NOT SO FUNNY AFTER ALL

Photo: Darshan Chakma

It was part of a television serial set in a rural backdrop that portrayed a character chattering away his clearly quixotic connections to the local official circles as though they were mutual friends. He took the names of the subdivisional officer, upazilla nirbhai officer and officer-in –charge of the local thana to impress upon others about his influence to get things done—all without a blink of an eye! Every day he got out suited and booted, and came back empty –handed only with more gibberish to utter. Indeed, a do-nothing bloke, yet always throwing hot air around, a type that is going fast out of circulation.

I had watched that specimen of a rural impostor way back and have not viewed anything like him on the miniscreen so far, although there may have been subtle or moderate variants. It is as well that this change in social outlook is taking place. And why not, when society is getting informed through the shrinking of distances and breaking of barriers, physical and mental?

 Actually, dropping names and rubbing shoulders with high and mighty have lost much of their old-time charm, both for those used to taking recourse to such tactics as well as their effect on those who have been at the receiving end, derisively for sure. When once-deified movers and shakers have been either maligned or exposed to have had feet of clay, what chance is for lesser names to be exploited by dropping or rubbing shoulders with?

There has been quite a levelling down of respect for and dignity of individuals and instaurations over time –with a baggage of history heavy with irreconcilable differences that couldn't be band-aided require as these did a consensus on the founding principles of the state of Bangladesh to be united for stable and sustained progress. A rather serious note to a topic initiated with humour but could one help it?

Courtesy: TIB

That is on one level; on another, you get to see highly placed people across the political spectrum running each other down in vitriol unbecoming of their position in society and so obsessed with themselves that they have alienated themselves from the people. They have corralled themselves into opportunistic circles that are impenetrable to other people. Can their names be taken with the respect they should have otherwise commanded?

Now names-dropping and rubbing shoulders have been more of an embarrassment than effective tools of reflected power and glory because notorious elements were found in the same photo-frame or platform with their apparent benefactors in high places.

In many instances, their could have been a tug of war between connections with the highest bidder lifting the trophy.

In the face of black money power, flight of capital muscularity and entrenched interest groups, the old art of name- dropping and ungreased rubbing of shoulders with potential benefactors have turned their tails and fallen in disuse.
To capture the thrust of this piece, I am reminded of an anecdote dating back to 2007-8 when sackfuls of money were recovered from a high official's residence in an anti-corruption drive of a then caretaker government. Typically, one shocked citizen had this to say: "Now perhaps a man in a gentleman's attire may not receive the courtesy he did in the past.”

The writer is Associate Editor, The Daily Star.