Traffic Light

Chapter 5: Ascension

“Look around Syed, what do you see?”

We sat high up on a half built ledge that formed part of a bridge which would ultimately link block A of Goliath Residences to block B.

I pointed at the miniature sized figures squabbling about beneath us. People in the distance hard at work trying to meet deadlines, shifting large blocks of various materials from section to section, screaming at each other from one corner to the next, busy cranking and turning and pressing on mechanical contraptions delivered from the construction development arms of wherever.

“People?” Syed blurted out, eye brows raised high in confusion, not exactly sure what I was getting at.

“I see opportunity.” Continuing with my gaze fixed down upon the unconcerned troops of workers below us, I felt like a falcon in search for his next meal.

“Opportunity.. For what?”

I turned to him and paused for a while. “Ascension.”

His wide eyed expression switched to a squinting stare, head tilted like a lost puppy. “What?”

“Ascension, it’s an English word.” I reached into my trusty pouch and pulled out the worn down dictionary that I had bought under the flyover all those years ago, flipping the pages furiously.

“Woah brother, you can speak English? I didn’t know you were from a rich family.” His words turned to a hissing fit of short laughter, amused at my utilisation of such a funny word.

I pointed at a small section on the A alphabet section of the book, eyes drawn in close. I read out loud in our native language “Ascension – the action of rising to an important position or a higher level.”

He slacked back on to his butt and put his hands behind him, supporting his weight as he looked up at the sky. “Ahh. I see, I see. Like a promotion.”

“That’s right, like a promotion. Syed what are people looking for the most? It’s value. People drift towards something that can provide value to them. If they find value in something, they acknowledge it, cherish it and champion it to the very core. We have an opportunity for ascension through the level of value we can provide to others. You knew this, that’s why you were willing to w***e yourself out to whoever fancied the prospect in order for you to ascend to a higher quality of life.” I put the dictionary back into my pouch and zip it tight.

Syed looked down towards his boots, nodding slowly in agreement, processing everything I just said. Then he sat back up, hunching forward and leaning in toward me. “So how will we do it brother? How can we land a promotion if our masters barely even consider us human? How can an animal be of any value other than to be sent to the slaughter house or kept as forms of amusement?”

I turned my attention back at the bustling trail of tiny people far below, I folded my arms as a slight smirk crept on my face. “Back in Dhaka I used to do a lot of reading. I remember finding something in an old scientific journal about how humans had depended on monkeys to further the development of science and technology. One of the first ever creatures to use a space craft and venture out into space was a primate. Through the power of technology, animals have been granted the ability of speech as a way of communication with humans. Animals have broken boundaries through machinery and have gone beyond what animals would never be able to achieve without technology. If we are not human Syed, then we will be the first to venture out into space, we’ll be the first to establish communication.”

With my arms still folded, I turned my attention back to him, my smirk now replaced with a sinister frown. “Besides, if you’ve been paying attention to what happens in the compound, it isn’t difficult to realise who the real animals are.”

Syed moved back a little, seemingly intimidated by the look I was giving him. So I switched my expression back to a softer one. I stood up from the concrete plastered platform, dusting the chalk from my pants and pointed downward. “Look Syed, look closely, what are those devices that all the superiors have in their hands? The devices that they hold close to their ears and mouths?”

“Handphones!” Syed stood up with a grin on his face, the same kind a student gives when he knows the answer to a question.

“Technology my boy. Opportunity. That’ll be our space craft.”

-

I stood glaring over my young accomplice as he moved in towards his target. Every day we were given an hour for break on the site. Under the colossal shade of the now completed Goliath block A and the developing Goliath block B, I leaned on a long brick wall that spanned the entirety of the site. Syed sat cross legged beside the supervisor he honed in on, speaking loudly in broken words of the little scattered English I managed to teach him in the few days prior, laughing like a deranged lunatic. His new friend seemed equally amused, slapping his thighs and hissing along to whatever inside joke they were enjoying there in the distance.

I suppose being an overly sociable chatterbox does have its advantages.

Chewing slowly on a small piece of bread, I peered over a row of iron barrels at where they were conversing. Syed then energetically bounced up from his position and briskly started walking towards my direction. When he got to where I was, he looked around to see if anyone was taking notice, then pulled out a large device from his pocket to plop carelessly into my free hand.

“It’s called a smartphone, only for smart people.” He said with a large stupid grin on his face. I gave him a cold stare and he backed off with his arms up in the air, finally surrendering his pathetic attempt at being funny.

“What did you say you need it for?” I held the device low against my waist, as if to hide a handful of cocaine from the authorities.

“I told him I was bored and wanted to play games on it.” He held his hands up in a gesture that depicted mobile gaming.

I shrugged, still leaning against the brick wall under the tall shade and slowly slid down to the ground.

From there on, for an hour of almost every single day as long as Mr Supervisor was in a good mood, I went back to school. Back to the learning phase that had so abruptly been put to a halt. The more I explored the capabilities of my new toy, the more I began to truly realise the enormous potential of what this modern innovation had to offer.

I’d resume my proficiency improvement with the English language because I knew that especially in a country like this it would be a tool for respect. For an hour a day, I’d borrow the device from our unsuspecting superior and soak up as much as I possibly could. It wasn’t the most efficient way of learning, but I’ve had good practice of uncomfortable learning methods during my days as a cracker seller.

An old, worn out and outdated dictionary was no match for the big bad world of the internet. Countless sources for effective language learning skills, free browser applications with extensive databases for audio based pronunciation demos and a long list of video resources that displayed social interactions of the complex ways that people talked and behaved. This was a rich pool of knowledge, bursting at the seams. It was unlike anything I had experienced before and for the first time in my life, it gave me an unlimited glimpse of the things that were for so long inaccessible to me.

I reveled in the profound power at the tips of my fingers and wondered why everyone in the first-world hadn’t already transformed into super-intelligent neo-humans. Still, due to the constrictions of my situation and the short bursts of time that I had been granted, things took a while. But what else did I have to lose? Without distractions, without excuses and without choices, life becomes a simple and straightforward narrative towards an inevitable objective.

With each passing day, the planks of Goliath’s block B rose up higher. With every fortifying layer of concrete, every inch of spiral rod copper and every slip of steel block, the beast of a structure bloomed upwards towards the flaming sun. With each passing day, I put in my hour of self-development via the help from my young accomplice and his overwhelmingly generous supervisor. As the stable scaffold of the site’s second son drove onward into completion, so did my ever-growing comprehension of the language that I intended to pave my way out with.

As soon as the final coatings of paint had been applied to the highest floors of the handsome building, my course had arrived to fruition. I had graduated from the hard open learning institute of the virtual information ocean and I was ready for my next course; the Construction Industry, of which its modules I expected to last the entirety of block C.

The word of the day was value and I was determined to veer my entire being into ensuring that I’d acquire the capacity to deliver that value by the time they even began discussing our relocation.

I rummaged through every single construction based resource I could find. I fed myself with endless threads of industry related insights, global overviews, major updates and the local market condition of this country itself. Hour by hour, like a child in an arcade with only enough coins to last him a glorious sixty full minutes of pure bliss, I floated in a weightless world far from the physical, I leapt from page to page in search of the golden key that would unlock the answer to my burning question. Until finally, I found it.

-

Large, uninterrupted and smooth, the almost-ready final piece of the million dollar property development stood as a gigantic monster of suspense. Donning a beautiful and strong body, only missing a head, its brothers stand firm and prepared right behind it, flanking it on both sides. It was almost visible from the slave compound now, a tiny speck from where we slept, the by-product of years of aching labour. On the thirty fifth story of Goliath Residences’ block C, the scraps of metallic blueprints stuck out like thorns from the last built platform.

Straddles of copper wire and stacks of rocky slabs littered the surface of what would soon become another row of grand suites filled with shiny new things and shiny new rooms. For now, it laid as a barren embryo in the making and on the very edge of that embryo, stood Mr Supervisor, with hands on his hips, looking out into the world on top of the very landmark he contributed in making. He took a deep breath, taking in the fresh highland air of the very tall structure he had conquered, getting ready to scream at the top of his lungs in pure joy when he heard someone creeping up behind him. He stopped himself short of a quiet gasp and turned around to see what lurks in the darkness of the shade, to see the figure of a man in small stature with a forehead bigger than most and a fixed frown on his face, beside him, his tall, young and narrow faced pretty boy of an accomplice.

Mr Supervisor pulls the construction helmet off his head and scratches the back of his neck in confusion. “What’s up guys?” He stutters.

The figure of the small statured man moved closer towards him, coming out of the shadows to reveal an expression of both nervousness and dead-seriousness. He speaks softly, his voice is low, he talks in a monotonous tone, he speaks in clear English and he says it like he means it. “Take us to management please.”

-

We stood awkwardly in the large silver elevator of Goliath’s impressively designed business office buildings. Syed clenched his construction hat so hard that the sound of his gloves tightening against the muddy yellow plastic was all the sound there was, apart from the soft jazz music from the speakers up above. A large man in a suit and a driver’s hat stood in front of us close to the buttons of the lift. I stared at the broad shoulders of the man, reminding me of Mr Boss back at the compound and his sheer mountain like size. Then I turned my attention to the flickering lit numbers that changed as we escalated upwards past the floors with vicious speed. Ascension. The word came to my mind again, as a reflex, probably because I was trying to keep my mind focused from turning into a nervous wreck.

Finally the sensation of motion came to an abrupt halt and the elevator doors slid open, the large man looked over his broad shoulders with a subtle expression of disgust, nudging his head to gesture that this is our stop. We slowly made our way out of the state-of-the-art transporter machine and into the finely carpeted, squeaky clean and insanely spacious top floor. Large frames were fixed up high onto the gray coloured walls depicting awards, achievements and motivational slogans. Right below them, a small round counter was visible, consisting of one young and pretty receptionist that sat behind it. “Ah yes, they’re expecting you. Please have a seat.”

We slowly made our way to the row of monochrome coloured circular stools at the other end of the large lobby, looking around us like a pair of tribesmen fresh out of the forests. Syed sat in a stiff position, with his hat placed on his knees and his legs furiously shaking. The receptionist was on the phone, mumbling in words too soft to understand. I turned my attention towards my accomplice. “Brother, you’ve done your part. From here on, it’s very important that you leave all the talking to me you hear? All you have to do is look as confident as you can.”

Syed didn’t answer me, he simply shook his head eagerly. He looked like he had the urge to desperately run out of there, hands in the air and screaming at the top of his lungs. Truth be told, I felt the same way. I think it’s called a fight-or-flight response?

The receptionist placed the phone back down on the counter table and stood up to address us in the most formal way possible. “They’re ready for you, please enter.” She stretched her right hand out towards the large, light wood coloured doors at the end of the hall.

I took a deep breath and stood up. With Syed following right behind me, we marched forward.

In our torn rags and construction helmets, we stood before the longest table I had ever seen in my life. Sitting on the other end of that table, were five sharply-dressed men. One of them I recognised as Boss number one and another I recognised as Boss number two. The other three men were unfamiliar to me. Boss number one, with his large tummy protruding so far out that it touched the ends of the table he sat behind, took one look at us and smirked followed by a rather amused laughter. “Ah gentlemen! Welcome to management. Please, please, have a seat right over there. We’ve been expecting you. So good of you to show up in your outstanding working gear.” He burst out in an ear-piercing series of laughs that had no one else amused but himself.

I pulled a chair out and sat down, Syed followed my lead. He had a forced grin on his face as he struggled to react to Boss number one’s terrible joke, not that he could really understand too much of what he said anyway.

Boss number two sat glaring at us with a painfully unimpressed expression, lips pursed, shiny black hair pushed back as always with silver strands at the side tucked behind his ears.

Soon after Boss number one gets done catching his breath, he continued to speak “So, one of your supervisors called me up the other day and told me a very interesting story.”

He stopped for a moment and looked up at us “He mentioned you can speak English yes? Can you understand me clearly?”

We both nodded, with Syed’s nod being slightly slower than mine.

“Good! Anyway I’ll speak nice and slow for y’all. So that supervisor of yours, he tells me you have built a system. Is that right?” He pushes back on his chair looking as if it might break any minute and looks up at us from his tiny glasses.

I nod again.

“And according to him, you all went and built some sort of a management system using only his smartphone! Is that true?” He’s still looking up at us, moving his head from me to Syed.

I nod again.

He clears his throat and picks up the very smartphone I was so familiar with from the table. “Look familiar?” He laughed out a short burst once more, tauntingly holding it up for me to see, waving it back and forth.

“Now this here, this really is something. Now, forgive me if I find it a little hard to believe that all this was done up by a pair of gentlemen like yourselves, no offense.” He put the phone up towards him, scrolling it up and down.

“You wouldn’t mind if I could maybe trouble you for a little explanation would you? A little in-depth elaboration about what exactly this is? If, of course, you really did do it, you wouldn’t have any problem telling us about it. If it isn’t all..” He trailed off with one hand holding the phone and one hand in the air, as if trying to grasp for words.

“Horseshit..” Boss number two finally speaks up, leaning forward from his large chair to finish Boss number one’s sentence.

“Well? What do you fellas have to say for yourselves? Speak up now come on. Were them words I used too big for y’all?” He slowly begins his relentless laughing once more, while Boss number two stares us down with his sharp green eyes.

All the while, my head is lowered, almost in a state of submission. My eyes are facing the floor, my small body barely fitting the big cushioned chairs of the large, grand meeting room. Syed had his face turned towards me now, squirming in his seat with an expression of helplessness.

“None taken.” I almost whisper the words underneath my breath.

Boss number one looks down at me in the midst of his hysterical laughter. “What’s that?”

“None taken. You mentioned earlier that you meant no offense. None taken. It’s my response.” I slowly raise my head up to greet the five men that sat before me.

Boss number one has stopped laughing. Boss number two leaned back on his chair with eyes squinted directly at me. They were obviously confused by my poorly timed reply, so I decided to be more direct.

“That smartphone has cloud sharing capabilities and plenty of space for an assortment of apps. It’s a very powerful device, I’m guessing one of the newer models from that specific brand’s production line. In that sense, I was lucky to be leveraging on such a device.” I spoke slowly, I spoke clearly and I spoke loudly, my low voice booming through my little mouth.

Boss number one stared blankly, he quickly glanced at the phone then back to me as I continued.

“What you see there is a community service solution. Essentially, it is an app. There are other versions like it on the market at this moment. The one that I have designed is a rather basic prototype, but in its finalisation, it will be an effective and powerful means of technology-based management incorporation, especially with an up and coming development as impressive as Goliath Residences.” I spoke slightly faster now, finding my footing in the linguistics of the language that I had studied so hard for but barely used myself.

“For the most part, primary features include a simple visitor management system that can keep track and manage records of the comings and goings of residential guests that do not own a unit in your property. There is also an in-app notice board that ensures tenants of your property have instant accessibility to community updates or activities, all through the comfort of their mobile devices. Additionally, facility booking is available in case anyone wants to reserve a schedule for one of the many facilities. There is also a community vendors section for business owners that have existing memberships as providers of the community.”

One of the other three men, donning a thick moustache and a black buttoned down blazer, quietly picks up the pointer on his side of the table and clicks it, revealing a larger projection of the app interface on a giant glowing screen at the end of the room.

“Once finalised, components that include software and hardware implementation may be incorporated into the property’s infrastructure that corresponds with the system’s programmable nature. Emergency Assist and intercom call buttons may be installed in every unit that is linked to the security station, which can respond faster and more effectively in case of any crucial events that take place within the premise.” I leaned forward slightly and placed my elbows on the table.

“Convenience through the power of technology. This is the essence and priority of the system that I have built so far and can continue building for you, as an added value that you can offer to investors, tenants and owners.” I stopped there, pausing to look at the stunned expressions on each of the five men’s faces.

There was a long and awkward silence that followed through after I made my pitch. Boss number one managed to close his gaping jaw and cleared his throat. “Say boy, where’d you learn to speak like that?”

“Some I learned from an old dictionary I keep in my pouch, the rest I learned with that.” I pointed directly towards Boss number one, at the phone he still held in his hand.

The viciously obese man looked down at the device then back at me to shoot another quick question. “Where’d you learn to build this system?”

“Everything I know about developing basic software and coding, I learned from that. There is a multitude of resources online for anyone to refer to.” I put my finger back down, away from the device and back on the table.

Hearing my response, everyone on the opposite side of the table started throwing wide-eyed glances at each other.

The thick-moustached man with the pointer tilted his head up to ask a different question. “You said there were other apps in the market, what makes yours different from theirs?”

“The price.” I responded at light-speed with every question that was being thrown at me. Maybe it was because I had predicted most of them long before I stepped into this office, long before the thirty fourth floor of block C had even been completed.

“Well, what’s your price?” Boss number one butted in.

“There is none.” I turned my attention towards him.

His eyes widened once again.

“Apart from the fact that when I said the market had similar versions, I meant the global market and that the local market for these apps are surprisingly rather non-existent and apart from the fact that the rates for the foreign companies that own these apps are much higher than you may like, there is no price for my system really. Unless you consider basic provisions a price.” I took my elbows off the table once more and sat straight up.

“Come again?” Boss number one squinted his eyes with crooked lips.

“If management can provide my associate and me with a small office space, sufficient resources to complete our ongoing work and a weekly allowance for expenses and provisions, we’ll gladly finalise the system for you within a given and reasonable timeline. We can sleep in the office. There’s no need for separate living arrangements.” I loosened the straps from my trusty yellow construction helmet and waited for their response.

There was another long pause, when Boss number one slowly shook his head as to snap himself out of a daze and said. “Alright you’ve given us something to think about. Give us a couple a days and we’ll reach out to you boys shortly. Thanks for dropping by, really appreciate you clearing all this up for us.”

I stood up and lowered my head as an attempt at a polite gesture, seeing that I didn’t know too much about the culture of this country, then I turned and walked towards the door. Syed stood up with an expression of shock still worn on his face and followed my lead. Before I turned the knob Boss number one called out to me. “Hold on son, you didn’t mention your name.”

I turned slowly back towards him, rather shocked that he asked me that. What shocked me more was that I hadn’t even used my name in such a long period of time that I actually had to think back for a moment.

It came to me just then, so I said it loud and clear.

“Karkun.”