Freedom to be enlightened

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THE only scheduled bank operating in Bangladesh which can boast about the architectural beauty and functional facilities of its own training institute is undoubtedly Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) whose sprawling training institute covers acres of prime land in Mirpur of Dhaka city. But the range of trainings being catered to bank employees, I am afraid, is not well commensurate with the size and scope of the institute as was originally envisioned.

Of late, nevertheless, the auditorium of the training institute is humming with a lot of eruditions -- words from mouths of select scholars. With a view to infusing into the budding minds of the bank's probationary officers a sense of patriotism Mr. Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, a legendary banker blessed with multidimensional talents, now chairman of BKB, has introduced 'an evening to remember' almost every alternate month when the new trainees as well as the experienced executives of BKB assemble inside the institute's auditorium to hear wise words from luminaries.

Dubbed "Alokito Boktritamala" (Enlightening speeches) the evening show of the training institute has been so popular that many bankers working outside of BKB and non-bankers, who are thirsty for knowledge, have earnestly requested me to allow them entry into this session after they learnt how participants who had attended earlier sessions were enthralled.

A scholar is invited as the sole speaker of the speech session. Topic of the speech: anything under the sun s/he wishes to dwell upon. Time duration: 7 in the evening till as long as s/he can stand on the pulpit and speak---but not beyond midnight. Refreshment for both the speaker and the listeners: a sumptuous dinner of plain rice, fish, meat and sugary dessert.

During my salad days in Dhaka College the only class I, and almost all of my classmates, could not imagine of missing was when Showkat Osman would deliver his lecture in the class meant for Bangla prose. Never ever during our studying in Dhaka College Showkat Osman did utter or pick a single word from the text we were supposed to go through thoroughly in order to pass the subject in our HSC exam. We all used to sit glued to our gallery benches completely mesmerised when Showkat Osman would portray a literary piece on our mental canvases or describe the siren voices of oceans or reflect on existentialism---all those anecdotes and snippets which had nothing to do with our Bangla textbook.

One day with some trepidation I plucked up courage to dare say to Showkat Osman: "Sir, you are paid by the college to teach us what is written on the prescribed textbook of Bangla prose. But, you never picked a word from the text during your classes for the last two years. Why?"

Showkat Osman took a pause and said: "Why did you then attend all my classes?" "I am too hypnotised by your magical delivery to miss your lecture", was my answer. Author of "Kritodasher Hashi" (A slave's laugh), Showkat Osman had laughed with a quizzical expression at my candour before he intoned an advice: "My dear sir, texts are for those students who just learned how to read and write. But, I want you to observe, feel and smell the beauties of life. I am there to stoke up the furnace of your mind, to wake up the poet sleeping at the balcony of your heart!"

Mathematics we learn not necessarily to be a teacher of mathematics; mathematics whets our power to observe things from a scientific point of view the way literature hones our expressing skill and fine art sharpens our sense of aestheticism. During our class sessions in Dhaka College, Showkat Osman's odysseys outside the narrow confines of the textbook on Bangla prose transported us to domains where we got some rare opportunities to illuminate the innermost faculties of our mind that would have been left in the starkest dark had we not been his entourage.

The man who was invited by Bangladesh Krishi Bank to deliver his enlightening speech in the latest 'Alokito Boktritamala' session in BKB Training Institute on 10 July 2008 was Dr. Saadat Husain, Chairman of Bangladesh Public Service Commission. A bureaucrat, a columnist, a freedom fighter, a voracious reader and a renowned researcher, Dr. Saadat is perhaps one of the wittiest personalities I have ever come across who knows how to field difficult questions from veteran journalists.

In one TV talk show Dr. Saadat was asked to predict a scenario if stern actions were taken against some political bigwigs. Given the sensitivity of the question and the dilemmatic difficulty of the answer, Dr. Saadat in his diplomatic flair responded: "If you decide to punch a blow on a person approaching you, you can't exactly predict what recourse he would take after being punched---whether he would punch you back outright or flee away from you! The science of probability, in a situation like this, is helpless to presage."

For long two and a half hours, Dr. Saadat had kept about 100 listeners (70 probationary officers and 30 bank executives) rapt in thought in total silence as he elucidated what he thinks about rice diplomacy. Dwelling on the salient points of his post-editorial titled "Acute shortage or fragile self-sufficiency?" published in a national English daily on May 29, 2008 Dr. Saadat illustrated in brevity, clarity and lucidity what is happening the world over about rice and its price.

Price of rice, according to Dr. Saadat, is a variable not solely dependent on the simplest economic equation of 'demand and supply'. A plethora of factors, both tangible and intangible, Dr. Saadat pointed out, are brought into play by vested quarters at home and abroad to spike the rice price up.

Huge inward foreign remittance, though a bonanza for us to pay back our overseas debts, he opined, sneak into our markets through hands of the beneficiaries as local currencies that also ultimately beef up money supply to hitherto poor consumers who enjoy splurging the windfall cash on unavoidable as well as avoidable food and other consumer items prodding their prices up. Hunger, Dr. Saadat hinted, is also an instrument very efficacious to play with if smooth diplomatic words don't work to make developing countries like ours dance according to the music played by the lords of the world.

In his mesmerising speech, Dr. Saadat took the whole audience for a journey into a labyrinth of rules and regulations, customs and practices of developed countries that ensures food security for their countrymen at times of both peace and war. He expressed his deep concern about the way cultivable lands in Bangladesh are being grabbed for real estate development and felt the immediate necessity for framing laws on "Right on Land Use" that should govern how best to protect cultivable land from profiteers so that even owners cannot misuse their lands meant for food production. He cited fables and allegories to answer questions on food-based alternative energy like ethanol being derived from maize and sugarcane as fossil-based fuels are becoming costlier day by day.

While dining, after the speech session was over, I approached a young probationary officer to know his reaction. He said: "I spent more than two hours listening to Dr. Saadat; but it seems I have spent only a few minutes. I wish I could hear him for a few more hours."

Human beings have a natural potentiality for learning. Significant learning takes place when the subject matter is perceived by the student as having relevance for his own purposes. But, we hear lectures on academic disciplines to commit some lessons to our memories in order to pass an exam or qualify for a job. Once the goal is achieved we forget those lessons because classes meant for compulsive learning dull our mind and destroy our potential for authentic creativity.

When there is freedom to learn and no compulsion for the lessons learnt to be evaluated by a third person knowledge takes roots in mind. Independence, creativity, and self-reliance are all facilitated when self-criticism and self-evaluation are basic and evaluation by others is of secondary importance. True learning can only be the leisurely practice of free people.

Researchers still don't have holistic grasp of how humans think and remember. But, there is a 'walk' to remember if you walked hand in hand with your fianc