How emotionally sensible is the girl named Bangladesh?

by

Adnan Firoze

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Published in “NSU Chronicles Issue 1, Feb 2009”

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NSU Chronicles Issue 1 Cover

My Article on Page 3

There are many aptitude tests in the website http://www.blogspot.com. While I was going through some of their self learning quizzes, I measured my EQ (be aware that EQ is the measurement of emotional intelligence and not to be mistaken for IQ). I got a pretty impressive score in that quiz but it made me wonder: how good would one of my female friends named “Bangladesh” do, should she have taken the test. But from my judgment and experiences with her, I am sure that she would get the highest mark (which is not an ideal mark) and get the comment, “Thanks for taking the test. Now go, look for a shrink!”

If you have come upon a verdict that I am here to insult our motherland, you have are totally looking at the mirror reflection of my point. My opinion here is totally the opposite of what can be perceived by most people.

Yes, Bangladeshi people are emotional, a bit too emotional than we can afford. But is it a bad thing? I say, no. This is one of the qualities that make our Bangladesh stand apart from the rest, disregarding the fact that she doesn’t come from a very well-off family.

I am writing this article, sitting down in front of my computer when there is a curfew outside. This incident was given birth by a series of chaotic havoc all around Dhaka city in the last couple of days. Believe it or not it all started off at a soccer field where students were sitting down to have a good time. Then one thing led to another and now we are going through a curfew and sick people cannot get their medicine on time. Isn’t this a funny yet tragic predicament for a country? Now after this, I ask you, would Bangladesh going to top the EQ test or not?

I do never blame the students of Dhaka University to have taken a stand against the army but maybe they had taken it one step too far. Consequently regular students who have been asked to leave for their homes from the halls with a timeframe of four hours are at loss. Now, isn’t the government as emotional as our Bangladesh? Yes they are, and again it is not a bad thing. If emotion is driving you and getting jobs done, that is the only perfect way to go.

Besides politics, we are THE most emotional nation in my judgment. Do you remember who won the huge Closeup1 titles? First it was Nolok and then Salma. I admit that both of them were remarkable singers but there were other singers too. But the reason they won the final rounds by landslides is that Bangladeshi people (me as one of them) had voted for them not only because of their superior vocal skills but judging their under privileged background. Be it misjudgment,, as some people put it, I am proud to say that I gave Salma ten votes and I was the happiest of them all after she had won the brawl (or at the fact that amused me the most was that a poor girl is now going to have a new life).

Finally I question myself, are we being too emotional? Are we putting our own welfare at stake while preserving our emotions? Are we a very impractical country, which is driven by emotion and nothing else?

I have not yet figured the mystery out but until I do, I just pray that my hypothesis turns out to be correct. I hope that I find that Bangladesh is that one country which is run by her emotions and give very little regard to practicality and democratic welfare. Only when she starts to think and act from the heart is when we will regain our identity as that hot-headed nation who did magic in the history books (and that very entity will bring our economical welfare back as a side-effect). We want to be the magicians of self righteousness, driven by our emotions, no matter what they say, how they argue.

My full article

Categories: Published Clips

Tags: 1971, Asia, Asian Politics, Bangladesh, Bangladesh Liberation War, Curfew, Democracy, Nationalism, Politics