Tunisia, Egypt, Now Persona, Dacca, Bangladesh

Persona stood somewhat as a celebrity icon for makeover in Dhaka, mostly because of its glossy association with some of the popular mainstream publication and broadcast media.



It is social networks. The medium of quick spread, quick responses and often quick conclusions. Let drop the ';conclusion'; part.



Ben Ali';s regime in Tunisia, which stood for over twenty four years, was brought down in a month long movement, by mostly young Tunisians, earlier in this year.



Hosni Mubarak';s regime in Egypt, which stood for over thirty years, was brought down in months long movement, again mostly by young Egyptians, in this year.



The pattern of both the movements, fatal to their trigger happy regimes and to some 1,100 people in the two countries as well, apart from their perhaps different political elucidation, was significantly derived from two words very illustrious nowadays-



Social Networks



…and Persona, considerably the country';s most acclaimed makeover salon at the moment, is the latest and perhaps the worst victim of these two words in Bangladesh, so far.



It was not social networking that brought Ben Ali or Mubarak down. It was their notoriously authoritative rule, zero tolerance to political oppositions and rampant corruption by them as well as their family members.



So in case of Persona too, it was not the social networks alone.



The incident, as reported in numerous media, originated from a camera, appeared to be hidden, was discovered by a female customer (I am not sure if Personal has in fact any male customer).



The customer, not named in the media but identified in the blogosphere as a doctor working for a private hospital, called in her husband after discovering the camera, who called in the police.



The incident took place at the Personal outlet in Dhaka';s Banani on Friday, standing, as this piece is being written, at the seizure of the camera as well as the salon';s storage by the police.





Persona explanation and questions



Media reported some explanation of the Persona authority. We do not know about the questionnaire, but we assumed them to be as shown below, though a lot still remains as questions.



Question: What was the camera meant for?

Explanation: It was part of the salon';s security.

Then: Who on earth heard of CCCs in change rooms?



Question: Why the camera was pointed at the customers in change rooms?

Explanation: It was a mistake of some electrician.

Then: What kind of a mistake could specifically point a camera at the change rooms for women? In Bangladesh we have female Prime Ministers, but not female electricians, is not it?



The news of Persona in one word ';flooded'; the Bangladeshi social network throughout Facebook, Twitter etc. like at Friday night.



It appears that the reputation of Persona is at a stake. I asked at the first paragraph to drop the ';conclusion'; part. But this part may play a major role behind this ';demise of reputation';, and if that happens, it will ignore a set of questions that should be placed before both Persona and a probe behind the heinous incident, if taking place.