Stay Tranquilo - From Bangladesh to NYC: A Journey of Resilience - Surviving Hostage to Humanitarian

Episode Date: September 10, 2024

In this episode of the Stay Tranquilo Podcast, we are joined by Thamid Khan, a remarkable individual whose journey spans continents and challenges. Originally from Bangladesh, he immigrated to Canada in search of new opportunities and is now carving out a career in the bustling heart of New York City. But his path has not been without its trials. We touch on:  - The challenges of immigrating to a new country - The bustling city of New York & its opportunities - Overcoming PTSD and using it to pave your future - The journey of self-discovery - AND MORE Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

So in 2016, I studied public health and global health. And in 2016, I got an internship with UNICEF, which is one of the UN organizations, in Nepal. And on my way, I stopped in Bangladesh because my parents live there. My parents still live there. Okay. The day that I landed, I was seeing this person, like a friend of mine. So we go to a cafe. It's in the diplomatic zone in Taka City.

15 minutes into it, the cafe comes under a terrorist attack by ISIS, and they start killing people right away. So we get taken hostage inside that cafe. Remember, we were sitting outside by the patio, like in the front yard.

We get taken hostage inside, and there's already a family there. It's one of the most horrific, saddening things that could happen to anyone. Because one thing is, one thing is like you die in a situation like that and you're gone, you don't have to experience it. Another thing is you are alive. You witnessed it and you saw everything happen right in front of your face. Yeah. There's police forces, there's the army and everyone there are around, but they know there's

hostages inside. One of the terrorists come and give me a gun to this. I was like, all right, this is it. This is it. And then he shows that it's empty and gives the gun to me. What is going on everybody? We are here in New York City. Stay Tranquilo takes the Big Apple, first official episode from New York City. So shout out to you for being able to do this. We're here with Tom McCann, aka TK, right? I know you said that everybody mentions USTK. So one, thank you for hosting us here.

This is an awesome setting that we're able to record it at. Weather is amazing. The city is in true form. It's awesome. You know, we've got to enjoy it a little bit today. So it's been great. but really thank you for putting this together. And shout out to Vic also for putting this together.

But I'm excited for this conversation. I think it's going to be a great combo and a lot of people are going to enjoy it. So thank you. Absolutely, Andre. I mean, welcome to Micasa. Welcome to New York, everyone. Yeah, it's just incredible to have you here.

Also, inaugurating the podcast in New York City. Crazy. Just means a lot. Shout out to Vic and all the folks in Miami. You know, we're not that familiar with Miami here in New York, but we love the energy. We love the vibe. So thank you so much, Andre.

Yeah, no, we're super excited. Vick's also been a great friend that I actually haven't really known her for that long either, you know, which is great. But I feel like I've known her forever. And I'm sure it's very similar with you. Vigis has that personality and persona. But really before we get into your story, because you really do have a truly impactful story. And I'm excited about a lot of the topics that we're going to talk about. Just tell them a little bit about yourself, you know, who you are, how you ended up in New York City and all that, all that fun stuff. Absolutely. So my name is Talmud. I'll start with that. I'm from Canada. I'm originally from Bangladesh, like I was born in Bangladesh, but raised between Toronto and Dhaka, which is the capital of Bangladesh. And we'll come back to that later. But I grew up between the two countries. I moved to New York about four years ago for grad school. I went to grad school at Columbia. I studied epidemiology. I don't do any of that now. But yeah, so I was Talmud all my life. Then in Toronto, I was THK. Now I'm TK, because one day, in the office, they decided to call me TK because it's easy to spell in your email. Usually how it goes down.

So now I've been living here for a while. I've built an amazing community here. I think people are very friendly in New York. It's helped me grow my life, grow my career. I think this city embraces people. I'm what they call a transplant, but this feels like home. Shout out to all my homies in Toronto. I'm the six.

I love you. I'll be back there soon. But I think my upbringing or who I am is a collection of my lived experiences, whether you say Bangladesh, am I a Bangladeshi Canadian or a Canadian Bangladeshi? I don't know. Am I a little bit of a New Yorker? I don't know. I wish I could tell you.

But it's that identity we always keep on searching, right? Of course. Right? So, yeah, it makes me who I am. And I think that's what makes the journey more compelling. And, you know, whatever the future holds, I think it makes it more exciting as well. Yeah. It's funny because I've lived in Miami my whole life.

Yeah. I had a short stint when I went away to college. But, you know, reality is like Miami is home and there is really no other home. And part of me is like, I'm almost like, I feel like you've got to live other places, you know? I mean, sometimes you're forced out of places and, you know, then and there's that circumstance. But the reality is, it's like, I think you said it best, you become who you are. based off the places that you've been, right? And even visiting, you know?

You almost like take a little bit with you every time you visit a place. So imagine living and embracing that culture. So you've got a taste of a little bit of everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So how I say it is, Dhaka, Bangladesh, it's like one of the biggest cities in Asia. It's one of the most densely populated cities in Asia.

And it is one of the most polluted cities in the world. So that, and then you come to New York, right? and it's still a culture shock, which I would never imagine. So when I moved to New York, I said that it was a mix between Dhaka and Toronto. Interesting. Yeah, so New York is right in the middle. Very cool, huh? You found like a good middle ground to give you a little, a taste of both worlds.

Yeah. So let's rewind, you know, back to the beginning days, right? When you lived over there. How was life over there? Yeah. When, you know, you were young, obviously. So it's a little bit different context. and it is for now, but tell us a little bit about life over there.

Yeah, I think it's interesting because a lot of the people you meet, I don't know if you are mixed or you're from a different cultural heritage. Cuban, but like third generation Cuban at this point. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, when you are coming, so maybe when you talk to your grandparents or your parents, you hear stories about that. So I am that generation in terms of like the Balanchishi diaspora. I moved when I was in grade three at first.

Life there was simpler because when you're growing up. you live a very sheltered life. I have to say I grew up pretty privileged compared to the rest of the country, so I always acknowledge my privileges. I acknowledge the chances of education I had, the exposure I had even when I was young. Life was pretty pleasant, but I guess the situation, it's a developing country, as they say.

So in terms of economic opportunities, there's always a lot of issues. Bangladesh is very prone to natural disasters. There's political unrest, which the Cubanomies can really relate to. There is a lot of political... Absolutely. So there's a lot of migration going in and out of the country. Growing up, I never realized that I would be moving to Canada. Maybe a month before, not even a week before I was moving.

My dad was like, I stepped back up, let's go. I was like, where? Toronto. I was like, oh, fantastic, what time of the year is it? And how old were you at that point? I was 11. Okay. And it's March.

So for those of you don't know, Toronto in March is hellscape. Like, it is frozen everywhere and there's no room to breathe. So growing up, that's one thing that I say, which is if you're in a hot country, like even if you think about like Dubai or Saudi Arabia, you go outside, it's hot, but you can survive. If you're out in Canada, in Canadian winter, you can literally die. You can literally die. So I always say, the hot is better than the cold. I don't know how people can make that argument.

Like you said, you'll literally die. You'll freeze to death. You'll freeze to death. You'll find the way it'll be hot, you'll sweat, you know, but you'll be okay. Yeah, they tell me, like, if you stay out for too long, you're your pinky or your toes, it's going to freeze and it's going to fall off. What are you going to do if your toe falls off? So, yes, and it was, it's very real.

Like, it happens to people. So, yeah, so moving there in March, I had the biggest culture shock and, of course, like, just adapting to a new environment when you're young, it's difficult. The rest of my childhood was really in between Dhaka environment. Dhaka and Toronto, so Bangladesh and Toronto. It was a lot of back and forth. Like, I'd be living a year here, a couple of years there. Very, very mixed upbringing because I was living the immigrant life.

When I moved to Toronto, I'm from, I grew up in Scarborough, which is comparable to, like, Queens here. So it's a very immigrant heavy neighborhood. And then in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as I said, like, I had a very sheltered life. I had a pretty privileged life. So that transition between, like, you having... house help or a driver in your house, going and doing everything on your own,

it was like a big contrast, right? But it also made me practical because then I realized that, I guess my reality is more of the Canadian reality or what is for the 90% of the people on earth. So it made me more practical in terms of how I think. And I think it helps me make decisions in a way where I can see what it requires you to do

versus what you want to do. It's not necessarily about I want this, I'm going to have it, but it's like, what does the situation demand of me? Of course. Because you're going through so many changes in life. Yeah, no, definitely. And I guess two questions, right? One, why Toronto?

Yeah. Right. And then two, I really want to get into a story of like why you ended up leaving there. Right. Right, right, right. So I guess answer the first part so then we can get a little bit into depth of to what got you out of your home. Well, if I go into like why Toronto, I think it, you have to go into a little bit of

like history. And economics, because Toronto, in the 90s up until, like, I think from the 80s to the 2000s, because the Canadian population is not as big, right? So you need cheap labor, right? And you need skilled labor. So my dad applied for a skilled labor immigration visa, which I think is there in the U.S. as well. But at the time, definitely, they were taking a lot of Bangladesh's in that skilled category. So he applied, he was working in marketing and management.

So he applied in that category, but once he came, he didn't have a good time finding a job. And you'll see that if you go into immigrant communities, like, even if you go to your, like, talk to your grandparents or even like your parents, a lot of them are for even for different diaspora communities. You'll see they have a hard time finding jobs here. So that's one of the reasons why we moved to Canada because it made sense. But if it also retrospect, like kudos to my parents and so much love for them, they sacrifice. So that we could have a better life. And so many, you know, immigrants do that because they... It's an immigrant story right there.

Right. You leave a unfortunate situation in your home country, home place, to go create a better life for the future generation, essentially. Yeah. And, you know, better schooling, better food, security. Yeah. So all of that was the reason why my, I guess my parents chose Toronto. So I grew up in Toronto and then did my high school back in Bangladesh.

Oh, so you went back? I went back. As I said, I did a lot of back and forth. Oh, wow. So by the time, so I also had a good part of my teenage years in Bangladesh. So, like, I also then, I saw the life in the streets. I wouldn't say it was like I didn't grow up in a hood in Bangladesh, but I saw what it meant to hustle an environment that can be way more harsh than here. So I learned that, and then I moved for college again in Toronto in 2012.

So, yeah, I was a, yeah, lots of back and forth. a good kid. I studied health. I wanted to be a doctor. I went to the University of Toronto. Great school. Love it. Hate it because it's one of the toughest schools in the world. I'm not going to curse. I promise I'm not going to curse. But it is so difficult. So I flunked. Like I did so bad in school. But anyway, I'll come back to school in a bit. But then after finishing school, I moved to New York because I got into grad school at Columbia University, the small school here in New York, I studied epidemiology because that was the shit when COVID was happening. No, no, but like just in all fairness, I applied

to epidemiology before I, before COVID happened. That is crazy in terms of timing. Yeah, so in COVID happened, I was like, I'm going to get a job. Like, I'm good. I'm good, I'm good, guys. So, yeah, so then I study, then I, that's how I started like my journey in New York. And after I moved here, I realize like, you know, it is, there's a reason why they say New York is what it is and the number of opportunities that you get left and right is phenomenal. I never knew doors would open for me the way it has. Like, I'm doing this here now. If you asked me this in 2020 when I was moving, I'm not like this, not in this scale or not in this frequency, right? So in terms of that, I think New York is one of those places where if you really move and if you have a

good intent and if you work hard, it's going to reward you. However, it comes with the pretext that you're going to get hustle. The second day I land, I go to a deli and someone hustles me for $15 and this happens three days in a row. And I'm like, and I'm from Toronto, right? People in Toronto are tranquil. Right? People in Toronto are very tranquil. And nice. So I go in and I'm like, where am I? So you learn from that as well. I mean, if you're not willing to learn, you're going to get scammed all your life. But I learned from that a lot. And I think New York has made me a more practical person. And I think like a smarter person, which I guess I wasn't. So I think in terms of that, not just in terms of like professional life, but in my personal life, I had a lot of growth

because I moved to the city. Absolutely. Yeah. No, I mean, the city builds character. You know, and I think every major metropolitan area will have its own kind of flavor to it, right? You come to New York, you know, coming from Miami and you go to New York, you definitely see the difference. You know, outside of climate and all those things, right? I mean, you're talking about two very large city, obviously, Miami. Yeah. Newer city when it comes to Miami, right? So there's a lot of history that comes from New York where Miami's kind of just been in this, like, straight evolution for really the last 20, you know, you're talking about the last 40 years where it's really evolved.

And then hyper, hyper evolved in the last four years post-COVID, right? So it comes with the territory of living in a big city. and just really being around people that are ambitious, right? You go to these smaller towns. Absolutely. And, you know, they live just a different life. There's a different mindset. There really is a hustle culture that comes with living in a big city.

It's quick, it's fast, it's fast-paced. And New York, to me, is on steroids when it comes to that compared to Miami. Because Miami is a big city, you know, we move pretty fast, but you come here and it's a different experience. Everyone's got head down and they're focused on whatever they got to do and there's no time for anything. else. Yeah, absolutely. And I agree with that completely. I think one thing that you said is like, which really resonated with me is when you're, you're around ambitious people. Yeah. Right. I was. Oh, that's huge. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, you know, people who see you surround with that as well. But even without, even if you take that out, right, you might be an introverted person. I was,

I was on the subway, like, I think my first year in city, and I was talking to the person who was at the ticketing booth, right? And I asked them what you do. And they were like, yeah, I'm doing this job. Then they were like, I'm also a poet on the side. So I'm writing poetry and I'm going to release a book very soon. And that's just one example of the kind of people that you're surrounded with. I don't know if it's whether being in a city like New York where rent is ridiculous. Food is expensive and there's the hustle culture.

But everyone has a side gig. Like everyone you're going to mean. In Miami, that's evolving like crazy. right right yeah you're seeing you're seeing the side gigs of you know people are working there nine to five right whatever you know they're full-time gigs and then they're yeah they're doing something on the side or they're looking to do something right well there'd be crypto it's you know they're like dude I'm working and I'm like I'm still barely getting by it's like how do you know what do I else got what what else do I have to do yeah to get get there and again it comes with being in these places

yeah yeah they come at a cost it comes at a cost for sure like I think one of the costs is mental health, and I know we're going to discuss this today, but like, I think mental health is one of those things which larger cities have a bigger problem, addiction, which is something I study, and I work on, and I think that's also something that's rampant in big cities. There are certain kinds of addiction, which if you look at geography of America, like if you go to West Virginia or the Appalachians, like there's a different kind of addiction, but big cities, it's like a very sad and tragic mix of mental health and addiction which you see here which when people come here they're like oh my god why is new york subway like that why do you see people on this street it's like you have to yes i get it like

it's yeah it's not ideal but i mean they're human at the end of the day and something happened along the lines of their life a life-changing event that that created those people yeah i mean yeah and before maybe we get into a little bit of this but yeah i think people really like sympathy yeah and compassion yeah you know And when you live in these big cities, I think people almost forget that that judgment that you just place on that person is not coming from a place of compassion or sympathy or empathy, you know, any of those things, right? You just kind of see them and you're like, yo, that person's messed up, you know, or this person's got a problem or this and that. And it's like, yeah, maybe they do, but you know nothing about that person. You know, you don't know their story. You don't know what they've dealt with.

You don't know the trauma that may have caused. it or an illness that they're, you really don't know, you know, because I see those, I don't want to label them as those people. Right, right, right, right. But you see people that you question like, you know, how did that happen, you know, and there's a level of like, they're definitely lonely, right? Yeah, definitely. There's a disconnect there, right?

Because, like, you mentioned, like, family and friends and things like that. Like the social safety net, they say. Yeah, yeah. And all of this, right? you need those people around you to almost keep you in check and be like, hey, look, you're, you're kind of going the wrong way, right? And because you need that, because if you keep going down the wrong way, God knows where that'll fucking take you, you know?

An interesting observation now that you mentioned that, which I've seen in New York, because of course, you know, you have so many different cultural enclaves or, like, communities or diasporous, as you will see that, and it's unfortunate or fortunate as it is, is that For smaller communities, you'll see less issues of like homelessness or like unhoused people or addiction or crime because of that social support. Right. Because in smaller communities, everyone knows each other. So they're like, that like uncle something's kid is doing this. I'm getting into rehab right now.

Yeah, right? So versus like, you know, loneliness, as you said, like if you don't have that social support, it's so easy to fall into that. And like people fall, people fall, people slip all the time. It's human nature for you to make mistakes. It's human nature for you to continue to make mistakes, right? But it's also our duty as humans to constantly go and try to reach out and help them. Because if you're not doing that as you're going through those processes, whether as a community or as a society, you'll see more and more people beyond that point of return.

Yeah. Right? And that's truly what's so sad about, I guess also like Western society. Because... It is a Western society thing. I mean, you see a huge difference when you compare the two. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm not saying like in terms of poverty or economic development,

but I think just social structures, right? Because like we're so our whole philosophy is we are isolationists. We're individualists, right? It's me first and then everyone else. So when you have that perspective, helping someone who is remotely related to you is not your first priority. No, it's true. So while we're kind of in the topic of the mental health component of it, right,

you've dealt with PTSD at one point in your life, right? Can you explain what exactly was that that occurred that, you know, has resulted in that? Yeah, I think for everyone listening, I'll come to the PTSD after because it's a little bit of a context that I have to set before that. So I'll try to make it quick. It's a longer story because they can take up the whole podcast. I have a TED talk on it. Right, yeah, which I was going to mention that. Yeah. For your story, you do have a TED Talk that I listened to it before we recorded this.

And I highly recommend that people listen to it because it is a deep and impactful story. Yeah. So in 2016, I studied public health and global health. And in 2016, I got an internship with UNICEF, which is one of the UN organizations, in Nepal. Nepal is this mountainous hilly country right beside Bangladesh. All of this is in South Asia. And for context, it's beside India. We're different countries, smaller different countries with like distinct languages, cultures. Anyway, I was going to an internship to UNICEF and on my way, I stopped in Bangladesh because my parents lived there. My parents still live there. Okay. And the day that I landed, I was seeing this person like a friend of mine and like a girl who I was seeing at the time.

And I met her and her friend the day I landed. Where are we going to meet? Right? I just landed that morning. So we go to a cafe. It's in a diplomatic zone in Taka City. And right as soon as we go in, we get seated on like a patio, outside, with a nice view of a nice garden. And there's a lot of people eating inside.

15 minutes, I think it was, and this is in the evening, 15 minutes into it. the cafe comes under a terrorist attack by ISIS. Yeah, never in my wildest imagination did I ever think that I'd end up in a situation like that, right? So they come in with like loud bangs and like, if you've heard gunshots in front of you, imagine like 10 guns going off or like five, six guns going off at the same time with mass hysteria and panic. It's like a school shooting, but with multiple people. And they start killing people right away. And their intention was, because that cafe was in a diplomatic area, there were a lot of foreigners who were dining there.

So their intention was to take the lives of foreigners because that somehow proved their cause, or whatever their intention was. So they come, they start taking out people, one by one and they come to us and then they ask us if we're Muslims and of course at that situation he said I am Muslim but but but at that situation where we said like yes of course we're Muslims don't kill us they didn't ask us to recite anything or anything like that but they this happens for like in 30

minutes or so he comes back one of the one of the gunmen comes back points their gun at us and it's like let's go we're like please let us go at this time but he's like no come inside So we get taken hostage inside that cafe. Remember, we were sitting outside by the patio, like in the front yard. We get taken hostage inside and there's already a family there. There's also another gentleman there. So they take us to a table and there's like Aed of us who are held hostage.

And then there's the waiters who are like serving in the restaurant or cafe who are also in there but also around us is everyone who was dining there now not alive. It is, Andre, I can't. No, I can't even like. I can't even picture it. Yeah. Yeah. It's one of the most horrific, saddening things that could happen to anyone.

Because one thing is, like, you die in a situation like that, and you're gone. You don't have to experience it. Another thing is you are alive. You witnessed it, and you saw everything happen right in front of your face. Yeah. So the night drags on. We try talking to them. We try pleading and begging to let us go.

But they came in with a certain mission of, like, you know, just like, establishing their ideology, whatever, in Banerath. And Banerish is a Muslim country, but I would say it's definitely more liberal than, or more moderate, than a lot of other Muslim countries. So, like, something like that, or a problem of terrorism wasn't really a big issue in Bangladesh. There have been things like that, you know,

like domestic terrorism happens in America as well, right? And it's a big, big issue. But, like, it's not as, it wasn't as big of an issue. So something like that happens, and it shakes the country. By this time, there's police forces, there's the army and everyone they're around, but they know there's hostages inside. So you have to be very sensitive. So you have to be very sensitive.

And they don't know how many people are dead or alive inside of this time. True. So the night rolls on at some point in the morning, they make us do chores all night. So now they're familiar with us, like, who's who. The only, like, I guess, able-bodied age and male is me and there's another person who was there with me. So they take us to the roof This is a three-floor cafe They start taking us to the roof

And at this point I'm like It's gonna shoot me in the roof I don't know what's gonna happen Yeah, no at this point I mean you're assuming the worst At this point you're assuming the worst Yeah, 1,000% And

One of the guys Like one of the hostage takers Like one of the terrorists come and give me a gun Do this And I was like all right this is it This is it And then he shows that it's empty and gives the gun to me. But even at this point, I'm not like, I grew up in Toronto and Dhaka.

I'm not used to guns. A lot of Americans are. Carrying it in, no, yeah, but even just carrying it in your hand in that moment, you're like, what the heck is about to happen? What the hell, right? And I think he's going to make me shoot someone at this point. So he takes it, gives it to us, and he's like, get into the roof right now. So they open the door and they,

walk us out. They like make us walk out one after another, me first, then the other guy, and then them. And I always give context to this part of the story because a lot of people don't hear the whole story or they wouldn't go in research. But one of the reasons they did that is because I was 22 back then. I was sort of their age. I have a beer. You have a beard, my man. So like I have a beard so, you know, you can be profiled very easily. So they went and saw that if someone who has a gun has a beard gets shot by the snipers or not. Oh, they were baiting you basically. They were baiting us.

And then when the other person comes out and then the guy comes out and they were basically doing, I think, one of two things, one is checking to see, look, if anyone's here or not what the situation is, if there are people surrounding and, I mean, just get an idea of things, right?

Because by this time, they're all inside. However, fun stuff happens. We get photographed on the roof and I'm holding a gun. So at that point, I'm of course not thinking out. At that point, I'm like, no, you're not thinking about it that point. After all this happens, I'm sure there's a... There's a repercussion.

We're going to come to that in a second. But anyway, so we talk to them and we still plead with that guy. We're like, just let us go. He hasn't really saying anything. And then he would come back downstairs. And at this point, of course, my friends are like so happy seeing me. Like, you're alive. Yeah, no, you survived.

Right? 100%. This is like a hostage situation. So we come downstairs and his family is of course very delighted to see him. Like their dad's alive. So we come back to the table like our hostage table. And then after I think an hour passes and like by this time like morning rolls in, you hear birds. But also like you were going to go to PTSD, right?

But at this time like it was night and it was dark and there were no lights. But at this point it's the morning. So the unfortunate people. who lost their lives, the innocent people who lost their lives, they're now around us. So how do you not have PTSD when you're having to sit down at a table like that and there's like people around you, right, just all over the floor everywhere?

Then an hour later, because we pleaded with them and everything, by this time they're like, you guys can go. So they let us go one by one. And the military was still outside? They were all still outside. So I think they understood that this was a hostage situation, so they didn't shoot at us or anything. So when we got out of the compound, like the whole area,

and then we turned right. And then there we saw all the police forces and everyone. Right. And we went to them. The next part is... After a year back, does the military come in and like try to kill them? Yeah. Okay.

So after we're back, we're taken aside, we're taking to a safe house around the cafe, and they essentially, the paramilitary, like the troops and the commandos, they go in and they're killed. All five of them are killed. However, now, the second part of the story starts because we were photographed in the roof. So the first suspicion is from the authorities who took us. they're like even without seeing the photos they're like you guys were inside you're that age boom yeah they're not too I mean they don't know what happened inside so they're coming in you they know we're hostages we're giving our test statements but they don't want to believe us right

even when they have all the evidence and we're giving them literally what happened when we're telling them what happened they're not believing us so they take us in one of the how do you say, defense, intelligence units of Panandash at the time, they take us in. They were probably a little more sympathetic towards us because they deal with terrorists all the time and they see them, they're like, these guys are not terrorists. You can profile them or you can go to someone's Facebook or Instagram

and go to their D-Ns. You'll be able to know. You see their search history and you know who's one and who's not. Of course. Also, the people who went to attack, the guys who went to attack that day, the terrorists, they put out their own profiles before. that because they knew they were going on like the sacred mission, right? So they were famous in their own community by then.

Of course, yeah. So two and two like everyone knows. The next day, however, they kept us, they were like basically taking statements from us, but they kept us overnight. The next day, someone leaked that photo in one of the newspapers, and the newspapers published that without any context. Oh my God. And it was you in the picture?

It was me, the other guy. And the other guy, yeah. And one of the terrorists. Holy cow. And there is a media shitstorm now. Who are these guys? Where are they? So now the country goes into a different kind of mode.

Like the whole public sentiment is now changing. So I'm trapped with this intelligence unit who have now essentially un officially kept us. And if you don't know something about underdeveloped countries or countries with like, you know, governments who rule with an iron fist, They can make you disappear. It's called forced disappearances, and I guess I have been a victim of that as well. Essentially, you're taken to a black site, and they say that you're released. So publicly were released, but unofficially were not. So everyone, my friends, my family go into frenzy right now because they don't know where I am.

So this is uncertain. I could be killed at any point. Yeah, exactly. So at this point, my friends and family in Toronto, they start a social movement called hashtag Free Tamed, which is something that I'm not supposed to know. But like, you know, whenever, and I was being interrogated all this time. So like the second day, I started getting interrogated.

So I was getting interrogated for 15 days straight. So one of them is like, okay, give me your Facebook. So the police officers opened my Facebook, and they type your name. So I type my name. and the first one is my profile and the second one is the page called hashtag free time it

and I'm like I'm like that's my profile that's my profile so he clicks on it and then I see like this has now thousands of followers by then because I can't go from a person who's a normal

person who drinks and smokes I don't want to say this publicly to someone who's a terrorist the night after like that's just like by logic or for people who know me or people who can even see my Facebook

they don't have to see anything else like this shift doesn't happen so but I've been out of contact with the rest of the world for four days and I'm also losing hope so I see that and I'm like all right there's people rallying

there's people rallying and I don't need to know public sentiment but at least I know so interrogation for 15 days then they give us some sham like legal case they pull us to court, then I get taken to jail.

Oh my God. I served jail for one and a half months. Then I get released on bail. And the whole, like, the whole public narrative is being fought right now, right? By people who know me or people who are more moderate. People defending you and then just the regular... People who don't know, we're just going to say it for what it is, right?

Going off of one picture that they saw essentially. And then, and then, like, there's evidence in court. Thankfully, there was a video which came out, which showed us. One of the things that stood up for me in court is there was like a CCTV footage of me and my two friends were being taken hostage at gunpoint into the restaurant.

So that was one of the bigger evidences that held up in court and I was like, okay. Thank God there was something. Thank God there's something. And of course the police are going to be, sorry, the court is going to be biased towards the machinery, like the system of government.

If they've said something, they're of course going to be biased towards them but when there's like undisputable evidence at one point, So they just put me to jail without putting me into like anything, like without putting into a case that's a terrorism case. So now after jail, I get out on bail and then I fight a year-long court battle. Like I have to have court in Bangladesh.

It's like, it's just like stressful. Yeah. Like I, and just remember that I'm still in school. Like I finished my third year of school and I'm like, I was going to go for internship. So I'm in Bangladesh and I'm fighting this court battle. I'm basically at Hauser. Not legally, but like, your parents are like, you're not going anywhere.

You're not going on dates for sure. Of course not. Yeah. No, no, that's not really question at that point. Yeah, no dates, no nothing. Stay at home, be a good boy. Yeah. You know.

So we finish that all of the whole thing. My friends are thankfully still there in Bangladesh. They were saved. They were released right away. They've been incredible support for me. My family, my friends who were all there. And like, countless thousands of, thousands of people who were supportive and who were like, look at evidence and be a rational person.

You can make your own story. And another thing is that I wouldn't have been coming out and saying this, or people wouldn't have been coming out and saying this if they didn't have, like if they had an vested interest. Of course. I don't mean anything to anyone. I am no one's anything. So people were doing this because they felt like there was an injustice which was being done. whether by you say the government or the public the court of public opinion whatever it was but it turned out to be in the best case best scenario possible i got out scarred but at least i got out emotionally scarred but physically all in all you everything was ended up to be cleared and and you were fine physically essentially came back um to toronto after that year the canadian government has been incredibly helpful like my eternal gratitude

that you put the Canadian government as well. That's great. Like even during my court cases, they were, you know, helpful enough to send representatives from the High Commission. So sanity. So I came in, I went back to school, and I was giving my first midterm exam and University of Toronto. And I realized still that maybe that was better than midterm season

at University of Toronto. Wow. That's how rough it was. It's rough. So all the kids are going to University of Toronto? My salute to you. Like you guys are, you guys are there. They're warriors.

Troopers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Damn, man. That's. So now we can go on to PTSD now that we've set some context. Yeah. Obviously, after all that, it's going to shake you up, right? What has been some of the effects, you know, emotionally, physically, you know, just kind of that, that trauma that you live with?

Yeah. Yeah. What has that experience been after all of that? I think trauma or PTSD is something that I wasn't well aware of before it happened. I don't think most people are. You're aware of the term maybe, but you don't have a clue what it is. Right. Especially at that magnitude, right?

Yeah. I mean, from what I understand it's different forms of PTSD too. Yes, absolutely. Right? Yours is on the very extreme side. So, you know, for you, I don't think anybody knew what you were really going to experience. Even when I, I think one of the, I'll come into the means of which I deal with PTSD. But I think the first thing that I should touch on is what happens when I have PTSD.

It's an undescribable feeling of... I've had depression and anxiety, but imagine depression and anxiety. Powder it and put it in a pill and you swallow it and it takes effect in half an hour. So when it happens, it's just like this whole cloud which comes over you. and it's physical. There's a huge physical manifestation of that feeling which often gets triggered by very, at least for me, for people, it's different, for the most randomest of things.

It's not if I, like, read an article of something like that or if a terrorist attack happens somewhere else in the world. It's maybe not that. It's a smell. It's a sound. It's reading YouTube comments. when they come and people say shit because those are things that

I wanted to actually ask you about that because I did see that and I'm like what in uh yeah yeah why yeah and I'm honestly grateful to you that you're still doing it because there's there's always some people who are going to talk shit I mean look there's more people who say positive things

but there's always going to be some people I mean you you see it to the to the best people right remind me I say the best people I don't really know them personally but you know they give the persona like they're doing everything, right? And have hold themselves to a high standard and good value. Yeah, yeah. Which you are one of those people. I try. You try. I mean, that's all you could do. Yeah. That's all you could do, you know.

But it is unfortunate to have the Twitter warriors and all these guys, the comments and this and that. Like, it's very easy to get behind. And that's a whole other conversation. But it's a downfall of social media, right? It's, but it goes back to our whole compassion thing that we were saying. Yeah. Yeah. People are not compassionate, man. They just want to go after people creating assumptions. Yeah, yeah. There's a book. Have you ever read the book, The Four Agreements?

No, no, no, no. So one of the first things that they say, or one of the four agreements is never make assumptions. Right, right? Right. And it's true. Like, I remember reading that and being like, we're very quick to make assumptions on ourselves, on a moment, on people, whatever that may be,

but we're very quick to make assumptions and like, shit, no context, right? Nothing. Nothing. It's going to only create more harm in that process. But going back to your point of your experience with the PTSD, right? You're saying that there's certain smells, they're certain comments or taste. Yeah, comments, yeah.

And has that something that's improved over time or is it still something to this day? Like those things still are triggers to you. Yeah, I think the frequency of it has gone down over the years. and I've had my, like I've gone to therapy. I've not taken medication for PTSD. Okay. I wish there was earlier on when I was having probably a more severe cases. The more severe attacks, I would say, PTSD attacks that I'd have.

But over time, like, I've built, like, mechanisms for myself, like mental mechanisms through which, like, I've helped myself. Yeah. I think talking to people has helped a lot. And I'll go into, like, some of the things that I do. But, like, it's these certain. triggers which have gotten better over time. Like now, even if I know that something's a trigger, I will see it and I will feel a certain way, but then I'll take, like, I'll tell myself,

like, time out, time out, time out. At this point, you've, you've built a little bit of a level of awareness as to what is occurring and then being able to have kind of a, what's the word, kind of a mechanism. A mechanism, yeah, to work with it, right? which that's part of the process. I mean, that is part of the healing, I guess you could say, right? One is becoming aware of it, then two, is discovering, okay, I'm aware now, you know, because at first it just hits you and then it's overwhelming, I'm assuming. Right, right.

And there is no, in that moment, a mechanism. Yeah. It is like, holy cow, right? So, you know, I think that's where therapy comes into play. Yeah, absolutely. Like you mentioned, like, the mental component of it and having your mechanism, is in a place to do that, but that doesn't just happen. You have to learn that and identify that.

And I'm assuming you learn that through therapy. And also like lived experience as well, right? And I think that's something that happened to me very early on is, as I said, like my upbringing made me very practical. I think humility is something that was ingrained in me in a very toxic way where I'm like, even self-confidence is bad because confidence is arrogance and my friends hate me for saying this. But I have this issue.

It's an interesting point. But keep going because I do have a thought on that. So when you had extreme humility growing up, it came to a point when everything ended and like you see yourself in national news, international news, like Google me like this. God knows. You can't finish like going through the Google pages. Right.

And you see all of that happening to you. And also, like, for example, like when I was in jail, they used to treat me as someone, you know, like the biggest G there. Because, you know, this person killed 22 people. He must be the shit. Holy shit. Yeah, because they had a false reputation as to who you were there. Right. Right?

Oh, my God. Especially the people who were in, like, terrorism cases. They were like, holy shit. Yeah, you're the guy. I am the guy. Right. And it was one day I couldn't, like, open like a, like a can. And someone was like, yo.

I was like, no shit, man. I try to tell you, I can't even open the can't. Yeah, I go to school, bro. Yeah. Wow. So when you... Yeah, so true, you don't even think about that. Yeah.

So when you go through things like that, like you sort of build like a perspective, like a sort of self-awareness about you. But you also built this external awareness of you where everything that happened to me happened to someone else. When I'm narrating the story, it's not my story.

This is very true. It's, it's a great point. That's a great point. Who's this other person? And like, keeping in mind the bad, but also the good or the reputation or whatever, or the fame or the, like, the infamousness that happened with it, like, all of that, the publicity, all of that that happened, I don't see it as something that happened to me. So even when PTSD happens, I have a sort of like exclusionary mechanism where I can... That's the word. I can dissociate myself, but I'm like, okay, okay, that was you.

This you was very different. You've gone through so much, even after all of this happened, like I've gone through, like you know, everyone has life experiences. Of course, yeah. I've moved countries. I've, you know, gone through family ups and downs. I've gone through relationships, breakups, disappointments in school, disappointments at work, everyday things, right?

And you start dissociating yourself and it becomes someone else's story, which is not necessarily helpful in a way but it helps me to the point where I can also dissociate my trauma to that person and it helps me sort of take that stance where if I can then deal with myself as this other entity I can also deal with this PTSD or whatever depression depression also happens right yeah it's a recipe it's a recipe but I mean it is a recipe but it's also a result of it's a result of that much like Mental stress, I guess.

Exactly. Yeah, because when I think of what people, and I used to care a lot about what people think of me. Like, as a good kid, I was always aware I wanted people to think the best of me. That's why I chose careers in healthcare because I wanted to do good for people, right? So I cared about what people thought of me.

And when something like that happens, which literally tarnishes everything, and when you're not at fault, I hate, and I know we're going to come to this, but I hate playing victim, but when you've gone through so much shit, and yet you still have to bear with it because of someone's false narrative of you, you also have to start to dissociate because if you stay within that,

it's not just PTSD that's going to get you. Yeah, it's going to kill you. Yeah, I mean, it's going to eat you up inside. It's like with anything, you, the dwelling, right? The dwelling. And it's crazy, right? Because I'm on the other side of it, right? Yeah, yeah.

And I'll never be able to relate to that moment, right? Yeah. But I do believe, and this is just my belief, right, because we all have a trauma that we experience in our life, right? Some people deal with larger traumas than other. And this was, it's funny when you say the whole disassociation thing, right? Like, I've had my traumas in my life. And it's the reason why I have this platform today. Right.

Right. It was built. This platform was built from a result of trauma. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it came from a place of like, shit, like this fucked me up pretty good. you know, mentally, but I did a very good job of identifying that I can use this as power.

Yeah. You know, and I can use this for the better. You don't realize that in the moment. Right. But as you're going through the healing and you're going through that process, you're like, holy cow, okay, I'm starting to figure this out a little bit. I'm understanding what works for me. I'm understanding what doesn't work for me. Right. Right. Right. And being very self-aware. Right. Right. Absolutely. I mean, that's the first

step of the process. I know my weaknesses, right? And I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, have weaknesses. Like just because you're self-aware, it doesn't still mean you don't have weaknesses. You know your weaknesses. No, it's perfect. Yeah. You have to, you have to be able to acknowledge that, right? But the crazy part is like the trauma that you face, right? The trauma that I face. The trauma that he's face. The trauma your neighbors are facing. It's all very different. But you don't know how much weight, right? We're seeing it from the outside, right? I always say like, shit, someone had a bad day and their bad day was that they got a flat tire, right? Right. That's the trauma they've maybe even faced in their life.

Right. Right. Absolutely. But for them, it must, it feels like so heavy and it feels like this. But, you know, whatever you believe in, the universe, God, whatever it may be. Yeah. We'll never give you cards that you're not able to play. Right.

Or, you know, it's not going to give you anything that you can't handle. In the moment it doesn't feel that way. I agree with you and I also disagree with you. Right. And I have opinions on this. Yes, please. Yeah. Because I do agree.

that you're that trauma to each person their own and I definitely think that someone's flat tire or someone being mugged to them it feels the same as that happening to me so I completely agree with you on that but what you mentioned about you whether it be universe or God right I don't think it's innately fair because for the people you hear from those are the people that have had the cards they could deal with and who had the mechanisms or the strength and you and me who are able to use it

and turn into something good. Right. But there's also a huge majority of people who are not able to do that. And we started our conversation with talking about addiction and talking about homelessness and talking about... Very true.

Empathy, right? And it must have been something like that or something very different that they couldn't deal with and that is why they are where they are. Very true. I do not think, and it sounds negative, right, and it sounds not pessimistic, but I don't not think that everyone is given the cards

that they are able to deal with, and which is why people like you and me who are able to use our trauma or use it as a strength need to help those people. Yes, I agree. No, 1,000%. I think people that are able to come on the other side of their trauma found the power within themselves.

Absolutely. Power to them. Can then go help those people. Because like you said, maybe they didn't have the strength to be able to do it. Or they didn't have the support system around that. So I agree. That is a very, very valid point. And I'm speaking from a point where I was able to get out of it.

Like you were able to get out of it. So it is true. And I think that's where the God and the universe has given us this opportunity. Opportunity. Exactly. To be able to do that. And you know, you're not going to be able to help everyone. No.

No, no, you won't be. Something that's very common that you hear from a lot of other people that have gone out of traumatic situations is that if you're able to help one person, you've already kind of served your purpose. Religious scriptures say the same thing, which is if you save one person, it's like saving humanity. And if you kill one person, it's like killing all of humanity. Very true. Yeah. Very true. It is a crazy phenomenon when you really think about it.

And you get into the perspective of like how powerful. the mind is good or bad. Right. Absolutely. And it's it is unfortunate that some people are on the other side of it. But if we have the opportunity to help, that's what we do as a society. We're here to help. We're here to be kind. We're here to be compassionate. Yeah. And through trauma, through poor experiences, through the moments of life that we face, you build a little bit of that compassion. Yeah. Because shit, if you never went through that, God knows what your perspective on life would be today. Right. Right. Same thing with, you know, with me and my experiences. I have a different level of compassion for people that may have gone through something similar.

Right. And it's what we were dealt and now what we choose to do with it. Yeah, absolutely. So you spoke about the mechanisms that you've kind of used over. What are some of those mechanisms that you've done? You mentioned therapy as one of them. Therapy definitely, and as I said, like, dissociation. And therapy is, I know there's different forms of therapy.

Right. The therapy that you speak of is more. It's like very standard westernized therapy. Speaking to a counselor. speaking to a licensed counselor or therapist. And I think that definitely works because for a lot of people, they can't open up to people they can't open up to people they know

because of a certain level of baggage that they have. It is always easier to open up to someone who you're unfamiliar with. Yeah, that's true. When you walk down the streets of New York, people will open up to you and they will tell you about their whole life. It's a very distinct characteristic of New York. Like people, although they're heller rude, they will always open up to you. However, I think what has helped me is opening up to people who are near and dear to me

because I'm generally someone who doesn't share a lot and I have a really hard time sharing. I'm the same way. Yeah. But I try my best every day, and especially if I'm going through something, I will tell my friends, I will tell my family. And I guess not everyone has a supportive social system or social support. But I am lucky to have one, right? And the people around me have always been extremely sympathetic or empathetic towards me. They've been kind to me, and I've been giving them the kindness back,

I've been trying to at least maybe not to the extent that they've given to me. But I try to unload to them because I've seen that with people I trust, I have a better time saying it because for a lot of people, they just sometimes want to say. But I like hearing the suggestions, whether I take it or not. But when someone gives me suggestions, I feel like they care about me, and that's why they're giving me suggestions of doing something. And that support system or that network of support has been incredible for me managing my PTSD,

managing my depression. And, you know, you go to a therapist and you have to tell them what you're feeling. You know, when you have built a support system like that, they can hear you and they can be like, you're going through shit. You're going through shit. Let's talk. Yeah.

And even if you don't talk, you feel a little better after. A hundred percent. Again, this is an FDA approved. I can't prescribe it to someone. This is just a personal experience. It's a personal experience, but if you have the opportunity to, do try opening up to people because honestly, it helps a lot. I agree.

If you have good support system who has been kind to you and empathetic to you, try it because it also builds better relationships. Vulnerability is big. It's crazy. Yeah. Like we're being vulnerable right now. A hundred percent. Right.

And even a little bit deeper than that, males have a harder time being vulnerable. you know, and which is why you hear so much about the stigma around mental health and men. Right. Right. Right. So, aside rates are higher among men. Exactly. It's a proven statistic at this point.

And I do think it's because men have this kind of shell. Yeah. Like, you know, we just carry ourselves in a way where we're just, we're not, we don't need to talk. We can figure it out. You know, be a man kind of thing, right? And it's not true. I mean, we're human beings. Like, you got something on your mind.

Say it. Yeah, to me, something that helped me a lot. Yeah. Was journaling. It was a form of release, you know, and even more for for someone like myself, at least, where I didn't like to talk to people about my problems, you know? Like, I did do the whole my problems or my problems, like I got to figure it out kind of thing, right? And there was a form of release that came with it.

You know, I could be there and I could just let it out. Right. And very similar to therapy when you're speaking, you start writing and not a lot is coming out. But the more you start writing, holy shit, a lot of shit starts coming out. You know, and you're like, oh my God, you didn't even know this was going on in your mind, you know? So we do need to be more vulnerable as men.

We need to understand that it is acceptable to talk to people, talk to your friends. And even speak to your friends and say, hey, I could tell something's a little out. Right, right, right, right. You know, something's up. Like, you could talk to me. Yeah, right.

And do it for someone else as well, not just for yourself. Exactly. If you hear something from someone. And I think with men, especially like heterosexual men, like, you know, like, we go through this shit where we're like, okay, if I, if I'm vulnerable, I'm not a man. Exactly. And that's, and I don't want to say this, but as someone who's, far from the truth, yeah.

Yeah, someone who's been through jail and survived a terrorist today, I can tell you, it's still manly to share. It's still manly to be vulnerable. Absolutely. If at this point, someone says, you're a pussy. Stop. Yeah. Stop. I've seen more than you.

Exactly. Yeah. So I think it comes from a place of just not knowing, you know, lack of awareness. lack of self-awareness on the line. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And you can be ignorant, but I think it will only help you if you can start opening up. And it can be to another man. It can be to your spouse, your girlfriend, your partner, whatever it may be.

It can be to your barber. Because there was a study, which was from... Yeah, I did see that, actually. Yeah, I did see that, right? From New York City, actually. Yeah, I don't... Was it you? Did you tell you about this?

Yeah, I was like, someone told me about that recently. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that is crazy. Which is from New York City, actually, where, like, men and men measuring men's mental health, they saw that men open up much more to their barbers and to their own family members. That's funny. Yeah. I guess it's a safe environment for us. It is a safe environment for us, bro, we're there so much.

Yeah, and that's the thing. We do spend a lot of time there. So, obviously, you've been dealing with your PTSD after your traumatic experience, and it's been a journey for you to say the least. Right. what's life for TK like today? Yeah, I think it's interesting because I've also become much more of a workaholic, which is not something that I recommend to anyone. It's just the character trade.

My dad's a workaholic as well, so I guess I get a little bit of that. But I keep myself busy. My day job, as I say, is I work for a healthcare communication firm in New York. We work primarily with pharmaceutical companies and nonprofits. So we do strategic communications with them. I work on the PR side as well as the medical side. So I deal with a lot of big media, like anyone you can think of like ABC, NBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal. So that's a very fun way of expressing myself because I'm constantly selling stories to them.

But it's also great. It feels great because I studied epidemiology, so I have a good understanding of the products or the diseases that I work with. I can be vocal, as you know, I love sharing. So I can share about a lot of these stories. And, you know, when these stories get into those outlets and it creates impact, and we can see like the UVMs or the unique monthly viewers, when we see that, it's incredible because you're talking about people with life-changing stories of how they overcame a disease or how a product or a drug has saved.

them and yes our American healthcare system and the whole pharmaceutical industry is and I will say fucked up yeah and I've and from the inside I can tell you that for sure yeah but there's good people working there's good people that I meet every day who want to make a positive change in the lives of people there's good legislators and governors who are always working to make sure that people get affordable health care and I think that's what satisfies me even though it's a very corporate job in terms of what I do. I finished, after I finished my master's at Columbia,

my specialization was treatment of addiction, and I specifically work with opioid use disorder, which is a huge public health crisis in America. Absolutely, yep. I'm passionate of addiction. I've had addiction issues myself. I've learned to speak about it more openly than I used to be able to before,

which makes me very passionate about, like, treatments, for addiction as well as new treatments that are coming up, like anything from like ketamine helping people with depression or MDMA helping people with PTSD. So that to me is fascinating how the connection between things that we call street drugs can help with, it can help with mental health diseases. So I love doing that. I have clients who are working on that. So that really keeps me busy and I advocate, as you know, like I've been talking about mental health for so long, I advocate for positive mental health, people seeking treatment, counseling, and any sort of, you know, therapy or mechanism that helps you, right? Because I always believe in like every single individual

is different. And so the remedy for whatever they're going through, even if it's not a remedy or how they deal with it, is going to be unique. So while treatment has tons of data that it works, I believe that it should be combined with therapy. And I believe that a lot of it, it's unique for everyone. So that's a little bit of my day job. I wanted to take this opportunity, since you given me this opportunity, to talk about my other ventures that I've got into, and I think a lot of it is influenced by what I've been through, because I co-founded a non-profit with some of my friends from Toronto. Oh, nice. It's called Bacar Lurai, which in Bangla, in Bangladesh we speak Bangla. It's one of the most, like the biggest spoken languages in the world as well, because there's so many Bangladeshis out there.

But in Bangalah means strive to survive, and we are an organization who tries to empower Bangladesh's worldwide. And because there's so many diaspora communities of Bengalis or Bangladeshis, whether you talk about America in different cities or Canada or London, we used to be colonized. So we're there in all the British, pre-colonial British countries. So there's like in Australia or in the UK or now in the Middle East, in South Africa. in Malaysia, Indonesia. And a lot of them are like low-income communities. Right. So we try to help them.

Our work happens through community building, policy research, and signature initiatives, which is like aid work on the ground. So we have now some healthy affiliations with the United Nations. Me being in New York really helps that. The United Nations General Assembly is coming up in like the end of this month and we'll be there as well. So it's an incredible opportunity and one of the reasons that I love working for that

is because for a small organization we were registered in 2023 and the response has been phenomenal from the community, not just from the Bangladeshi community but from other communities as well because of the work that's being done is that we're tying in not just that when we're bringing people into our community building efforts

we're hearing from them what are the issues that we should be working on. Then we are doing work on the ground whether it'd be Bangladesh or in the places that we work in in North America, when we do those aid efforts and we take feedback from community and can report that in a policy format, which we can take to policymakers of the government,

it ties in, it's like this very nice ecosystem or synchronicity of work, which is hard for small organizations to do. And I think we have an incredible team, our co-founders are amazing, incredible individuals. Shout out to them, like I think I'm grateful for them. They drive me every day. Like even when I'm like lazy after work and I want to chill, like they keep me going.

That's awesome. And I think that whole sync that happens between the three areas of work is what's adding value for the organization. And now we're being accepted into bigger and bigger platforms. Hopefully we've started working with other diaspora communities and hopefully we'll reach more mainstream as time goes on. So a motivation for that is definitely, as we were talking about before, is that need for empathy. and nonprofit work cannot happen if you don't have empathy. Absolutely. Right?

So there's a lot of empathy that happens every day in the work that we do. And I think we'll continue that as long as I have empathy in my veins, which I hope will never run out. And as long as I have energy and I can operate on a few hours of sleep each night. It is. It's a lot to juggle a full-time job, have that kind of like passion project on the side, right? It's a big battle.

But I use this saying, right, and I butcher it a little bit. It's something that I discovered in my path of, like, journaling and going through this, right? Where it's like, purpose leads to passion, passion leads to progress, progress leads to results. Oh, that's beautiful. It's, dude, and it was just something that I just journaling. I'm like, are you a point, aren't you? I'm not, but I feel like I've looked. Yeah.

It's funny. When I was in high school and middle school, oh, you can't write, you're not this. And I'm like, I think I can. Yeah. You know? Yeah. But, and that was just through my self-discovery. And I do believe that, right?

Because when you're so damn passionate about something, you know, and you attach that to a purpose-driven life, that time when you're not tired, you are going to maybe do that little bit of extra work, you know? And you're going to do it because you know it's something bigger than yourself, right? It's bigger than you. It's bigger than that moment. It's bigger than the little feeling of tiredness that you might be feeling. It's all valid. But reality is, you know, there's an extra little oomph inside of you to go do something big. So I think you found that.

You know, you found something that you're really passionate outside of your work, right, which you're also passionate as well for those reasons. But this gives a little bit of like a deeper meaning to it all. Yeah, and if I had the opportunity to leave my 9 to 5, I would like. Of course. It's a new nonprofit. We're operating more of a startup model. Exactly.

It's difficult. But I think the biggest satisfaction comes is like when you, you're doing on the ground projects and you hear, so we work with a lot of local partners, whether it be New York, Toronto, or Dhaka, or like in the remote regions of Bangladesh. You hear from them and someone calls you in the middle of the night because, of course, the time difference and they're like, we just distributed, you know, this many eight packages in this flood-prone area and people were underwater. You know, it's ridiculous stories that you hear every day.

And then they say they were so happy. They don't know you, but they just, you know, they were praying. for you. And, you know, like you're down, you're tired, but then you just get such a boost of the energy from, you know, just helping people who you don't know, who you'll probably never even see. Sometimes we can't even get photos from these places because they're so remote. True. But just knowing the fact that my extra effort or my sacrifice of a little bit of sleep or energy or going out with friends even is making a real impact, and that's what we want to do. Like, it's the social impact that we're being able to.

able to make. It's just an incredible, incredible motivation. And, you know, when you're dealing with mental health issues, just tying this back, it is important to get that validation. And I, and I don't say validation in a negative sense. I say validation in a very positive sense, that if you're making a meaningful change in someone's life, that's the biggest validation you can ever get for your life. Yeah. Right. The organization's name is, again, Bachelora, BL. I have a cap. It's all branded right now. But, yeah, so follow it. Our Instagram account is at B-A-C-H-A-R-L-O-R-A-I. We're doing good work where we just launched a fellowship program for youth around the world

so that they can learn how we've done non-profit work in a very global mobile way. Very cool. In a very, like, in a very dissociated way using the Internet as an important tool, as digital tools. And I think like if we can, you know, pass on the knowledge that we have to someone or build someone or help even just get a certificate to someone so that they can get a better job. Again, I'm not going to get anything out of it. It's not like the United States federal government

is going to give me a $100,000 check for that. I wish, I hope that happens. I'm not going to get that. But even if you can do that for someone else, I think that makes a lot of difference in your life. Absolutely. Yeah. It really is about giving to the next generation

and going back to what we were saying before, having that opportunity to give to people that are in need because we all know there's plenty of need in the world and it's essential. Outside of that, you said you had another venture. Yeah, one last thing. Yeah, before that, I'll relieve everyone of our conversation. But this is the last thing, which is like the last bit of sleep I had left or free time I had left, I decided to use it for something else.

I've been passionate about music all my life. I make music myself. I make electronic music. Nice. I'm less of a musician, more. of someone who's passionate about it. I have Spotify and everything. I've been playing instruments since I was in grade six.

But anyway, I've been music for a long time in my life. But this new opportunity came up last year with this new collective. It's called Bangla New Era. And Bangal is the language that we speak. But there's a huge younger population who listen to Bangal music, but the music that they have exposure to

is not necessarily the sounds that they can relate to. Okay. So again, as I was a music producer, but then I realized that I'm a communicator in my professional life, and I am a professional at the end of the day. And I was like, why don't I use my talents to push a platform that can get already established artists to the next level? Because again, I work with PR and media. And secondly, give a chance to a lot of talented artists who are upcoming. So Balan Ura is like an integrated.

platform that gives resources from everything from recording, distribution, music videos, support, advisory council, anything for young artists or upcoming artists in one holistic area. And also, we have Bangalana New Era Live, which is we do shows. I just had a show this weekend. Incredible turnout in New York City. I wish you were here. I would have brought you to the concert. So we just had a show.

There was about like 700 people. It was at a big venue in New York. We want to expand, absolutely, but we've had really big artists who from Bangladesh are now exploring new sounds so that they can cater to a younger population. We're launching two of the artists who are working with us, Musa and Sandjoy.

They're like huge upcoming artists. And they're both like, both of them are US-based. Like they weren't born in Bangladesh, they don't have any attachments to Bangladesh. But they're, of course, the one thing that unites them is the language, Bangla. So they have Bangla slash English songs, but the

sound is very American. So they're now introducing an electronic sound with Bangla, which has not been done before. Very cool. And that album's, the first song is dropping on the sixth, Karun, and the album is dropping the end of this month.

I've become heavily involved with them because of course these are amazing people. They're incredible artists and talents and I want to help them with the skills that I have. Again, I don't think I'll be making a lot of money, out of this. Yeah, I mean, we really never know where these things will take you. That's the crazy part about it. It's something that you enjoy. Yeah. And you, you obviously want to be a part of it, but you really don't know where it'll take you. That's the cool thing about it. And exactly.

And I think, again, just going back to what New York does, I don't think I would have had this opportunity if I didn't move to New York. But like doors like that have opened up for me. And I want to, I don't want to do it alone. I want to take people with me. Like, I'm going to promote the shit out of this podcast because I know you're doing something. something good. Like, I've talked to you, and I know that you're turning your trauma into something that's positive, not just for yourself, but for so many people who listen to you, like your whole audience. Again, we've talked about men and their vulnerabilities. It's not a lot of people who are talking about that, right? You have the Alpha Bro podcast, right? But they're not talking about men's

vulnerabilities necessarily, right? So you're doing something good, and I hope all of us can do something good as we take this to the next level, right? Because we're all young, we're all upcoming, we're hungry to do good, but we're also hungry to do good while making good impact. So I think it's important for us to stay focused on our mission. I want to stay focused on my ventures that I'm trying to do, whether it makes me money or not, but along with that, you know, take good people with me on the journey. Absolutely.

I love that. Yeah. So before we kind of wrap it up, I want to do like a quick little rapid fire question. Hell yeah, let's do it. And then you can give a closing statement. But first question, I got to ask you your favorite restaurant in New York City. Oh. See, I'm sorry.

I'm sure that's impossible, but if you could, even if it's like two or three. Okay, if someone was going to come, try 7th Street burger, Tompkins Square bagels. I'm just saying quintessentially New York things. I forgot the name on the pizza place. I'll tell you when I remember, but also Coca-Doc. So I said something of every tier, Coca-Doc, caramel fried chicken caviar. Yeah.

Yeah. Second question I'm going to ask you is, what does it mean to stay tranquil? Oh, I wish this was a rapid-fire question. But I think what... You're going to answer it in a long form. It's okay. Okay. Okay.

I think to stay tranquil, and I've been thinking Duolingo, so now I know much more Spanish. I like it. That bird gets. If you don't, if you don't hate you. Yo, my bird's been crying. I think to stay tranquil means to be empathetic again,

because if you're not empathetic about yourself and the people around you, whether it be like friends, family, co-workers, just, you know, someone random in the streets, if you're not empathetic towards their situation, you can't really stay tranquil. Tranquilo is a state of mind. And I think that state of mind doesn't require you to smoke some good

with Ganja, but it also requires you to have that mentality, which I guess Bob Marley also promoted. Marley is a big inspiration behind this. Oh, hell yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was originated from a little bit of Ganja and a little bit of Marley. Hell yeah, hell yeah. I'll say that. Like, it was a lot of inspiration at that time when I was going through what I was going through, I was like listening to a love a lot of Marley and reading, meditation.

I mean, there was a whole, but Marley was also. a big influence in this kind of just mindset and perspective and all that. So it's funny when people always bring up the Marley thing, I'm like, you get it. Yeah, that is what it means to stay tranquil. It's a state of mind. Like whether you smoke the ganja or not, right? Like, it's a state of mind where you're more accepting to things and you don't, try not to dwell in things that are negative, right?

Because life has enough negatives already. Like, why would you? Exactly, yeah. And if you could leave a sentence or a, a word, whatever that is for the people, what could you leave? I think it's not cliche,

but I started this podcast saying that humility was something that was ingrained in me to a level that's toxic humility. But I think one thing that my dad always told me is be happy with what you have and always aim to be the best at what you do.

I love that. You hit something there. It's like, be happy with what you have and going to the Bob Marley thing. You've probably seen the video where it's like, are you rich? And he goes, how do you define rich? He's like, do you have a lot of wealth?

Do you have money? He's like, that's rich? He's like, no, I don't, if that's rich, then I'm not rich. Right. But I am rich in life. I'm rich in happiness. I'm rich in joy. Yeah.

And I think that's really what people lose sight of sometimes. It's like, you could be pretty damn happy without a lot. Yeah. And you just got to. the people around you that you love and you're doing things that make you happy and surround yourself with the right people like you're going to find a lot of joy in your life yeah you can be ambitious and you can still be humble 100% you can there there is a there's a balance that you can hit and stay tranquil comes within that amen yeah well dude it's been a freaking blast

i appreciate it bro thank you so much again first part in new york was yeah awesome to say the So thank you again for the hospitality and being able to put this together. I'm glad we got to do it. So thank you very much. Fantastic. Where can people find you before we wrap it up? Absolutely. And of course, we'll tag everything as well.

Absolutely. I think for the people, I just want to leave one last word, which is it's just incredible. You know, being able to host Andre in the first New York podcast episode. I'm just incredibly honored because I think this podcast touches on something that is near and dear to me, which is staying empathetic, staying calm, staying quiet, and understanding and believing in people. If

you know, you want to do something good, there is always a way. You just have to find your way. Be ambitious, but also be humble. And I think try to do good all the time because that's going to take you down roads that you don't, you didn't

know existed. Stay in touch, everyone. I'm always free and open. Reach out to me, I'll respond. You can find me on LinkedIn, Tom and Khan, T-A-H-M-I-D, K-H-A-N. Find me on Instagram. It is at T-H-K-R-E-T-U-R-N-S. So T-H-K returns. That's my Instagram. Hit me up, let me know, follow me. I'll follow you back. You know, always down to connect. Always happy to stay tranquil. Yes, sir. I love it. Oh, thank you guys for tuning in for this. I hope you guys enjoyed the conversation. Definitely reach out. And if you have any questions or thoughts

from this podcast and this conversation, definitely let us know. Thank you again. And I'm excited for for, we'll probably do something like this again, I'm sure. So hell yeah. I'm excited. So thank you, man. Thank you so much, Andre.