Mahtab Uddin Ahmed

In the last one week, Bangladesh has been in the grip of student unrest over the quota system, rendering discussions over its merits and demerits a household phenomenon.

Students and the youth have always played a significant role in shaping the history of Bangladesh. However, a fresh wave of change has been sweeping the nation in recent weeks, and it was initiated by none other than a lone goat!

When I worked for Unilever, we had this incredible senior, an IIT graduate, who had a memory like a steel trap. He could glance at your car plate and recall it correctly a year later. He was a walking encyclopedia with knowledge of every subject under the sun. 

Flattering the boss or leader has caught up with our political and corporate culture like a virus. In politics, it has no shame or limit. In the corporate world, however, it is practised with more sophistication and complexity.

The magic of “love at first sight” can cast its spell with no warning. We often underestimate its mystical power to determine the course of our personal and professional lives, whether it happens during a job interview or when we meet the love of our life. Being lucky in both may sound rare, but we can make it a possibility if we apply some tricks with sincerity and dedication in both situations.

In our subcontinent, outsmarting colleagues often translates to indulging in a bit of 'friendly' gossip, perfecting the art of boss buttering, seeking shortcuts to success, dabbling in office politics, and adopting a refined English accent for a select few.

Pleasing your boss can sometimes feel like the game of Tom & Jerry, where you are Jerry trying desperately to avoid being Tom’s next kill.

With the news of brain chip implants, our friends joked that advertisers would run commercials in our brains if we got chips without a subscription.

A former colleague shared one of the most bizarre local news about an employee who hired a goon to severely beat up his boss for being the cause of excessive stress in the workplace.

A golden goose had once started laying solid gold eggs in the whimsical land of Bangladesh. But alas, the taxman slapped a tax on it that turned its feathers grey.

Once a little boy wanted to have his own cricket bat. But he did not have any money to buy it.

Bangalees are well known for their unparalleled gift of gab. Our love for chatting is unique and deeply rooted in our culture. Whether it is at the corner shop or continuing in marathon phone calls that defy the laws of time and data plans, we Bangalees are the true pioneers of telephonic verbos

Imagine waking up from a nightmare where your boss decides to be with his teammates 24/7 for a month to strengthen team spirit. The relief of waking up is tantamount to winning a lottery!

In a small village, there was a debate over who should make decisions at home. A contest was held where a man and a wise old grandmother would catch a rabbit without any tools.

In a forest, a crow encounters a swan and begins to feel inferior due to the swan's white feathers, presuming the swan must be the happiest bird. The swan, on the other hand, envies the parrot for its two colours, believing it to be happier.

Life without a phone and internet is unthinkable in the present world. About a year ago, I wrote about traditional telecom industries facing significant threats from LEO (low earth orbit) satellites, and it is increasingly coming to light with each passing day.

At a multinational company, a new group CEO with a bureaucratic background, who had little knowledge of the industry, was appointed. From his high seat, the big boss decided to cover up his lack of knowledge by flexing his powers.

In an amusing incident highlighting the generation gap in technology use, a grandmother new to internet was being taught how to use search engines by her grandson. Believing in the importance of politeness, she wrote a stack of thank you notes for internet, grateful for its answers to her questions.

It is often believed that a dual-brand strategy is perfect for companies that want to confuse their customers twice as much! Many criticise the proposition of two brands sarcastically as “why limit your market failure to just one brand when you can fail with two?” Or “one brand just isn’t enough to hide all your mistakes.” Such views are particularly common when your lone brand is not performing well.

As a sequel to my column last week, I can’t emphasise enough the importance of focusing on a smaller catch with an eye on a bigger target as an effective strategy for turning around a business