Country on the other side of the sky

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Ekram Kabir
Published : 18:28, Jun 11, 2018 | Updated : 18:29, Jun 11, 2018

Ekram KabirI don’t remember clearly; it would either be in our sixth or seventh grade. We had a story book in Bangla, which we used to call ‘rapid reader’ (Druto Pothhon). We were supposed to read the stories of the book at one go and answer the rapid questions of the teacher in the classroom. I remember a story from the rapid reader that was named ‘Country on the other side of the sky’ (Akasher Ulto Pithheyr Desh), in which a little boy often gazes at the sky and wonders about the country on the other side of the sky.
He wishes he could visit that country one day. Finally, one night, during his sleep, he actually could go there. He discovers surprising aspects in that country! People there do exactly opposite what people on Earth do. They brush their teeth with a comb and do their hair with a toothbrush; they carry their goods on vehicles and the people walk to their destinations. They eat pickles as their main course and have a teaspoon-full of rice as some sort of topping.

The boy couldn’t take their way of life for long; in his dreams he wanted to return to his everyday life and he comes back and wakes up from his dream; he promises himself that he would never think of leaving his own environment where everything is in order.

I have been haunted by the story since my childhood, as I always felt that our country looked so similar to that country on the other side of the sky! Since my childhood, I had noticed what we teach to the people and what we the people always do are two opposite things. We always do the opposite of the standard practice across the world.

We perhaps are the only nation, in which people take the wrong lane all the time while commuting in vehicles. Our traffic officers make us stop at the green light and signal us to pass through at the red. Our VIPs, who are supposed to serve the people, make the people serve them. No matter how serious the traffic condition is, they keep everybody waiting to make their own way. On most of the occasions, they take the wrong lane to reach to their destinations.

We increase the prices of the essentials during all religious festivals while businessmen in other countries reduce all prices during the similar festivals. The businessmen across the world become less money-mongering while we became extremely greedy during a time we are supposed to become more humble and giving.

I can go on citing many more examples that can even beat the practices in the country in the other side of the sky.

In a recent video, we saw Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte accidentally dropping his coffee while entering the security gates of the parliament. Instead of having someone else clean it, he himself picked up the coffee cup, got hold of a mop and cleaned the floor. The prime minister smiled while he cleaned, showing no hesitation in doing the job. Mr Rutte was widely praised for the gesture he showed after spilling coffee on the parliament floor.

Well, we don’t expect any of our leaders to do something similar, we can at least hope that they follow the laws that they themselves formulate!

However, all hope isn’t lost. I’ve recently comes across a piece of news on the website of an international radio, saying that a police inspector named Tariqul Alam Suman turned a minister’s vehicle back that was coming through the wrong lane. Despite the minister’s scolding, the inspector could successfully turn his car away from the wrong lane. God knows what happened to the poor police officer for shouldering his true responsibilities which usually they cannot shoulder.

Something is seriously wrong with our psychology when it comes to our leaders’ abiding by the laws of the land. Otherwise, why would the people’s representative create bad examples to follow for the rest of the people? It’s been almost half a century that we’ve been marching as an independent country, but some behavioural aspects among the people aren’t at all changing for the better!

We the same lot follow all kinds of laws and regulations when we go abroad. We even abide by rules and regulations while we drive through the cantonment areas of the country. And surprisingly enough, the vehicle drivers belonging to the military establishments don’t even follow rules and regulations they have learnt when they drive in the non-military areas. This is quite funny that we display a double character of ourselves.

I don’t yet know how long it would take me to overcome my self-pity of being compared with boy’s country on the other side of the sky.

Ekram Kabir is a story-teller and a columnist.

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***The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the opinions and views of Bangla Tribune.
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