Getting rid of the bugs

(bdnews24.com, February 18, 2011)

Much of today’s beleaguered economy turns on the axis of appearances. Since a great deal of money comes in – or, at least, is invited in – to any country from outside it, that country has to present an image that is favourable, “pretty”, perhaps a little mendacious. It happens anywhere in the world; just before an event that focuses the global media’s hawk-eyed lenses on any nation, there is a frantic rush to get things cleaned up, to make sure the best face is presented, even if it means last minute whitewashing (literally and metaphorically), huge amounts of ill-afforded money spent on cosmetic alterations and more manpower than is practical put on the job. India did it for the Commonwealth Games last year. Now Bangladesh is doing something similar. According to news reports, the country “has launched an all-out war on mosquitoes in and around cricket stadiums to ensure a bite-free World Cup for spectators and players”. Two venues in Dhaka will host the opening ceremony and six matches in the tournament and spray teams have been deployed by the Dhaka City Corporation to wipe out the buzzing bugs before they can take a bite out of those involved in the game. Apparently, there has been an alarming increase in the number and proliferation of mosquitoes in recent months, and so special measures are being taken to kill the insects in the stadiums and for three kilometres around those centres, as well as around the hotels used by the teams and their supporters. And, in the process, the authorities look to make sure that the picture of the country presented to the rest of the world remains as bug-free.

The problem, in Bangladesh and much of the Third World (or what used to be considered the Third World until some nations made enough economic progress to lift themselves to the next rung in the relevant ladder), is one of familiarity breeding more than just contempt – there is a laissez-faire attitude to the environment, a disregard for hygiene outside the personal or immediate, and a generally abysmally low level of consciousness of the huge disparity between the haves and the so many more have-nots. In India, in China and perhaps in Bangladesh (where I have not yet been), people will be immaculately clean, no matter how poor they are, their homes will be as spic-and-span, again no matter how poor, but look outside the window, or just beyond the gate, or even along the stairwell to their apartment, and you will see discarded bottles, spit stains, plastic bags, everything that makes up the detritus of a human existence.

This is another aspect of the great clean-up act. And Bangladesh is reportedly working on that aspect of life too. The story goes that “Authorities have already evicted hawkers and beggars, forced worn-out buses off the roads and banned laundry from being hung out near stadiums to improve Dhaka's image.” Which is, really, the crux of the whole matter: improving an image. Throw these unfortunate individuals out of their accustomed habitat, change their lives and not for the better, send transport companies out of business because they cannot afford to change their worn-out vehicles for newer ones and make sure that the face that the foreign visitors see is shiny and sparklingly clean. But what happens to those who are dispossessed? Or do they already know that it will not last, that within a few months, or even just a couple of weeks after all the noise and gimmickry is over, they can move back in and take over the turf they know and control so familiarly? I have these questions, but who will give me answers for them?

But the issue is more than an immediate and makeshift change in presentation. The alterations must go deeper, much deeper, to a very personal and core level, one that is long-term, permanent perhaps, a new and improved attitude rather than just a cosmetic spit and polish job. As many nations have found – Singapore being a case in point – it is not impossible. It may take more than just presuming that people have a conscience and will clean up their acts – literal and figurative – because it is the right thing to do all around, it could need a little enforcing of the law and a couple of deserved and painfully felt punishments, but it can work. This is not about the activist-style pronouncements of environmental doom and death by non-observance of high standards of hygiene, but about leaving behind an environment worth living in for the generations that have not yet been thought of. It could be that shame is a good trigger towards achieving this end – being seen as an unaware, unclean, uncivilised land where the rats, mosquitoes and humans fight for a common goal: survival.

It could be, of course, just trying to save the World Cup visitors the trouble of finding good hospitals to treat a serious case of malaria!