A captive nation

. PHOTO: AFP

Our leaders (and hence the followers) are terrible noise-makers, mixed with a lot of sentimental outpourings. Good for adda sessions (khaanti Bengalee), but not for practical field work, and to push the nation forward. Our leaders are completely different from our hard-working chasi-bhais (and their family members). The upper levels of the society have forgotten how to earn their living from the sweat of their brows (it is immaterial whether the brain or the brawn is involved). Short-cuts and temptation have made the nation spirit moth-eaten.

There is no hope for this young nation, unless the whole lot of the current political culture is uprooted and revitalised completely. It means facing huge systems losses to start afresh. That is the lesson of history, and a by-product of moral indiscretions. Whom to charge-sheet? What has happened to moral courage?

Bad leaders come and go, leaving behind garbage and suffering. The cumulative effect is simple to conjecture: with the rich natural resources at our disposal, we could have easily, by this time, taken off economically with a growth rate above seven per cent . Which Saarc member has taken off? We have to analyse the common denominator. The Raj genetic code is still haunting us?

But the poor and incompetent leadership is not willing to suffer on principle. You can't take without giving. If the input is, say, 100, then the good and useful system output is around ten per cent (the rest is lost in processing and reprocessing at different stages). The current society believes in the opposite maxim, thanks to the additive philosophy' of our so-called leaders, who cannot control their followers (allowing unauthorised commissions for dubious omissions). Toll collection (in various forms) has been accepted, politically, as a philosophy of life. There is no room for alibi.

One generation is gone, and the new generation is getting restless. It is a disturbing period of transition for the political culture. We are faced with a shortage of roots, and an abundance of artificial branches and leaves. This stance raises the centre of gravity, causing unstable situations. Keep low, and add to the background, not the foreground.

Our standard of cricket is similar to our politics. It cannot improve unless our political cricket culture improves. The politicians are not playing cricket, and they know it. It is filter-down culture, handed down traditionally, since the first human civilisation evolved on this Earth. Bangladesh is a victim of bad precedents and unholy, unethical, immoral practices in private and public life. First the discipline of the self, before offering selfless service to the masses. The risk-venture level in politics is poor, due to the insecurity syndrome of the entrenched, and upcoming future leaders.

There are four main areas to look for: batting, bowling, fielding, and umpiring. Our political umpiring level is not improving even with the introduction of the artificial neutral caretaker government concept. Political batting is more than the use of native lathi and danda. Brickbat practice does not improve the quality of bowling on the international cricket pitches.