Saturday, December 31, 2005
Friday, December 30, 2005
Passion for the Future
I’ve seen the future, my friends, and I need my sunglasses.
The Chatterjee Group, lead partners of Haldia Petrochemical (HPL) of West Bengal, India, has just bought for US$ 5.7 billion – Basell a JV between Royal Dutch Shell and BASF – a company 9 times HPL’s size.
Lakshmi Mittal, an NRI based out of London, has been slowly buying up enough steel mills around the world to give him effective sway over the world industry.
Reliance Industries, despite feuding brothers, have put in money in countries from the US to Africa, from Central Africa to China in projects as diverse as telecom, infrastructure and gas exploration.
Tata Sons have invested in truck plants in South Korea, in the world famous Tetley brand in UK, in Taj Hotel properties Maldives, and are even talking of a major project in Bangladesh.
Vijay Mallya’s UB Group has become the second largest liquor marketer in the world and has just paid about GBP 2 million to get Tipu Sultan’s legacy back from the British.
And I’ve not even touched on Wipro that has 40,000 people working in BPO operations around the globe. Or of Infosys who have become the blue-eyed boy of NASDAQ. Or of Jet Airways who have taken to the sky towards London and Singapore. Nor of the hundreds of other Indian companies that are looking beyond their borders. They are looking at the world as their playing fields and staring down the future, eyeball to eyeball!
“India is Shining”. Well, true that this slogan failed to win the BJP the last elections. But there was much more to the defeat than identification with the brand India. Indeed no one can deny the common man in Indian cities believing in the statement and breathing fire into the prophecy, ensuring that the country is indeed shining!
I have had the opportunity to study and live in India during the watershed years of “liberalisation” of the Indian economy in the early part of the 1990s. And then have worked and interacted with many Indians over the last decade and more. And I have seen a marked change in the attitude pulsating throughout society. My earlier years in India were in basically an American “International” school in South India. This was a school where the children of NRIs and rich Indians from Mumbai went. And my latter years were in one of India’s finest bastions of learning – St. Stephen’s College, a breeding ground for future leaders of the country. A college that at one time produced, I am told, 40% of all the top-level bureaucrats. Why, it even gave Pakistan a President! Now these last few sentences are not to boast that I am actually educated (a lot of my professors are shaking their heads in disbelief) but to highlight the valuable learning that I have had. An “insight” as we say in advertising, an inner glimpse of the psyche of the Indian mind.
Believe it or not, India is not one country! It is an amalgamation of many kingdoms, tribes, dynasties, people and languages. They actually owe it to the British for uniting them. Till the “Engrez” came and conquered them (and even after) they were basically warring states with ever changing borders. And, mind you, the Raj is not so far in the past. Without giving out her age (sorry Ma) my mother was actually born during the Raj. In an evolutionary clock that is less than a fraction of a nano second! This difference is still engrained in a multiplicity of beliefs, religion and roots. A Mumbaiwalla is so different from a Boro from Assam. A Mallyu from Triviandram is poles away from a Pandit from Kashmir. A Bengali babu from Kolkatta is different from a cyber sassy youth from Bangalore. And, mind you, it is not only the language (come on, English is the great unifier) and physical structure that I am talking about, but ethos of one’s ego. I used to half jokingly tell my Indian friends that the only thing that united them was their love for cricket and their hatred of Pakistan!
Now that joke is no longer true. They have another shared platform. And that is their belief they are going places and that they are going to conquer the world! Trust me, this is a very powerful belief. I see it in the body language of everyone I meet now. I see it in the conversations of friends. I see it in the attitude of their media. I feel it throbbing in every city I visit. Indians are dreaming a marvel bigger than any of the Bollywood story spinners can conjure up. They have been bitten by the bug of a bigger vision and they are sprinting toward their “tryst with destiny”.
Well, my rambling over the last 800 or so words was not to actually tell you what Indians are doing. But to tell you what we should be doing! Senator Clinton is right. We live in a village. If we do not understand that, we will never move to the tree-lined boulevard of Planet Earth. (No! I am not talking of a “city beautification program”)
We are too insular in our vision. If you can call an annually changing Five Year Program that! I understand the pain of the Honourable Finance Minister and am not preaching for blindly taking the pills prescribed by Mr. Wolfowitz at World Bank. But we need to compete in the world, need to believe in our abilities, and we need tool ourselves to the tasks of the modern demanding cyber world. (Let’s face the facts if you aren’t connected you are going no where fast!)
It is not any one policy I am preaching (well, at least, not in this article) but rather pleading to everyone – especially the powers that be, or not currently be, to unite the country to a shared goal, a rallying vision. Let us take the challenge on with zeal to succeed. Let us smell our own self-confidence. Let us be enchanted by the music of our victory that will be. Let us rush towards victory with the conviction of madmen. Let us believe. Let us try. Let us shine.
Anyway, whichever way, I need my sunglasses. Either the future is blindingly bright or it is a blind politician’s shenanigans.
The Chatterjee Group, lead partners of Haldia Petrochemical (HPL) of West Bengal, India, has just bought for US$ 5.7 billion – Basell a JV between Royal Dutch Shell and BASF – a company 9 times HPL’s size.
Lakshmi Mittal, an NRI based out of London, has been slowly buying up enough steel mills around the world to give him effective sway over the world industry.
Reliance Industries, despite feuding brothers, have put in money in countries from the US to Africa, from Central Africa to China in projects as diverse as telecom, infrastructure and gas exploration.
Tata Sons have invested in truck plants in South Korea, in the world famous Tetley brand in UK, in Taj Hotel properties Maldives, and are even talking of a major project in Bangladesh.
Vijay Mallya’s UB Group has become the second largest liquor marketer in the world and has just paid about GBP 2 million to get Tipu Sultan’s legacy back from the British.
And I’ve not even touched on Wipro that has 40,000 people working in BPO operations around the globe. Or of Infosys who have become the blue-eyed boy of NASDAQ. Or of Jet Airways who have taken to the sky towards London and Singapore. Nor of the hundreds of other Indian companies that are looking beyond their borders. They are looking at the world as their playing fields and staring down the future, eyeball to eyeball!
“India is Shining”. Well, true that this slogan failed to win the BJP the last elections. But there was much more to the defeat than identification with the brand India. Indeed no one can deny the common man in Indian cities believing in the statement and breathing fire into the prophecy, ensuring that the country is indeed shining!
I have had the opportunity to study and live in India during the watershed years of “liberalisation” of the Indian economy in the early part of the 1990s. And then have worked and interacted with many Indians over the last decade and more. And I have seen a marked change in the attitude pulsating throughout society. My earlier years in India were in basically an American “International” school in South India. This was a school where the children of NRIs and rich Indians from Mumbai went. And my latter years were in one of India’s finest bastions of learning – St. Stephen’s College, a breeding ground for future leaders of the country. A college that at one time produced, I am told, 40% of all the top-level bureaucrats. Why, it even gave Pakistan a President! Now these last few sentences are not to boast that I am actually educated (a lot of my professors are shaking their heads in disbelief) but to highlight the valuable learning that I have had. An “insight” as we say in advertising, an inner glimpse of the psyche of the Indian mind.
Believe it or not, India is not one country! It is an amalgamation of many kingdoms, tribes, dynasties, people and languages. They actually owe it to the British for uniting them. Till the “Engrez” came and conquered them (and even after) they were basically warring states with ever changing borders. And, mind you, the Raj is not so far in the past. Without giving out her age (sorry Ma) my mother was actually born during the Raj. In an evolutionary clock that is less than a fraction of a nano second! This difference is still engrained in a multiplicity of beliefs, religion and roots. A Mumbaiwalla is so different from a Boro from Assam. A Mallyu from Triviandram is poles away from a Pandit from Kashmir. A Bengali babu from Kolkatta is different from a cyber sassy youth from Bangalore. And, mind you, it is not only the language (come on, English is the great unifier) and physical structure that I am talking about, but ethos of one’s ego. I used to half jokingly tell my Indian friends that the only thing that united them was their love for cricket and their hatred of Pakistan!
Now that joke is no longer true. They have another shared platform. And that is their belief they are going places and that they are going to conquer the world! Trust me, this is a very powerful belief. I see it in the body language of everyone I meet now. I see it in the conversations of friends. I see it in the attitude of their media. I feel it throbbing in every city I visit. Indians are dreaming a marvel bigger than any of the Bollywood story spinners can conjure up. They have been bitten by the bug of a bigger vision and they are sprinting toward their “tryst with destiny”.
Well, my rambling over the last 800 or so words was not to actually tell you what Indians are doing. But to tell you what we should be doing! Senator Clinton is right. We live in a village. If we do not understand that, we will never move to the tree-lined boulevard of Planet Earth. (No! I am not talking of a “city beautification program”)
We are too insular in our vision. If you can call an annually changing Five Year Program that! I understand the pain of the Honourable Finance Minister and am not preaching for blindly taking the pills prescribed by Mr. Wolfowitz at World Bank. But we need to compete in the world, need to believe in our abilities, and we need tool ourselves to the tasks of the modern demanding cyber world. (Let’s face the facts if you aren’t connected you are going no where fast!)
It is not any one policy I am preaching (well, at least, not in this article) but rather pleading to everyone – especially the powers that be, or not currently be, to unite the country to a shared goal, a rallying vision. Let us take the challenge on with zeal to succeed. Let us smell our own self-confidence. Let us be enchanted by the music of our victory that will be. Let us rush towards victory with the conviction of madmen. Let us believe. Let us try. Let us shine.
Anyway, whichever way, I need my sunglasses. Either the future is blindingly bright or it is a blind politician’s shenanigans.
Who Will Bell the Cat?
In the comments to "My Rejoinder" Faisal Kader asks a pertinant question. How do we get out of this cycle of detrimental politics that we are faced with. Well with the biryani in my stomach I think I am going to rehash an answer:
The article apprearing above this post "Passion for the Future" appreared in New Age Op-Ed July 8th 05. (Sorry to those who have read it already!)
The article apprearing above this post "Passion for the Future" appreared in New Age Op-Ed July 8th 05. (Sorry to those who have read it already!)
Tardy
"Tis is a season to be jolly... sha la la la lah"
And hence no boring posts about the depressing situations all around! Well atleast that is the excuse for being busy and lazy! Any way I'm back with my regular posts from now on. Apologies to 108 unique visitors who hit my home page! I've got a nifty stat checker which tells me who has come and for how long they have been here! So you guys better subscribe to the blog (look for the link on the side panel in the right) and save yourself the embarrassment of my pop quiz on the blog! Hah haa!
I've actually got a lot to say but its late now... 2:48 am. And I'm full of great biryani from Zarif Munir's wedding. (Congrats dude!) So tomorrow for sure... well actually in the morning in a couple of hours!
And hence no boring posts about the depressing situations all around! Well atleast that is the excuse for being busy and lazy! Any way I'm back with my regular posts from now on. Apologies to 108 unique visitors who hit my home page! I've got a nifty stat checker which tells me who has come and for how long they have been here! So you guys better subscribe to the blog (look for the link on the side panel in the right) and save yourself the embarrassment of my pop quiz on the blog! Hah haa!
I've actually got a lot to say but its late now... 2:48 am. And I'm full of great biryani from Zarif Munir's wedding. (Congrats dude!) So tomorrow for sure... well actually in the morning in a couple of hours!
Sunday, December 18, 2005
My Rejoinder
I think Mr. Hossain missed my point.
I am never saying that Jamaat is not to be blamed for the sins committed in 1971. Or forgiven!
I am not saying that Jamaat is right and that they are voice of the majority.
I am not saying that we should adopt the Islamic rule over our secular democracy.
I am not saying Jamaat is the answer or our weapon in the war against terrorism.
What I am saying is that to put Jamaat and JMB under the same banner is to over simplify a complicated and dangerous situation. We by doing this will not put our concentration, energy or resources behind finding the actual root of the problems facing our nations.
Bangladesh’s electoral, despite being by and far illiterate and Muslim has not been swept by the hypnosis of our Islamic leaders. Unfortunately because we (main stream political parties and the intelligentsia) are busy pointing fingers at each other we have forgotten to guide the citizens of this land. This has left a blank slate for the JMB and its ilk to draw on. To mould young impressionable minds. We need to retake the leadership. We need to preach secularism. We need to convert the disillusioned. We need to give the nation hope and a vision.
Without vision there is no future! And with hope there isn’t any suicide bombers!
This is not going to happen overnight. But the process needs to start.
I am never saying that Jamaat is not to be blamed for the sins committed in 1971. Or forgiven!
I am not saying that Jamaat is right and that they are voice of the majority.
I am not saying that we should adopt the Islamic rule over our secular democracy.
I am not saying Jamaat is the answer or our weapon in the war against terrorism.
What I am saying is that to put Jamaat and JMB under the same banner is to over simplify a complicated and dangerous situation. We by doing this will not put our concentration, energy or resources behind finding the actual root of the problems facing our nations.
Bangladesh’s electoral, despite being by and far illiterate and Muslim has not been swept by the hypnosis of our Islamic leaders. Unfortunately because we (main stream political parties and the intelligentsia) are busy pointing fingers at each other we have forgotten to guide the citizens of this land. This has left a blank slate for the JMB and its ilk to draw on. To mould young impressionable minds. We need to retake the leadership. We need to preach secularism. We need to convert the disillusioned. We need to give the nation hope and a vision.
Without vision there is no future! And with hope there isn’t any suicide bombers!
This is not going to happen overnight. But the process needs to start.
A Critique
Ah and at last a critique of my New Age article.
Mr. Bilayet Hossain, Oklahoma, USA writes:
Martyred intellectuals and Islamic militancy
Expressing the feelings of the family members of the martyred intellectuals of 1971, your correspondent Shahiduzzaman wrote on December 14:
‘They are unequivocal in their views that the killers of 1971 were behind the emergence of militancy that already has the nation in its grip, in a different names and forms.’
Zahid Reza Noor, a son of martyr journalist Sirajuddin Hossain said—’ —the pain becomes unbearable when we see the killers hold high offices of power’—referring to the Jamaat ministers in the present Alliance government.
Contrast this with the comments of Nazim Farhan Choudhury that appeared the same day (Op-Ed, December 14):
‘So is the popular belief that Jamaat is behind the rise of Islamic extremism true? I think not.’ Mr Choudhury then argued how Jamaat has become democratic and how it stands to loose everything by promoting militancy. So according to him Jamaat should be treated just like a regular good-guy democratic party and considered as an ally in fight against the Islamic militants.
What people like Mr Choudhury need to find out is —
(1) Were the paramilitary outfits of the occupying Pakistani army —‘Al-Badr and Al-Shams’— some kind of Islamic militants?
(2) Were the present Jamaat leadership — including the two ministers — members of Al-Badr and Al-Shams?
(3) Did the members of Al-Badr and Al-Shams abduct the intellectuals from their residences and torture and kill them days before the Pakistani army surrendered on 16 December, 1971?
(4) Has the present Jamaat leadership denied its (both personal or collective) involvement in opposing the war of liberation and in particular the killings of the intellectuals or repented for its acts of political violence and its support for a genocidal Pakistani army?
(5) Have they denounced the present day bombings and killings by the so-called militants as ‘un-Islamic’ or not within the realm of political Islam?
If I recall correctly, the Jamaat leader Moulana Nizami has stated on the issue of Islamic militants that the bombings were the act of misguided youths patronized by the conspirators and directed against the alliance government, implying thereby the involvement of India and possibly the Awami League. Have the Jamaatis changed their position?
Before giving an ‘innocence certificate’ to a party whose declared objectives (establishment of laws of Allah—and removal of man-made laws) are quite similar to those of the militants, Mr Choudhury and others need to understand that the path of ‘political Islam’ is a slippery slope. In Bangladesh it started with the removal of secularism from the Constitution and inclusion of ‘ Allah’s law’ in its preamble. Since then ‘Islam’ has been gradually infused in national politics with the consent of a large section of the elite society, particularly in the garb of deterring Indian hegemony.
As we remember the martyred intellectuals (some of them were so close and near personally), we must recall the ideals for which they sacrificed their lives—‘a secular democratic Bangladesh (with ethos of Bengali culture) and with an egalitarian economic development’, as Shahiduzzaman wrote.
Bangladesh was not meant to be ‘a moderate Muslim state’ as some would like to portray—but was meant to be ’a moderate secular state’ where people of all religions can freely practise their religions. But none would be allowed to use religion for political purposes.
That is what the civil society in Bangladesh should strive for and not engage in pandering to or accommodating a criminal political outfit masquerading as a democratic organisation.
New Age. 17th November 2005. FeedBack
Mr. Bilayet Hossain, Oklahoma, USA writes:
Martyred intellectuals and Islamic militancy
Expressing the feelings of the family members of the martyred intellectuals of 1971, your correspondent Shahiduzzaman wrote on December 14:
‘They are unequivocal in their views that the killers of 1971 were behind the emergence of militancy that already has the nation in its grip, in a different names and forms.’
Zahid Reza Noor, a son of martyr journalist Sirajuddin Hossain said—’ —the pain becomes unbearable when we see the killers hold high offices of power’—referring to the Jamaat ministers in the present Alliance government.
Contrast this with the comments of Nazim Farhan Choudhury that appeared the same day (Op-Ed, December 14):
‘So is the popular belief that Jamaat is behind the rise of Islamic extremism true? I think not.’ Mr Choudhury then argued how Jamaat has become democratic and how it stands to loose everything by promoting militancy. So according to him Jamaat should be treated just like a regular good-guy democratic party and considered as an ally in fight against the Islamic militants.
What people like Mr Choudhury need to find out is —
(1) Were the paramilitary outfits of the occupying Pakistani army —‘Al-Badr and Al-Shams’— some kind of Islamic militants?
(2) Were the present Jamaat leadership — including the two ministers — members of Al-Badr and Al-Shams?
(3) Did the members of Al-Badr and Al-Shams abduct the intellectuals from their residences and torture and kill them days before the Pakistani army surrendered on 16 December, 1971?
(4) Has the present Jamaat leadership denied its (both personal or collective) involvement in opposing the war of liberation and in particular the killings of the intellectuals or repented for its acts of political violence and its support for a genocidal Pakistani army?
(5) Have they denounced the present day bombings and killings by the so-called militants as ‘un-Islamic’ or not within the realm of political Islam?
If I recall correctly, the Jamaat leader Moulana Nizami has stated on the issue of Islamic militants that the bombings were the act of misguided youths patronized by the conspirators and directed against the alliance government, implying thereby the involvement of India and possibly the Awami League. Have the Jamaatis changed their position?
Before giving an ‘innocence certificate’ to a party whose declared objectives (establishment of laws of Allah—and removal of man-made laws) are quite similar to those of the militants, Mr Choudhury and others need to understand that the path of ‘political Islam’ is a slippery slope. In Bangladesh it started with the removal of secularism from the Constitution and inclusion of ‘ Allah’s law’ in its preamble. Since then ‘Islam’ has been gradually infused in national politics with the consent of a large section of the elite society, particularly in the garb of deterring Indian hegemony.
As we remember the martyred intellectuals (some of them were so close and near personally), we must recall the ideals for which they sacrificed their lives—‘a secular democratic Bangladesh (with ethos of Bengali culture) and with an egalitarian economic development’, as Shahiduzzaman wrote.
Bangladesh was not meant to be ‘a moderate Muslim state’ as some would like to portray—but was meant to be ’a moderate secular state’ where people of all religions can freely practise their religions. But none would be allowed to use religion for political purposes.
That is what the civil society in Bangladesh should strive for and not engage in pandering to or accommodating a criminal political outfit masquerading as a democratic organisation.
New Age. 17th November 2005. FeedBack
Politics of an Election
Afshin wrote [See comments to Subscription]
"Few days back a confession by a JMB activist caught my eye. He was an ex-shibir. He told that he became disillutioned when comming to power Jaamat dropped its jehadi attitude and nolonger inspired its members on the path of shahadat. Hence he joins JMB."
One thing that we fail to realise that the last time that Jamaat contested a national level of elections was in 1996! See the last polls they were only present in some of the seats that they got as a part of their pre-poll Alliance. What that means that by the time 2007 Jan polls come around Jamaat would have been absent in national electoral politics for 10 years!
Anyone who has seen a poll in Bangladesh knows that Election is a big money game. Huge amounts of funds are pumped into the constituency. Win or loose each party uses this event to rejuvenate its support base and organization. Like that of any team sports game, the elections allow parties to build morale, identify its strengths and weakness, and re-introduce their reason of being to the general public.
As Jamaat hasn’t had the opportunity to do so in the last 10 years means that a lot of their “cadre” will become disillusioned and look for alternatives.
"Few days back a confession by a JMB activist caught my eye. He was an ex-shibir. He told that he became disillutioned when comming to power Jaamat dropped its jehadi attitude and nolonger inspired its members on the path of shahadat. Hence he joins JMB."
One thing that we fail to realise that the last time that Jamaat contested a national level of elections was in 1996! See the last polls they were only present in some of the seats that they got as a part of their pre-poll Alliance. What that means that by the time 2007 Jan polls come around Jamaat would have been absent in national electoral politics for 10 years!
Anyone who has seen a poll in Bangladesh knows that Election is a big money game. Huge amounts of funds are pumped into the constituency. Win or loose each party uses this event to rejuvenate its support base and organization. Like that of any team sports game, the elections allow parties to build morale, identify its strengths and weakness, and re-introduce their reason of being to the general public.
As Jamaat hasn’t had the opportunity to do so in the last 10 years means that a lot of their “cadre” will become disillusioned and look for alternatives.
Comments from Canada
Well I would love to say it is fan mail but actually it is more. I've taken permission from Dr. Taj Hashmi to reproduce what he had written in an email to many of his friends. The reason to post this was to say that there are many of us who share the same convictions. Is it not time we did something to change the way things are?
Dr. Hashmi's comment:
I am forwarding this wonderful article by Nazim Farhan Choudhury, which came out as an op-ed in the New Age, December 15, 2005. I think it is one of the very few balanced and objective analyses of the current situation of Bangladesh.
I wanted to write a similar article but refrained from doing so considering the effort an "Aranney Rodon". I wish our leaders follow Mr Choudhury's advice to contain "Islamic Terror" once for all by adopting some short- and some long-term socio-econmic measures instead of politicising terror, cynically keeping in view the possible dividends out of the ongoing terror in the next parliamentary elections.
Both the AL-led opposition and BNP-led coalition government fail to realise that blaming the Jamaat and BNP and India and AL for the terror, respectively, only benefits the terrorists. Lumping Jamaat with the JMB/ Harkatul Jihad will undoubtedly give dividends to the AL and its allies in the short-run, while the "Islamic terrorists" will benefit most in the long-run. Both the AL and BNP should come to their senses.
What I find most important in Mr Choudhury's analyses is how the constant portrayal of the Jamaat as the main force behind suicide bombing and other acts of terror in the name of Islam can force the Jamaat to turn into an ultra-rightist terrorist organization. Those who believe that imposing a ban on the Jamaat and other Islam-oriented political parties and kicking out the Jamaat and IOJ from the Coalition Government would diminish and eventually eliminate "Islamic terrorism" in Bangladesh are real fools.
Please read and re-read this well-written timely op-ed by Mr Chudhury. I wish our politicians could think in terms of long-term interests of Bangladesh and the so-called civil society (and the Bengali press) could stop the blame game for the sake of peace and order in this poor country with the potentials to become rich and prosperous!
Thank you Dr. Hashmi
Dr. Hashmi's comment:
I am forwarding this wonderful article by Nazim Farhan Choudhury, which came out as an op-ed in the New Age, December 15, 2005. I think it is one of the very few balanced and objective analyses of the current situation of Bangladesh.
I wanted to write a similar article but refrained from doing so considering the effort an "Aranney Rodon". I wish our leaders follow Mr Choudhury's advice to contain "Islamic Terror" once for all by adopting some short- and some long-term socio-econmic measures instead of politicising terror, cynically keeping in view the possible dividends out of the ongoing terror in the next parliamentary elections.
Both the AL-led opposition and BNP-led coalition government fail to realise that blaming the Jamaat and BNP and India and AL for the terror, respectively, only benefits the terrorists. Lumping Jamaat with the JMB/ Harkatul Jihad will undoubtedly give dividends to the AL and its allies in the short-run, while the "Islamic terrorists" will benefit most in the long-run. Both the AL and BNP should come to their senses.
What I find most important in Mr Choudhury's analyses is how the constant portrayal of the Jamaat as the main force behind suicide bombing and other acts of terror in the name of Islam can force the Jamaat to turn into an ultra-rightist terrorist organization. Those who believe that imposing a ban on the Jamaat and other Islam-oriented political parties and kicking out the Jamaat and IOJ from the Coalition Government would diminish and eventually eliminate "Islamic terrorism" in Bangladesh are real fools.
Please read and re-read this well-written timely op-ed by Mr Chudhury. I wish our politicians could think in terms of long-term interests of Bangladesh and the so-called civil society (and the Bengali press) could stop the blame game for the sake of peace and order in this poor country with the potentials to become rich and prosperous!
Thank you Dr. Hashmi
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Subscription
Hi everyone! First of all thank you for such wonderful response to the New Age article! I've been busy all day answering phone calls, sms and emails about it. Thanks for the support!
Something that a few mentioned is that it is difficult to remember to keep checking the postings everyday or even keep track of when I am updating. Well to help those people I've included a subscription system. Using a service called Bloglet it allows you to register to this blog. So everytime I update the site they will send you an email saying that there is a new post. (Well actually they will only email you once a day) If you want you can use this Bloglet to keep track of other blogs as well [ Have you checked out Faisal Bhai's one as yet? - http://fkader.blogspot.com] And rest assured the service is safe and spam free.
If you want more information it is available at www.bloglet.com
And for my growing Indian readers a special coming up in the next few days! My new piece on SAARC is almost complete and I hope to have it up before I go off to Chittagong next week for Rocky's wedding! Subscribe so that you are aware of the update when it happens!
Wedding season starts today for me... I'm off to two weddings tonight! :(
PS Chicky what happened to the comment you spoke about this morning?
Something that a few mentioned is that it is difficult to remember to keep checking the postings everyday or even keep track of when I am updating. Well to help those people I've included a subscription system. Using a service called Bloglet it allows you to register to this blog. So everytime I update the site they will send you an email saying that there is a new post. (Well actually they will only email you once a day) If you want you can use this Bloglet to keep track of other blogs as well [ Have you checked out Faisal Bhai's one as yet? - http://fkader.blogspot.com] And rest assured the service is safe and spam free.
If you want more information it is available at www.bloglet.com
And for my growing Indian readers a special coming up in the next few days! My new piece on SAARC is almost complete and I hope to have it up before I go off to Chittagong next week for Rocky's wedding! Subscribe so that you are aware of the update when it happens!
Wedding season starts today for me... I'm off to two weddings tonight! :(
PS Chicky what happened to the comment you spoke about this morning?
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
New Age and Tommy Miah
Oh I think it is pent up blogging. After two or three days of break I seem to be blogging non stop today! Sorry for so many posts. But two things I wanted to mention.
1. New Age is carrying the article Shades of Green in today's op-ed page (Pg 5).
2. Those of you in Dhaka do remember to visit Tommy Miah's Heritage a wonderful resturant of Bengali Fusion food! Superb ambiance and great food! (Tommy's left a comment!) Come on everyone leave a comment and I will blatantly promote you! :)
1. New Age is carrying the article Shades of Green in today's op-ed page (Pg 5).
2. Those of you in Dhaka do remember to visit Tommy Miah's Heritage a wonderful resturant of Bengali Fusion food! Superb ambiance and great food! (Tommy's left a comment!) Come on everyone leave a comment and I will blatantly promote you! :)
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