What is happening with Euro zone? (continued)

roughly one month ago the last post on this same topic was published -

Now that UK is keeping herself safely away from the Euro zone and French-German coalition is pushing for a more closely knit Euro 'State' (policy wise), one can not help but ponder the future. [Someone said a currency without a state can not sustain]. Looking at the strong commitment of big powers to save the Euro, it is likely that the current crisis will be warded off. But, at the same time there will be some irreversible changes in the European socio-political map. The Mainland  will move ever closer in terms of future policy with the exception of few 'rogue' states (who will fail to maintain the impending strong fiscal discipline to be imposed by the big two). However, here one must keep in mind the deep seated ethnic and national diversity among Euro citizens which are prominent through the national lines and can cause future separatist dissensions among small, disgruntled population groups, bringing future social unrest and rifts. But, the big scoop here is the increased self-imposed isolation of the UK from Euro zone. With the passing of current debt crisis, this divide along the English channel is supposed to get widen. So, it can pose interesting socio political questions in the future. Let's wait and see...

What do you think of the crisis and the outcome?   

'Education' system and human ingenuity

When I think of the word education, it brings picture of a school and classroom in my mind. I think it is same for many others. But think of the transcend-ing that had gone into the process over hundreds and thousands of years to put that kind of conditioning on present human mind. And, the extraordinary guile and intelligence on behalf of human to bring education from a purely one-to-one and primarily experiential phenomenon to a generalized & standardized, one-to-many experience that all human-lings are expected to go through during their formative years. Simply fascinating! Of-course inventions like fire, wheel, agriculture or domestication of animals are the fundamental stepping stones those made this civilization happen, but mass-ification of education is no less important in this journey from the caves to the present day glass & steel skyscrapers. One can simply get awed by the accomplishment.

Now, it was no way one individual's accomplishment. Rather, many of the great minds who lived this planet contributed to this evolution.... (to be continued: we will talk about the genesis and early steps and gradual progress)

What is happening with Euro zone?

Yesterday, the Greek government was on the verge of collapse in the question of holding a referendum on broader issues of staying with Euro zone and receiving debt relief... But, the real question is, has the modern financial system has come to a position where it can be called untenable?

look at the scenario from the background earlier crises - 90s' Asian stock market crisis & subsequent recession (although recession was limited to the zone itself), 2007/8 US housing market crash and subsequent capital market debacles and recession in wider world (except China & India), and now this European crisis which has the potential to be a global crisis with recessions looming - and you will feel something is not right somewhere. Factor in the US dot com bubble of the 90s or other crises of smaller proportions (suffered by a single country or a micro zone), and one can see how modern finance and it's entangle of nuances are dishing up crisis after crisis for humanity to deal with. And, the fact that most of them can trace their causes to transactional or distribution issues rather than real scarcity of goods or services makes one even more dismayed with the current system. Look how one 'rouge' trader or one greedy corporation on more than one occasions have brought misfortune to countless million, and the discontentment with the current system grows even bigger.

What can we do as individual citizens? Do we continue to pay our taxes, be good citizens and pray nothing untoward happens? or is the current ongoing wall street protest that is raging through regions is the answer to the problem in the sense that the movement has enough vitality and focus to take care of the issues? or, we expect the world leaders and agencies are honest and bold enough to take the bull by the horn?

Behavior economics, irrrationality and my eid shopping!

Today, something interesting happened. The story needs a little background... The next day according to the Islamic calendar happens to be the Eid day here, the biggest festival for the Muslims. Therefore, it's a big holiday in the national calendar, when people (not all but many!) usually leave big cities for their ancestral homes to spend the holidays with family & friends. The cities generally take a quiet and deserted look and it's common for shops and businesses to remain closed for 3 or 4 days at a stretch. On the other hand, the festivity of the day demands people to prepare exotic and rich menu of traditional foods to offer to the relatives and friends. So, you see, there takes shape an apparent gap between the demand and supply (lack of supply as many of the shops are closed vs. sudden spike in demand of consumable goods). Naturally, this opportunity to make some quick bucks does not escape the attention of some unscrupulous shop owners. So... maintaining tradition, today was also no exception and milk (one of the essential items for preparing Eid - day foods) experienced a sudden hike in price in my neighborhood grocery. I had to buy some... when I inquired the price, I found the grocer was asking 20% higher than the usual rate. (I was irked, but what could I do! so I kept my peace!!). Now there is this particular brand of milk that usually costs 10% more than the general categories. So, next I inquired price of this superior category, and to my amusement I found the shopkeeper in his haste forgot to increase the price of this brand. It was being sold in usual rate. Which means the expensive one (& supposedly the better-quality one) is now cheaper than the 'cheap' one. Now, here comes the interesting part... I was supposed to buy a certain quantity of milk, beyond that amount I really did not need as then I have to store it for future, which not a particularly attractive option... But, seeing the expensive item suddenly being 'cheaper', I bought substantially more than the amount I required! Moreover, it gave me mental satisfaction (I felt smarter and superior!) seeing others were not noticing this simple fact and were buying the usual one at a higher price than mine. This prompted me to buy even more of the milk than I needed!

August 28th 2011 as it happened...

Today is a Sunday. It's already night in most of the northern hemisphere.. On American East coast, the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, Irene is hammering the coastal metropolis'. At London, Manchester City has has just pummeled Tottenham Hotspur in English Premier League Football, sending a strong signal across the board. A little east to London, Belgium Grand Prix has just concluded and Sebastian Vettel, young German race car driver has all but assured his prospect of becoming the youngest F1 champion in history. And f-a-rther east in India Anna Hazare, the activist, has called off his hunger strike against corruption-in-his-country after receiving firm pledges from the political leadership of strong anti-corruption legislation. This last piece of events has ringed a bell somewhere....and couple of questions need answering!

I don't know how severe corruption is, in India, or whether this selfless & patriotic gesture of Mr. Anna will bring any real change. But one thing I know is, here in Bangladesh, we are a deeply corrupt society. Here, it (corruption) has long passed ankle deep or knee deep level and now it's almost nose deep, choking life out of our beloved country... India is just beside us, we share almost identical socioeconomic heritage and there in India, a guy is going almost 12 days without food or water forcing their mighty Government to take measure to root out corruption! and, in the process he is creating huge public opinion drawing thousands and millions to the cause... But, here we are sleeping. Oblivious to the silent hemorrhage that corruption is inflicting on us in every moment and every seconds of the day! Probably none of my fellow countryman will see my lamenting or see the great chasm that lie in front of us, but still I want to pose this question: What will bring our nation and its people to the senses? When will we get our Anna Hazare??

Azam Khan, the hero of our time

He was not a sophisticated person, he did not possess a great voice, neither was he ever thought of as a brilliant composer. His lyrics, despite having the honesty of a soul singer, will never feature in the pages of a literary giant. His presence on the stage, though passionate, was at the most archaic. He talked like a commoner and even at his best would be considered a misfit among the shiny and bright.

But, Azam Khan was still a HERO. He would walk on the road and nobody would even bother to look back, yet on stage he could draw thousands and create mad frenzy among his followers. The youth and the young took him up to their hearts and affectionately called him 'the GURU (teacher)'. He was the GURU of a whole generation!

Azam Khan had the gift of 'simplicity' in his stride and the advantage of being the 'first'. He fought in the liberation war of the country as a guerilla fighter; during the same period, he roamed around the country singing folk and inspirational songs. And he had the courage of trying his mundane, daily words in the tunes of western pop music. No one before him tried that, let alone singing them in public. He was frowned upon by almost all. Yet he persevered. In doing so, he eventually captured the imagination of a whole generation. After all, it's the youth who determines the path of the future.

At the end, Azam Khan prevailed. His style lived on to regenerate in to the pop and subsequent band music culture of the country. He was followed by the millions in his life; and in death, his absence is being mourned by the millions. This is the story of our hero, the hero of our time!

নীঃসংগতায় বসবাস

মানুষ কি একা বসবাস করতে পারে? একাকী জীবন ধারণ শুধু নয়, জীবনের জয়গাণেও সামীল হতে পারে? এর উত্তর খুজা যেতে পারে সাহিত্য, বিজ্ঞান অথবা ইতিহাসের পাতায়। ... নীর্জন, মানবশূন্য দ্বীপে আটকে পরা নাবীকের কাহিনী আমাদের সবার-ই জানা। হ্যা, আমি ইংরেজী সাহিত্যের অমর চরীত্র রবীন্সন ক্রুসোর কথা বলছি, যে একাকী এক দ্বীপে কাটিয়েছিল অনেক বছর। যদিও এই কাহিনী এক সাহিত্যিকের কল্পনা প্রসূত এবং আমার জানা নেই সাহিত্যিক কোন গবেষণা বা অভিজ্ঞতা-লব্ধ তথ্যের ভিত্তিতে কাহিনী সাজিয়েছিলেন কিনা, কিন্তু এ ব্যাপারে কোন সন্দেহ নেই যে এই উপন্যাসটি প্রকৃতির প্রেক্ষাপটে মানব চরীত্রের পর্যবেক্ষণে এক অনন্য মাইলফলক।

নির্বাসিত জীবনের প্রথম বছরগুলো রবীনসন ক্রুসো কাটিয়েছিল মৌলিক উপাদানের খোজে। খাদ্য, আশ্রয় এবং পরিধেয়র সংস্থান করাই ছিল প্রধান লক্ষ্য। এর পরের পর্যায়ে আসে সঙ্গ লাভের আকাঙ্খা। তীব্র এই চাহিদার প্রভাব পর্যবেক্ষণ করলে দেখা যায়, নাবীক তার দৈনন্দিন অভিজ্ঞতাগুলো লিখে রাকছে সময় সম্পর্কে তার অভিজ্ঞান সঠিক রাখতে। এরও পরের পর্যায়ে দেখা যায় নাবীক নিজের সাথে কথা কথা বলছে এবং সঙ্গ লাভের তীব্র চাহিদা থেকে তার চিন্তাগুলো হয়ে গেছে সশব্দ। এ যেন মানব মনে নীহিত স্বয়ংক্রীয় রক্ষাকবচ। এখানে মূল প্রশ্ন হ্ল, রবিন্সন ক্রুসো কি অনির্দিষ্ট সময় একাকী বেচে থাকতে পারত? ফ্রাইডের সাথে যদি তার দেখা না হত, সে কি তার মানসিক সুস্থতা ধরে রাখতে পারত অনির্দিষ্ট সময়ের জন্য? (উত্তর পরবর্তি লেখাগুলোতে...)

Sporting icons of our time (1)

It's not unreasonable to call our times in the World as the time of media. The proliferation of media channels and their users have never seen such growth in human hystory. The same individual can be reached simultaneously with a host of media capturing people's imagination in a way like never before. May be, this unprecedented influx in itself made creation of icons a necessary act of the business; however, there is still no doubt, in all categories of sports, we have seen some extraordinaryly talented individuals who by their sheer skills and mental ability have transcended beyond the usual periphery of a sport or region to become global icons...

Diego Maradona: I have actually paused a few moments before putting the first name, and it's my love and childhood adoration of this fooballing (or soccer in USA) genius which eventually made me put his name in the slot. It's really unimaginable unless you see what Diego can do with a football using only his feet or other parts of the body (except of course hands, as dictated by the rules of the sport). The foot ball is a rather large spherical object that has been designed to be dynamic and not very controllable. But, for Maradona, the Argentine God of football, it takes only the minimum of deft touches and it is absolute cruise control. Whether dribbling in front of the mesmerised opponents, scoring goals or making an impossible pass, his preference for the left foot was well documented and he made playing football look so easy. Being an icon of the most popular sport of the world, Maradona always attracted a frenzy of crowds whereever or whenever he performed. Like a true icon he always raised his game to a never-seen-before level when the big occasions called for it. And, it was his emotions for the game or the circumstances that made him such a hotly talked about figure throughout his life.

Observations on lonliness (1)

In lonliness, you actually come to a point, where even the prank calls (that are not intended for you and caller only dialled your number by mistake) can make you shiver in excitement. Anticipation grows until you receive the call and hears the rather distubed realization from the caller and the purfunctory 'sorry'. You can of course go on days together without a meaningful conversation. And, you start to hear your own thoughts. I thing it's a natural defense mechanism of humans. We long so much to talk with fellow humans that eventually we start talking with ourselves. Did Robinson Cruso of the island felt this way?

In our social setting, the lines of relationships are so much like living beings! The more you leave them unattended they tend to grow dry and lifeless. At the end, you are left with the cobweb in your eye, which can only be seen in the angled light of the afternoon. Undulating slowly, almost in a hypnotic rythm and reminding you of the forgone times and the faces.

অভ্র এবং অন্যান্য ফনেটিক কী-বোর্ড

এটা স্বাগত জানানোর মতোই সংবাদ। বিশেষত যারা আমার মতো সনাতন কী-বোর্ডের সাথে পরিচিত নয়, তাদের জন্য এ যেন এক নতুন দিগন্ত। আমি বাংলায় টাইপ করছি, এটা আমার জন্য চাঁদে হাটার মতো না হলেও প্রথম বার সমূদ্র দেখতে যাওয়ার মতোই আনন্দের। আমি জানি আর ও অনেকেই আমার মতো চমৎকৃত এবং আনন্দিত ফনেটিক কী-বোর্ডের আগমনে।

আমার অনেক ভুল হচ্ছে, অনেক অক্ষর খুজে পেতে হীমশীম খাচ্ছি, দুই লাইন টাইপ করতে দশ মিনিট লেগে যাচ্ছে! তাতে কি? নতুন লিখতে শিখার আনন্দের সাথে এই সাময়িক সমস্যাতো কিছুই না!

ধন্যবাদ জানাই সেই সকল বুদ্ধিদীপ্ত তরুনকে যাদের প্রয়াসের কারনে বাংলা টাইপ লক্ষ লক্ষ মানুষের আয়ত্তের মধ্যে চলে এল। অবশ্যই এই ঘটনা জাতীয় জীবনে অমূল্য সংযোজন।

যারা এখন ও এই চমৎকার বুদ্ধিদীপ্ত সলিউশনটি ব্যবহার করেন নি, তাদের জন্য ফ্রি ডাউনলোডের ওয়েব সাইটটি এখানে সংযোজন করা হোল। http://www.omicronlab.com/avro-keyboard.html

আপনার বাংলা লীখন আনন্দময় হোক।

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How often do you get fascinated by yourself?

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