The Bangalees have a penchant for imitating everything. When they imitate, the difference between the original and their look-alike is nearly impossible to discern. Dholaikhal's engineering works bear testimony to this observation. Only a few years ago companies used to publish ads drawing their valuable customers' attention to a fake product. They elaborated on the special marks that differentiated their original brand from the imitated. At times fake companies only changed the brand name of the product retaining the colour and letter fonts almost same so that they could not be differentiated at a cursory look. For example, sponge sandals had names such as Rata, Bala (like Bata). The purpose was obviously to mislead prospective customers.
This trend has certainly fallen foul with businesspeople today but one cannot say it has come to an end. As the market is getting competitive, people are going for diversification of products. But then it is not always the quality improvement that is in focus. Rather more effort seems to be expended on packaging. With printing industry achieving an unthinkable level of perfection, thanks to advanced imported technology, traders are trying to knock out customers with packets and boxes the kind of artwork and colour combination on which would have shamed even the most expensive wedding cards a decade or so ago.
Just have a look at a box in which cakes, pastries or fast foods are delivered for take-home service. More than what is put inside, the glossy cover appears to be significant. Both bakers and sweetmeat outlets are in an unhealthy competition to outdo their rivals not so much in the quality products they sell but in the package. There is no reason to think they do this out of love for customers. They are very particular to shift the burden of this extra cost onto the customers' account. The more outward glitz and attraction their packets and boxes are, the more pricey their products.
This is just a part of the game of imitation. Introduction of super shops and chain retailers have only fanned this mood of making the packet as much attractive as possible. However when it comes to ingenuity, the talent of the Bangalees is better expressed in dubious activities in most cases. Today, a student of Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (KUET) may have perfected the technological development of a drone or another team from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) may have come up with a different version of drone, but without university education a technician made a key that could open the door of any car manufactured ever. A gang of car thieves thrived on his all-purpose key.
The tunnel thieves have shown how talented they are. Again the fake currency producers, distributors of fake university certificates and the unholy circles responsible for question paper leakage have proved how talent can be abused for criminal purposes. Even the film-style abduction of Abu Bakar Siddique and others more than speaks for monstrous minds at work but their talent is irrefutable. What if they all engaged their talent in perfecting something novel!
It is because of this much depends on developing systems. If education could be made equally accessible and standardised and were complemented by building institutions, there would be no scope for mindsets that think negatively. Corruption and crime, the twin bane would not have eaten into the very vital of Bangladesh society. Today, criminals have not only engaged in trans-border crimes, they have shifted their bases in foreign lands. The returnees from captivity in Iranian jungle have narrated harrowing and horrific experiences. One wonders how such crimes can continue in a country where zero tolerance is the norm. To operate there the criminal gangs have either to impersonate or procure valid visa. How can they outsmart the law enforcement agencies in Iran and other Middle-east countries where from they lured migrant workers from Bangladesh? How mind-boggling that they are inflicting double pains on their fellow countrymen in foreign lands taking recourse to all foul means!
Ingenuity used for dubious purposes
Nilratan Halder | Published: April 26, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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