tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-131917212024-03-14T23:57:24.707+06:00Shaer HassanMy experience in and views to business and life.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-24418680266973877122013-06-11T13:53:00.003+06:002013-06-11T22:19:21.217+06:00Embracing Oldeness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
People celebrate birthdays. Why do they? Don't they actually celebrate their age? People in general hide their wrinkles, blacken their grey, tighten their paunch - yet tend to celebrate their anniversaries on earth. That's kind of controversial, isn't it?<br />
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I am stepping on my 40th year today. I am immensely thankful to Allah that my life has been full. Full of happiness and sorrow, good days and hard days, hope and desperation, determination and despair -- the way a life should be. I am grateful that I could hold my composure in the days those were not easy on me.<br />
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Now I've just stepped on my 40th. I have a male-type baldness, one can spot a few gray hair on my long-grown beard, I got my first hyperopic glasses a couple of months back, I need to exercise to stay fit, I got rid of sugar from my cups of tea and I received the first handmade birthday card from my younger offspring. Hey, I am getting old!<br />
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I've started to realize that my options are limited now. Many things I wanted to be, and spent time trying to be, are not options anymore. My time is limited, more than ever before. I can't possibly be a guitarist (I tried and failed) -- I don't have much time left to restart. I can't possibly be a percussionist -- I tried that too -- and half-succeeded. Becoming director of a great movie isn't possibly an option anymore. I have only two children, I wish I had 15, but that possibly isn't going to happen. I wanted to learn a couple of more languages -- Arabic and French. And Spanish. I wanted to write a novel, a script of a TV drama, and screenplay of a Canne-winning film -- those are possibly options no more. I have limited time, I'll have to prioritize my bucket list.<br />
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I have to focus on what I think are the most important for me. My three children -- two biological and one legal (that's Nascenia, my company!) are on my priority. I need to ensure I play good roles as a son and a husband and a neighbor and a citizen and a Muslim. Those are already too much to deal with. One lifetime is hardly enough to meet everyone's expectation, and I have spent more than half of it, statistically speaking.<br />
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Resolution on my 40th year on this planet is to focus and jettison some of the items in my bucket. Understand that I have less time than I ever had. Celebrate my elderliness. I am not young anymore. I can't dream of many things with a hope that on someday everything will fall into place. Time to be realistic and dream only those I can possibly achieve. No more time to fool around, tasting waters -- time to apply the learning and give back!<br />
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I thank all of my friends, colleagues, family-members and acquaintances who wished me in person, over phone, through SMS, email and the great invention of this time -- Facebook. (I think wishing a happy birthday is kind of lame though. Why wish for the day to be happy only; why not the whole year or the lifetime ahead? I am sure you love me enough to wish me a year-full-off happiness :)) <br />
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Postscript: Google search engine appeared on my browser with a bunch of cakes and candles. That's a surprise, but kind of non-humane -- cybertronic. Last thing I wish on my birthday that someone would write a program which I can configure so that it wishes me back automatically.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-74460985361863527552012-09-24T11:19:00.002+06:002012-09-24T13:11:28.785+06:00What good is (conventional) media doing to me?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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When I was a child my parents and teachers used to censor information flow that I used to consume. I wasn't suppose to mix with bad people, wasn't suppose to read news and books those talk about violence and evil things. I wasn't suppose to watch movies those might scare me or influence me to things like smoking, drug addiction, violence, suicide, swearing and corruption. Now that I I am grown up, nobody is filtering my consumption of information. However, I do the similar things to my children. They aren't allowed be exposed to evil things, I want them to grow up as good persons. Every parent does.</div>
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Now let's get to the point what is happening to me now. I wake up everyday and read newspaper. Newspaper scours through the world to pick the shocking news for me. They prioritize them. The most shocking mind-blowing bad news is over-blown to 32-point font size, colored in a vivid color, and carefully put on the front page. Sell fear. I am going to shock you, give you an adrenaline rush. Buy me!<br />
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The less shocking news are sized according to their shock-level. Hey! the news isn't going to shock the reader that much, let's put it on inner page.</div>
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The conventional media is not representative to the country or the world. It is only a collection of shocking news. On a daily on the other day news of wrong treatment by a doctor was boxed on the front-page. I am sure the said doctor treats right tens of patients everyday. He treated thousands in his medical career. I have seen my father's medical consultant kept awoke till 4 am by my father to see his BP get down. We dozed outside the OT. He came back from his house at 7 am again. We surprised to see him agin! Showered and shaven, clean and fresh. I was still dozing off. Nobody talks about millions of successful operations the doctors did and doing. Only bad acts get priority. Only mistakes catches news. But unfortunately looking at the newspaper everyday we think that that represents the day. Which absolutely doesn't. I only represent the evil's empire of the world. The better and million times larger empire of God isn't represented by the, shall I dare call it, <i>The Daily Graphical Collection of Evil's World!</i> </div>
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You might say that newspaper and TV and all other media update us about the world with the important information to plan and process our actions. Yeah, yeah, I heard that before. My father used to tell me that I must stay updated with current-affairs. In many exams including many job interviews incumbents are asked about the current affairs. </div>
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My father, for example, is a news-freak. He watches all the TV news. About ten news-serving channels. Two times a day. He reads two newspapers. In his heydays he used to visit one of his journalist friends' place and read myriad of dailies, and compare them, and talk about them, and contemplate where the county and the world is moving toward.</div>
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Only recently I managed to gather my guts to ask him what good it did bring to him. He is suffering from many of the degenerative diseases. He was not aware of those; the tips and ways of stay healthy, and his options of different treatments and therapies. Often the dailies publish health tips. Besides he could find them in abundance on internet and in books. Why didn't he read them? He actually carefully ignored them as those didn't look as glamorous as the front-page and back-page shocking stories. Or, those health tips actually called for actions. The shocking news didn't. What on earth I am supposed to if some princess is caught on camera nude? Or, if for example building a major bridge in Bangladesh is delayed for alleged corruption by the involved ministries. Hey! I only vote each five years. I asked my father what he did by learning all those detailed about politics and corruption and accidents and problems of the wold. Did he do any thing about them? Did he take any initiative to ease problems of people in the world as mentioned on the daily newspapers or TVs? I mean he is a good soul, an honest and good citizen. But I can't find what good <i>The Daily Graphical Collection of World's Sufferings</i> did to him.</div>
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Well, I would read about problems and suffering of a particular area if I am responsible for that area, or, if I am willing to take action in that area. For example everyone in the transport ministry and the decision makers in transport industry should read the problems of that industry. For others it is just a time waster. Oh! Did I just call it time waster? I am wrong. It is worse than that.</div>
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Get back to the issue of information filtering for children. We do that to keep our children focused, unspoiled, uncontaminated. So, now that we are exposed to everything, and not only that, everyday we are exposing ourselves only to bad things -- are we not being contaminated, spoiled and evil-infulenced?</div>
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In any social gathering if you talk about honesty, integrity and good days forward, people will call you child-like, naive or even fool.</div>
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The Bangladeshi people in general developed a perception that in here a very few honest people are left. Almost all people of the country are corrupted, dishonest, fraud and evil. How did we develop that perception? Media helped us in that. There was one time when we were aware of the problem of our village only. The problem of the area which matters to us most, and which we can do something about. Now problems of the whole country and the whole world is delivered in my breakfast, and rewinded before I sleep. We develop a wariness, and often apathy about those. More poisonously we develop a negative idea about the world we are living in. Negative perceptions lead to negative acts. During many of my transactions with my shopkeepers or banks or even colleagues, when I talk about good acts and righteousness, they complain nobody in Bangladesh is thinking like me. I am thinking naive. I don't believe that. The guy I talk to is still honest, but he developed the perception that the world is already corrupted. So, he is planning to get corrupted too. This is what media is doing to him!</div>
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I've read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316346624/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316346624&linkCode=as2&tag=shaehass-20">Malcom Gladwell's The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference</a> recently. He showed in 1980s how the perception of anarchy and crime led to more crime and literally led to anarchy. Later just by wiping off the graffiti in the subway and arresting the window-breakers instilled the sense of lawfulness among all. Eventually the environment was tipped to lawful again!</div>
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Perception of evil environment makes you evil. Perception of righteous environment makes you right. </div>
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The people from the top-ranked corrupt country are ranked as one of the best citizens in a developed country. Talking about Bangladeshi people in USA.</div>
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So, what good the conventional media serving to me?</div>
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I seriously doubt its goodness. I stopped watching TV news long before. I only subscribe The Daily Star, which is less negative; I try to self-censor the news items. I've unsubscribed the bloggers who are cynical and mostly talk about evil things, they call it journalism. I unsubscribed my friends on Facebook who disseminate negative news and talk negative. </div>
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You can say that I am living in fool's paradise. I don't mind that. I would love to stay naive, unspoiled, child-like, and if you like -- fool. Only if I could!</div>
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Life is too short for worrying about things I can't do anything about.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-1509130398747903212012-07-17T18:30:00.000+06:002012-07-17T19:37:23.671+06:00Entrepreneur takes a leap of faith<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A lot of my friends come to me. They want to be entrepreneurs. They are otherwise working for somebody. They want to break the shackle and unleash their possibilities. Pursue their own dreams.<br />
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We meet, we exchange ideas, we analyze feasibility, we figure out financial details, and touch almost all aspects of a business plan. They listen, they show interest, they ask questions, they doubt and they dwindle.<br />
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They often look for security. Guarantee, or some kind of assurance that their invested time and money would pay off.<br />
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They fail to take the leap of faith. There is no guarantee of anything in this imperfect world, my friend! To be an entrepreneur, more than any thing else, you need to take a leap of faith.<br />
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Are you ready for this?<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Note: Inspired by a talk of <a href="http://bd.linkedin.com/pub/rubana-huq/10/102/439" target="_blank">Rubana Huq</a> titled: "Perceptions and Realities of a Garment Wallah" at <a href="http://www.ulab.edu.bd/" target="_blank">ULAB</a>. </span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-60587358824968238242012-05-22T09:08:00.001+06:002012-05-22T10:42:11.241+06:00Understanding the heart of USA<p><br>It's a land of wealth, innovation, teamwork, freedom and individuality. It's hard to understand how they work in a team, and still retain their personal space and enormous individual freedom.</p> <p>Life, liberty and in pursuit of happiness -- that's what USA stands for. USA do not guarantee happiness, with the race of super-materialistic life very few should be happy here. I can imagine people in Bhutan are happier than people in USA. What USA guarantee is, you can really pursuit happiness, however flawed your recipe of happiness is.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-wiagmo6GPcU/T7sDGNH-IPI/AAAAAAAAEUo/RcsPy5IKVvE/s1600-h/DSCN0927%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Times Square, NYC" alt="Times Square, NYC" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-OR24FQJ75Cw/T7sDIX3ANNI/AAAAAAAAEUw/iIbjSavlUmY/DSCN0927_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="480" height="383"></a></p> <p>My friend, Ashfaq, flew to USA 18 years back. He was broke, didn't have money to bear tuition fee, pay rent and even to pay for food. Uncle Sam wouldn't allow him to work legally. His monthly food cost was 15 dollars. It's hard to imagine for both of us while we are talking about this sitting in a fine suburb restaurant, sipping in home brewed beer, each of us haggling to pay the check, which came around $50 -- only for we two.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-15ZoPjDp9_A/T7sDK1puneI/AAAAAAAAEU4/mdcskPx4uxU/s1600-h/IMG_0843%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="Mountain Rainier, Washington" alt="Mountain Rainier, Washington" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Y9vMZ20_AT8/T7sDMmIuCwI/AAAAAAAAEVA/3y51pg-BsMY/IMG_0843_thumb%25255B4%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="482" height="342"></a></p> <p>USA offered him a lot. Offered him enough to live a decent life, chase the girls of her choice, drive a 5,000 cc truck capable to haul a yacht, own most of the gadgets and tools an American adult can think of but a Bangladeshi person would never imagine of -- buy stuff like steam mop and inflatable bed, upgrade home theater for his bedroom and living room every five years, and plan for early retirement.</p> <p>He is pursuing happiness, however flawed the recipe is.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-83358710027771069452012-04-12T01:52:00.001+06:002012-04-12T02:33:59.942+06:00Focus, or Not<p>I have been working and studying in USA for a couple of weeks now. I revisited USA after a decade. I am looking at the country with more experienced and educated eyes now.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-21xMm-TMsSc/T4XnQkM32II/AAAAAAAABaM/IXeCWLQueGI/s1600-h/DSCN0145%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="At Center for Creation of Economic Wealth, Oklahoma University. Attending lecture from a guy from Shell." border="0" alt="At CCEW, Oklahoma University, Norman, USA" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3e2ckon--FE/T4XnRe7VxXI/AAAAAAAABaU/pY4kTYmesCA/DSCN0145_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="493" height="387"></a></p> <p>I don’t see these guys are genius. They are not more hard working either. But each individual here does very good at what he does. They focus on a single area, and be expert of that. When you have a working system based on trust, when components add up to form synergy, you are better off focusing on your niche.</p> <p>In a developing economy where almost nothing is built you need to build everything from the scratch. You almost end up building every component of the system to reach to a sustainable model. Is this efficient? Surely not. But you have no other choice. That is why Muhammad Yunus, starting with micro credit, ended up founding so many businesses, and now talking about even more. That is why great entrepreneurs like Sir Abed, Akij and Samson H Choudhury built so many businesses. That is why Henry Ford ended up integrating from mining to retailing.</p> <p><img src="http://recordpreserveshare.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/focus.jpg?w=490" width="473" height="359"></p> <p>Now that they have other pieces of the system working, they can really focus on a single piece. Keep doing whatever they are good at. Excel on that.</p> <p>We, on the other hand, are still at the Henry Ford phase. We got to be generalist, keep integrating forward and backward. You can’t imagine the first human being on earth, Adam, was a specialist, can you? He was a generalist! </p> <p>When no working system exists you need a good number of generalists to build one.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-9081196326849357042012-02-16T15:38:00.001+06:002012-02-16T19:01:00.114+06:00বেঁচে থাকার আনন্দ<p>নব্বই-এর কোনো এক বিকেল। আমি বিমানের আভ্যান্তরীণ ফ্লাইটে উঠে বসেছি। আইলের পাশে সিট আমার। বিমান রানওয়ে ছেড়ে ওঠার পরে তখন ধূমপান করা যেত। <p>হঠাৎ দেখি পরিচিত মুখ ওপাশ থেকে হেঁটে আসছে। স্যান্ডেল পরা, ছেড়ে দেওয়া সাদা সার্ট, হাতা কনুই পর্যন্ত গোটানো। বিমানে সচারচর এরকম সাধারণ পোষাকে সেইসময়ে মানুষ চড়ত না। কিন্তু মানুষটা সাধারণ নন। হুমায়ূন ফরিদী। <p>আইলের ওধারে এসে সে বসল। একটা সিগারেট ধরালো। সহযাত্রী, তার পরিচিত, ধূমপান বিষয়ে কিছু বলল। “ডাক্তার বলেছে, সিগারেট না ছাড়লে বাঁচব না”, ফরিদী বললেন, “আমি বলেছি, সিগারেট ছাড়লে বেঁচে কী লাভ?” <p>কুড়ি বছর আগের ঘটনা। ফরিদীকে অবশেষে সিগারেট ছাড়তে হল। সেই সাথে বাঁচাটাও। <p>তাঁর মত অসাধারণ এদেশে বেঁচে থেকেই বা কী লাভ করত? হয় প্যাকেজ নাটক বানাও, সোপ অপেরা, নয়ত বিজ্ঞাপন বানাও। পেটে ক্ষুধা নিয়ে সংস্কৃতির গুষ্টি উদ্ধার কর, অথবা অপসংস্কৃতির দাসত্ব কর। ফরিদী শেষেরটা বেছে নিয়েছিলেন। কিন্তু সেটা করতে গিয়ে হয়তো তিনি <a title="Faridee lost interest in life and died" href="http://blog.priyo.com/mamunur-rashid/2012/02/16/10705.html" target="_blank">বেঁচে থাকার আনন্দটাই হারিয়ে ফেলেছিলেন</a>। <p>আমি অভিনয় বিশেষজ্ঞ নই। তবে ফরিদীকে কেন জানি আমার <a title="Dustin Hoffman" href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000163/" target="_blank">ডাস্টিন হফম্যানের</a> মত মনে হয়। জায়গা মত জন্মালে নির্ঘাৎ এক জোড়া অস্কার জিতে নিতেন। <p>আল্লাহ তাঁর আত্মাকে শান্তি দিক। </p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-55456640927323886232012-01-17T13:26:00.001+06:002012-05-27T15:37:37.374+06:00What happened is happened, why can’t we move forward?<p>Couple of weeks ago I met one of my relatives who was actively involved in Chhatro Shibir, a student politics wing of Jamaat-e-Islam. Many of the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islam supported West Pakistan during 1971 liberation war in Bangladesh.</p> <p>My relative was born after 1971, same like me. He showed his frustration of recent <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16502175" target="_blank">war crime trial</a> and oppression of ruling party on Islamic activists and madrasah students. “What happened 40 years back, is happened. Why can’t we move forward?”</p> <p>I thought he was a good guy in heart, but had a different view. I thought it was easy to comment, “ What happened is happened,” while you or any of your family was not directly affected. I thought if I killed your family and after 40 years ask you to forget and move ahead, you can’t. I thought if someone’s entire family except him is murdered, you can’t expect him to think rationally. I thought we can’t go ahead unless we resolve old issues. I thought precedence of justice is necessary to build an atmosphere of trust and brotherhood. I thought righteousness, law and order is a prerequisite for business and prosperity.</p> <p><img style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto" title="A killing ground at Dhaka city during 1971 genocide, which killed 300,000 most of them were civilians." alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/3c/K_0261A.jpg"></p> <p align="center"><font size="1">A killing ground in Dhaka during 1971 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1971_Bangladesh_genocide" target="_blank">genocide, that killed 300,000 or more</a></font><font size="1">.</font> </p> <p>Recently I read an article where <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=218441" target="_blank">Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan voiced a similar concern</a>. Past unresolved issue hinders future progress. It is true for Pakistan. It is true for Bangladesh. It is true for individuals.</p> <p>You can’t live, love and move ahead with hatred in your heart. </p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-53360263742973443452011-12-06T19:01:00.000+06:002011-12-06T19:19:10.855+06:00God wants us to use technology<p>Whatever are essential for human race to survive and grow are abundant in the nature. The most available and free resource on the earth is air, which is absolutely free, without need of any effort to collect. That’s the most important ingredient for us to live. The second most valuable thing for us is water. This is also fairly available, but not as much as air is. After all that’s the second most required ingredient for us to survive. The list can go down to <sub></sub>carbohydrate, to protein, to fat, to mineral, to cotton, to silk and so on.</p> <p>How about the least most important element for us to live? Diamond? This is mostly used as ornament, as a luxury item. Unsurprisingly extremely rare. Uranium, or gold for example. Not that essential, not that abundant either. Iron, on the other hand, is very essential mineral. Moderately available too. And iron is recyclable.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-UDNSs5Mn8PQ/Tt4WRKfRllI/AAAAAAAABC8/_V7FHVbSz_I/s1600-h/technlogy%252520god%25255B15%25255D.jpg"><img style="background-image: none; border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="technlogy god" border="0" alt="technlogy god" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-5jHNnMuE5O0/Tt4WTD3jj1I/AAAAAAAABDE/-Yd2QW7E_1o/technlogy%252520god_thumb%25255B11%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="485" height="305"></a></p> <p>How about electronic goods? The hardware those are required to push the civilization in this information age? Elements of information technology? Ingredients to make silicon chips? Hmmm, they are fairly abundant, too.</p> <p>So, I was thinking on the other day, maybe God wants us to use technology. It was all in His plan, I guess. </p> <p>Well, I am just suggesting. Think about it!</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-67767317415137747472011-07-16T17:53:00.001+06:002011-07-16T17:53:14.597+06:00Entrepreneurship is like painting: Interview of Richard Branson<p>Here is the bullet point take away from the 40 min rendezvous with <a title="Sir Richard Branson" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Branson" target="_blank">Sir Richard Branson</a>.</p> <ul> <li>Entrepreneurship is an art. Painting on a huge canvas, filling up the blanks and combining the bits and pieces. Similar thought was expressed by Mohammad Yunus recently. He said there is no legal relationship among the different concerns named as Grameen and founded by him. He just had to build different ventures to fill the gaps. And here Richard founded 300+ businesses under Virgin group to fill in the blanks on his canvas. A ‘wow’ is even an under statement! <li>Entrepreneurs are not managers, save Steve Jobs. Entrepreneurs should be good at delegation, and move on to grabbing the next opportunity. <li>The cheapest way of promotion is to make sure you have a good product to talk about. <li>The inspiring way of promotion is the Chairman to talk about the product from the forefront! Who does it better than Richard Branson and Steve Jobs? <li>It is an easier and faster way of knowing people in a fun environment than in formal meetings. Joe Polish mentioned form Peter Drucker: “Either you are working, or you are in meeting.” That’s bold! Richard said that he makes sure his employees have fun in work and after. By the way “don’t drink and fly a plane” rule applies to Virgin Airlines, too. No wonder! <li>Creating business is one of the best ways to solve problems in the modern world. So do think Mohamamd Yunus (<a title="Creating World Without Poverty by Mohammad Yunus" href="http://www.amazon.com/Creating-World-Without-Poverty-Capitalism/dp/1586484931" target="_blank">Social Business and Creating World without Poverty</a>) and NR Narayana Murthy (<a title="A better India: A Better World" href="http://www.amazon.com/Better-India-World/dp/067008283X" target="_blank">A better India: A Better World</a>). For some of the issues, however, business might not work. That’s where <a title="Virgin Unite of Richad Branson" href="http://www.virginunite.com/" target="_blank">Virgin Unite</a> plays role for Richard. For Yunus Social Business works. <li>Prepare for the worst. That’s the most common preparations startups fail to make. 8 out of 10 fails, remember? Keep and exit strategy handy. Be flexible to sway from your initial plan. <li>Use modern communication to stay close to your dear ones. That means, stay close physically to your family, and stay connected to your business using technology; as much as is practical. That’s the secret recipe form Richard for work-life balancing. </li></ul> <p>That’s it! It meant to be bullet point, right?</p> <p>In case you are hungry for more, go ahead watch the the full video. You might have a different set of take away. If you do, share them on the comment box.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:2d120979-89f1-48a2-8af2-e0534225f403"><embed height="252" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="448" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tDTX5UVoDxQ?hd=1" wmode="transparent"></embed> <div style="width: 448px; clear: both; font-size: 0.8em" class="wlEditField" maxcharactersaccepted="245" defaulttext="Enter video caption here" wlpropertypath="Video.caption">Richard Branson with Marie Forleo, Joe Polish and Yanik Silver on Necker Island talking about entrepreneurship at large.</div></div> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-1763305099112549382011-07-01T12:22:00.002+06:002011-07-01T19:15:44.631+06:005 Tips to Build a Successful SaaS Product in Bangladesh<p>Form my previous post, <a href="http://shaerhassan.blogspot.com/2011/06/internet-products-or-saas-in-bangladesh.html" target="_blank">Internet Products or SaaS in Bangladesh</a>, it looks like <a href="http://bdjobs.com/" target="_blank">bdjobs</a> is the only celebrated success story in this area. </p> <p>Why? What is the catch? I think the catch is to </p> <p>A. Start in time. You start too early, your cash is dried up before you turn the business to a profitable one. You start late, too many players don’t allow you to gain enough customers. Customer acquisition cost shoots up. </p> <p>Make sure customer acquisition cost is lower than the lifetime value of your customer. Now, what is that? If your total marketing cost (includes sales, marketing & advertising cost) is Tk. 1o lac and if you acquire 1000 paying customers with that money, you per customer acquisition cost is tk. 1000 (=10 lac/1000). On the other hand <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_lifetime_value" target="_blank">Customer Lifetime Value</a> is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average_revenue_per_user" target="_blank">ARPU</a> * Customer’s Average Lifetime. ARPU is Average Revenue Per User (User is synonymous to Customer here). Customer Lifetime is the time a customer stays with you. So, if your product’s subscription charge is Tk. 1000 per year and if a customer stays with you on an average for 3 years. Then your customer’s Lifetime Value is tk. 3000 (= tk. 1000 * 3 yrs). So, you have to make sure Customer Lifetime Value > Customer Acquisition Cost.</p> <p>Sounds good? But you might like to discount the paybacks and apply the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_value_of_money" target="_blank">time value of money</a> as well.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2BDH_pk-Sj4/Tg1prgZBxhI/AAAAAAAAA1w/cMJnnry37uM/s1600-h/saas1%25255B27%25255D.jpg"><img style="display: inline" title="saas1" alt="saas1" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-An0VCUIMEqk/Tg1pteIZQ5I/AAAAAAAAA10/RBCE9bT5VJ8/saas1_thumb%25255B27%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="472" height="364"></a></p> <p>B. Start with deep enough pocket to sustain long enough and to acquire enough paying customers to reach break even. </p> <p>C. Ensure you are strong at both ends: IT and marketing. You have a great IT team, and you think you can build a better product than bdjobs in a couple of months. Great! But do you have the marketing budget and expertise to bite a share from a company with tk. 6.5 cr yearly revenue, or from a group like Transcom (<a href="http://www.prothom-alojobs.com/" target="_blank">prothom-alojobs</a>)? </p> <p>Equally important is your IT team. I think Prothom-alojobs could do better had they have an IT team with better know-how in design, usability and performance.</p> <p>D. Possess business domain expertise and connections. Not for all product it is crucial, but for some for sure. For example you are thinking of building amazon.com in Bangladesh. You need to have connection with publishers, writers and courier services for that matter. Well, you can build those over time, but that turns out to be a fancy idea if already a couple of strong players exists in market.</p> <p>E. Ensure you have a competitive advantage. Well, it is true for any business. For IT product starting early is a huge competitive advantage. You ride on the network effect. Having a strong brand to piggyback is another advantage that is utilized by Google, Apple and even <a href="http://www.prothom-alo.com" target="_blank">Prothom-alo</a> in Bangladesh. Strict government regulation can be another one, as enjoyed by <a href="http://www.baidu.com/">baidu.com</a> as opposed to Google in China.</p> <p>That’s pretty much it. 5 tips delivered as promised :).</p> <p>So, what are the last words? Last words are <em>This is the time for Bangladesh. </em>I wonder if <a href="http://www.akhoni.com/" target="_blank">Akhoni.com</a> has came up with its name from this concept! You delay more only to see some global giant or a tiny Indian company grabs your cherished market left you beholding.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-51858479389811846692011-06-30T21:58:00.001+06:002011-07-01T11:10:54.079+06:00Internet Products or SaaS in Bangladesh<p>Recently our team is contemplating on some of the ideas to launch a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_as_a_service" target="_blank">SaaS</a> (Software as a Service) product or a simple internet product. Some of the successful internet products in Bangladesh I can name are:</p> <p><a href="http://bdjobs.com/" target="_blank">bdjobs</a>: job site, successful both commercially and on popularity index. <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=149311" target="_blank">bdjobs registered tk. 65 million yearly revenue</a> last year. Not bad, eh?</p> <p><a href="http://prothom-alojobs.com/" target="_blank">prothom-alojobs</a>: a late follower of bdjobs, but piggybacking on its popular Bangla daily, gained some popularity. Its main revenue source is earned from training rather than from job ads.</p> <p><a href="http://www.somewhereinblog.net/" target="_blank">Somewherein Blog</a>: Started early, and enjoying lion’s share as a Bangla blogging platform. I doubt it generates enough revenue to maintain and sustain global competition. What I presume Somweherein has other business that ensures cash flow. <a href="http://www.aawaj.com/community/" target="_blank">Aawaj</a> and <a href="http://www.somewherein.net/" target="_blank">custom software development</a> are two I can think of.</p> <p>Contenders of somwherein are <a href="http://prothom-aloblog.com/" target="_blank">prothothm-aloblog</a>, <a href="http://www.sachalayatan.com/" target="_blank">Sachalayatan</a>, <a href="http://www.amarblog.com/" target="_blank">amarblog</a>, <a href="http://www.nagorikblog.com/" target="_blank">nagorikblog</a> and myriad more. Obviously they are not commercially interesting.</p> <p><a href="http://www.champs21.com/" target="_blank">Champs21</a> launched with big budget and huge media hype leveraging on its partner <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/" target="_blank">The Daily Star</a>. I am sure they are generating some revenue. One thing is good that they did not offer free from the beginning, thus following model of lean startup. Sure Champs21 is yet to recover its investment, but that’s fine. You don’t expect to reach break even in the first year of your launching.</p> <p><a title="Champs21.com" href="http://www.champs21.com" target="_blank"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="champs21" border="0" alt="champs21" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-mRKwP-ikcuc/TgydEOBPTNI/AAAAAAAAA1c/CW8SuRDGxNg/champs21%25255B10%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="482" height="358"></a></p> <p><a href="http://khanacademybangla.com/" target="_blank">KhanAcademyBangla</a> developed by <a href="http://www.nascenia.com/" target="_blank">Nascenia</a> in partnership with the world famous <a href="http://www.khanacademy.org/" target="_blank">Khan Academy</a> is yet to launch commercially. The content is great and licensed under <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/" target="_blank">creative commons</a>, but they are yet to come up with a business model.</p> <p><a href="http://www.stockbangladesh.com/" target="_blank">Stockbangladesh</a> is hugely popular, at least it was during the heydays of share business. Stockbangladesh earns revenue from advertisement only. Not a very sustainable model, I would say. It probably leverages its popularity to sell trainings and other stock related products to business organizations. <a href="http://www.stockbangladesh.com/omos/index" target="_blank">OMO</a> is such a product.</p> <p>A second most popular stock related product is <a href="http://www.bdipo.com/" target="_blank">bdipo</a>. <a href="http://www.nascenia.com/" target="_blank">Nascenia</a> is the developer an owner of it. It gets revenue from ad and subscription through Freemium model. No, not really a commercially lucrative product yet.</p> <p><a title="bdipo" href="http://www.bdipo.com" rel="bdipo.com" target="_blank"><img style="background-image: none; border-right-width: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; padding-top: 0px" title="bdipo" border="0" alt="bdipo" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-n4IOh_OJKlE/Tgyd06QlRyI/AAAAAAAAA1k/iASYkmaRi8g/bdipo%25255B19%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="484" height="367"></a></p> <p>The <a href="http://www.ebay.com/" target="_blank">Ebay</a> model is followed by <a href="http://www.cellbazaar.com/" target="_blank">CellBazaar</a> (acquired by <a href="http://www.telenor.com/" target="_blank">Telenor</a>) and <a href="http://www.clickbd.com/" target="_blank">Clickbd</a>. Both are strong players and show all the signs to sustain and make a successful business. Cellbazaar being the partner of Grameenphone sure has edge over others, and sure generates some revenue from mobile platform. Clickbd on the other hand, being a Bangladeshi company, is in an advantageous position regarding issues related to government regulation, permission and expansion.</p> <p>The very recent addition is <a href="http://akhoni.com/" target="_blank">akhoni.com</a> selling online discount coupons. Wannabe <a href="http://www.groupon.com/" target="_blank">Groupon</a> in Bangladesh. Stellar start. Time will say how long they need to hang around before becoming next bdjobs.</p> <p>There are many news sites those are among the top hit site in Bangladesh. They are far more popular than most of the sites I mentioned above. I am confused if I should mention them, as they are more of sites and less of internet product. Especially those who ride over their print editions (e.g. <a href="http://www.prothom-alo.com/" target="_blank">prothom-alojobs</a>, <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/" target="_blank">thedailystar</a>, <a href="http://newagebd.com/newspaper1/" target="_blank">newage</a>). The first notable purely digital news site is <a href="http://www.bdnews24.com/" target="_blank">bdnews 24.com</a>. The followers are <a href="http://banglanews24.com/" target="_blank">banglanews24</a> -- created by the mighty and (in)famous <a href="http://www.bashundharagroup.com/" target="_blank">Basundhara group</a> and <a href="http://www.sheershanews.com/" target="_blank">sheershanews</a>.</p> <p>Is that all? Of course not, but these are the names come up top of mind (ToM) of mine and sure many more like me. </p> <p>Stay tuned to catch up more about SaaS.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-40170378720800455672010-11-05T21:27:00.004+06:002010-11-05T22:48:30.922+06:00Bumpy Road of a StartupIt's a continuous high and low. <a href="http://www.nascenia.com/award-tastes-sweet/">We receive an award</a> on one moment, an important client becomes non-responsive on the next. We get a nod from a major client, one of our engineers leaves for a multinational on the next. If you like roller coster ride, bungee jumping, adrenaline rush, horror film or something of that sort, you gotta love the ride on a startup.<br />
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<a href="http://blog.syedrayhan.com/2010/01/retrospective-from-first-time.html">No guarantee of a paycheck at the end of the month</a>, you punch your ATM card not to see the account is topped up by an invisible one. You got to plan for your next dollar, but you never know where it is coming from. Usually it comes from an unusual source. Boy! You gotta love this one.<br />
<br />
So, how do you survive these? After all surviving is success for a startup, right?<br />
<br />
You must know how to dream. Dream of a glorified future on the expense of the bumpy road ahead. That's the entry barrier to this territory. That's why it is not everybody's cup of tea.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-1390823083900576732010-10-26T13:53:00.001+06:002010-10-26T13:55:20.618+06:00Advertisers, please don't insult us<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 11px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
I will refer to two of the advertisements published in the recent dailies.<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">First one is published on <a href="http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/index.php">The Daily Star</a> on Oct 26 is by <a href="http://www.bracbank.com/">Brac Bank</a>. No doubt it is a leading private bank. A bank respected by many, built an image as a pioneer in SME banking. A modern, tech-savvy bank.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQiHPe3Uwr1FSL6BcT4E4BakqGh2cpStlSuWkm2otvMV6N20ZcyvtCUP4ePVVvKcCcxl8-csteHY57jT90F9El1ZglnGgpqZ5HP1yxVqB7GG-E1Wz5kq4NZ1sMR7a1_8N9jv9/s1600/brac-bank-green-credit-card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyQiHPe3Uwr1FSL6BcT4E4BakqGh2cpStlSuWkm2otvMV6N20ZcyvtCUP4ePVVvKcCcxl8-csteHY57jT90F9El1ZglnGgpqZ5HP1yxVqB7GG-E1Wz5kq4NZ1sMR7a1_8N9jv9/s400/brac-bank-green-credit-card.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The agency responsible for the ad creative is <a href="http://www.bitopi.com/">Bitopi</a>, an affiliate of <a href="http://www.leoburnett.com/">Leo Burnett</a>.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">So, what is the problem here? Nowhere it mentioned how much part of the credit card's annual fee would be donated to green fund. So, if at the end of the year Brac Bank pays altogether tk. 2 to green fund, it can certainly claim, it kept its promise. "Hey, we have just donated 0.000000001% of your card's fee to green fund. Be proud of yourself, and your bank." Neither the ad mentions which green fund it is going to donate to. Maybe Brac Bank will plant a sapling in its MD's house. That's a green fund!</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfBBTH03wwhINy9NTFVF0r_SLhyphenhyphenmkRlzoPwLostu8_TMzRP2AzoCtFKKHNmr0dcWHXPEme1Z8OylbO7vqSNyKl92CIyy3VZ-ITqVK4U8VguCTzZ8wkINc8MkueiZZ-Sycf55Q/s1600/brac-bank-green-credit-card-close-shot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfBBTH03wwhINy9NTFVF0r_SLhyphenhyphenmkRlzoPwLostu8_TMzRP2AzoCtFKKHNmr0dcWHXPEme1Z8OylbO7vqSNyKl92CIyy3VZ-ITqVK4U8VguCTzZ8wkINc8MkueiZZ-Sycf55Q/s320/brac-bank-green-credit-card-close-shot.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">However, the ad clearly conveys a message without a mistake. That the advertiser thinks the audience are a bunch of idiots. They will jump into getting the 'green cards' with a big hope that SOME part of the annual fee would be donated to SOME kind of green fund on SOME day. And believe it, this not coming from an ordinary organization. This is coming from a bank, that deals with numbers as its day job.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Now the other one. Also from <a href="http://www.mutualtrustbank.com/">a bank</a>. Equally revered. Published on Oct 21 on the first page of The Daily Star.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRoagw_3r8ebM5tuFcXb-PrcSqTaJLRvAYCQ9x00GCOMj61EKpaMWdsqpw-W8jfEF4e94sgDUiMPaTotVGmYXtmnBXiQF1a9tiwMwUS3Mqyv9bopvjvaVkMeTAIxKavKXV0JF/s1600/mtbl-ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNRoagw_3r8ebM5tuFcXb-PrcSqTaJLRvAYCQ9x00GCOMj61EKpaMWdsqpw-W8jfEF4e94sgDUiMPaTotVGmYXtmnBXiQF1a9tiwMwUS3Mqyv9bopvjvaVkMeTAIxKavKXV0JF/s640/mtbl-ad.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">The ad reads: </div><blockquote>MTB Centre, A green building.</blockquote><blockquote>MTB Center is a unique project with each floor attributed to one of the major energy sources such as trees, water, wind, sun and earth; and these components together define the critical balance of sustainability. </blockquote>What should I call it? Exploitation of the word Green? Again a bank, that believes in numbers only, did not mention anywhere how the building is energy efficient. Or, how much part of its energy is sourced form alternative or green energy source. In short, how on the world the building is green.<br />
<br />
I visited Gulshan to see the building myself. I tried without success to spot any kind of visible solar panels or whatsoever. However, I found a little part of the building is covered with green sticker. Maybe that's how the building is claimed to be Green.<br />
<br />
Central Bank's governor a few days back <a href="http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/more.php?news_id=112054">encouraged banks to go green</a>. Look at the responses. I feel like I am a complete idiot. The readers of The Daily Star must be idiots. Prospects and customers of these banks must be idiots.<br />
<br />
<span id="goog_1756419858"></span><span id="goog_1756419859"></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-2043579693698333722010-09-22T17:31:00.004+06:002010-09-23T13:54:02.677+06:00I am defeated by my 7 year old sonMy 7 year old son, Meesam defeated me last week on a video game. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtua_Cop_2">Virtua Cop 2</a>. I've never been able to cross all three levels at one go to face the final boss. I first played VC2 in 1999. I've put a few times more hours in this game than he did. It took Meesam just a month to learn the game and cross all the levels.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1xDkQ7fyZVcYvtckpbO4bE4GAVkER-EKMORiHzdQspj-WbQR61lpOlwUQI-wqro8E2h-GmdIQ2yZyKm4gBpNnpl_h2kuGOfMmUdF2h6nfpsoL7A1j6ZuUQ7h0mT1prHes_Ze/s1600/Meesam-with-my-Mac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe1xDkQ7fyZVcYvtckpbO4bE4GAVkER-EKMORiHzdQspj-WbQR61lpOlwUQI-wqro8E2h-GmdIQ2yZyKm4gBpNnpl_h2kuGOfMmUdF2h6nfpsoL7A1j6ZuUQ7h0mT1prHes_Ze/s320/Meesam-with-my-Mac.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meesam and his sister playing with my Macbook</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Is it a sign that he is smarter than I am? Or, am I too dumb not to reach at the end of the game? Or, am I too old (that shouldn't be -- I learned the game while I was 25, now I am 36). Or, is it that children are just like that?<br />
<br />
Should I be proud of Meesam? Or, be ashamed of myself? Or, stay indifferent? Any expert opinion?<br />
<br />
I keep telling myself: "Welcome, this is only the beginning :)".Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-2464227046449531392010-08-28T07:05:00.005+06:002010-08-28T19:24:15.773+06:00Finland Ranked First and Bangladesh 88th by NewsweekIn the <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/15/interactive-infographic-of-the-worlds-best-countries.html">research done by Newsweek</a> on the criteria of health, education, politics and economy – Bangladesh ranked 88th while Finland 1st and USA 11th. Many of us are elated seeing Bangladesh first time ranked in double digit – in whatsoever category, by whatsoever authority. But I am intrigued by some of the comments from the champions. Here is one from some Kalevi supposedly from Finland<br />
<blockquote>One in four people in Finland has to take psychiatric medication just to get through the day. Mood disorders have more than tripled in some population groups during the last decade (this trend is especially noticeable among young adults who have just entered the job market). Finland is also the top fifth most suicidal nation in Europe. But hey, if you want to measure well-being according to such indices as how many cell phones or Internet connections there are per capita, or how many people can read a newspaper or do basic math, then sure, we Finns are the champions of the world. It's just that these supposed indices of well-being do not seem to correlate with happiness in the real world of human beings. In fact, there would rather seem to be a correlation between them and unhappiness.<br />
<br />
To really understand the high score of Finland in this and some other studies, you need to know that this is a country that strives to become the perfect living-machine, a society as a machine for efficient living. The general goal is to rationalize every aspect of life, much the same way as labor is rationalized in a McDonald's restaurant, until nothing escapes the standardization and control of the welfare machine. As a result of this pervasive institutionalization (or, indeed, McDonaldization) of Finnish society, life in this country has become increasingly alienating socially. People are generally estranged from their immediate communities, their neighbours and even their own families, and rely on the authorities (experts, professionals) in the most mundane problems of life.<br />
<br />
Finnish sociologists conducted a study on people's reactions to school shootings in the U.S. and in Finland, where these “extended suicides” have become increasingly common in recent years. They found to their surprise that while Americans often sought emotional support from their immediate community, their neighbours, colleagues and families, Finns almost never did. What Finns did instead is typical of people living in an advanced welfare society: they sought the advice of the professionals, the doctors, psychiatrists and crisis therapists. When the study was publicized in Finland, many people reacted to it with a kind of scornful superiority. Some said that the results only show what a backward country the United States really is, and how advanced the Finnish welfare society. It did not occur to them that the results indicate something disturbing about their own society.<br />
<br />
Finland is, indeed, such an efficient society that we have even eliminated the need for community and normal human relations. We are the perfect living-machine, a society as a machine for efficient living. I seem to be among an increasingly small number of people living in this country who still dare to ask, “What is the real human cost of this coldly rational way of life?”</blockquote><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUao3Iw3FXecAF4gpOl5vJFoDvcYKnjz6L_amuIT5YYNY9E4hXFwChyOXe0aISFH6Mlu17jRpYBMocL-FVjZmbTcLvQbCcwSean_vjsgL3KtrkkmdDadoezPaMSQSZjLETEuqv/s1600/finland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUao3Iw3FXecAF4gpOl5vJFoDvcYKnjz6L_amuIT5YYNY9E4hXFwChyOXe0aISFH6Mlu17jRpYBMocL-FVjZmbTcLvQbCcwSean_vjsgL3KtrkkmdDadoezPaMSQSZjLETEuqv/s400/finland.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finland: the healthiest, most educated, rich and politically sound nation. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: </span></span><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/08/15/best-countries-in-the-world.html"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Newsweek</span></span></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Another one from Kraig Watson and <i>liked</i> by Kalevi –<br />
<blockquote>What about enjoyment of life? i live in oslo and would have more fun in a microwave with a metal suit on.</blockquote>And one more Jacob Matthan –<br />
<blockquote>Is Finland the best country in the world to live in?</blockquote><blockquote>That is what a recent Newsweek report said.</blockquote><blockquote>It is obvious that none of the Newsweek Team have never lived in Finland!</blockquote><blockquote>Finns are the “Masters of Spin”. The country is controlled by an oligarchy of about 50 powerful families (It used to be 5 but the base has widened slightly during the three decades.)</blockquote><blockquote>The Oligarchy control the Media. That is the most powerful weapon in the arsenal.</blockquote><blockquote>The judiciary, police, bureaucracy, lawyers, and politicians are primarily corrupt. The laws of the country are written to run such a system, so the word corruption does not exist in their little world.</blockquote><blockquote>How else can the proportional system of Government exist. In one election it may be a coalition of right and centre, while in the next it may be left and centre, while in the next it could be right and left! the promises made in any election campaign are just words for the masses to consume. the real wheeler dealing occurs in the chambers of power after the election where the poor are sacrificed at the expense of the rich!</blockquote><blockquote>The politicians do what the Oligarchy tells them. In the process they throw a few crumbs to the Finnish Public!</blockquote><blockquote>The schooling system is a joke in that the students are not permitted to question their teachers. This takes the student to adolescence where the Finnish male is forced into compulsory military service which makes them into zombies. (Exceptions do occur, but they are exceptions!)</blockquote><blockquote>To not take part in the army service was considered traitorous till one son of a Finnish sitting President decided he world not join the army. A dilemma but it gave relief to some who were not the zombies of Finland.</blockquote><blockquote>The country has been run by a cartel system. There is no maximum retail price law. The Finns are fleeced. The Oligarchy convinced the Finnish Public that just because they paid highest prices, they had the “Highest Standard of Living”. Whereas the Finns just had the “Highest Cost of Living”.</blockquote><blockquote>As a result Finns have been the top “Economic Migrants” to every corner of the globe, starting with their neighbour Sweden.</blockquote><blockquote>On the other hand Finns do not tolerate migration into Finland, except when it serves their purpose as allowing prostitutes from third world countries to enter freely!</blockquote><blockquote>Even the word for migrant - immigrant or emigrant was demonized in Finland!</blockquote><blockquote>Every country has its good and bad points and so to Finland. Finland is a good country to live in, but certainly not the BEST! The grass always appears greener on the other side of the fence. The Newsweek team should live in finland for a short while and then they will realise the error of their conclusions.</blockquote> So, where on earth people are happy, then?<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJtuT5I278j0mu1G2keixa7EnN2mvWsvGgln88gh5OA-Ayp0BEJ6tyslXl2Yn0Z0zSoyxeIAW2doTnMnxRahacnSQTSwo5Eg0tEZmTzbiaul6kI9i2zK4VD8m_PBHmuDe0je4/s1600/800px-Bangladeshi_children_smile_in_canoe,_Dhaka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCJtuT5I278j0mu1G2keixa7EnN2mvWsvGgln88gh5OA-Ayp0BEJ6tyslXl2Yn0Z0zSoyxeIAW2doTnMnxRahacnSQTSwo5Eg0tEZmTzbiaul6kI9i2zK4VD8m_PBHmuDe0je4/s400/800px-Bangladeshi_children_smile_in_canoe,_Dhaka.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bangladesh: Children on Boat. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Photo: </span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bangladeshi_children_smile_in_canoe,_Dhaka.jpg"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666;">Wikimedia</span></a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-59521378826867092632010-08-16T13:42:00.006+06:002010-08-17T14:07:22.585+06:00Freakonomics - Review of the BookI made a quick review of the book <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakonomics">Freakonomics</a> by Steven D. Lavitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Well it did not yield me a mundane return, but I think there would be people who might like it anyway.<br />
<br />
<div id="__ss_4977889" style="width: 425px;"><strong style="display: block; margin: 12px 0 4px;"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Shaerhassan/freakonmics-4977889" title="Freakonomics: Review of the Book">Freakonomics: Review of the Book</a></strong><object height="355" id="__sse4977889" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=freakonmics1-100816021857-phpapp02&stripped_title=freakonmics-4977889" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"/><embed name="__sse4977889" src="http://static.slidesharecdn.com/swf/ssplayer2.swf?doc=freakonmics1-100816021857-phpapp02&stripped_title=freakonmics-4977889" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br />
<div style="padding: 5px 0 12px;">View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Shaerhassan">Shaer Hassan</a>.</div></div><br />
By the way, do you know who Ted Kaczynski is? He is mentioned at the end of the presentation. You know what? He got a post in his own name in Wikipedia! Must be a very famous guy? Click the link here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski">Ted Kaczynski</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-39264345902988307292010-08-15T16:18:00.002+06:002010-08-15T16:21:04.888+06:00Color Picker for Mac<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"></span><br />
I have been using Mac for a couple of years, and am never through with its enigma. Mac has so many gems under its hood!<br />
<br />
If you were wondering like me how to get a color picker for Mac, here is the solution.<br />
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If you are using Mac OS X, just type DigitalColor Meter on the spotlight. Run the application. Point to any position of the desktop. Press command+shift+h to select the color.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwW3O8n1X94oKtBTm-h6cuzNxtYen5Hkp8fX0bJZfsqXruLd6snneW1viTKu8y6IsOh_FDU0bSOASS_ljWm9kNglVWF8VNnus2uyNBShquzvxD7E3Ulqcm-h2-fJSDXDU9ugU/s1600/Picture+5.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwW3O8n1X94oKtBTm-h6cuzNxtYen5Hkp8fX0bJZfsqXruLd6snneW1viTKu8y6IsOh_FDU0bSOASS_ljWm9kNglVWF8VNnus2uyNBShquzvxD7E3Ulqcm-h2-fJSDXDU9ugU/s320/Picture+5.png" /></a></div><br />
<br />
To know the hexadecimal color code, choose 'RGB as Hex value, 8-bit' from the drop down of the application. Whereever you need to put the color code just type the value against R, G and B serially without space (666699 for the blue in above image). Voila!<br />
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There are other solutions to this color picker problem. But this is the quick and easiest. Enjoy!<br />
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</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-48026529350732155942010-06-20T14:00:00.001+06:002010-06-20T14:13:51.565+06:00Slow Movement<p>I found a video promoting slow movement a couple of months back: </p> <p><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carl_honore_praises_slowness.html">http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/carl_honore_praises_slowness.html</a></p> <p>Quite interesting, if you have moderate internet speed to watch this :).</p> <p>My take? Europeans can afford the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Movement">slow thing</a>. We can't. While we, Bangladeshis are inherently slow, we top in corruption, poverty, bureaucracy, procrastination -- last thing we need is to be preached about slowness.</p> <p>Yes, I know the Europeans... I've seen our CXOs and consultants in <a href="http://www.grameenphone.com/">GP</a> leave office during the daylight, while we are staying till 10 pm for next day event. For outsourced job, we stay up here at any odd time of the day and night, while they pick the time of their choice for product meeting. They remain unreachable for about a month during Christmas. Some of them are unreachable for almost a couple of months during summer, Easter, or god knows what.</p> <p>Can we afford that? </p> <p>If we are unreachable for a fraction of a day, we are labeled as 'unprofessional' . The next day the work and fund move to Indonesia, Vietnam, Brazil, Argentina or any of the myriad options they have.   </p> <p>Slowness thing has some merit. But let's not slow down while we live in this dirty, problem ridden, unorganized jungle of homo sapiens. We need to be fast and real fast to make this country a better place.</p> <p>Now is not the time to slow down. We are at a war -- an economic war, a war to make our country a decent living space. The people who are preaching about slowness, eradication of child labor etc. were really fast when they were at war. And they defeated the slower part of the world time and again. Now that they have a good system, they can afford to be slow. There is this stupid third world who works fast, cheap and stays up to take care of the price of their slowness.  </p> <p>We, on the other hand, don't even have a system. We shall have to try many things, learn form mistakes with a hope that down the line we will have one. Riding on that we will be able to be slow some day; give time to family, friends -- play golf, switch off cell phone in weekends etc. </p> <p>I think it's a crime for us if we be slow right now. We are supposed to be the leaders of the nation. We are the creme de la creme of the country. (The point that you are being able to read this post proves that you belong to the super privileged part of the population.) The nation does not need another "slow leader" now.</p> <p>Japanese are workaholic. They work 16 hours in a day. They are super productive, innovative, fast and professional. Americans work hard, fast and long hours, too (we get quick feedback from them :-)).</p> <p>So, let's not confuse by choosing the wrong idol. We don't have luxury to be slow, my friends. I mean... look around you!</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-87353444315484977512010-06-08T14:13:00.011+06:002010-06-13T15:27:58.736+06:00Who are the heroes of our time?Entrepreneurs are heroes. They are the value creator. They see opportunities while others see emptiness. They are the engines of today's economy. They are risk takers, the dreamers and the doers.<br />
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You agree with it or not, no matter what your mother said about the business people, no matter how high your father talked about the government service, or however glorified your friend’s job in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporation">MNC</a> seems, or how your brother bragged about his life in a developed country, how every children grown in this country with a dream to be a doctor or an engineer; entrepreneurs are the super heroes of a modern country.<br />
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They are the seeds, the organizers, the believers, and the challengers.<br />
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Good for Bangladesh that it has just started to know that. If it wants to prosper further, it must recognize the heroes and start honoring them every way it can. Citizens should better cherish to be one of them. <br />
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Not every person can be or will be an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are the smartest, the wisest, the different and the rare breed of a society. You may not end up being one of them, but if you can, rush to be one. <br />
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What is there of more fun and rewarding in life than to dream of something, involve a team in your dream, work to materialize that, live to see your dream come true, live to see how life of many transformed positively because of you, live to see your creation changing the society and transforming the country? And finally when you are not here, your baton is passed, things become larger and greater, and you still are the seed of a great entity. No one can take that away from you.<br />
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So, you the mortal and the small one! are you ready to be someone to create immortals — to create entities of limitless size?<br />
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If you don’t think you have the guts to be one of them yet; start by honoring them as the super heroes of your time.<br />
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">This post is dedicated to </span><a href="http://blog.syedrayhan.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Syed H. Rayhan</span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">, and all the entrepreneurs and wannabe entrepreneurs of Bangladesh.</span></i>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-1116876887819371382010-05-19T10:25:00.001+06:002010-05-19T10:25:38.609+06:00What do you want?<p>You don't need to prove anything to anyone but to you.</p> <p>Wanting the right thing is the most difficult part of the life. Achieving is fairly easy.</p> <p>Most people fail for pursuing the wrong dream.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-60651446148764960852010-04-26T11:35:00.001+06:002010-04-26T11:35:13.520+06:00Bad Leaders<p>If good people escape and shy away from leading, any kind of person takes the lead. In general, Bangladesh is full of two kinds of people. Corrupt doers and escapist beholders.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-73515935924343382912010-04-19T13:06:00.001+06:002010-04-19T13:06:59.651+06:00Certification, or Not?<p>Any kind of certification tries to assure a minimum standard of the certificate holder.  </p> <p>To get the certificate, you shall have to go through their process. Now, the problem is you can go through their process, get the certificate, without achieving the minimum standard. </p> <p>How? there are many ways. You can dumbly memorize the stuff and reproduce in the exam, you can cheat, you can read the topic but still hate it and try to forget it after exam. In other words you get the certification without passion or love for the subject; so, eventually you don't relate it to your real/work life. You forget your learning soon and cannot utilize it in your life.</p> <p>Learning from real life is always long lasting, although the process is slower than learning from knowledge acquired by other people. So, a mix of both of them is a good idea. Certification process in most cases emphasize on learning from documented knowledge, and undervalues learning from real life.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4kcwye2z0ew/S8wA0PqFyRI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/umvrYFEMDH4/s1600-h/certification%5B4%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="certification" border="0" alt="certification" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4kcwye2z0ew/S8wA1ikHV8I/AAAAAAAAAyU/16pIIYEZUmw/certification_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="430" height="344" /></a> </p> <p>I blatantly dare to say that you can actually get an A in your graduation without learning almost nothing that you can contribute to your life. Well, if you wanted you could both take the learning and get an A, too. </p> <p>In almost no subject, certificate is the ultimate thing. There are smart certificate holders, and there are dumb certificate holders. And usually the  exceptionally smartest ppl don't hold a certificate. That's because they don't need one, they think that's wastage of time and soon they reach to a level from where they can certify other ppl -- officially or unofficially :). That's why probably they invented the idea of honorary degree. Bill Gates got one from Harvard.</p> <p>So, why ppl still run for and ask for certification? </p> <p>Well, this is the next best thing to surely know someone as good or bad.</p> <p>Not every dropout become Bill Gates. </p> <p>Right, but not every phd founds Google either. </p> <p>So, it must be something else, not certification. The X- factor of success is beyond the scope of certification.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-48553218128507217192010-04-12T13:51:00.001+06:002010-04-12T13:51:59.833+06:00Water for a Dead Hero, None for Lives<p>Every morning one truck full of water is wasted to wash the road and pavement in front of Bangabandhu Museum (Dhanmondi 32 - old). </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4kcwye2z0ew/S8LQ_hADY6I/AAAAAAAAAyA/KVRJr59Jfyk/s1600-h/wasting%20water%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="wasting water" border="0" alt="wasting water" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4kcwye2z0ew/S8LRCG51TCI/AAAAAAAAAyE/WGkSYu3DLNs/wasting%20water_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="412" height="315" /></a> </p> <p> </p> <p>I am sure, had Sheikh Mujibur Rahman been alive, he wouldn't like this squandering while hundreds of thousands of people in many areas in Dhaka are not getting  a drop of running water for months.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4kcwye2z0ew/S8LRDsPPZtI/AAAAAAAAAyI/fAXHPXA7okU/s1600-h/dhaka_waitingforwater_q_RTR%5B3%5D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="dhaka_waitingforwater_q_RTR" border="0" alt="dhaka_waitingforwater_q_RTR" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4kcwye2z0ew/S8LRHTjPN7I/AAAAAAAAAyM/D9hXK-HMkC8/dhaka_waitingforwater_q_RTR_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="426" height="282" /></a></p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-36032454367610851572010-03-31T15:48:00.001+06:002010-03-31T15:53:52.555+06:00My Dream<p>I dream to build a school like this here in Bangladesh.</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:717cfb9d-c4d7-4b28-b264-d7e88154d962" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/n8eyF4UWG38&hl=en_US&fs=1&&hl=en"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/n8eyF4UWG38&hl=en_US&fs=1&&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="355"></embed></object></div></div> <p>Anyone to join hands? </p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13191721.post-45381400442070410032010-03-29T16:52:00.001+06:002010-03-29T16:53:13.967+06:00I am frustrated<p>I am frustrated to know so much I am endowed with and so little I give back. </p> <p> </p> <p>I am probably among the top 5% gifted people in Bangladesh. Probably among the top 10% among the world. Well, that’s what is my guesstimate. But, that’s a scarily huge responsibility!</p> <p> </p> <p>I don’t deserve this if I can’t give back enough. Many of us don’t deserve this.</p> <p> </p> <p>We are the creme de la creme of Bangladesh at the point of building a prosperous country. And still we are, or at least I am yet to fix the goal, determine the duties.</p> <p> </p> <p>Even frustration is not an excuse.</p> Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14962876332008783374noreply@blogger.com0