Don’t stop, till you get enough

The difference between Gen X and Gen Y, a bad joke used to go, is that the former actually remembers a black and great Michael Jackson.  I remember cousins and uncles shaking their body watching BTV’s Solid Gold.

Anyone of a certain age would have a story to tell about watching this for the first time.

Mine was at an aunt’s place in Narayanganj, one of the first things I ever watched on a VCR. The second time was at a friend’s place in Mymensingh. This was big even in mofussil Bangladesh — globalisation was already in full swing!

And anyone that age would know someone who danced like that, wore hair that way, had a red jacket like that, or knew the lyrics to Billie Jean or Bad or Black or white by heart. 

I grew out of it very quickly, but I’m still very nostalgic about the 1980s this weekend.  I can’t dance, but I do want to say, don’t stop till you get enough.

(cross-posted at A-A-A)

The Awami League at 60

This week, the Awami League — Bangladesh’s very own Grand Old Party — turned 60.  The story of its first quarter century — from Pakistan’s first opposition party to the party of Bengali Muslim middle class to  the nationalist movement to a fascist dictatorship’s denouement in fratricide — is widely known, and needs no repeating in this blog.   Instead, I’ll write about the last 30 years.  How did AL recover from 1975?  Why did it win in December?  Where do various factions fit today?  And what may tomorrow hold?   

The year of living dangerously: On the selection of the Bank Governor and his challenges

On 29 April, the Government appointed Dr Atiur Rahman as the Governor of the Bangladesh Bank. The appointment has been greeted positively by many because of Dr Rahman’s truly inspirational life story, understanding of development economics, and interest in Tagore’s work. Some has commented that the appointment is an evidence of the Government’s ‘pro-poor’ bona fides. However, little has been said about the judiciousness of the appointment given the challenges before the Bank, and qualifications and experiences that might have helped the Governor in overcoming them.