Today we went live with our London ticket selling through internet. As soon as we went public with the ticket selling site, there was a sale. We were psyched — only to find out that was actually a pending sale that I was trying out in that site. Oh well. Yesterday, Zub, Ahsan, Musfique came. Along with E and myself, we worked on the marketing strategy a bit more and got a lot done. Exciting news from Zub was that Ishtiak in Dhaka, a top ad maker, has agreed to make a 15-30 sec tv clip for this concert which we will be able to use for our TV ads. FANTASTIC NEWS! Zub immediately wrote to Andrew and Andrew swiftly got into action and is in the process of getting some tv clips from Arnob. By the time they left, it was 11. By then, I was getting ready for our conference call with the US organizers. The call was scheduled at 7 PM EST. Unfortunately for me, it meant 12 midnight. So the call went on till 1.30 am. Such is my life these days. Just barely surviving on 5 hours of sleep a day. But the conference call was a very positive one. We haven’t made any concrete headway in sponsorship yet. But everything else was looking good. Ben, Iqbal bhai, Rafiq, Sumaiya and myself encouraged each other and fed encouragement off each other to keep on going.
This concert preparation has been a very interesting experience so far. But in the end, we are hoping that this concert will not only showcase the talent of the best musician that we have in Bangaldesh, but also it will reintroduce Drishtipat to the audience. Drishtipat is a collective effort of an amazing group of passionate change makers who despite their extremely busy schedules, make time for activism. Over the past six years we have made small and sustainable differences. But most importantly we have created a platform for people to come in and do something different. We want to keep on doing that and we want to take our org to the next level. By reintroducing Bangladesh and its culture in the Western countries through Arnob and friends, we want to also change the perception of people outside Bangladesh. Bangladesh is a country in resurgence. Bangladeshis are one of the most resilient bunch in the world. In spite of the many odds that are stacked against them, it is their most fundamental right to live with dignity, hope and honour. Drishtipat works to empower them so that they can achieve it.
Those of us who are working to make this ‘Unheard Voices’ Tour by Arnob a great success despite all the headaches, trouble and stress, we are constantly driven by this singular thought that work of each of us is making a difference. Now together with Arnob, Andrew, Nazia, Dhrubo, Jibon and Nazrul we will not only work towards making that difference, we will also try to break a lot of stereotypes people make about Bangladesh and its culture. Who is a better ambassador for it than Arnob – the face of a changing Bangladesh and the new generation — completely in sync with the past but moving forward through constant reinvention.
Arnob & Friends' Unheard Voices Tour 