here lies
BANGLADESH
1971-2006
she fought valiantly for freedom and democracy
but always squandered it away
she will be missed.
rest in pieces.
***
for those who think i’ve declared death prematurely, be assured, we’re at war. we’ve got the guns, we’ve got the bombs, we’ve got the fighter jets (and more on the way). but we’re not sure who the enemy is, or what it is we’re fighting for.
frankly, i liked it better when the enemy was poverty, or unemployment, or inflation, or crime or anything else that could hurt us. and when the weapons were policies, rules, regulations and laws, not bricks, cricket bats, hockey sticks and bamboo. also, i loved it when those laws, policies and rules worked.
is it really that difficult for us to stop fighting each other and engaging in wanton destruction? is that the only way left to make a political statement? or is this an indication that we should just give up on law and order and engage in vigilantism? is the answer to every single problem a gutted car, a burnt factory or an innumerable number of people in the hospital or in the morgue?
but i still hope. foolishly, some might say. but i still believe that, a group of 144 million people that can rise up to protect their right to speak their own language can, 35 years later, rise up to do the things that need to be done to fulfill the potential we all know we have.
so let’s not bury bangladesh fully today.
let’s bury the parts of bangladesh we hate – the corruption, the deteriorating law and order, the dirty politics, the fanaticism, the spiralling prices of essentials, what happened today.
let’s wake up tomorrow, refreshed, cleansed, free of this anger that burns inside us.
let’s make a fresh start tomorrow and let’s solve all our problems.
let’s once again be proud of who we are, instead of reminiscing about who we could have been.
let’s learn all over again what it means to be a citizen of bangladesh.
but then, that’s just me, and that’s just the way i feel.
you’re right, it’s all just wishful thinking.
no, its not just you. there are loads of us out there. we need to look inside and make a change, the first change. i need to pledge that i wont be a fuck up like the earlier generation.
That’s good elegy. Even though it kind of sucks that it’s actually true… The first two lines really hit the mark. All this is happening only because a few rich people think that it’s a game. It’s not a game. It’s life. A person’s life. A million people’s lives!
i feel so totally helpless and depressed whenever i see/read the news – and anger, at the people, at the government, at the media. its a neverending cycle, and much as i’d like to believe the future generation, i.e. us, can change it, i find myself being a pessimist, believing that it will be a futile struggle… but the beauty of the matter is there are alot of us who still love our country and feel for it and are willing to fight for it, if only to lose. if u decide to stand for elections, u can atleast count on my vote babe