woman and her child
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woman picking tea leaves
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crowded/old area of Dhaka, click for larger image
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Child laborers crossing a bamboo bridge, click for a larger image |
1998 flood |
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Without its people, Bangladesh would not be the birthplace I came to know it is. Every
visit to Bangladesh reveals some facet of the humility of the Bangladeshi people. This
humility seems to disappear as many of us adopt to foreign lives in foreign territories.
My entire life, the Bengalis I have been most familiar with are Bangladeshis that live
outside Bangladesh in more developed nations, most of them are friends of my fathers who
graduated from the best Universities in Bangladesh only to leave Bangladesh in search of a
different and at times better lives. The Bangladeshis I meet in Bangladesh have little in
common. The outlook in life is very different there. ![Workers in a rice field [click for larger image]](ricepadthumb.jpg) I think the truly humble are the Bangladeshis found in rural areas of
Bangladesh. Left unexposed to the material culture of the cities, and more importantly,
unexposed to the disparity between rich and poor that is so visible in cities. These
people will love you and treat you more of less without condition. You do not have to have
ties to an industry magnet nor be the local shop owner's cousin, you simply have to be
human (maybe a Bengali, foreigners might scare some people). I have the following essay to share, perhaps that will
reveal something. I wrote it one day whimsically, hoping to make it a college entrance
essay, but I never go around to using it, or for that matter, editing it. So, if you come
to the end of the little essay and ask "What is the point?", I will be at loss
explaining, so I won't. Essay:
These unpretentious masses
 Bangladeshis are hard workers. They are laborious people
have been greatly exploited by countries in the middle east like the one I grew up in.
Unfortunately, many in Bangladesh are under the illusion that life in a foreign country
would be beneficial to them (sometimes after having seen the more successful people return
to Bangladesh with their material cultures to build beautiful bungalows in privileged
districts). That is why it is really easy for many foreigners to recruit Bangladeshi
workers. Growing up in Saudi Arabia, I would see Bangladeshi workers with BA degrees
(roughly equivalent to Associate Degrees in US) actually working for cheap wages cleaning
streets! It is extremely upsetting to see people who could even be your relatives working
in your neighbors garden doing menial jobs they would never consider doing in Bangladesh.
More than the degradation, it is the way they are treated that makes me upset. To this
day, I find it difficult to understand why people would succumb to situations like that.
But, it is wrong for me to point out error in their ways, after all, there was a whole
group that went before and found much success (only few of them seem to have returned to
Bangladesh). I guess there is a lot I need to learn, and lot more I do not know.
One of the sad things, at least sad in my
opinion, is the nationalism that some Bangladeshis succumb to. Some are just too paranoid.
Some actually consider India the enemy, and that it will take over Bangladesh (As if India
does not have enough of it's own problems). The other thing I absolutely cannot tolerate
in Bangladesh is the politics. Young people are being continually being brainwashed into
supporting extreme groups, potential dictators, or political novices. The youth (most
male) are so involved in politics, it is hard to find someone who does not have some ties
to a political party. What makes it more aggravating is that some of the rash judgements
made by younger politicians have horrible consequences. It is one thing to have young
people oppose an oppressive government, another to have groups of young people nearly
killing each other over their political associations. Adding to the pain is the fact that
most of the politicians in Bangladesh are either clueless about what is good for the
nation, or they are having too much of good time depleting the nations resources to get
anything done. There are people who supported the previous dictator Ershad, and some still
do, because he had control over the nation, and there was little political fist fights in
his time (obviously because he was in control). Unfortunately, there is not such thing as
a good dictator, and Ershad was just about far enough from that. He had plenty of fund
appearing in his Swiss bank accounts out of the blue, and had some Clintonesque faults (as
if most politicians don't). It
is the political condition more than anything else that scares me from even thinking about
moving to Bangladesh in any time during the future. For me, it is simply best as it is, a
place to visit and enjoy. comments?
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![Workers in a rice field [click for larger image]](ricepaddy.jpg){kind=small}
