The streets of Bangladesh have countless stories to tell. And as the country goes into general elections on January 7, the air is filled with anticipation and retrospection. History has seldom been kind to Bangladesh. In the five decades since its liberation, the country has traversed the economic breadth as one of the fastest-growing in South Asia and at the same time, across political fences, has seen custodians of democracy transform into threats. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the Awami League looks to lock her fourth consecutive term and fifth overall, as Prime Minister, while the people of Bangladesh look at her as an ailing figment of a glorious revolutionary past, challenging the basic tenets of democracy. The legacy unsubtly bifurcates somewhere in the middle, tackling coats of varnish and stains -- perhaps only shielded by the family name.