Not that Peter Evans...

Another one.

I’m back in Dhaka after a long time. It’s been humbling to hear of the bravery and sacrifice of those that rose up this summer, and energising to hear views on how to understand and wrestle with uncertainty, underlying challenges, and navigate the roads ahead.

Also a huge buzz to meet old friends in governments and think tanks and civil society that were such a big part of my work in the mid 2000s. They say I have not changed. Hey! I used to have hair.

But some levity… I am ‘not that’ Peter Evans because in Dhaka in 2006 I had a visit from some Japanese students who had - unexpectedly - asked to meet me - a middling governance adviser in DFID. This was odd. But flattering. When one of them said that I looked younger without a beard, and that she had really enjoyed my book, I realised what had happened - the wrong Peter Evans. Not that Peter Evans, the American Political Sociologist.

Well, it happened again today with a very senior figure. I needed no introduction… my reputation preceded me… oops.

I basked in the light of global renown, and nearly offered to sign the book, but then pulled back - I am just not that Peter Evans.