EMPLOYING THE BEGGARS

Grameen Bank, the award winning initiative by Dr. Md. Yunus has pulled another stunt by offering loan to the beggars to purchase mobile phones (without collateral) so that they can offer mobile phone service in the streets. This looks good in theory but I have apprehensions whether it will reach the objective of changing beggar's lives. Their previous effort "The phone ladies" - giving mobile loan to poor women in the village was misused by some quarters or middlemen.

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SLEEP AS A COMMODITY

Anyone interested to catch a quick "power nap" to increase your productivity on the way to your next assignment? This idea can come from only a Bangladeshi. And believe me this guy's logic is good and the product will sell.

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RAIN RULES HERE

It started raining from Friday night almost incessantly. It intensified since Sunday morning riding on a land depression and is yet to cease. For the first couple of days it was pleasant, but who knew that it could bring another disaster in Bangladesh. It has submerged most parts of Dhaka under knee to waist-deep water, stranded hundreds of vehicles and thousands of commuters on roads, cut power and telephone links and kept day-workers from earning a living since Monday. Many found it extremely difficult to come to work place or return to home because of lack of transport. It seems the cities cannot hold or let out this amount of water. I am hearing that the Govt. has declared a public holiday today, the 2nd day of water-clogged Bangladesh. The educational institutions were already declared closed yesterday night. The inland communications are at standstil, international flights are being delayed.

Many are saying its the faulty and clogged sewerage systems, some are saying its a warning from the god. Its 309 mm of rains in 24 hours if you want to get an idea of the situation we are facing. The rivers have swelled and it is also said that water is not driven down to the sea because of the rising sea level (another moon effect). My work phone lines are dead. Nearby Dhanmondi Lake is full to the brim of the road and a couple of large trees has been uprooted by the winds and moist root soil. Weathermen said the situation would improve this evening after the low dies out but the rain is still pouring. (More news about the rain)

It has been pretty depressing but I guess we have to do some positive thinking and listen to the rain.

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I GOT PLUGGED

Tanim of "Busy minds in a lazy shell" Blog has published an article in the Daily Financial express titled "Ways to put a piece of your mind... online". He mentioned there the link to my post "List of blogs by Bangladeshis and foreigners in Bangladesh". It feels great to be mentioned in a newsdaily and thanks to Tanim for that. Don't forget to read his nice article too.

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LINKS OF THE DAY

* BURMA -Grace under pressure: A remarkable photojournal made with Flash about the lives and struggles of the peoples of Burma, or Myanmar, who are under a oppressive military dictatorship since 1988. (Via Niraj)

* Ghani Academy: Connects you to the path of knowledge (an initiative of some Bangladeshis).

* Bangladesh Hall of Fame: An website dedicated to famous Bangladeshis(still under construction). Should be a good resource when the site is completed.

* 9/11: Rising up from the ashes: A retrospective by Joe Katzman at Winds of Change.

* The Tangled Bank: A carnival of science blog coming soon. (via Prashant Mullick)

* Photography Links: From Marcus at 512MB.net.

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ISLAM AND TERRORISM

If you ever wonder why Muslims are being stereotyped as terrorists all over the world then you should consider the facts that Muslim society is not vocal enough to uphold Islam's true image, which is being tarnished by some lowlife terrorists who have an agenda of their own. Here is one such voice which tries to discover the true facts:

Obviously not all Muslims are terrorists but, regrettably, the majority of the terrorists in the world are Muslims. The kidnappers of the students in Ossetia are Muslims. The kidnappers and killers of the Nepalese workers and cooks are also Muslims. Those who rape and murder in Darfour are Muslims, and their victims are Muslims as well. Those who blew up the residential complexes in Riyadh and Al-Khobar are Muslims. Those who kidnapped the two French journalists are Muslims. The two [women] who blew up the two planes [over Russia] a week ago are Muslims. Bin Laden is a Muslim and Al-Houthi [the head of a terrorist group in Yemen] is a Muslim. The majority of those who carried out suicide operations against buses, schools, houses, and buildings around the world in the last ten years are also Muslims.

What a terrible record. Does this not say something about us, about our society and our culture? ...
Islam has suffered an injustice at the hands of the new Muslims... We will only be able to clear our reputation once we have admitted the clear and shameful fact that most of the terrorist acts in the world today are carried out by Muslims. We have to realize that we cannot correct the condition of our youth who carry out these disgraceful operations until we have treated the minds of our sheikhs who have turned themselves into pulpit revolutionaries who send the children of others to fight while they send their own children to European schools.
- Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, former editor of the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

Read about more such voices.

We should see clear and strong lessons from religious, academic, and journalistic leaders that murder is murder, whether the victim is a Muslim or not. If we do not, then they are only supporting murder. And we need to condemn those who refuse to condemn. And then only Islam will win because it is a religion of peace and love.

via buzzmachine

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MORE CRICKET MADNESS

There is always a contest of owning the remote control between my wife and me whenever we sit together for watching a cricket game in TV. Because she does not want to watch cricket for a longer period and only lets me check the scores in between commercials of the programs. And I try to watch most of the cricket and let her watch her program in between frequent commercial breaks of the cricket broadcast. It has become a healthy contest and she is never against my inclination to cricket. The ICC Championship Trophy has started yesterday and we will be engrossed in total cricket for 16 days. My favorite is of course Bangladesh, although most likely they are not going to win any match here. Welcome United States of America to the elite world of Cricket. USA has played its first official one-day match yesterday against New Zealand.

For those of you, who does not know about cricket, here are the links- all about cricket & a brief history of cricket.

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