Feature

Give Youth a Chance
We don't want to clean your mess; we just want to live our dreams…the youth of the nation

Afrina Choudhury

That was the theme of the concert held on the rooftop of Words and Pages on the 30th of December, 2006 where various youth from all over Dhaka gathered in an inspirational moment to ponder over their present and future conditions and in a way protest against all the turmoil. . It was an unplugged, semi-acoustic concert with a very friendly and homely atmosphere.

Attractive t-shirts with the logo “Give Youth a Chance” were for sale and snacks were provided by Words and Pages. Big names from the underground music world showed up to perform their songs and thereby show their involvement. Among the bands were, to name a few, Vibe, Reborn, Ajob and we also had single performances by talented musicians like Ashraf and Emil, solos by Armin, Sohini, Simin, etc.

So who do we give credit for this great idea of providing a common outlet for frustrations and to gather and share? Well, we have Rupsha Iqbal to thank for that. Not only did she organize the entire thing, with of course the help of her brother Chishty Iqbal (guitarist for Reborn) and Words and Pages (for the venue and snacks) but the concert was for free. Yup, no tickets and even the performances were done out of good will and a much bigger cause then money. The concert wasn't even advertised with huge posters. News of the concert was spread by word of mouth. Yup, our politicians sure do have a lot to learn from all these organizers for whom money or power is not a concern. Ironically, in a country where money and power guide the lives of most of our so called leaders, the nation and the future of the nation was the priority here.

Considering the condition our country is in now (no need to delve into that, we all know what's happening) everyone is depending upon the future generations to uplift this country, to bring down corruption and to ensure a better Bangladesh.

But hey, all the dirty job is being left to these poor kids, the youth of our country. So while our parasitical politicians suck our country to the very end, the future generations have to face the fruit (or shall I say dead rotten fruit?) of all their folly. What hope do they have for the future, what inspiration is being left for them, how indeed will they live their lives in this country where hardly anything is being left for them? It is the unfairness of it all, the desperation and the frustration which led to this gathering.

Nowadays, dreams have become too farfetched to achieve, especially if the dream involves your country or living a decent life in your motherland. So what chance do the youth of our nation have? We can't just sit back and wait for a miracle to happen or just try to run away to a different country and try to find our identity and home there. Nope, that is not the solution. We need to raise our voices, to protest, to speak out against the unfairness, to rethink and evaluate and not sit at home scared that the next time we venture out, we may not return. Nor can we remain immune to all that is going on around us, adjusting to the fact that violence is a part of our lives and as long as our near and dear ones are safe, who cares. This is not the attitude we need; not everyone has the resources to escape this country nor does everyone hope to build a home abroad. Many of us still want to live in this country but the question is how?

This concert did not try to provide a solution to all the problems our country faces nor was this conducted in the hope for some sort of revolutionary gathering whereby the youth will be motivated to rebel. It was just a peaceful get-together to build awareness, to let out frustrations and to let our leaders knows that we cannot clean up their mess because we have our dreams to fulfill.

(student of BRAC University)