Forsaking living together for the sake of a pay check
Times have changes and so have our lifestyles. With rising prices and intense competition getting a decent job with a decent pay is quite difficult. As a result many families have both parents working to support the family which may also cause them to live apart from each other due to the nature of their jobs. 
Many families have their parents divided due to the pay check. Such families depend upon software such as Skype that enables them to have a video conference with their overseas families. This is the only way they get to spend quality time with their distant family.
Mr. Gosh working in his Philadelphia office communicates with his wife and Children in New Zealand in this manner everyday. Such technology enables Mr. Gosh to contribute to running his house even though he is at a distance. He says regarding communicating through video chat “We talk in the morning and around dinner, when my wife needs my help the most; this was a career decision we simply had to make for financial stability.”
The 2006 census Bureau revealed that more than 3.6 million married couples do not actually live together because of the fact that they have jobs in different regions. The co-director for the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, David Popennoe said “Families today are undergoing all sorts of strains that didn’t exist before and are simply having to adjust to make things work.”
Such marriages where the couple lives divided due to chasing after paychecks have been termed as commuter marriages. Reginald C. Richardson, a vice president of the Family Institute says “I think we are going to see more and more commuter marriages in the future, given the global economy and the fact that our technology now makes this more doable.”
Emma Child of Rose Partnership says noting an increase in the couples that are willing to live apart for the pay check that “Eighteen months ago anyone searching for a new job would ask to be placed in their current location, now they come in and say ‘I am prepared to move,’ even, if necessary, without the family.”
She went further on to say “We send a lot of people to emerging markets right now. But honestly, who wants to move the family to Lagos? And if the spouse is working, who wants to give up the second income?” Forsaking the family for the sake of achieving a better standard of living is bound to have its consequences on the next generation.
Bangladeshi voters skeptical over coming elections
Bangladesh finds itself amidst an ironic situation which gives rise to many fears. For the first time in seven years the country is going to witness democratic elections. The irony of the situation is that the two major candidates are both former prime ministers and both of them have charges of corruption leveled against them.
The majority of voters are skeptical regarding the outcome of the elections and whether it will be able to bring about any resolve. Bangladesh is currently yearning for change but the people seemed to have lost their faith in the candidates that are running the elections.
Bangladesh experienced its last democratic elections back in 2001. The country has a history plagued with military rule and the coming elections are being taken as a positive step towards the restoration of democracy.
Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia are the two rivals fighting for the top spot. Sheikh Hasina has been in and out of power since the last fifteen years. Her political career is tainted with mismanagement, charges of corruption and numerous protests.
Throughout much of Bangladesh’s political history we can identify a pattern running through. While one party would win the elections and take over the ruling seat the other would stage protests in the streets in an attempt to overthrow the elected regime. This pattern has led the country ungovernable to quite an extent.
Both the candidates vying for the top spot were behind bars last year on charges of corruption. The candidates had accused the charges as being politically motivated scandals aimed at ruining their reputation and managed to get free on bail.
This past Saturday supporters of the two parties collided in violent clashes which left more than eighty five people injured across three districts. The Chairman of the National Election Observation Council said “There is lot of apprehension whether the [election] losers will accept the result.”
The last election attempts were made in January 2007 in Bangladesh. They were however cancelled and what followed was weeks of violent rioting between the supporters of the two parties. As a consequence a state of emergency was declared in the country and an interim government backed by the military was put in force. Now, moments away from the next democratic elections the Bangladeshi’s are concerned what consequences it may have on the prevailing situation of the country.