5 bideshis on the loose in Dhaka 17/10/08

Today was the first day that we have been left to our own devices. Pretty risky, perhaps, because we’ve only been here five days, but I think we coped admirably.

It turns out lie-ins aren’t possible here, because it just gets too hot. So I had a fairly lazy morning, reading in bed and sweating. We decided to go to Rifle Square Market to sort yet more phone stuff out, and generally to see what it’s like. Hence, our first experience with public transport. The selection is diverse, and wholly unsafe, but very much fun. We picked CNG today because they’re slightly more anonymous than rickshaws, where it looks a little like you’re sitting on a throne, high above the masses, yet are also at the bottom of the pile in the transport food chain (except for pedestrians, who are fodder). CNG are like Thai tuk-tuks or Indian auto-rickshaws – motorised go-carts that bez along and zip into any available space in the heaving melee of traffic, honking their horns at random. The ride was great fun – it’s almost as cool as a/c, but you get to see much, much more.

Rifle Square Market, communicated to our driver in broken Bangla and some apparently universal hand gestures, turned out not to be the busy bazaar I’d imagined, but a flashy air conditioned mall. In the Grameen phone shop, we got into a conversation with some customers who first took our photos on their mobiles, then accused us of killing Princess Diana AND ruining all of Bengal through colonialism. I don’t know which was the bigger crime in their eyes. Martin and KR Mullah turned out to be really friendly, if a little crazy. They took us for very sweet coffee and singara (like samosas), and assured us that we would all be real friends forever now. KR Mullah can apparently help us wherever we are in Bangladesh because he is a big man in customs, which includes getting us whiskey and beer. I stored his card away safely for when things get tough.

That’s another funny thing about Dhaka – in that mall, if you’d changed the writing, you could have been almost anywhere in the world. Perhaps it was ignorant of me to think that you wouldn’t be able to find data cables here – but you can, and you can get them to fit almost any make of mobile phone. You can also buy a burger, fries and a coke from the fast food joints, and the complete series of almost any programme on TV. The fact that these can be bought for less than a fiver does suggest you’re not in London, but nevertheless…

One of the highlights of my day was when Laura decided to play bouncey ball with a kid in the mall. You should have seen the crowds it drew. I don’t think anyone knew what to make of a bunch of bideshis laughing as their overexcited friend tried vainly to bat this ball back to the kid, but everyone got involved in helping her out.

Not tempted by the fast food, we got street food for lunch, fresh from the boiling oil. Sitting in a tiny open-fronted room which contained only a fridge, a hob, a table and some chairs, there was no doubt we were in Bangladesh. The smiling young man who served us spoke no English, but we managed to order some more singara and some sugary puff-pastry concoction that, along with condensed milk char (tea), made the perfect lunch.

I’m definitely enjoying this life so far. Bangladesh is a very welcoming place, and it is certainly full of surprises. Considering I’ve only been here five days, I’m sure there’re a lot more in store. It still doesn’t feel real, the fact that this will be my life for the next year and more. I don’t know if I’ll ever get my head round it, until it actually happens. But I’m ok with that. Although it still feels a bit like a strange dream, it’s one I’m liking so far.