Rohim Chacha Calling

What started out as a US Army recruitment poster for the two World Wars, ended up being "the most famous poster in the world." Yes, I am talking about none else but the venerable Uncle Sam.

The poster went on to stamp an identity which personified the US Government whole-heartedly. The obvious nature of dictating terms, the relentless pursuit of self-serving objectives and the frequent yet unnecessary agression in world politics... all can be drawn up from this one-the-face visual.
When they want it, they would leave no stone unturned to get it! They are, and will be America!!!

But as always, the beginning of my stories are hardly in relation to the body. Its sole purpose of existence is to get you to the body :p

With the growing number of GPA-5 achievers and declining number of Science students, the dynamics of the talent pool in Bangladesh is changing fast. The traditional employment behemoths are facing the heat and their efforts to recover lost ground is quite apparent.

Take the military service for example. In a country like ours, throughout history (after Pakistani occupation) a career in the military has always been perceived an excellent choice. From giving their daughters hand in in marriage to buying their used cars, army men are just respected, trusted and admired unquestionably. I've experienced it first-hand. After all my dad served in the Army :p

Money turned out to be the root of this evil, too. As exposure to capitalism and materialism increased, students leaned more towards a business degree than the traditionally respected science. Back in Class 9, a friend of mine (after being disallowed in the science section) had said, "Study science and become and engineer, only to come and work for the company I run/own". It didn't matter back then, but fifteen years down the line... I thank the Almighty, my parents and myself for taking the timely decision to switch over to business studies in grad school. I did try to follow my father's footsteps into the armed forces, but thankfully that wasn't to be.

Traditionally a military career drew interest from the middle-class of Bangladesh. The social status, the modest pay, the countless facilities and overall a stable life was all they sought. And a career with the armed forces, more than made up for it. Although rising inflation and exposure to a better lifestyle was covered for by UN Missions/Appointments; by the mid 90's the mindset was in a downward spiral nonetheless. From an esteemed employer, Bangladesh Armed Forces had become the destination for the less-privileged talents.

As the number of applicants kept falling, there was the obvious dip in quality of officers the academies were producing. Garbage going in, wasn't producing anything but garbage itself.

The brand Bangladesh Army was going down...

Fortunately some "Smart Alec" General came up with the idea of mass communication aka. brand building (another child of capitalism). An order is an order, and in the military the best thing people do is echoing the words "Yes, Sir. Alright Sir".

Their idea of attracting the Saving Private Ryan, Full Metal Jacket, Platoon, Commando and Rambo fans into the army came to life with the "Join Bangladesh Army" campaign. The first of its kind. A brilliant work by the amazing Amitabh Reza and his crew at Half Stop Down.

The Army went on to complete the full circle with the launch of its own flashy website.

I guess, Army wasn't the only force feeling the heat as the Navy soon followed suit in launching their version of the brand awareness campaign. "Join Bangladesh Navy" was directed and produced by Gazi Shubhro and his team at Red Dot.

Theirs too had a website to ensure proper web presence. As I browsed along for more on Bangladesh Armed Forces, I cam across a rather interesting one. Interesting because of the recent history of the force. The site belonged to Bangladesh Border Guards (BGB).

After the Pilkhana Carnage and public knowledge of their heinous acts during the mutiny, I wonder what can they do to earn back the trust of fellow countrymen; let alone being the place you send your kid to get enlisted.

Perhaps a deshi version of Uncle Sam can be the solution.
Perhaps a platform we can all connect to...

Perhaps our very own Rohim Chacha!

I will vouch and ideate for one for sure.
Who else?

Talent Haat

Where's my haat?

Thanks to my dad's overly hopping career (unlike the majority who's reading this) I've had the privilege to experience what the gram bangla'r haat is, first hand. From the Sunday haats in my village home to other weekly haats in various towns across Bangladesh, they have always been appealing in their own ways. Its a must visit for all who cherishes the famed picturesque Bangladesh. Since that day is not far when we might actually have to re-live the haat experience through word of mouth alone.

But I am not a policymaker nor am I the golden son of the soil who stands up to a "haat bachao" movement. If anything, I am the geek who resorts to a blogging platform and power of words to use haats to get reader's attention to my demeaning diary.

To us, the masses... the aspiration to go digital by 2021 was an ambitious dream by the Government. But a good dream, indeed. I mean at least through that our policymakers and citizens could at least go to sleep knowing in the dream world lies the next Matrix or Tron :p A place where anything and everything is possible and nobody takes NO for an answer. You can learn and unlearn everything... and you are truly the master of your own destiny (there goes my effort to not sound blasphemous). The fact that a skilled technician or a honed business manager is just a skill that needs to be downloaded into your system (aka. the brain) makes anyone and everyone a talent of choice. There would be no LinkedIn, no books like Winning Job Interviews or Boost Your Interview IQ, no suits with matching shoes and ties... in short, no showmanship at all! But as reality stands today... Digital Bangladesh is a mirage that's as dreamy as The Grid in Tron. And the case with talent pool in Bangladesh is not much different either.

The story goes like this... about a decade back every time my dad brought in "koi" fish, my mom cooked a delicacy. It wasn't a regular occurrence since "koi" was comparatively expensive a fish and if anything took considerable effort to cook and eat. Now-a-days "koi" is widely available, significantly cheaper (time value) and also better looking (whitish as opposed to darkish). Yet the whole family looks at "koi" as just another fish and looks for delicacies elsewhere. The bottom line is quite simple - the delicacy is now in abundance, but its no more a delicacy at all. The cost of making "koi" an affordable fish through farming bombed! Sure people can and will buy more and more "koi" fish every passing day, but not with half the admiration they had a few years back.

The talent haat in Bangladesh sings the same lullaby as well. Back in 20th century we admired and aspired to be a graduate, then if lucky a postgraduate. Today our aspiration (if any) is in the league of MPhil and PhD. While there was a dearth of talent back then, the talent were actually talented. If a job circular got 200 applicants, you could safely have a desired pool of 20 candidates amongst them. Whereas with better education system and higher literacy rates if there are 200 applicants today, chances are only 2 will fit the bill. The point remains quite straight forward, one that I have stood up for ages. With an increase in quantity, there has been a decrease in quality!!!

My father took me to haats because they had all the traditional delicacies that one couldn't find in city markets. From a 20 kg "bowal" fish to 20 kinds of "shaaks", they just had a different offering all together. We can make a million sites like monster.com or bdjobs.com, but the quality of people plying those are nothing better than the widely available "koi" fish of today. And that my friend, is where we stand!

Honey and The Money

50 Cent made the autobiographical Get Rich of Die Tryin' based on his rather troubled life (try getting shot nine times and survive to make a movie on it). Fortunately for a commoner, life is usually devoid of such extremities. We aspire and strive for what most want us to be and at times (very sporadically though) fantasize what we could have been. In this crude capitalist world of ours, we are constantly faced with questions that often end with answers that necessarily aren't what we signed up for.

Take career for example... for a man who wasn't born an Arab Sheikh or a Mogul Emperor, making something out of thyself has been a top priority ever since I developed a sense of life. As opposed to some who can just snore thinking life happens to you while you are busy making other plans, the question I've faced all my life is what? by when? instead of a more vague and casual let's see. The core philosophy during the schooling years it was study hard which progressed to be study hard, party harder in college and finally before reaching its current state of work hard, play hard. Although I slacked quite a bit during the study years, it was largely amended by the time I started to work. As a career choice, advertising seemed more of the underground genre than to the chart busting pop hits like Banking, Law, Marketing or even Teaching. But I was from a different school of thought, the one that played around 'its not where you start, but where you get at the end". And man have I enjoyed my last few years at work... being an adman.

But just as life isn't a bed of roses so wasn't bringing ideas to life. Unlike some of its more esteemed industry colleagues, Advertising as a service made far less money than a law or an accounting or even a management consulting firm did. It gets clearer once you realize that all major law, accounting or consulting firms are partnerships (i.e. McKinsey, PwC) while advertising agencies are mostly owned by holding companies (i.e. WPP). I knew what I had signed up for... and tried extra hard to make up the 0's that were missing. The incredibly flexible workspace, the always entertaining colleagues, the eccentric artists and the glamour of being an adman was simply too good to be true. While my friends were busy selling loans, developing annual sales plans or preparing duty rosters; I spent twice their time at work putting great ideas to good use. The supposed great ideas were not always great and involved a lot of smoke and holy water. I had almost forgotten the reason why we all work... the pay!!!

"Who needs money when life was already great, honey?" was perhaps the question that buzzed my head every time I was offered an opportunity to switch industry. Yet as I readied myself for the next big move in my life... all that's great seemed to be puny. The holy matrimony beckoned the colorful me and handed over a reality check on what life is all about. All of a sudden it was stability of the job and salary package instead of joy of work that mattered. How much? had overshadowed how happy?. And to top it all, bank statement had a greater influence than the amazing score in happiness index.

Men, in not so chauvinistic manner were just expected to be in the money-making jobs. Be it a banker with no life or a lawyer with no ethics; you are just to make money... everyday in every possible way. There lied no alternate to this 'common belief' even after having strong-opinionated and successful working women around. I had to work for I had to provide for a family and not for any of the utopian self-actualization or greater  self-esteem. Lost and confused, I tried to looking for a way out resorting to my fun-filled gang at work; and sadly I realized... if they could, even they would (move on). It was the bite in the back I was least prepared for, the choice I thought I would never have to make, the life I frowned upon!!! The path ahead was precise and concise, marriage is for the one with money...