Reality bites
Bangla Lesson #6
Ami Kelanto - I'm sleepy
Ami Khudarto - I'm hungry
This entry had been brewing in my mind for sometime, but i had been very unwilling to entertain it. I felt that I had presented such a good side of Dhaka & Bangladesh, that I couldn't bring myself to shatter.
You must be wondering if I am feeling depressed again. Don't worry. I'm not. Still feeling optimistic about living here for another 5months or so.
But I knew it would be wrong for me to only present the good side. My journalistic training in school (no matter how little and pathetic that was..) had taught me to be fair and balanced in reporting news. I'm sure that even if I had continued to keep this entry out of my blog, you (my rational & sensible readers) would have started to wonder if I was telling the whole truth. I mean, you'd start to think "this place almost sounds perfect! what's wrong with it?"
So, this is the entry of the low down... Not the "real" side, since everything else I said about this place is also real... This is simply my attempt to balance the good stuff I'd written with some bad stuff... It brings more credibility to my writing, it gives you at home a more holistic picture... and... it just might unclog the block i've been getting everytime I refused to entertain this idea (cos my conscience is dogging me).
There are just so many things here that upset me.
I'm in the region called Dhanmondi. It's quite a posh place. There are lots of very modern apartment buildings. From what I heard from Topu, the apartments here are very expensive. But Dhanmondi is not the most expensive place. The most expensive areas are like Gulshan, where all the filthy rich stay.
I don't know about Gulshan, since I haven't been there yet. But here in Dhanmondi, you see the comfortable looking children staring out of the apartment windows, while out on the street, there are little boys walking around barefoot and are all dirty and don't even have a shirt on in the winter time. Not so bad.
Once a group of about 4 cars drove by Drik as Jess, Topu and I were walking out. Each car held four rowdy guys who were sitting on the doors, shouting to the people on the streets and giving them "the finger". The rich men's sons... With money flowing through their blood and looking down on the less fortunate.
I was appalled! How could they be so horrible? I wanted to call them a bad word/name. But I would rather leave it to your imagination, to know what I mean. I know that I come from a very comfortable environment. I'm not on the same league as those less fortunate that I now see so often. But I would never dream of looking down on them. I have admiration for the way they survive, even though it's so tough! Although, there are exceptions.
I heard from Shalini that the beggars on the streets are sometimes hired by people to go and beg. The money doesn't go to these people. They go to the people who hired them. Even when you see a woman with a baby or a child, chances are, that child is not hers! I'm not too sure about all this but the whole idea is, giving money to beggars on the street may not be the best way to help them.
I know I complained to my family about the lack of job opportunities back home. That's like a total understatement for the people here.
English education here is the most expensive compared to the English schools in the region like in India and Sri Lanka. So, only the really rich can learn English. The people working at Drik with me have been trying to improve their English to be more effective in their work. But there is just no place that they can learn it! They aren't even poor. They are doing ok with their jobs in Drik and outside. Even they can't afford it, so which of the poor people can?
How about domestic violence? Recently, I heard Mothi shouting at his wife. Shalini said that he was beating her. Wife-beating is very very common. Drik once had an exhibition of photos of victims to domestic violence. This is the way men see their wives, as things to be disciplined through beating. What ever happened to loving your wife as your own flesh? Treating her as a precious part of your body? Holding her at your side? Protecting her?
I saw that Noyl was in the room where the fight was going on, and I wondered if he would grow up thinking that women are to be beaten into submission. The thought still sends a shiver down my spine...
Now, let's talk about the hartal, or the strike, that happened yesterday.
What is your impression of strike? Something very spontaneous perhaps? Happens as and when it happens right? Well, whatdyaknow... It was announced in the Daily Star yesterday! "Huh?" FYI, newspapers can't print news that is happening right now. It can only print yesterday's news... This means to say, the strikers announced that they are going to have a strike the day before. It's pretty considerate, I guess, cos then people can know to stay at home.
I still feel rather uncomfortable about the whole thing... From today's newspapers, the police clubbed down the demonstrators. Of which, 50 of them were women. Ouch! The strike was called by the opposition party as a protest against a particular international meeting which was initially scheduled for today. The reporter was unhappy that the opposition parties were always trying to tarnish the reputation of the country in front of other nations.
I don't think i'm in the position to judge which is more upsetting. The women demonstrators being clubbed down or those very same women protesting that their country be involved with international affairs. But what I do know is, I think the general public suffered the most. Chittagong had to declare a half day yesterday and so a lot of businesses in that area were affected. Travel all over Bangladesh was affected because a lot of large vehicles were not on the road. The strike was a full day thing and people stayed off the roads until after 6. If anything, the strike was not benefitting the general public.
Now there is talk about banning strikes here. I think, that as long as the poor people aren't made much worse than they are... Go right ahead!
Ami Kelanto - I'm sleepy
Ami Khudarto - I'm hungry
This entry had been brewing in my mind for sometime, but i had been very unwilling to entertain it. I felt that I had presented such a good side of Dhaka & Bangladesh, that I couldn't bring myself to shatter.
You must be wondering if I am feeling depressed again. Don't worry. I'm not. Still feeling optimistic about living here for another 5months or so.
But I knew it would be wrong for me to only present the good side. My journalistic training in school (no matter how little and pathetic that was..) had taught me to be fair and balanced in reporting news. I'm sure that even if I had continued to keep this entry out of my blog, you (my rational & sensible readers) would have started to wonder if I was telling the whole truth. I mean, you'd start to think "this place almost sounds perfect! what's wrong with it?"
So, this is the entry of the low down... Not the "real" side, since everything else I said about this place is also real... This is simply my attempt to balance the good stuff I'd written with some bad stuff... It brings more credibility to my writing, it gives you at home a more holistic picture... and... it just might unclog the block i've been getting everytime I refused to entertain this idea (cos my conscience is dogging me).
There are just so many things here that upset me.
I'm in the region called Dhanmondi. It's quite a posh place. There are lots of very modern apartment buildings. From what I heard from Topu, the apartments here are very expensive. But Dhanmondi is not the most expensive place. The most expensive areas are like Gulshan, where all the filthy rich stay.
I don't know about Gulshan, since I haven't been there yet. But here in Dhanmondi, you see the comfortable looking children staring out of the apartment windows, while out on the street, there are little boys walking around barefoot and are all dirty and don't even have a shirt on in the winter time. Not so bad.
Once a group of about 4 cars drove by Drik as Jess, Topu and I were walking out. Each car held four rowdy guys who were sitting on the doors, shouting to the people on the streets and giving them "the finger". The rich men's sons... With money flowing through their blood and looking down on the less fortunate.
I was appalled! How could they be so horrible? I wanted to call them a bad word/name. But I would rather leave it to your imagination, to know what I mean. I know that I come from a very comfortable environment. I'm not on the same league as those less fortunate that I now see so often. But I would never dream of looking down on them. I have admiration for the way they survive, even though it's so tough! Although, there are exceptions.
I heard from Shalini that the beggars on the streets are sometimes hired by people to go and beg. The money doesn't go to these people. They go to the people who hired them. Even when you see a woman with a baby or a child, chances are, that child is not hers! I'm not too sure about all this but the whole idea is, giving money to beggars on the street may not be the best way to help them.
I know I complained to my family about the lack of job opportunities back home. That's like a total understatement for the people here.
English education here is the most expensive compared to the English schools in the region like in India and Sri Lanka. So, only the really rich can learn English. The people working at Drik with me have been trying to improve their English to be more effective in their work. But there is just no place that they can learn it! They aren't even poor. They are doing ok with their jobs in Drik and outside. Even they can't afford it, so which of the poor people can?
How about domestic violence? Recently, I heard Mothi shouting at his wife. Shalini said that he was beating her. Wife-beating is very very common. Drik once had an exhibition of photos of victims to domestic violence. This is the way men see their wives, as things to be disciplined through beating. What ever happened to loving your wife as your own flesh? Treating her as a precious part of your body? Holding her at your side? Protecting her?
I saw that Noyl was in the room where the fight was going on, and I wondered if he would grow up thinking that women are to be beaten into submission. The thought still sends a shiver down my spine...
Now, let's talk about the hartal, or the strike, that happened yesterday.
What is your impression of strike? Something very spontaneous perhaps? Happens as and when it happens right? Well, whatdyaknow... It was announced in the Daily Star yesterday! "Huh?" FYI, newspapers can't print news that is happening right now. It can only print yesterday's news... This means to say, the strikers announced that they are going to have a strike the day before. It's pretty considerate, I guess, cos then people can know to stay at home.
I still feel rather uncomfortable about the whole thing... From today's newspapers, the police clubbed down the demonstrators. Of which, 50 of them were women. Ouch! The strike was called by the opposition party as a protest against a particular international meeting which was initially scheduled for today. The reporter was unhappy that the opposition parties were always trying to tarnish the reputation of the country in front of other nations.
I don't think i'm in the position to judge which is more upsetting. The women demonstrators being clubbed down or those very same women protesting that their country be involved with international affairs. But what I do know is, I think the general public suffered the most. Chittagong had to declare a half day yesterday and so a lot of businesses in that area were affected. Travel all over Bangladesh was affected because a lot of large vehicles were not on the road. The strike was a full day thing and people stayed off the roads until after 6. If anything, the strike was not benefitting the general public.
Now there is talk about banning strikes here. I think, that as long as the poor people aren't made much worse than they are... Go right ahead!
All these injustices can't go away overnight. Not expecting it to. But, I think, it would still be nice to continue dreaming of a better future... If no one else will, I will....
posted by thebemusedphotog @ 11:26 AM
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