I was back in Bangladesh last November and was disheartened to see the state of things there. There were power outages every day, people couldn't go to work, public roads where political workstations and stuck in between were the commoners -- us. The leaders needed to just declare "hartal" and so it was the next day and the day after, and so on.

A friend of mine in Dhaka was almost boasting of all the new malls and the great eating places and how life has changed for the better. But the reality is progress can't be measured by high-rise buildings, eateries, shopping malls and fancy cars cruising the streets of Dhaka when people live in slums. In fact, they are a strong sign of widening wealth differences between the poor and the rich. What I saw was more people struggling to find the basics: food, clothing, shelter, education and medicine. The condition is bad in Dhaka and it is no better in the villages.

The core message is: the plundering by a few must stop. And it must stop now.

The time for meetings, fist-thumping political speeches is over. It's time for action and accountability.

I support Dr. Yunus even if I don't support his ideology. Bottom line: Will he help our people? At least he won't hoard money.

We need an educated leader. We need a visionary leader who has the capacity to catapult the country out of this misery; someone who has sympathy and respect for his/her fellow countrymen and the finesse to motivate his followers to lead by example. I say, if the poor can get out of the rut of poverty they are in and if the common people can live a better life, then let the caretaker government stay for a few years if that's what it takes.

We want our leader to see the fact that the country needs better infrastructure (not malls but better roads, hospitals, schools, mass-communication systems etc), more social services for the people in the villages and a gateway for poor people in the city to earn a living. Set up government assisted technical schools to teach skills that are transferable to jobs ( i.e. auto mechanic, machinery worker, PC technician, auto driver, wood workers etc). Show unflinching support to new entrepreneurs who want to bring the world to Bangladesh. Create that environment so that they can do so. Allow the courts to function independently and promote expeditious disposition of cases. Provide ample funding for the police and ensure that all trainees are hired and trained with emphasis on high moral character. Important to note is the fact that they must be compensated appropriately.

Hope we never go back to the dark era and that it stays in the history books as a grave reminder for all of us (especially politicians) of the civic and moral duty towards each other and our country.