Why would one lead an honest and humble life in this country?

–Brig Gen Qazi Abidus Samad–

Massive wealth possessed by government officials disproportionate to their official perks and privileges is the order of the day. We have become rather used to the high standard of living by government officials, corrupt businessmen, politicians and their families.

The lavish lifestyles of the family members do not raise our eyebrows any more. In many cases, disproportionate wealth owned by government officials are registered in the names of their wives, children, and relatives.

Even mid-level officers of the administration and police are found to own luxury cars, posh apartments, and cozy farmhouses around the country. Their opulence does not come to the limelight unless fortune disfavours some. Sending children to costly private universities, expensive schools, travelling to foreign countries for pleasure – all are being done with ill gotten money.

When the bulk of the privileged class indulge in enjoying life carefree, exploiting the lack of accountability and transparency, others in the pipeline naturally aspire to have such opulence and thus lie in wait.

Getting rich becomes so easy for some when their family does not even question the source of such unending flow of wealth. This has a chain effect in society; the wealthy classes enjoy the expensive shopping malls, excellent recreational clubs, latest model cars, and exclusive clothing and consumer items while common citizens struggle to make ends meet with scanty to no services available.

One wonders: Why would one lead an honest and humble life?

Yet, in such trying conditions there still are noble souls who wouldn’t sell off their conscience and dignity. They achieve this at a terribly high cost. As their meagre honest income falls far short of meeting high end needs, they may be compelled to live a simple and solitary life. As a price of honesty and simple living, they lose social currency.

Recently we had put to rest a gentleman in his early eighties who happened to serve in the police and retired as a DIG. He went to Notre Dame College and had his masters from Dhaka University. He started his career as a college teacher in a small district town. In 1971 he crossed over to India, came back in 1972 and later joined the police with a group of his friends.

As he stepped back to the liberated Bangladesh he found his ancestral home in a village in Netrokona burned to ashes, his family members turned to internally displaced people with one of his sisters widowed. He had to care for his widowed sister and her orphan children early in his early career. One wonders what was his motivation to stay honest while serving in the police.

After retirement, he managed to buy a small apartment in a busy area near Shantinagar in the capital with Tk 11 lakh only. It was inside a narrow alley close to the marketplace. His relatives wondered why he lived in such an insignificant and inconvenient location but that was the best he could afford with his hard-earned pension and meagre savings. He was childless but adopted a baby girl who became a part of his small family. He managed to purchase a cheap Indian car, a small Maruti, yet later sold even that. His life was confined to his small apartment, his prayers, yoga sessions which he started long back while he was in service and one or two visits in a year to his village home.

One afternoon he fell sick and was taken to the police hospital nearby. To the shock of his family members, he was diagnosed with cancer in his lungs and liver. Doctors advised him to be taken back home and put on palliative care, where he breathed his last two weeks later.

He was laid to rest in his ancestral home, surrounded by his parents and siblings in the grave. No epitaph nor structure. Only grass will cover his resting place.

Brigadier General Qazi Abidus Samad, ndc, psc (Retd) is a freelance contributor.