Jeni as a Bangladeshi

Yesterday, my company’s "Global Asset Protection" power team went crazy looking for me because I had given them an outdated contact number. Today, they emailed me more urgent information regarding the political instability here in the city, such as the following excerpt:

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Security: UPDATE 1: Police on high alert as protests erupt across Bangladesh July 17, following arrest of AL leader Sheik Hasina Wajed. Avoid all demonstrations.

This alert affects Bangladesh.

This alert began 17 Jul 2007 09:14 GMT and is scheduled to expire 23 Jul 2007 23:59 GMT.

Updated Information (July 17)

Protests erupted across Bangladesh July 17 in response to the recent arrest of former Prime Minister and Awami League (AL) leader, Sheik Hasina Wajed. Several protests turned violent as AL supporters clashed with security forces. Avoid all demonstrations. Expect increased security in cities across the country.

Protests in Dhaka were especially violent. Three home-made bombs exploded at Dhaka University as students took part in nationwide university strikes. Officials report no injuries in the attack. Security forces fired shotguns at protesters who gathered in Goal Nagar and Malitola areas and on English Road in the old part of Dhaka, injuring at least 30 demonstrators. Pro-AL lawyers gathered at the Court of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) in Dhaka as Hasina arrived for the start of her trial.
 

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In a nutshell, for the past couple of months there was a ’showdown’ of sorts between the country’s two competing governments (who have been battling one another for years now), causing an incredible amount of instability in the political arena and hostility out on the streets.  As a result, an interim, ‘caretaker’ government stepped up to fill its place until a permanent one can be chosen. So yes, we are currently living without a government. And yesterday, security forces raided the home of the leader and Prime Minister of one of the parties, arresting her under murder allegations and corruption charges. So expectantly, all hell broke lose.

The political situation here in Bangladesh is an interesting topic that I’d love to dedicate an entire entry to talk about. However, today’s is not such an entry.

It’s been a while since I’ve last updated. Mostly it’s because I’ve been spending a lot of time on my project (and not because i was lazy or anything). Since my project is in its beginning phases, I’ve been involved in much of the planning, strategizing, and conceptualizing. Today marks somewhat of a milestone, as I finally presented my proposal and recommendations to the board. I needed their approval so that I can tap into their resource/talent pool to actually carry out the plan.

The presentation meeting can be summarized into three major areas:

* Before: As usual, the assistants came around to pass out cups of tea and biscuits. And as usual, I was the only female in a group of male managers. What started out as polite introductions and questions about my home country begin morphing into comments about my looks, my appearance, and ‘light’ jokes about why everyone actually showed up to meeting today. So there I was, sitting professionally at the front of the table in my suit, a smile plastered across my bright red face as I gave myself a silent reality check - are these guys really having this conversation? with me right here? Should I say something in return?

* During: I lost my bright cheerful Jeni-smile as the no-nonsense side of me kicked in. I went through my proposal, detailing out my plan, its value potential, and the commitment I needed from their end. One thing I’ve noticed about myself is that when speaking about things that I am passionate about, I become extremely energetic (sometimes a bit too much), and I think it shows. Much of that energy today, though, was also fed from the audience. Everyone was extremely attentive, and all eyes and ears (well, all eyes until you establish eye contact with them, which is when they quickly look away). They listened to my points, but also felt completely at liberty to [politely] disect and rip them apart. Nonetheless, it made for an engaging discussion.

* Afterwards: Presentation ended on a high note. Got the buy-in from all the stakeholders, and the chairman announced that he was very impressed! Woohoo! (these are the finer moments of being a consultant!) After a quick concluding discussion, there was a brief period of silence, during which I was convinced that everyone was deep in thought about my proposal. Then someone broke the silence - "Okay, no more business. Basketball, anyone?"

There you go - that, my friends, is a glimpse of a typical work day. The experience here is worth its value in gold.

Oh, and I got myself an intern! Here’s our initiation event for him - at New Market, a ginormous outdoor shopping area packed with all kinds of random household items for sale.

[edit]pictures to be provided later, as the hosting site for my pictures is being a bit wack.

Somehow being 7867.90 miles away from home actually makes it easier to look at my country and appreciate it for all its beauty. I know, flip through any newspaper or current events magazine, and we’d see that in many ways we’re probably not where we’d ideally like to be. We’re not perfect, and perhaps in some ways we’re pretty far away from it. But the beauty lies in our ability to define what we think means to be perfect, and in the choice to strive towards that definition. The beauty also lies in our ability to understand, to know. For example, I know that being a Chinese American does not mean I am a Chinese living in America, but that I am a type of American. I know that not aligning myself to a religion does not mean I am not a spiritual person, but that I have the freedom to critically think and decide for myself what I want to believe in. I know that freedom of speech, press, and petition, are not just words on paper but powerful, tangible rights of mine that no one can take away from me. From half a world away, these are things that are the most obvious to see.

I remember learning to say the pledge of allegiance in school shortly after I moved to the states. I learned to recite the entire thing without even knowing which syllables belonged together in a word, or what any of the words individually actually meant. But I guess to a child, with a hand over her heart, and her eyes on the red, white, and blue hanging above, it doesn’t have to mean anything more than just that.

You’re still a beautiful grand old flag. Forever in peace may you wave.

 

It’s been my second day out of work, and I’ve been stuck in my room with a fever. Feeling absolutely unproductive, I dragged myself to the local store to pick up some medicine, groceries, and a few "discounted" dvds (by discounted I mean $1 per DVD - you get my point). After sorting through the ones that actually worked on my laptop, I plopped on my bed to watch (of all choices) Reign Over Me, the movie starring Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler based in post 9-11 New York City. The movie itself wasn’t particularly spectacular. But it did strike a chord, as I noticed that I recognized almost every block, street corner, and shop in the movie.  And if not the exact location, I could tell which neighborhood it was, by the people, the buildings, the scene, the mood. the Starbucks on Astor Place. Sushi Lounge with its 50% off delivery menus. the record store on St. marks. the part of Park Ave right above Union Square. Central Park West. With a knot in my throat, I sat through the movie wrapped in my own state of nostalgia.

The thing about New York is that even though it always seems to be portrayed by outsiders as an overwhelmingly large and impersonal city, it is in actuality quite small to the individual inhabitants. The ubiquitous selection of shops and stores everywhere allows people to pick out their own laundromats, bodegas, cafes, falafel/pizza shacks, thereby drawing out boundaries for each one’s ‘neighborhood.’ Aside from commuting to work, or meeting friends on the weekends, people usually like to stick around their own self-defined areas. Which is why I tend to disagree with those who imagine New York as one big metropolis with a homogeneous population of strangers. Each neighborhood, each area, each street, is different from the other and made unique by those who have identified it as part of their ‘neighborhood.’ And this makes the city a personal thing for all of us who have lived there. In many ways, we are actually closer to our neighborhoods because the sheer size of our apartments makes it hard to spend too much time enclosed indoors. So much of our lives actually happen outside - on those street corners, the cafes, the 24-hour diners, the local bars. they’re like an extension of our homes. I think, ultimately, this is why New Yorkers identify so much with the city, and miss it when away from it for too long. People I talk to here comment on how passionate I am when talking about New York, but it certainly helps that many of them are extremely interested in hearing about it (until I mention that I’ve never been up the Empire State Building - gosh, what kind of New Yorker am I??). I can’t help it; I’ve always had a love affair with New York, and having lived there for much of my early twenties, in many ways the city played a significant part in my own growth.

Okay, so the original point of this entry has been lost within all this fever-induced rambling, and I’m no longer sure what I was trying to get at. But what I am quite sure about is that I’m high on Tylenol, I’m a bit miserable being cooped up in this room, and I miss home.