How did I get here?

If I were given a choice at eighteen, I would have chosen to study commerce. However it did not turn out that way and today I am a graduate of Development Studies working as a trainee with BRAC.

My journey began when I was interning at an NGO during high school. I wanted to study commerce only for superficial reasons. During that internship, a colleague asked me what I wanted to do with my life and I bluntly jested that I wanted to be an extremely affluent and busy corporate worker. She was not impressed and that put me to thinking that there are in fact other more original options out there.
However, after I graduated high school, I did not truly have a wealth of choices regarding what I could study. I was applying for an AusAID scholarship then and the choices they offered were in fact limited. Yet I believe it was for the better.
Asian or South Asian culture puts more value on professions in engineering or medicine than any other. Had I not applied for that scholarship I believe I would have become another engineer or doctor among many. It was my uncle who suggested that I take a look at development studies, which was being offered under the scholarship. I did not know much about this particular field then but after a little research on the internet, I became interested. This was a definite turning point in my life as this scholarship picked me up from my relatively modest world of thoughts and plunged me into another far diverse. It enabled me not only to acquire valuable skills but also form my own ideas.
I remember profoundly my very first lecture for the introductory development studies course. Most of the discussion flew over my head but however much I did comprehend, I had never thought of before. This part of my life was remarkable as I got to spend three years mixing with people with many different viewpoints and one solitary year of honours research under the supervision of an extraordinary academic.
Now that I am back in Bangladesh, I get frequently asked why I did not attempt to stay back in Australia. There are no definite answers for such a question. But I like to believe that I am back here in order to plunge myself again into this space so I may gain new ideas and experience and also share whatever skill I can offer.
Currently I am working in microfinance at Moulvibazar. This job at BRAC is great because I get to travel to distant parts in Bangladesh and meet people from all walks of life. I am finding myself frequently sharing many diverse thoughts with all the people I am meeting. These range from Adivasi issues to cricket. Sometimes we go for some betel leaf or a cup of tea and at one instance I was even able to attend a local wedding. It is not that everything here is to my liking and at most times I do not think the way the local people do. But I am hoping that an intimate understanding of the grassroots people would help me think better in the future as a development professional.

The writer is a graduate in Development Studies from The University of New South Wales. Now he works for BRAC, occasionally jumping into rural ponds and getting chased by chickens.