My recent trip to Doha and Bangladesh
I returned home to Philadelphia last night from my trip to Bangladesh. The Qatar flight from Doha arrived earlier than scheduled although the flight had taken off almost an hour late. The in-flight service was great. I stayed in a hotel, provided by the Qatar Airways, for almost a full day.
Doha is a very organized, neat city, with lots of construction work going on everywhere. There were too many hotels for the people touring or staying in hotels. I don't know what the builders are thinking! Most of the foreign workers were either Indian or Phillippinos. Many of the crew members in the plane were also from SE Asia (again from Thailand and the Philippines). I hardly saw any Bangladeshi except inside the Doha airport. The Indians have effectively taken over the hotel, catering and grocery industries in Qatar, many of them driving expensive foreign cars. Chevrolet was rather very common brand among most Qataris owning foreign cars. Weather was great, not too hot, for this time of the year. It was in the mid-30s (deg C). I hardly saw anyone walking on the streets outside migrant day laborers, working for the construction or hotel industry. So, Qatar seems to be one place in the Middle East where Bangladeshi workers are too few.
By the way, on my first leg of the journey I saw and met some Bangladeshi workers returning from the ME. They had lost the job there, or were betrayed by their sponsors. There was a Sylheti who had spent some quarter million taka to come for his cherished construction job, only to be returned empty-handed (and without even his belongings) within three months. The Bangladeshi embassy, as usual, was of no help to ensure his rights. It is a sad story for some workers who had spent all their savings, even borrowing from others to make that dream trip and then end up like that broke. No one inside the govt, esp. inside the Bangaldeshi embassies, seemed ever to care for such wage earners.
As noted by Prof. Taj Hashmi in a personal letter from his latest trip to Bangladesh, the traffic situation in all major cities is deteriorating fast with almost 300 cars adding every day to the Dhaka city alone. The govt's plan for separate schedules for offices and schools, while well-intentioned and smart, may actually have little luck to alleviate people's miseries on the roads, unless newer ways are found to address the real issues culminating into the mess. They may like to follow other prudent methods, some tried in our neighboring countries. For a mere meeting anywhere, within 3 to 5 kms, one may spend nearly 2 to 6 hours on the road, thus wasting nearly 80% of productive time. I wish our people had learned the art of utilizing phone to do many of their tasks; they still seemed to like the face to face meetings over those held over the phone. The work-efficiency is still a far cry for most business operations. The press freedom is at an all time high. This can be somewhat confusing for some people though. While the price of rice and some food items have come down from the 1/11-days, the price of most items is still beyond the means of most Bangladeshis, costing more in real dollars than in the USA.
The cities are dirty and filthy without any drainage cleaning for years. With corrupt mayors in many cities, esp. in the big ones, the life of most residents is worsening. With all the fast moving heavy trucks and buses rolling over the major streets round the clock, I could hardly have a sound sleep in Chittagong. Mayor Mohiuddin has put up speed breakers in front of all schools and colleges in the cities. However, without any visible sign or warnings, only thing he has been able to do is take away people's sleep at night. It is a stupid policy - trying to apply a wrong formula at a wrong place, without ever thinking about the consequences of such stupid actions. Who advises stupid mayors like him, I don't have any clue! Crime and corruption, as usual, is on the rise everywhere.
Many of the govt-priorities are misplaced and ill-conceived. It needs to do a Pareto analysis to prioritize important deliverables and chalk out real plans to implement those within the shortest time possible effectively. I wish Prime Minister Hasina had the wisdom of appointing more experienced people in her Mahajote govt rather than many amateurs that now include her administration. As usual, tender-politics is on the rise, and this, in spite of her warnings not to favor her party folks. I see lack of sincerity in many such efforts. She should also understand that while her father was definitely the most important Bangladeshi ever in the long history of our people, and that our people are indebted to him, she does not own Bangladesh, and cannot therefore behave like a feudal heiress. She should try to distinguish between sincere advice and sycophancy. The latter practice unfortunately is on the rise. I was simply annoyed to see the name change of the China-Bangladesh Friendship Convention center to Bangabandhu International Convention Center. I don't know whether it was a reversal act from de-naming names though! But such naming games ought to come to a full stop. I don't mind though govt putting its petty name with things that it erects on its own count, but hate to see old structures renamed. It is a piracy and must stop before our people's patience runs dry!
Many of our people are already too frustrated with real reforms taking place; if at all, too slowly. They seemed betrayed. Many blame the bureaucrats for the on-going troubles. While most intellectuals think that it was the lack of continuation of civil administration that is at the heart of our troubles, most seem to opine that a benevolent dictator is probably what is needed for Bangladesh! This wish again epitomizes our failure as a nation state. We seemed to have wasted away the last 38 years! Our political leaders also have learned nothing from history and continues to do insane and stupid things with lack of far-sightedness, sincerity of purpose and intention. As it seems, we shall therefore see more of the same.
Doha is a very organized, neat city, with lots of construction work going on everywhere. There were too many hotels for the people touring or staying in hotels. I don't know what the builders are thinking! Most of the foreign workers were either Indian or Phillippinos. Many of the crew members in the plane were also from SE Asia (again from Thailand and the Philippines). I hardly saw any Bangladeshi except inside the Doha airport. The Indians have effectively taken over the hotel, catering and grocery industries in Qatar, many of them driving expensive foreign cars. Chevrolet was rather very common brand among most Qataris owning foreign cars. Weather was great, not too hot, for this time of the year. It was in the mid-30s (deg C). I hardly saw anyone walking on the streets outside migrant day laborers, working for the construction or hotel industry. So, Qatar seems to be one place in the Middle East where Bangladeshi workers are too few.
By the way, on my first leg of the journey I saw and met some Bangladeshi workers returning from the ME. They had lost the job there, or were betrayed by their sponsors. There was a Sylheti who had spent some quarter million taka to come for his cherished construction job, only to be returned empty-handed (and without even his belongings) within three months. The Bangladeshi embassy, as usual, was of no help to ensure his rights. It is a sad story for some workers who had spent all their savings, even borrowing from others to make that dream trip and then end up like that broke. No one inside the govt, esp. inside the Bangaldeshi embassies, seemed ever to care for such wage earners.
As noted by Prof. Taj Hashmi in a personal letter from his latest trip to Bangladesh, the traffic situation in all major cities is deteriorating fast with almost 300 cars adding every day to the Dhaka city alone. The govt's plan for separate schedules for offices and schools, while well-intentioned and smart, may actually have little luck to alleviate people's miseries on the roads, unless newer ways are found to address the real issues culminating into the mess. They may like to follow other prudent methods, some tried in our neighboring countries. For a mere meeting anywhere, within 3 to 5 kms, one may spend nearly 2 to 6 hours on the road, thus wasting nearly 80% of productive time. I wish our people had learned the art of utilizing phone to do many of their tasks; they still seemed to like the face to face meetings over those held over the phone. The work-efficiency is still a far cry for most business operations. The press freedom is at an all time high. This can be somewhat confusing for some people though. While the price of rice and some food items have come down from the 1/11-days, the price of most items is still beyond the means of most Bangladeshis, costing more in real dollars than in the USA.
The cities are dirty and filthy without any drainage cleaning for years. With corrupt mayors in many cities, esp. in the big ones, the life of most residents is worsening. With all the fast moving heavy trucks and buses rolling over the major streets round the clock, I could hardly have a sound sleep in Chittagong. Mayor Mohiuddin has put up speed breakers in front of all schools and colleges in the cities. However, without any visible sign or warnings, only thing he has been able to do is take away people's sleep at night. It is a stupid policy - trying to apply a wrong formula at a wrong place, without ever thinking about the consequences of such stupid actions. Who advises stupid mayors like him, I don't have any clue! Crime and corruption, as usual, is on the rise everywhere.
Many of the govt-priorities are misplaced and ill-conceived. It needs to do a Pareto analysis to prioritize important deliverables and chalk out real plans to implement those within the shortest time possible effectively. I wish Prime Minister Hasina had the wisdom of appointing more experienced people in her Mahajote govt rather than many amateurs that now include her administration. As usual, tender-politics is on the rise, and this, in spite of her warnings not to favor her party folks. I see lack of sincerity in many such efforts. She should also understand that while her father was definitely the most important Bangladeshi ever in the long history of our people, and that our people are indebted to him, she does not own Bangladesh, and cannot therefore behave like a feudal heiress. She should try to distinguish between sincere advice and sycophancy. The latter practice unfortunately is on the rise. I was simply annoyed to see the name change of the China-Bangladesh Friendship Convention center to Bangabandhu International Convention Center. I don't know whether it was a reversal act from de-naming names though! But such naming games ought to come to a full stop. I don't mind though govt putting its petty name with things that it erects on its own count, but hate to see old structures renamed. It is a piracy and must stop before our people's patience runs dry!
Many of our people are already too frustrated with real reforms taking place; if at all, too slowly. They seemed betrayed. Many blame the bureaucrats for the on-going troubles. While most intellectuals think that it was the lack of continuation of civil administration that is at the heart of our troubles, most seem to opine that a benevolent dictator is probably what is needed for Bangladesh! This wish again epitomizes our failure as a nation state. We seemed to have wasted away the last 38 years! Our political leaders also have learned nothing from history and continues to do insane and stupid things with lack of far-sightedness, sincerity of purpose and intention. As it seems, we shall therefore see more of the same.
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