Celebrate International Mother Language Day

February 21st is International Mother Language Day.

"International Mother Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in November 1999. The International Day has been observed every year since February 2000 to promote linguistic and cultural diversity and multilingualism.

Languages are the most powerful instruments of preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. All moves to promote the dissemination of mother tongues will serve not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world and to inspire solidarity based on understanding, tolerance and dialogue." -- un.org

The day in the news today, also see the wiki.

Birth of better days?

Finally, there is something good in the air! I was getting so sick and tired of writing how bad things are in Bangladesh. For once, we can be positive about where we are politically, with a reliable and unbiased caretaker government in place which is carefully backed by the military. Nobody denies that a state of emergency is not the most democratic solution but Bangladeshis are happy and feeling safe. The only people complaining are the corrupt politicians.

In the last weeks, two very important news have made the headlines, which may very well be the beginning of a different Bangladesh:

The first is the list of fifty corrupt politicians and businessmen, including former Ministers and Parliament Members and all with ties to one political party or the other. Many of whom have already been taken into custody and all of them have been asked to provide explanation of their wealth within the next 72 hours, otherwise the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will temporarily confiscate or freeze their assets and properties. The ACC took the action as part of its action to root out corruption under the amended Emergency Power Ordinance, 2007. Delowar Hossain, the secretary of the ACC said more names would be published within the next few days.

At the same time, Dr Yunus announced his interest in coming into politics and forming a new political party. Of course it'll be hard, even for a Nobel peace prize winner to have a one man show in a parliamentary democracy but I believe he'll apply his straights as an economist and philanthropist and rationally form a plan for introducing his new party. Don't be too surprised if he comes in with a team of respected countrymen with views to go beyond the corruption today and make true improvements.

Pessimists obviously are not holding their breath but I'd say the worst that can happen is the corrupted politicians will realize that their day of reckoning IS possible, even if they get away this time and we may just have a third political presence, that has been born from peace, logical thinking and politics of unity, to run our state.

May the slogans created by the two leading parties finally come true! Something that they have ignored for a long time now....of course, why lead the country to be a winner when you can exploit it for personal wealth?

So I say "Bangladesh Jindabad" and I say "Joy Bangla"...things are looking better!

Sleepwalking back again

The dark cloud lingering over the political sky in Bangladesh just started the thunder storm many of us were afraid of. Even though with occasional lightning in the last few months, things were looking up from time to time but I guess a play is all that was. A State of Emergency has been declared in the country, so right now there's curfew at night, military in the streets and no independent media operating. In a speech addressing the nation, President & Chief Advisor announced his resignation, along with nine other advisers right after UN, EU, US and other political ambassadors to monitor the democratic process were withdrawn by their individual authorities. To think, just when the world's leading political analysts were beginning to say that Bangladesh has a true democratic process in place, one which is more successful than most other third world countries. Granted we have VERY crooked and corrupt politicians but think about it - it's not like Rwanda or North Korea. Bangladesh have had a democratic process for the last fifteen years after the dictatorial reign ended and elected government for more than half of our history. Not that we were doing great but democratically - things were improving, until now.

All this reminds me so much of lines from Pink Floyd's High Hopes...

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us,
to a glimpse of how green it was on the other side
Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again,
dragged by the force of some inner tide.

So what were the forces this time around? The four party government finished it's tenure amidst mass allegations of tampering with the upcoming democratic process of the independent and interim government to hold the elections within ninety days. Immediately, the polar forces of the fourteen (now nineteen) party alliance placed their demands in order to balance out the scale. Some demands were justifiable, which the interim government should have met immediately but decided to hold the fort strong without giving in. But all it did was put fuel in the fire that ended up burning the commoners. The fourteen party alliance came down to the streets and started an unfortunate episode of mayhem and destruction, which killed hundreds and injured thousands so far, not to mention bringing life and the economy to a stand still. With time, the chaos continued with endless demands that are almost impossible for the government to meet within ninety days, especially since they were spending more days to bring peace to the forum than actually prepping for the election.

There was a ragged band that followed in our footsteps,
running before time took our dreams away.
Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground
to a life consumed by slow decay.

The rivalry of the two "alliances" have taken us to the brink of democracy and I just hope we don't fall into any perilous cavern that hold nothing but more distress for the people of Bangladesh, like never ending chaos, military regime or foreign penetration.

Since the ringing of the division bell had (already) begun, I hope we don't follow the song to it's end...

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition,
there's a hunger still unsatisfied.
Our weary eyes still stray to the horizon
go down this road we've been so many times.

Smelly New York

New York smelling...or is it New Jersey? The gas-like odor that hung over Manhattan's streets yesterday is gone now, but city officials are still trying to find its source. They're looking at New Jersey and liking what they see...the DEP is pretty sure the source of the smell was along New Jersey's industrialized waterfront, just across the Hudson River from New York.

"You" named Time's person of 2006

"You" have been named as Time magazine's Person of the Year...yes, YouTube that is. Kool ain't it? Jawed Karim, originally from Germany and of Bangladeshi descent, founded YouTube in February 2005, which was recently bought by Internet giant Google for $1.60B.

No fat New York?

Double pepperoni, but hold the fat??? and New York of all places...

The New York board of health voted unanimously yesterday to go ahead with plans to prohibit the city’s restaurants from serving food that contains artificial trans fats throughout the five boroughs!!! And that includes the pizza joints, the doughnut shops, the chinese takeout around the corner, even the McDonald’s across the street, not to mention the fashionable midtown bistros and restaurants.

First the streets were (apparently) cleaned of night prowlers, then the ban on smoking and now go fat less?

...now that's what i call a big apple polishing...

Light at the end of the tunnel?

Hopefully we're closer to that light at end of the tunnel in our beloved motherland's political tug of war. Advisors of the caretaker government met with both the alliances day before yesterday and proposed package solutions. After meetings all day long yesterday with the chief advisor in the chair, they announced the outcome - to reconstitute the Election Commission, reschedule the polling date, correct the voters’ list and reshuffle the top bureaucrates even further. So in the end it's just accepting what the 14 party alliance has been forcibly demanding since late October.

The nation is breathing a little easier now, with hopes that life will be normal again, the economy can operate again and that this is the end to the mayhem that was ruling the streets of Bangladesh. We all hope that we will have a fair election early next year, the voice of the people will be heard and a government based on the peoples choice will be formed.

Hmmmm...now that's a fairy tale, even if the voice of the people is heard and a government based on the peoples choice is formed.

Let me ask this...how can an exiting government manipulate the system in such a way that the idea of a free and fair election commission and a neutral caretaker government is jeopardized? And how can the former opposition completely imprison and batter the people and the economy of a country until what they deem necessary for winning the election is met?

So yes we can see the light at the end of tunnel but unfortunately there are always freight trains that follow...and hit us hard over and over again.

Exxon Mobil chief to get $2.8M bonus #%$@!

WOW! Now that's a bonus!!! So I guess we can expect gas prices to go up again huh...

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