Long Raining Reigns
Definitely many long nights of depression with the end of the long running Sultan Suleiman—one of the most popular shows on local TV. In fact, I had to make sure my weekly TV show, The Naveed Mahbub Show on ATN Bangla is on Tuesday evenings (yes, that was a shameless, subliminal plug) navigates clear of this popular serial and those from across the border for better viewership. But there is a reason why this mega serial has been so popular—it's all three in one that have been endearing to us for a long time—the Bangla language, soap opera and beautiful people. Not to mention that it is about the longest ruling Ottoman emperor whose reign started a long time ago in 1520 and ended just two Thursdays back.
The nation mourns. It has been a long time since we mourned like this for a TV character, the last time around being for Baker Bhai.
But alas, all good things, even after a long time, must come to an end. End it has been of the long reign of Robert Mugabe. But among the long list of allegations, there is the revelation of Mugabe having close to a billion dollars in Swiss banks—black money. Don't cry for me Harare. You will be dehydrated.
But Mugabe started his long rule when Prince Charles was Prince Charles and ends his rule when Prince Charles is Prince Charles. If you're frustrated at the long wait for your promotion, just look at Prince Charles. His parents are breaking all world records having gone through their silver, golden, platinum wedding anniversaries. So much so, that the Royal Society is scrambling to discover a new metal to cover the almost certain next jubilee. Oh what a wedding they had with distinguished guests such as William Shakespeare and even Lord Clive.
Coming a long way to the East from England, we discover the long-awaited large quantities of water repositories in Savar. In fact, extracting 200 million litres daily can still last the repository for 40 years. Awesome! When Mamata Banerjee turns the tap off upstream, we can pump water out of here and dump into the Teesta.
The windfall has happened not a moment too soon, as the tanneries moving there need new fresh water to make murky. In fact, people first thought it was oil that was discovered, thus skyrocketing the price of land, only then realising that it's water, thus skyrocketing the price of building pilings.
What also has skyrocketed is the bounty on Deepika Padukone's head for her starring in Padmavati. Hundred million rupees—as announced by BJP's Chief Media Coordinator, Surajpal Amu. Really? That much money? Go to our movie district, Kakrail, and you'll see that it takes not even Tk 100 to see headless actresses, aka, movie posters with the top torn off.
But no one is walking as now even CNGs are coming under the realm of the long list of mobile apps. That leaves us with only the rickshaw without any apps. No, wait! The rickshaw HAS had an app since the beginning of time (and the rickshaw)—our vocal chords—"Oi rickshaw, jaibanee!"
And finally, the long awaited International Men's Day with the theme, "Celebrate Men and Boys." That can mean a long list of diversity, which in turn means another LONG three years of tolerating Donald Trump…
Man, this week surely has been a long week, raining cats and dogs with the long reigns of all with long histories. I need a long break. So long, till next week…
Naveed Mahbub is an engineer at Ford & Qualcomm USA and CEO of IBM & Nokia Siemens Networks Bangladesh turned comedian (by choice), the host of ATN Bangla's The Naveed Mahbub Show and ABC Radio's Good Morning Bangladesh, the founder of Naveed's Comedy Club.
E-mail: Naveed@NaveedMahbub.com