store and other mainstream food stores wondering why Bangladeshi seafood has not made it to the heart of America in regular grocery stores when I know that seafood is one of the export items of Bangladesh. Most of the times in the past, I saw seafood from mainly Philippines, China, India and Vietnam. Most likely some of the seafood may have been from Bangladesh but possibly purchased by large exporters, packaged and exported from the county of those exporters. Are changes on the way – changes that are positive and changes that are visible? This instance of shrimp at a local grocery chain in the middle of America may seem small but few small changes like this one is bound to elevate us to the next level. Also, this is BIG progress as the name “Bangladesh” is getting out to the consumers in the heart of America (and other importing nations I presume) through the package labels of products other than garments.

We have been hearing about ‘minus-2’ formula for the top two leaders and the term ‘treatment abroad’ for the rest in the political arena and their associates from shortly after 1/11. Of course, ‘minus -2’ was once carried out unsuccessfully last year when both Khaleda and Hasina were denied entry to the country. Well, this time after spending almost a year in a sub-jail in Shangshad Bhaban, Hasina did take up the 'treatment abroad' offer after pressure kept mounting on the administration. What was all in the fast-tracked so called ‘political deal’ which was outwardly termed as ‘humanitarian’? Nevertheless – a win-win situation for AL and current administration.

So what was the term on which Hasina was set free? Is it really conditional or unconditional? Some of it will come to light when the ‘parole’ term is about to expire. I have a strong feeling that the ‘episode of care’ of Hasina’s treatment abroad will take longer than the 8-week term of the ‘parole’ for obvious reasons.

What’s cooking for Khaleda? She has been more on the unwavering side of the two leaders. Though there are views out there that Hasina leaving makes Khaleda look stronger of the two - I absolutely disagree this being the reason why she is still in. It’s very unlikely that Khaleda will be held for too long with Hasina out now. It’s obviously not Khaleda or Koko (who was literally invisible in politics) that will have problem in getting go-ahead for ‘treatment abroad’. I think the quandary is Tarique for both Khaleda and the current administration. It will be interesting how this catch-22 matter is handled – I suspect we shall find out when the news come out within matter of days.

The eye of the intensifying cyclone Nargis was positioned uncomfortably close to Bangladesh for almost a week. It hovered over the Bay of Bengal near our coast long enough for us to send all kinds of warning signals to alert lives on the storm’s path. On the flip side, it was long enough for us to subconsciously think about the potential loss of lives and livelihoods that this cyclone is capable of brining to our nation. Further destruction over the one that we are still recovering from that was left by a similar storm named Sidr six months ago in November of 2007 taking 3000 lives.
 
Thanks God, mighty nature spared us this time. It may have spared precious lives of thousands, bumper harvest, further spiraling cost of essential commodities and much more. It’s an uncanny sense of relief that’s mixed with pain as cyclone Nargis spared us but changed her course at the end and lashed on our neighbor Myanmar. The death toll is 4000 so far – most of these victims as well as the survivors already in a state of suffering from almost 5 decades of human rights abuse and suppression of civil society and democracy by the military junta. My heart goes out to those victims and the survivors.

Recently launched rail link between Dhaka and Kolkata was exciting enough for you? How about rail link between Dhaka and London which is set to open later this year? This tantalizing news is no hoax for the travel enthusiast and modern day adventurers.

I was very excited about the Moitree Express that connects Dhaka and Kolkata and I would definitely go on a ride next time I get a chance. Even though it is slow (roughly a full day) especially considering that a flight can take me to Kolkata from Dhaka in less than an hour, I can only imagine how much more exciting this trip can be on a train people watching and sightseeing.

The Dhaka London train journey as compared to Dhaka Kolkata sounds like a Moitree Express in a concentrated steroid. Though, I seriously doubt that I will ever have that kind of time to experience that enticing journey. The 23 day trip will cover about seven thousand miles of railway of the old Silk Roads through Istanbul, Tehran, Lahore and Delhi.

Related Links:
The Daily Star - Rail line to link Dhaka with London by this year.
Mark Smith - Train travel in Bangladesh.