It's the policies, bhaiya

It is but a parting wish between two departing souls. The Germans say auf wiedersehen, the French, au revoir, the Russians, do svidania -- all of them meaning, literally, "until we meet again," with a fond desire for a happy reunion.

The neighbourly 'namaskar' or 'namaste' shows mutual respect, although there is no promise or indication of a desire for a pleasant meeting again in the future.

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So far, fairly secular. Enter the Englishman with his good-bye. Like most things British, the expression is inscrutable, as to the meaning or intent. Some inventive genius, however, lately gave it a meaning, christening it as a short form or derivative of 'God be with you'. You don't get it? O yes, you do. Don't you mean 'all is well' when you say 'O.K.'? That's the English way! But with 'good-bye' meaning as above, it is good-bye to secularism.

The Arabs with their dishdashah, abayeh and ghotra are rather elaborate in their dresses, as they are in leave taking. For this purpose, set aside at least half-an-hour in which time your host will embrace you umpteenth times, kiss you times without number, shower you with well-meaning advice about anything from humped camel to the rarefied atmosphere and will reluctantly leave you with ma'a as-salamah (literally, go in peace and safely). You, the itinerant will leave him with fi amanillah (literally, in the care and safety of Allah). No Arab, true to his tradition will say 'Allah Hafez' while leave taking.

But the Persian (or Iranian, if you insist) will wish you simply but meaningfully 'Khoda Hafez', consigning you to the protection of the Almighty Who is self generating. Adoption of this parting wish was good enough for us for ages, there being no such pithy words of parting in Bangla. For us 'parting is such sweet sorrow' that we go speechless. Try 'dekha hobey'? I did and was whipped with glances that assigned me with a one-way ticket to the Sunderbans.

Why this sudden shift from 'Khoda Hafez' to 'Allah Hafez'? What is the compulsion that we have to Arabise a perfectly acceptable term of endearment which happened to be rooted in Persian? Is there any insinuation that those Persian-speaking Iranians are any lesser Muslims? Did any oil Sheikh put in a proviso that unless we switch, the cash inflow of 'Zakaat' will come to a glitch? Do we have to call the Persian Gulf the Arabian Gulf next?

How come Persian has turned into a dark horse all of a sudden? Hajjaz-bin-Yousuf started from Iran. We are more familiar with namaj and roza, rather than salaat and siam. From Baburnama to Ram Mohan Roy's Tohfa-tul-Muhaieddin (the Offering of the Monotheist) -- the entire gamut of subcontinental life was directly nourished and nurtured by Persian. Even the British Raj was happy with Persian as the court language for some 80 years until Macaulay came along with his sea-change recommendations and opinion: "A single shelf of a good European library is worth the whole native literature.'

Far be it from me to enter into a comparison of the two very robust cultures of the Middle East. But it is only a matter of history that while the Arab bandits were robbing the hapless caravans and burying their female children live, the Persians were founding cities like Persepolis and building boat bridges across the Bosphorus. When the Arab warriors arrived in Persia, they were pleasantly surprised to stumble upon a civilization much more advanced than their own.

But our conflict in question has nothing to do with the Arab-Persian divide. It is nothing more than the ridiculously mundane. It is just another bone of contention between AL and BNP. Like every word in Urdu grammar is either mujakkar or muannas, everything in Bangladesh is either AL or BNP. Black or white -- no gray in my Shonar Bangla.

Did you hear a BNP person say 'Bangladesh Zindabad'? What does the AL person say? 'Bangladesh Dirghojibi Hoke'. Did you observe that the song 'Banglar Hindu, Banglar Boudhdha, Banglar Khristan, Banglar Mussalman -- Amra Shobai Bangalee' is tainted the AL way? And 'Prothom Bangladesh, Amar Shesh Bangladesh' is labelled BNP? Did you not observe how Zia Uddan and IPGMR change nomenclatures? Then why do you wonder that if some partisans say 'Khoda Hafez', the others must say 'Allah Hafez'?

The fault is not in the stars, it is in us that periodically we put up the country for lease. And the winners grab it all -- university halls to bus terminals, parliament to pavements. The winning party writes the national history and doctors the text books. They can make or break anything and anybody -- culvert and culture, journalist and President. So what of changing some signs, slogans and salutation here and there?

I would not lose much sleep on these matters, and let things slide as they would. With the change of guard whenever that may be, things will change automatically. So let us not grieve, and live with the fire of hope burning eternal that good sense will eventually prevail.

In the meantime, if you aspire ascendancy, moo with herd of buffaloes, crow in the company of cocks, gaggle with a school of geese and bleat in a flock of goats. But if you are not a kin of Julius Caesar and stand no risk of being charged with the allegation of ambition by the clan of Brutus just do your own thing.