‘করোনাক্রান্তী’

একটা আই,সি,ইউ, কেউ ম্যানেজ করে দিতে পারবেন, আমার আব্বুর জন্য?

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লাগবে না আই,সি,ইউ আর।

- ‘করোনাক্রান্তী’  (জুন '2020)

Eulogizing Freddie Mercury

Every time I listen to a song of this late genius, I feel this strong urge to pay my tribute. Tribute to this unfortunate victim of AIDS (probably the greatest of them all to fall prey to the vicious disease!). He was the lead-vocal & song-writer to the 70's and 80's band called Queen - a group of talented individuals, who were individually famous in their own rights. Singing in Rock genre of Pop music, they were extremely popular and churned out one hit song after another. Their 'Bohemian Rhapsody' topped the chart for record number of weeks and songs like 'we will rock you' or 'we are the champions' became icons for a generation. A much documented homosexual, Freddie Mercury was an out and out genius. Born to Gujrati (India) Parsees parents (birth-name, Farrokh Bulsara), his mastery of vocal chords as well as his gifted & powerful voice made Queen the unique band of the decade. Idiosyncratic and colorful his on-stage presence might have been, but, no one can deny the obvious passion and inherent quality of the songs. Therefore, after all these years, lives on this God of Rock. Rest in peace, Dear Freddie!

(Would be) Legacy of Sheikh Hasina

All things that were, are, or to be must have an end. Even the good ones!

Sheikh Hasina, the incumbent Prime Minister and the leader of the largest political party of the country, has been in office since 2009. During this period, her stature in public eye, both domestic & international, has grown steadily. But, with the passing of time, there will eventually come a future that the people of Bangladesh must navigate without the able leadership of the Apa (as she is affectionately called). However, objective of this write-up is not to plan for that future; it is rather an effort to ponder & contemplate how future generations will evaluate her contributions. I, for one, like to think that she asks herself the same question, and that very question propels her to wake up every morning, and work for her people.

In terms of achievements regarding economy, Sheikh Hasina is already the most successful Head of Government in history of Bangladesh. Coming at a time to rule, when her political capital could at best be termed as precarious, she consistently defied the odds and made sure the Govt of Bangladesh makes the 'practical' decisions when it comes to economy and development. The result has been a palpable shift (toward a more confident nation) in the public psyche, visible creation of wealth, and measurable reduction of poverty among the so-called bottom of pyramid. In fact, not in any other period of time since independence (in 1971), did Bangladesh demonstrate such sustained level of economic promise for such a long time. The promise of turning Bangladesh into a middle income economy (the popular moniker is Digital Bangladesh) by 2020, which sounded hollow and out-of-touch even 10 years back, is well on track now. 

However, the time in being can hardly be judged by a single dimension. During this time, an extremely partisan brand of politics has seen politicization of institutions of the society. Judicial system has not been an exception. Trust and reliability of general populace on Judiciary is waning fast. This in turn is perpetuating a culture of non-accountability. Democratic values, instead of forging ahead, have been tamed into a gilded frame. Bangladesh has been regularly topping the list of most corrupt nations in surveys conducted by international bodies.  Distribution of wealth has been a major issue, manifested by the fact that Bangladesh is one of the countries with fasted growing list of super-rich! And the economic numbers which appear so bright and shiny in books & publications, have not really resulted into real increase in income for many of the rural and urban poor. Quality of mass education is questionable. Health sector, although has seen some investments, is still lacking behind in both quality & access. The crumbling and indiscipline tangle of infrastructure of the country must improve a lot even to match the regional standards. Environmental degradation has been rampant as the issues of environment took a back seat in the face of hard economic reality. However, probably the most darkening feature has been the growing culture of administering ready-made justice and a "Govt knows best" attitude in governance. Rights Groups have long been complaining of disappearing dissenting voices under questionable circumstances. Little has been done to bring perpetrators to justice; on the contrary, this has often been touted as the preferred method of addressing sociopolitical issues.

One can see that darkness and light has walked hand-in-hand under the stewardship of the incumbent PM. There has been rays of hope, and there has been moments of extreme despair. But, it is probably too early and too current to reach a conclusion. 

Only time has the right and the vantage position to pronounce a fair judgment.

Trinity! Help!

Matrix, the movie, is an all time favorite for me. And, it has been for quite a while. As for the fact, the fascination had reached a point where, I simply lost count of how many times I watched the movie, or while watching, I hardly need to look at the screen anymore to know what scene is playing. So, at some point, I have asked myself, what is so special about it? Is it the dystopian & post-apocalyptic, unusually monochromatic, yet resilient setting of the film? The super fast & bionic martial art moves? Or, the cool acts of the performers? Or, maybe a dozen other things that a good sci-fi movie can be good at? Well, all of those are true; but, as it turned out, for me, the attraction has always been the way characters interface with machines in that movie. All the more wondrous was how they could learn new things. Be it a new martial art move or flying an object. They simply had to ask for it! And, the knowledge or the skills would get “transferred” into their mind. Putting aside the fun & excitement, it must be the surest recipe to build super-humans. 

It has been 21 years since the Matrix has been released. And you are right; we are yet to reach a point where a human being can be connected to a machine and immediately ‘uploaded’ with a ‘knowledge-pack’. Nevertheless, the process of acquiring knowledge has moved through profound changes during this period. Things that have contributed most are the online learning portals. 

Proliferation of web-based learning (popular moniker, e-learning) has been phenomenal. Generally shared over the internet, their technology can be of multiple forms, from simple audio-visual recording to use of Virtual (VR) & Augmented Reality (AR) to utilization of machine learning algorithms for content curating. So, the experience can also vary to a large degree from platform to platform. Integration of social media has enabled inter-connectivity among the learners that would otherwise be largely absent in a virtual (non-class room) environment. But, the most beneficial aspect is the on-demand nature of this education. No need to wait in a long queue or to suffer from the ordained and perceived need for learning prerequisites. One only has to have a will for it. It is already like a great marketplace of e-learning out there. Contents are building up at dizzying pace. It will not be long, when standardized e-learning based curricula and qualifications will be the norm for career.

Socially speaking, this virtual learning phenomenon certainly has the potential to be the great equalizer of future. The inherent imperfect nature of resource distribution will always mean that some part of the human society will not have the means or access to the same education as the well-to do. But, virtual learning will mend that gap to a great extent. Because, one of the greatest strengths of virtual methods is their scalability and low incremental cost. Exciting times are ahead.  

Digital technology has come to the aid of mankind  to mend the digital divide.