Mon 18 Jun 2007
June 17, 2007: Washington, DC – The Bangladeshi-American Foundation, Inc. (BAFI), the largest umbrella organization of Bangladeshi diaspora in USA, announced Our Pride Awards to seven Bangladeshi-Americans for their achievements and contributions in their respective fields.
And this is how NYBAP’s ( New York Young Bangladeshi professional) Rasheq Rahman broke the news,
No doubt Asif is too shy to announce it, but I wanted to share some great news with all of you. We found out earlier this week that Asif will be awarded a Bangladeshi American Our Pride award at the upcoming Bangladeshi American Federation Inc (BAFI) convention in Mclean, VA on July 7th.
Back in 2006, BAFI approached NYBAP to suggest a young Bangladeshi professional whom they could honor with their Bangladeshi American Pride award. Our Organizing Committee met and agreed that Asif embodied the best of NYBAP’s principles of Connect, Inspire, Suceed. In co-founding NYBAP, I peronally sought Asif’s advice on many occasions on how to build our organization and engender the spirit of volunteer-activism that permeates Drishtipat’s global network. Asif in turn patiently and enthusiastic advised us and has been a great supporter over the past two years that we’ve been active.
On behalf of NYBAP and personally as a friend of Asif, I’m honored that BAFI is recognizing Asif’s achievements and in turn those of you who toil for Drishtipat’s important work in Bangladesh.
Lets take this opportunity to congratulate Asif saleh for his outstanding achievements. At the age of 33, Asif, an executive Director of Wall Street’s most reputed firm Goldman Sach’s, has achieved what most people probably won’t be able to achieve in their whole life. Asif’s pioneering vision of internet based activism and volunteering has resulted in a global brand called Drishtipat.While nobody knew what a blog is, Asif started a group blog initiative. That initiative, Unheard Voices, is now the most prominent voice in Bangladeshi Blogosphere. In addition to drishtipat activities, as Rasheq Rahman mentioned, Asif has been instrumental in helping float many diasporas organizations. Wherever he goes, he energizes the youth around him and use the grand force for a good Bangladesh related cause. Asif and his gang’s activities in New York and London are testimony to this statement. Asif is a great Human rights activist, prolific national newspaper columnist with regular columns at leading dailies like Daily Star and new Age, a father to a beautiful daughter Anahita and a husband to a wonderful wife Eeshita. Congratulations Asif.
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To our greatest excitement and Joy, along with Asif, another DP activists, a behind the scene leader and so far the most important supporter, contributor and advisor of Drishtipat, a fellow blogger, Mr. Muhit Rahman is also another winner of the award.
After securing the top spot in HSC examination Muhit Bhai left Bangladesh in August 1975 for Yale University.
Graduated in1979 with a BS in Chemical Engineering he later received MBA from UCLA in 1987. Mr Muhit Rahman is one of, if not the most successful Bangladeshi American entrepreneurs and investors. Muhit Bhai is the founder and manager of Bangladesh relief fund to which he himself contributed 10% of the fund i.e. $100000 from his own resources. Congratulations Muhit Bhai.
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Our good news do not seem to end. The third recipient of the award is also a member of DP family. A regular contributor to UV blog and an advisor of DP, Prof Saleh Tanvir is a professor of Mathematics at Ohio State
University and has outstanding academic as well as social contributions.
Congratulations Tanvir Bhai.
June 18th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Congratulations to all !!
Great to see three out of seven involved with DP.
Farhad
June 18th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Congratulations to Asif bhai and to DP.
Wish you all the best and hope to meet you there.
thanks
Kawser Jamal
http://www.changeBangladesh.com
June 18th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Congratulations to Asif and the DP team. I am sure this is only the start of even greater things to come
June 19th, 2007 at 1:41 am
Congrats to all the winners, especially to Asif, who in spite of being an investment banker, could manage to give so much time to DP!!!
June 19th, 2007 at 4:14 am
Congratulations to individual winners and also to Drishtipat as a group under which so many telented gathered together.
Thanks to the unheard voices to develop this global linkage for which we could share your joy.
Bdoza
BD
June 19th, 2007 at 7:39 am
Amar to mone hoy ekon BAFI-r cheye Drishtipaat-ke beshi manush (young ppl) chene:).
-Sharmin
June 19th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Rumi bhai, you are always in for a good surprise. THank you for your very kind comments but you and I both know that your contribution here is as much here. Muhit bhai and Tanveer bhai’s selection were fantastic. These are two people who have always been working from behind without looking for any recognition. Their work, led by Nazrul bhai, in establishing BAPA( Bangladesh poribesh andolon) through BEN (Bangladesh Environment Network) has brought significant changes in environmental activism in Bangladesh. Congratulations to both of you.
I will reproduce here what I wrote to the dp members before.
Many thanks for your comments and words of praise. Just want to mention the obvious that this is more a recognition of drishtipat (as in your work) rather than mine. Its been 6 years since we started DP. What started of as an individual effort has slowly moved on to a collective effort of a lot of people all around the world.
Some of you who have been involved from the beginning know how difficult it had been to get going and to fight the constant barrage of criticism of people. Things have become a lot easier now thanks to our persistence and track record. That makes it important to recognize that we have a bigger role to play now.
Drishtipat, which started as an effort to do something or anything for Bangladesh now has a bigger role to play and slowly but steadily we are morphing into an organization which are engaged in proactive effort rather than being reactive into crisis situation. Other than regular charity activities, we are increasingly focusing our efforts on projects that promote the change makers in Bangladesh. This is, I believe, the gradual next step. Not aiding or helping but being a partner in the changes that are sweeping across Bangladesh in the grassroots level. On that light, we are partnering with OOF (Owning our Future) in a project called “Champions of Change” starting in August that works with the changemakers that we highlighted in our Tales Of Inspiration project two years ago. These are the stories of unheard voices in rural areas who are making clever innovations in their day to day lives and making a huge impact in their locality.
Along with this, our local chapters are working on individual projects of their collective choice which are of tremendous significance as well. Separately, our blog and the writers’ collective are providing a key platform for young people to express their opinion in key issues in the national and international media.
In this regard, I also want to let you know of a particularly good news regarding this. In recognition of DP’s success in engaging the young people in activism, I have been asked to do a presentation to an international group of NGOs and Amnesty representatives in Hong Kong next month. This is an event organized by Amnesty who are increasing focusing their membership growth target where DP focused three years ago. This will also be a huge opportunity for us to network with international orgs and connect with an international audience. Unfortunately, this presentation coincides with the event in DC on 7th of July. Therefore, unfortunately I won’t be able to be present to accept this by being present in the conference.
I have always said this before that other than the making a difference, the biggest gratification and reward of being in dp has always been the amazing group of people I have known through it. Most of you have become lifelong friends who puts up with me in spite of all the pushing I do (although some say not enough
). Its no surprise that I consider DP as part of my extended family. In fact, I have more interaction with some members than I perhaps have with my brother or sister. Via DP network, a lot of you connected with each other as well and has become a more proactive and socially responsible citizen of the world. I hope you all continue to inspire more people to join our network. By God’s grace, we are all privileged members of the society and exactly because of this we have a much larger responsibility. Specially being from a country like Bangladesh, as part of the privileged and educated few, it is our responsibility to lead. I hope we can bring more people in our umbrella by leading with examples like this.
Hearty thanks and congratulations to each and everyone of you.
June 19th, 2007 at 9:46 am
CONGRATULATIONS to ASIF,MUHIT,TANVIR of DP for being selcted to receive this AWARD from BAFI on 7th JULY 2007 at its convention to be held at Mclean,VA.
My very best wishes and paryers that they continue to be more successful.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
I’ve always had mixed feelings about activism. On the one hand, the problems are so daunting, and each individual, or even a collection of individuals, is so insignificant, that the odds are heavily stacked against any activism leading to anything good. But then again, all it takes for evil to win is for good people to do nothing. And much more importantly, society is composed of individuals, and if each individual made an effort to improve something, anything, this surely would add up. And most importantly, as individuals we are better off for activism - if nothing else we meet amazing people and learn a lot.
My conservative side urges against getting excited about activism that my liberal (and dominant) side always pushes me towards, and I’m better off for it.
Asif, congratulations for this well-deserved recognition. You (and Rumi Bhai) have invited me to the fold, and I’m better off for it, so thank you. While we may not change the world outright, we will change some thing at the margin, and it will all add up.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:14 pm
Jyoti,
This piece of quote really gets me going to keep things in perspective. Excerpt from a talk with Shabana Azmi. This, I think, is the essence of activism. Thank you for travelling with us.
Asif: In this regard, I would like to quote your father who once said “When you are working for change, you have to build into that expectation the possibility that change might not happen in your lifetime and yet to have to continue to work towards it” — Do you believe it?
Shabana: Oh yes. I sincerely believe that. I thought it was wonderful coming from him, somebody who had spent all his life working for social change. My father (the renowned poet, Kaifi Azmi) settled down in a tiny village in Azamgarh, U.P. and he had been working towards making it a model village. In his 20 years of living and working there, he has transformed it from a place that didn’t have water and electricity, to a place that has three schools, a health center, roads and even boasts of a computer-training center. He has done all this single-handedly - at snail’s pace, all by himself, quietly, patiently, without raising a single slogan.
It wasn’t easy but my father worked around the difficulties. For example, the villagers did not want a school because the place where he was going to set it up was the place that they put their cow dung. Instead of scoffing at them he found them an alternative space for the cow dung.
So oneday I asked him doesn’t this frustrate you and that’s when he told me that and since then that has become the motto of my life. I have internalized it. You can’t wait for a change to happen overnight. The process of change is slow and gradual. It is a work in progress all the time. It happens through legislation, it happens through social transformation, attitude change, and mindset change. So it is indeed a work in progress all the time. You have to keep working on it without worrying too much to see the outcome in your lifetime.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Congratulations to all of you for your hard work and dedication. We are proud of you and share your joy. May this only be the first of many more laurels to come.
Dristipat as a forum has brought a large number of deshi internet denizens under a single umbrella and many of the dicussions are quite deep, engrossing and thoroughly enjoyable.
Wish you continued success in the years to come.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Reza,
Thanks for your kind words. Beyond the forum, however, there are lots of other activities of drishtipat. The blog is just a small part. You can take a quick look here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa0a7LsCnkQ
June 19th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Thank you all for your kind words. It’s an honor sharing awards with Asif and Muhit, who truly deserve the kudos.
Recognizing that there are many others who deserve this honor at least as much I do, I like to think of this is a recognition of the collective rather than individual efforts.
June 19th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
Congratulations!
Three out seven!! Not bad…not bad at all.
Keep up the good work guys..
Cheers
June 19th, 2007 at 5:55 pm
Congratulations Asif, Muhit Bhai, Tanveer bhai and Drishtipat! This is quite an achievement!
June 20th, 2007 at 2:45 am
Asif, Muhit Bhai, Tanveer Bhai - congratulations. A well deserved recognition no doubt.
Admin: Any light on who are the other 4?
June 20th, 2007 at 5:59 am
Here is the full list:
June 20th, 2007 at 9:29 am
Congratulation DP guys, wish your dedication and hard work will be paid off, will make difference / change in our nation sooner than later. Nice to see BD people all over the world getting more organized, focused and dedicated, wish you all the best.
June 20th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Hi Guys:
I have been in Bangladesh and in the hinterlands for much of the past three weeks and among other things, my mailbox is overflowing to the point that all mail has been bouncing back. That (and the lack of access to e-mail) is why I’ve been silent.
While I am honored to be honored, I would like to point out that of the seven Asif Saleh is in a class by himself. As I mentioned in a separate note to Asif, I look to him for inspiration when I feel dispirited - which can happen, here in Dhaka! Let me congratulate Tanveer Bhai and all the others - but add a bold CONGRATULATIONS to Asif. May you continue to [exhort and] inspire all of us.
Muhit
ps. Usually I write from Dhaka - but I’ve been too busy to write. Perhaps I’ll give an account when I am stateside.
June 21st, 2007 at 7:17 am
Asif has indeed been in a class by himself and I don’t know how he does it, year after year. Maybe there’s something in the cereal Eshita has been feeding him every morning! I have to say thank you for creating this wonderful platform…and keeping it going every time it seemed like it was going to fall apart!
Muhit Bhai has been an inspiration to all of us. Being the money man can be a heavy weight to carry around, but instead of running away he embraces the crowd like few others do in our community.
DP old timers know Saleh Tanweer quite well. Every time we’ve had a discourse on the latest outrage, Tanweer bhai has been there with his precise logic and his unmatched understanding of the Geneva Convention and its guarantees. Every time the hotheads would want to exact revenge, the Professor was there to calm us down.
I feel hopeful these awards and honors will help energize and create momentum for Drishtipat’s programs. The work of these individuals represent the collective effort of a unique group of people who have come together to take action, one step at a time. It’s been a pleasure to know and work with all of them over the years.
June 21st, 2007 at 9:59 am
First of all, many congratulations not only to Asif Bhai, but also to Muhit Bhai and Tanveer Bhai for their commendable achievements. Next, I just wanted to point out that it’s definitely more than the cereal that Eeshita Bhabi has been feeding Asif Bhai every morning. When individuals receive recognition, there are sometimes teams of people who have supported those individuals in realising their goals. Often, however, there is that one person whose entire life becomes inextricably linked with a cause that he or she didn’t necessarily initiate. DP has been like the child that Eeshita Bhabi chose to adopt because it meant so much to Asif Bhai, and she works tirelessly for it - much more so than the rest of us who can hit the Off button once in a while. From using her graphics design expertise to create logos, posters, general publicity, etc. for all related matters to being organiser extraordinaire at meetings and events to sourcing and presenting Asif Bhai with that fortified cereal, Eeshita Bhabi makes sure that there is enough of Asif Bhai to go around for everyone. So, thank you, EB. While you are no doubt very proud of Asif Bhai, you should also be very proud of yourself. I know I am.
June 21st, 2007 at 11:46 am
There needs to be a whole long post about Muhit bhai and his activities. His classmates complain how they are routinely getting “harrassed” by him to work on Bangladeshi issues. Rafiq introduced me to him and I have been guilty of pulling him into a bunch of other projects that we are working on. People like Rumi bhai, Muhit bhai, Tanvir bhai, Nazrul bhai and many others are redefining the roles of expatriates Bangladeshis on how/what they can do for Bangladesh. It has been a privilage working with them.
So..
Ki ar bolbo…are you planning on bribing your way for another dawat from EB? Well, for a change what you said here is 100% true.
June 21st, 2007 at 1:48 pm
[...] Photo by Anwar Hossain, Trafalgar Square, London, 2007. Whilst I always look askance at gongs, if outfits are going to dish them out then they should at least go to deserving cases. And Asif certainly is such a case. He merits this diasporic recognition. [...]
June 21st, 2007 at 4:47 pm
AHEM! I don’t need to bribe my way into a dawat….all I have to do is show up at your place and EB will feed me. And what’s with the implication that I ever did bribe my way into a dawat? Has this happened? And for a change maney? Are you accusing me of going around spouting falsehoods?!
June 21st, 2007 at 10:52 pm
Congratulations to Mr. Asif and DP.
Regards,
M. M. Chowdhury, Atlanta, USA
http://www.changeBangladesh.com
http://www.amreteckpharma.com
June 21st, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Congratulation Asif, wish your succes.
milton
BSK, London
June 22nd, 2007 at 12:22 am
Congratulations to all. I could not be happier with the selection- other than I would have added Nazrul bhai to the list.
I have had the privilege of knowing Muhit from childhood(as a classmate and room mate) at Momenshahi (now Mirzapur) Cadet College and we are still close. All of our classmates hold him in high regard!
Tanveer bhai and Nazrul bhai were a year senior to us there.
One thing that should be emphasized. All of these folks were amongst the most brilliant people you could encounter. Muhit was not only a Yale undergraduate on full academic scholarship- but graduated “summa cum laude”. We had envisioned him to be a scholar going into a teaching career- but he knew better and decided that he could do more by being in the financial sector- and he is! He is there in Bangladesh multiple times every year (like right now)- spending his valuable time and resources doing “hands-on” work- and while we worry about taking our kids outside Dhaka while visiting Bangladesh- his kids are on tow going from village to village participating in all of the philanthropic work he does!
Tanveer bhai - a PhD from Caltech- was always considered a Math genius in the family and amongst acquaintances- his highest high however was taking classes under the legendary Feynman.
Nazrul bhai was first in the HSc from his batch and as committed an individual as you can find. It does not matter whether he was recognized or not- he will always be there on our list of people to look up to.
And Mr. Hussam? I did not know him until my family and I crashed into his daughter’s high school graduation party two summers back while visiting my other cousin in Herndon, Virginia. Like a true gentleman- he took my family in with the courtesty not to be meted out to ‘uninvited’ guests. Folks there were joking that his three children going to MIT were providing a tough act to follow for the youngest one, but a nephew noted that the best was yet to come!
Egiey ja-o Bangalee!
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:22 am
Congratulation
Keep up the good work!
Good works are always gonna b rewarded either on earth or in heaven.
June 24th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
Dear asif,
Congratulations from the new ( but OLD!) life member of Dristipat & a near future member of ‘Freedom Party’!
I wasn’t wrong in recognising the talents amongst the comittee of Dristipat; so,I immediately wanted to be
a part of it in some form! We probashi Bangladishi’s are proud of people like you & the team, to carry on
with your good work despite the pressure of the everyday life of the so called first world! Time
never gives way! My philosophy has always been making the time my slave; rather than other way round!!
I’m pleased to see someone else finding a way around to do the good work challenging it all!!
June 25th, 2007 at 12:50 am
Congrats to all! Was it publicized in any Bangladeshi print media? A quick google news search returned nothing.