Wednesday 31 July 2013

Newsletter 16...... 27th Sept. 2004


Not wanting to be photographed a village life...
 
Here are 21 good reasons for not returning to Bangladesh, the local’s irritating bad habits:
 
  1. Picking their nose.
  2. Peeing in public.
  3. Spitting which starts from the age of 2 and forever clearing the throat, which starts when the mass of public reaches adulthood, and there are millions of them around making worse noises with their throat then the crows in the mornings.
  4. Stand and stare (we the foreigners feel like being in the zoo most of the time when we are out and about minding our own business).
  5. Burp out loud.
  6. Eat pann (beetle nut leaf) all time, men and women have red sore mouths and lips ( pan causes cancer).
  7. Saying “yes’ to everything under the sun, moon and the stars.
  8. Having ten conversations with ten different people at the same time and digesting very little, obviously!
  9. Yawn in company!
  10. Men scratching their groin area and their bottom all time.
  11. Tell you all about their ill health.
  12. Walking without picking their feet.
  13. Tell you all about healthy eating but also tell you every day that they are ill.
  14. A complete stranger will ask you “where you are going”.
  15. A complete stranger will ask you “what you are carrying in your bag”.
  16. Clean their ears and pick their teeth in public when there is nothing else to do, which is most of the time!
  17. Eat with mouth open.
  18. Crack hand knuckles in public.
  19. Tell you all about themselves and never listen to what you have to say.
  20. Give the foreigners an instant celebrity statue especially if you are blue eyes and blond.
  21. Finally as you all know the foreigners’ daily headache again and again is the same old questions: what is your name, are you married, have you produced your first son.
 
Time will tell if I am back in April 2005. However my immediate plan is to leave Bangladesh by the end of September. My first port of call will be Coventry, my home city, to surprise one of my favourite niece (who have not invited me yet) to her wedding day on 2nd of October. Then fly to India to attend a planed wedding feast for another niece on 23rd October. After these two weddings I shall start my travel until April 2005. You will get e-mail from me from time to time saying “wish you were here” or “wish I was at home”.
Finally in few words you may want to know what have I got to say about my year in Bangladesh?
A lot! But in few words, I can say I have been through the mill. I have experienced very very very good times when most of you envied me, I have been through the bad times too when you all stood by me, and I also managed to squeeze in awfully ugly times when some of you were ready to bail me out!
Many many thanks, in fact one lakh times( i.e. 100000 as the Bangladeshi would say ) for keeping me company throughout my time here. I don’t know what would I have done without your support, probably curl up and die!
Love,
Davinder   x 

Newsletter 15...... 15th Sept.2004


Village house

It’s hot, hot, hot here in August in my little Net………. Since I prefer to walk whenever I can, I’m sweating buckets all the time! The sweat pours down my face, gets into my eyes, causing pain, making walking difficult but I still continue to walk when ever I can. Have I gone mad? Yes you might be right! With all the windows and doors leading to my bedroom firmly shut (to keep all the would be burglars and hunky uninvited sweaty body away…….dream on! ) I sleep with just a white sheet on my body and the overhead fan in full blast, I still feel the sweat pouring down my body on to the towel underneath me. When the power is off in the middle of the night, my bedroom is like a furnace and I feel myself slowly suffocating in my bed. The only way out is to use a hand fan to keep myself cool until such time as the power is switched on and the overhead fan starts to do its job again. It’s bloody hot here and there is nothing I can do but to suffer. However, I know Sister Barbara’s colleagues in Chittagong areas endure more suffering then I can ever dream of. They refuse to have fans in their humble residents and every other year they suffer from malaria but regardless of all the hardship they endure they still continue to obey the Lord and carry on the good work for which they believe they have been sent here, what dedication.

 I am now coming to the end of August and my two months trail period has been fruitful. The Boss is happy, she loves me again and she has even allowed me to leave at the end of August so that I can work in Dhaka for the whole of September. Lady Jane and Fiona who desperately want me out of Net……… so that they can move into my flat, have finally got their wish come true. I have saved enough from my salary to buy four sewing machines and also donated the whole of my September salary for the flood relief. That’s my good deed of the year out of the way, you might say the biggest bribery of the year and you might be right.

I can now concentrate on my life away from Net……….. My plan is to work for my NGO, rather then any other in Dhaka for a month before starting my travel for the following six months. I have accepted Inga’s offer to stay with her in her penthouse provided I do all the cooking, the offer which I could not refuse. My Boss has asked me to return to Net……… in April 2005 to start the work on vegetables dyes, when Lady Jane will have left Bangladesh and hopefully the planet, forever and ever!  I have accepted the offer and I can hear you all shouting “you must be mad!!” Yes I have gone insane and fallen head over heal in love with Bangladesh.  However, there are several more reasons for returning to my beloved Net………. I have yet to for fill my own personal ambition; I love the girls who work for me and also those who work with me. I owe to the German NGO who have kept roof over my head by paying for my flat and provided the food on my plate by paying my monthly allowance, but most importantly I owe it to them for providing me with five dream bhais to fall in love with. To be able to complete my second year will be good career move to work in the developing world, the path I want to follow for the rest of my life, may be? The final reason for accepting an offer of the job in April is obvious; I need a job to keep my self out of trouble and why not in shitty Bangladesh!

 Sue, Peter and Jake have all left for England in August and out of the three Jake was the one who fell out of love with Bangladesh. Sam is working for new NGO and is a happy bunny. I hear through the grape vine that Mike still hangs around in Bahga more then he hangs around in his NGO. I do see fair amount of darling John who still tries to impress me with his cooking talent and he is sharing his apartment with two young ladies who obviously have him under their total control.

 My next newsletter will be the final one from Bangladesh until such time as I return here again, that is if the Boss has not changed her mind, any thing is possible when one is working for the Queen of Net………..
Love,
Davinder   xxx    

Newsletter 14........ 15th August 2004


Poster painted ( Bollywood style) by local artist of my German friends and me
 
I am sure you all know that Bangladeshi people have intense dislike for President Bush. The American embassy here in Dhaka is a heavily guarded war zone area and the American club (near the hotel I often go for my retreat) is always protected by half a dozen guards armed to their teeth. The Bangladeshi are not very keen to have the Americans on their soil but there are about 60 volunteers twenty something ( known as Peace Corp.) spread around the country to promote love and peace which they have all brought from America. For obvious reason the Bangladeshi are not in love with Mr Blair either and just about tolerate the English volunteers and there are about 40 of them (I always claim to be an Indian when it suits me) scattered around the country. Believe it or not the Bangladeshi people have placed Hitler on a pedestal and are waiting for Hitler like Bangladeshi to rule their badly corrupted country. My German bhais (only 5) are always given, to their embarrassment, a hero’s welcome wherever they go! 

 Why only 5 volunteers, well a very small German NGO who has been working in Bangladesh for over 20 years supports them. Every year they send a small team of young people( 20 to 30 years of age) to work in this country and lucky for me this year they discharged 5 hunky toys to play with and boys to have fun with. All have or had a base in Dhaka and work or have worked in the outskirts of the country as well. I am lucky to have young golden boy Peter, you know a lot about him already and to add to his fame he is also a karate expert. He is my constant companion especially when I want to go out at night to a Hindu puja (prayers....we have been to 2 magical one) or the local cinema which we have decided NOT to attend EVER since it is full of pseudo sadomasochism (if you don't know what it means try a Bangla movie next time you are here) and violence! We know now why the fundamentalists want to blow up the cinema halls in Bangladesh. Peter opted out of National Service at home to work in this country and he has no regrets. He speaks Bangla better then my Hindi, shame on me!

Neil, wild young stud and beautiful to look at, drove overland from Germany with two females to India and dumped his companions and the vehicle in India so that he could work in Bangladesh. Neil had a short life here, once he crossed the border to visit India in February, he was not allowed back into Bangladesh. He is currently driving alone overland back to Germany and the last we heard from him was from Afghanistan, still alive and kicking. Then there was Julian , longhaired hippy of modern day. He has finished his 8 months in Bangladesh and is currently trekking back to Germany via Russia and China. Then my very own special adorable and handsome Nicklos bhai who has finished his 8 months and is back in Germany missing us all, I hope? We are certainly missing him. Nicklos hoped in and out of Net……… for 4 months and use to brighten my dinner parties with his presence. He became my special choto bhai because he endured a lot of my pain (via e-mail) whilst my own little brother was on his deathbed. I will remember him on "rakhi” day on 30th August (special sister's day for her brother, which is an Indian custom, and Nicklos knows about it). I have named my frog Nicklos because like Nicklos he (I still think it is he) keeps hopping in and out of my home but never has the courage to turn into a prince!

                                             Bollywood poster on the back of a rickshaw
                                             

 Finally a late comer, but worth waiting for, is drop dead gorgeous Kirk who said his final farewell to his girl friend on the shores of Thailand so that he can work in Bangladesh. He became an instant heartthrob of my NGO female staff and envy of all the male staff here because they think he looks like super star cricket player Imran Khan. Personally I feel that if Kirk, who has black hair and a beard, and if he wore a turban and a long robe he would be easily taken for one of the merry men of Bin Laden. Kirk's three days with me were exhausting but full of fun to say the least. At the order (she always orders everyone) of my Boss I had to give Kirk my spare room for the first night, which was a pleasure. The next morning I had to give him his breakfast, which was even more of a pleasure, then show him the bright lights of Net……… whole day Friday, nurse his sore feet and escort him to a wedding feast and finally feed him again in the evening. I made sure the evening was accompanied by few candles and red wine to finally live my dream if only for one night. Kirk will be hopping in and out of Net………. for the next 4 months and we are all looking forward to his next visit.

 I am good to my German bhais, not only because they are good to me but also because they belong to NGO (though very small in size) who do a great deal of work to help the people of Bangladesh. They have pumped a great deal of money to have a new craft building installed this year and given lots of more money to equip each craft section with new facilities so that the work force ( which are all my working young girls) can work in a better environment. However things are not moving, as I like them to move and unfortunately the internal feuds are still going on and I feel I shall be leaving a new shining sinking ship.

 So much talk about my German bhais. They all have long life ahead and I am sure they will make the most of life on this planet. Going back to the life in the flooded Net………., I did volunteer to help out with relief work on my day off. I waited for ten hours with the team of relief workers before I was marched to the nearest village, (which is about 5 minutes walk from my house) so that I can hand out food parcels to the needy. Next Friday is definitely going for a rest day in Dhaka with some of my bhais and apas, I think I deserve it.  
Love,
Davinder x

Newsletter 13. ( SOS)...... 27th July 2004


Over flooded river in the village
It's wet, wet, wet here in my little Net……..!!! The worst rainy season for over 10 years has caused floods everywhere including around my region. The worst affected areas are still in the south however my region in the North has been hit by the heavy rainfall too and it is getting relief from the Government which is always very little and from us which is always not enough. Currently most of the young girls who work for the NGO live in mud huts and their homes are either melting away as the water is rising or they are living day in day out in water, which is sometimes up to their waist. Most often they cannot cook food and they are provided with a bag of dried rice to live on. My girls have been given a week off from work but some to them insist on coming to work because it is safer then living a day of misery at home. What a life it must be to have this tragedy inflicted on them. Only few months ago we were coming to terms with the aftermath of carnage left behind by the hurricane. It has not been a good year for my dream little Net……… .

 I have been lucky enough to have my accommodation on the first floor, however my 7 minutes walk to work has been badly hit by the floods, the water is increasing inch by inch on the road to my work. Walking through the rainy water has been fun at first (reminded me of my childhood days in Africa), but we have been warned about all the infection and illness, which is common in the dirty water of Bangladesh. I have now stopped being a silly little girl paddling through the rain water living my childhood days, instead I am acting my age and getting a lift from the passers’ by working for the NGO who make their daily journey to work by rickshaws. Why I don't hire my own rickshaw? Well currently, I am living on a very tight budget, saving for the sewing machines ( as you all know) and now this flood relief and I feel that you can also tighten your belt by sparing a penny or two, with help from your family and friends. If you can, the money will be greatly received and will help my girls to eat and have their homes mended once the water has receded from their houses.

If you can help please send a cheque (worth enough so that it is worth writing it) to me at the following address:  Mrs D.K. Richards

                                           c/o   114................. Road

                                                   Cheltenham .............

 Please send me an e-mail telling me how much you have donated, correct amount please I don't want to bankrupt my bank balance yet, I have a long journey to make ahead of me, and you know all about it and you all want me to do it, that is if I am still alive on this planet tomorrow? Once I hear from you I will be able to withdraw the appropriate amount out of my account here in Dhaka. I do hope you can all trust me because the post here is very untrustworthy and it takes a long time.

 A German NGO have send to Net…….., another of their volunteer to work for few days, helping with the relief work and for him to send reports and photos back to Germany for raising funds. He is drop dead gorgeous Kirk bhai and I have the pleasure of his company for three days and I shall tell you about the German NGO and my 5 German bhais in my next Newsletter.

Love,    Davinder xx

Tuesday 30 July 2013

Newsletter 12......14th July 2004


My Friday walk outside the village
 
The battle has begun, it’s the good versus the evil ! We represent the good girls’ brigade. We are, the team of lovely Roxanna , Sahana, Shefali, Molly and Polly, supported by me. We lead our trade and marketing section, which comprises of batik, block printing, sewing, embroidery, and bamboo, all of them have technical assistants to organize the making of the products by 70 young trained girls and they provide the finished products in our sales room to be sold there. Further more we are also supported by the whole of top management team which is made of the Boss and her right hand man, Ali, who is not only a ‘prick’ but looks like one too!

 The bad girl’s brigade is led by tyrant Mrs Khan, supported by the old bag Lady Jane (who is getting older by the day) and they are both in charge of training the young girls and the supervisors in their chosen craft for one year before the girls become part of our property the following year. All the girls are selected from very poor families and if you want to read more about them and we now have own web site, thanks to Peter, the Boss’ golden boy, the address of our site is www.<<<<<<<<<<.org

 Now that the internal feud between my lovely Roxanna and Mrs Khan has been sorted for the time being and I am in the clear, our team is running very smoothly with a smile on their faces. This makes me very comfortable but I have bought some extra comfort for the next two months by using one of the old fashioned tools the NGO’s love best that is bribery! No I have not become a corrupt woman like the rest of the nation but my bribery money of £120 has been used for buying three sewing machines that were desperately needed for our sewing girls. Lady Jane raised £280 with the help of her family back home and bought 7 sewing machines last year for her training section, so the least I could do was to part with some of my hard earned wealth for a good cause. To part with the total of £120 I have decided to tighten up my belt and live on half of my salary that is £ 40 per month for the next three months’ payments. I have also decided to give up some of The Gulshan high society of Dhaka whenever I am visiting the city. So NO more exclusive French meals or five star hotel treatment, instead I shall book my self in YWCA which is only £2  per day and hopefully get fed by my friend Sister Barbara if and when I am desperately hard up ? By the way, Sister Barbara has been living here for over 30 years and still speaks English with a beautiful Irish accent and has been very supportive and is on my mailing list for the Newsletters and enjoys reading them.

 I hear through the grapevine that obnoxious Fiona was after my job and been plotting to over throw me with the help of Lady Jane no doubt. Fiona has made herself unpopular not only with me but also the whole of the village’s landlord who have turned against her. No body is willing to give her a roof over her head and she is still living with Lady Jane in her spare room and paying rent to the NGO,  I wonder for how long.


Lady Jane is busy with training her young girls for the end of year graduation day and she plans to invite the British high commissioner for the big end of year fashion day too. She is doing very little to help me with my vegetable dyed yarns, so I have decided to look for another supplier in order that I can fulfil my own ambition, that is get some work done for my exhibition in the West.

 Do I have any Western friends left in my lovely Net………, yes, of course, the young and sweet ( but not so innocent anymore since he is now 21) Peter and Tim ( when he not in the company of obnoxious Fiona). Two midwives from Norway with a little 4 years old girl have recently landed in Net………. and they will be living not very far from me, I can see them being my good neighbours I hope.

My boss has apologized to me for shooting me first and asking me questions afterwards. But that is how most of Bangladeshi people operate, so I have nothing to forgive? Anyway I am once again her blue-eyed girl and she has extended my stay but I am counting my days when I will leave by the end of August, hopefully with good heart and smile on my face?

Once again I am dreaming my life away about my journey to India, which will be in October (for a family wedding)and then to Sri Lanka, across to Vietnam and then hopefully to little Island off Australia called King Island, where I hope to meet up with member of my husband’s  family. I plan to return to England by April 2005. Those who have been asking about the state of my home in Cheltenham, I guess, since I keep receiving the rent, it must be in good health.

 My tablas days were over after three lessons. Why, well I couldn’t just invite any Ali, Rashid or Halim into my lonely flat so I was having the tabla lessons from a Hindu chap recommended by my NGO. Unfortunately the 3 lessons I had were without the presence of Peter or Fiona and my tutor was always accompanied by his friends who wanted to chat and have a drink of wine when and if it was available. There are 5 empty bottles on display in my house and my wine is only meant for my selected few guests who happen to be from the West or those know the western drinking habits. One of the local guests has been my Boss who loves a glass but she like millions of other Bangladeshis drink alcohol behind closed door!
My bicycle days with Peter were over a long time ago after I fell off ( almost into a mucky pond) on one cold foggy night, however I still take 2 minutes motor cycle ride offered by the NGO male staff, only because they will not take ‘ No’ for an answer. I hope one day I shall fall off and crack my skull and then they will stop asking me for a ride.

 My Friday mornings one hour walk in the rain, by the river through the villages which are sheltered by bamboo, banana and beetle nut trees is still magical time for me when I can think and plan my life in the presence of beautiful landscape at my feet. Life is sometimes so beautiful that it is worth living for another day……..with this note I shall sign off now and hope tomorrow will be good to you and me too.
Love,
Davinder x 

Newsletter 11......14th June 2004



Back in the village life
Believe it not but my dream here in Net……… is turning into a nightmare, in fact my very own Greek tragedy indeed!!!

I arrived in Dhaka at 6 am Thursday 10th June and by 8.30 am I was in VSO office to report back my return from England. Over a cup of tea, VSO supervisor told me that my Boss does not want my services anymore, why? I could not believe what I was hearing? Of course I was waiting for the day when my head would be on the chopping block but I didn't expect it to be so soon? Surely not after my sad news, surely the Bangladeshi (like the Indians) have 40 days of mourning period, surely we the foreigners have feelings for our dearly departed too? How insensitive, how cruel and how dare the dragon awakes to stab my back when I was her blue eyed girl up to the date I left for England. Well the truth is, this is reality in Bangladesh and I have seen it happen to the local people and why I should have special treatment.

To forget about my ordeal, I decided to spend two days in Dhaka letting my hair down with my German and English bhais, my Aussie and Bangladeshi apas and returned to Net……… on 13th to face the music.

The advice from the VSO office was to return and confront my Boss and my lovely designer Roxanna who happened to be the one carrying the bloody knife! I shall never really know the truth about my intended dismissal ( because the Bangladeshi small minds says " yes" to everything under the sun), however I gathered from those I confronted, that there is a power struggle going on within the craft section . This has caused many feuds (which, in the past I have been ignoring them) and consequently the work had suffered, the craft section is making a loss and getting rid of me would have saved money and the sinking ship. In my opinion it is a very short-term solution and the ship is sinking very rapidly with or without me in it. The bigger picture of power struggle can be seen every day within the Bangladeshi government where stabbing and killing of prominent politicians is gradually bringing down the country to its knees.

 Anyway back to the important thing, that is my life in Net………, I argued my case and bought  time and been given until end of August to prove my self worthy of my services here. With time on my hand I plan to carry out my own vegetable dyed yarn work in Dhaka and leave my lovely little Net…….. without a knife on my back but a smile on my face. Time will tell me if I am successful or not.

Other news: Lady Jane has been away in England for almost six weeks and on her return she was very ill for a week. Fiona and I have been nursing her, she will be back at work soon which means that the battle between her and my Boss will resume. When it does starts I hope to have left the country. Fiona had a big disagreement with her girls from the sheltered home, and she is now homeless. She and her two cats are now camping at Lady Jane's home, who does not like cats and we (that is I and Peter) are wondering how long this new lifestyle will last. Fiona, who was once my trusted friend, has been very obnoxious to anyone who gets in her way, so for this reason Peter and I have decided to keep our distance from her. Poor, poor, poor, Tim has been busy with obnoxious, bossy Fiona (by the way Fiona wants to work for the USA State Dept. when and if she ever grows up) making a film on child labour in Net………. which we are yet to see?

 The monsoon season is not as bad as I expected, perhaps worse is yet to come but I am enjoying walking in the rain? My flat has been given a good clean by a hired cleaner for one hour and I managed to get rid of all the dead cockroaches. However there are lots of other insects including spiders that come and go out of my flat without asking me. During the raining season the grasshoppers have died down but I cannot get rid of millions of ants that invade my home and the woodworms that are gradually eating away my wooden doors, windows, and the table. A lovely frog always seem to find his ( I think it is HE) way in and out of my kitchen everyday and I hope one day soon he will turn into a handsome prince and take me away. My constant companions are the geckos who keep the population of spiders and other insects at bay. This is no joke when I write that, having no interest in sleeping with the geckos who speak very different language to me, I found two gecko eggs at the bottom of my bed and on my return to Net……….. these eggs have hatched and I have two little babies roaming around the flat!   

 Finally I am grateful for all those who shared my sadness of life with me and I must admit it does not go away that quickly, I am still very sad.

Love,
 Davinder xxx

Newsletter 10.......6th June 2004

My little brother when he was only five?

 
 Death is one thing we all know for sure, will knock on every door, some day or one day? We can’t escape death and nor could my choto bhai. My choto bhai was not in any way younger then me but he was known as little brother because he was the youngest of my three brothers (who are all older then us 3 sisters). So being the youngest, my choto bhai was cheeky, he behaved like a little monkey most of time and I remember he would pick on me because I was the only one (out of the 3 sisters) who would fight back! When he was young he was my handsome, lovely, fabulous, and gorgeous choto bhai who led wild life and was crazy enough to elope with a local gipsy girl with sky blue eyes and flaming red hair!

 One would think that silly thing called ‘fate’ would have chosen a romantic path of gipsy life style for my little brother? No, no, no, silly cruellest fate decided to inflict my choto bhai with unimaginable downhill path, making sure he finishes in a cesspit. My little brother’s fate gave him a drink or two and he became an alcoholic, got kicked out of his home, lost the love of his family and became a waste of space on this planet for almost 25 years. My choto bhai finally decided enough is enough and left the planet on May 22nd and I arrived by his bedside, a day late to simply touch his pitiful cold body. I shall desperately miss my once a handsome, lovely, fabulous, and gorgeous choto bhai.

 I shall be leaving England and returning to my little Net…….. on 10th June , I need Net……… more then ever! I miss Bangladesh, I miss my English and German bhais, my Bangladeshi apas and most of all I miss my pit latrine?

Love,

Davinder x

Newsletter 9 ..... 9th May 2004


Enjoying the village life

It's Friday 30th April and it is my day of rest. I am in a small village, not very far from my home  visiting a friend's family who have given me my after breakfast snack ( fruit and then curried pasta) , fed me my lunch ( dal, subji that is curried vegetables and rice) and then let me sit outside underneath the shade of a Jack fruit (massive funny looking fruit which are currently in season and the taste of the fruit is even more unusual, it ends up  in your mouth like a chewing gum). Here it is peaceful, I can write a little, dream a little, read a little and watch the world of rickshaws go by on a busy road opposite me. There is a river running alongside on the other side of the road, the morning washing is drying out on the side embankment and some bathers are still dipping in and out of the dirty, filthy water in order to get themselves cleaned? Just when I was enjoying the peace and the tranquillity of the countryside I got bitten by a huge red ant, unlike African one, I thought the Bangladeshi big ants were my friends, not the case? My peace is further disturbed by a crowd who have gathered around  to ask the usual questions: what is your name, what is your country, how many sons? " Get lost" or " piss off" or even stronger words like " F....off " will all fall on deaf ears, so I call my hostess for help!

 Those of you who wish to have more then 15 minutes of fame (esp. those with fairer skin, blue eyes and blond hair), Bangladesh is the place to be. You will be followed around, become a celebrity overnight and you will always be remembered.

 April for me was a month of important dates and events. Starting with my wedding anniversary, 5th and then 9th was not only date for Good Friday but also my husband’s birthday. I did make a huge effort for him , to attend a church for the morning mass in Mymensingh (another shitty city an hour ride from my home where the fundamentalists blew the local cinema few years ago). As always things did not go as planned. I had gone to a friend's home in Mymensingh, the night before and had to share a room with her sick granny. Poor granny spent most of the night going to the loo, which meant I did not get any sleep, which further meant that I did not wake up until 8 am, the time for me to attend the mass. When I did get ready to leave the house, I could not even step outside because the road outside was flooded. It had been raining all night. I finally made it to the church at 10 am and on my own I said few words to the God and left Mymensingh in a hurry because there was another storm on it's way and I wanted to get home in one piece instead of few broken once.

 I heard via e-mail that my sick brother whose birthday falls on the 20th, made it to his big ' SIX O ' and had a bite of his first ever birthday cake; congratulations dear bhai! Then it was my birthday and many thanks for those who remembered, total of 3, what a sad life I must be living ? Perhaps you are right, but it has nothing to do with not being remembered on my birthday. However I need to tell you, that I never make a public announcement of my big day. That is not because I am losing my memory with age but for me celebrating birthday is a very much a Western tradition which I refuse to adopt. How boring, you may be right again?

 The date which has very little to do with my personal life but will be remembered by me for a long time is of course 14th April 2004. After the first 2 days of just observing the relief work with Oxfam, I had joined the team to give them my own helping hand. The whole of my NGO had come to a standstill and therefore there was no work for me to do anyway. Helping to cut 2000 plastic sheets for tents was one thing which needed lots of hands and then distributing kitchen utensils, oil, sacks of grain, soap, hurricane lamps, matches, and believe it or not sanitary towels. For good 5 days I joined the team in the field where the baking sun heat reached 40 degree C (100 F) most of time and working in that sort of heat was no fun. The transport for getting the team to the field was either on the motorbikes, or one of those pick up trucks with white flag flying in front, which we have all seen on TV. I once managed to get a lift on heavy truck known as juggernaut and that was the experience not to be missed, however my Bangladeshi girl friends would not be seen dead in them? What a boring life they must lead?


 For good few weeks, disaster area became a tourist attraction and hundreds of people came from far away to simply look at the carnage and also cause a lot of traffic problems. At the time of disaster, there was also the local election and main roads were often blocked by hundreds of men marching up and down, promoting their candidates. They had very little time for our white flag or our emergency supplies for the needy. Our lunchtime was like a picnic time for me (the only time I shall have a picnic without the immediate crowd gathering to ask the usual questions). We would all huddle together, under the shade of one tiny canvas tent and feed our hunger but we were always watched by more so hungry people who had walked for miles to get their bag of rice.

 Oxfam have asked me to write about my experience for possible publication and I have put lots of questions, which have bothered me about the relief work. Things like how useful were the plastic sheets on the 18th when it rained so badly that we feared for our own lives? The villagers were given lots of kitchen stuff, but where was the kitchen in the plastic sheet? Were sanitary towels ever going to be used? The villagers were provided with a small bag of bleaching powder, which we would never allow it to be used in UK. At the same time they were also given a bag of purification water substance and it looked very similar to the bleaching powder, was it wise? Lots more questions and I will need to carry out case studies to assess the effectiveness of the relief work and report back. I am waiting for Oxfam for their approval?

 Finally, I am grateful for those who felt that my death wish should be delayed because I have greater appetite for life on this planet, so if that is the case I shall hang around in my little Net………. a little longer for more of those near miss experiences, my India and Sri Lanka can wait?        
Love,

Davinder xx                                

Newsletter 8 ...... 5th April 2004


Sun set in the village , Bangladesh

It is 5th April, I got married on that date 9 years ago and the sun was shinning then  but today here the power was switched off all day at work and now it is off again at home too. We had our early morning rainstorm and late at 5 pm I had to find shelter for an hour or so in the bazaar to avoid being hit by hailstones and drenched by buckets full of rain. With hot weather on its way, strong winds and dust accompanied by thunder and lightening are every day events we have to endure. The real monsoon , I am told will not start until June/July , I am thinking of emigrating to the West since life here is not all full of sun, sandals and T shirts any more!

 Of course with no electricity at work, it is always a very good excuse not to work at all, however Bangladeshi people (esp. those who work for NGOs and therefore largely supported by outside donors), don’t need such an excuse because they openly admit that talking and gossiping is part of their culture and while they are carrying on with their idle gossip there is therefore very little time left to work. My designer Roxanna is a good example to study. I sometimes feel that she has chosen a wrong profession, with her good looks and charm she will do well in an escort agency. Since Bangladeshi love to chatter, the dead lines for any work are never met in my NGO. At the current rate of progress we are making with our new vegetable dyed yarns, I feel I will be here for another 10 years. If nothing else it will keep me out of mischief for few years or so?

 I have now survived 6 months in Bangladesh without getting seriously ill or seriously homesick. Life has started to slow down and I am already planning my next major break in June/July perhaps to Sri Lanka or back to my beloved India? However, I cannot stop dreaming about the reservation I have made for three days of luxury holiday in October to the Kingdom of Bhutan. Why only three days? Well the King of Bhutan has decided to levy a heavy tax of $ 200 per day, which includes hotel bills, on the all-western tourists who wish to see his beautiful land. If I can prove my Indian identity, or get an illegal Bangladeshi passport (which is easily available on the streets of Dhaka but who wants to be a proud owner of Bangladeshi passport anyway?) I can get to Bhutan free! I have not the courage to break the law, so I am willing to pay the heavy duty so that the Kingdom of Bhutan is always reserved for those who do not wish to over run the land with the Western ideals and values. 

 Bangladeshi people look upon India as their “Big Brother” and are very proud of the fact that India came to their aid to gain their independence 35 years ago. I am always very proud to admit to them that I am an Indian, born Hindu (there is a big Hindu population here) and I just happen to live most of life in England. Those who can afford to send their children to private schools in India certainly do so and they also use the private hospitals provided by India and used by the West. The Bangladeshi are very proud to sell you goods made in India , Hindi movies are very popular too, together with fashion and like the Indians, vanity plays a great part in the every day life of the Bangladeshis. Almost all the men and the women want to look for ever young and beautiful and they continue to dye their hair black when they are well in to their 70s. The Western men find it unbelievably funny to see old men with henna coloured hair and orange beard, old aged Punk still lives on in this small land with many faces. I find it difficult to explain to my Bangladeshi girlfriends that I want to get old ‘gracefully’. Looking young and finding a husband is not on top of my list of things to do in this life. However, my grey hair and my age is no barrier when it comes to finding a toy boy. No matter how much I try to look like a Bangladeshi girl, there is a bit of me which will be ‘forever foreign” and therefore I am always followed by young men for no apparent reason other then I am a female, foreign, and must be available for an idle gossip. I have acquired a burke (a veil) which I have yet dare to wear and see the result? We girls have a hard life with men here, however the foreign men (esp. those living in the rural areas) have even harder time with the women of Bangladesh. For example, Tim who was brought up on the Beaches of California with doll like females practically naked, had a complete culture shock when he arrived on the shores of Bangladesh.  He spends most of his spare time discussing with his mates how best to unveil the ladies in their burkes, salwar, kameez and saris but never ever manages to achieve his desired wish because he cannot even get near them to have an idle gossip or two. 



 Did I say earlier on that life has slowed down here in my little Net……… ? Well not from 14th April? An important date for Bangladesh, as it is the date set for celebrating the Bangladeshi New Year, not 2004 but 1411 to be precise! I planned to spend 3 days, including the New Year in Dhaka. Whilst I was in the big city, living the life of luxury and seeing the new year with my three hunky German ‘ bhais’ ( brothers) , our very own hostess, Bangladeshi beauty, Sara ‘ apa’ ( sister ) and thousands of others on the streets of Dhaka, poor, poor Net……….. was in mourning.  Net………. had its first major tornado on 14th and only 5 km. from my home. It had destroyed thousands of homes, and the death toll is yet to be confirmed. On 17th April I was able to visit the aftermath of the effected areas. All I could see were shacks like houses flattened, concrete houses did not survive either and tin roofs crumbled like foil paper. The massive big trees uprooted completely and I have been told that bodies of people, without their limbs have been recovered from the branches of the trees. There were hundreds and hundreds of people weaving through the paddy fields, either looking for their loved ones or like me paying homage to the destruction of life which was there only few days ago. A small token of aid from the Government has arrived and so have all the VIPs, including the PM have been and gone. My NGO, with the help from Oxfam has been busy distributing food and water in the first few days .

On 18th April I had the privilege to accompany a team of Oxfam workers to one of the distribution centre where 200 homeless were given money, plastic sheets for shelter etc. My journey to the village was on the back seat of a motorbike and though my driver looked nothing like 007, he certainly rode the bike like James Bond. He whizzed in and out of the heavy traffic, through the muddy paddy fields, not knowing where he was going (which is not new here in Bangladesh), I wondered if I was ever going to reach my destination? After spending five hours in the village , distributing all what we could give away, we all had to make a hasty return journey to our homes because the wind, thunder and lightening were heading in our direction. We got caught up in a storm twice and had to look for shelter. I reached home completely exhausted, hungry and drenched but was pleased to be in the warmth of my own home. But what about those 1000s out there with their plastic sheets or nothing but the open sky?

 Since arriving in Bangladesh I sometimes feel that I have built immunity against the misery and death that surrounds me all the time. Since start of this year I have been sharing with my few friends my own sad news about my younger brother who is seriously ill back in England. I know that death is waiting for him on his doorsteps and the pain I should be feeling for my brother is being frozen in my heart until such time as I am called for his funeral.

 Life is so cruel sometimes and today all I want to do is curl up and die, preferably on the top of Mount Everest where nobody will find my body. Will the so-called God arrange that for me NOW? 
Love,
Davinder  xxx

Newsletter 7 .... 23rd March 2004


wash day in the village

Yes it was all hugs and xxx when I met up with my men in Dhaka. All the past has been forgotten and forgiven. Unfortunately Sam seem to have gone through a very bad time since he was posted outside Dhaka , million miles away from nowhere, in the coastal region. The place is full of drug addicts and prostitutes. His badly run NGO failed to pay his wages for the last 3 months and he ran out of his own money, thus living on very little. Lack of communication from the outside world including our head office in Dhaka meant that he was unable to reach for any help and with very little food to eat he had lost a lot of weight. I was very, very sad to see him looking so thin, especially since the night before our meeting Inga and I went out to an exclusive French restaurant and blew away equivalent of half of my salary on just two meals (£ 40). Life has been very cruel to sweet and kind Sam who is totally committed to his work in Bangladesh. John has promised to visit my very own Net……. for a night or two provided we don't fight over who is doing the cooking or washing, he has agreed to stop over in my spare room? He knows, there is always a guesthouse nearby, if life for two days with me gets unbearable. Mick who is always in Dhaka to meet up with love of his life, Sally (VSO member) is doing well, by doing very little other then hanging around in Bagha Club. From time to time, I do bump into Jake, Peter and Sue and they are all plodding on in Dhaka and they all promised to see me in Net…….. , when ? Jake has made use of his time here and been to Thailand and Nepal and Peter visited India over the New Year, Sue is still waiting for the right time to be liberated.

 Whenever I have to share my bed with lovely Roxanna, the film title “Sleeping with the enemy" immediately springs to my mind. Why? No, I have not given my heterosexual status. However, whenever I visit Dhaka, if I don't stay in my 5 star hotel or at Inga's penthouse, Roxanna often accompanies me to Dhaka and we have to stay a night or two with her relatives. It is an eastern tradition to make sure that the visitor is never left alone and  almost in all cases he or she is provided with a sleeping partner, of course always of the same sex! (Other then if you are visiting a brothel or you just managed to find your self in a room full of boys and girls and sneak in bit of fun under the sheets?). I have been brought up as a Sikh and history reminds me that the majority of the Sikhs, even to this day, will never eat ( never mind share the bed ) in a Muslim home. I am committing a sin! For centuries Muslims invaders from the Middle East have been India and converting Hindus, (majority of them of lower caste) to adopt Islam. The Sikh army formed 500 years ago fought back and sacrificed their lives to keep India for the Hindus. Good thing they did then, but today and tomorrow I continue to disobey my upbringing because I see Roxanna and all the Muslims I meet everyday are like ' me , ' you' and rest of the human race. History aside, I do actually enjoy having the sisterly “sharing of bed" with Roxanna or any other female, which is missing so much in the Western culture and I am ashamed to say with my own sisters back home in England.

 What do I do with my spare time when I am not entertaining or being entertained? Well beside, continuing to dream my life away, for my tall , dark and handsome hunk who will have my candle lit supper with me one evening , I spend great deal of my time writing , reading and listening to radio in Bangla only. I no longer employ any one to do my household work mainly because I have time on my hand. Every Friday, I do go down on my knees to clean my apartment, just the way my mother did in Africa. I wash my clothes and also do my weekly shopping before going out for a long walk Friday afternoons or I might go and visit Roxanna’s home. I now have luxury of a cup full of fresh milk every day which is brought to me from the local farm and from there I can also collect fresh vegetables and seasonal fruit. I continue with my morning yoga and skipping, which is keeping me fit. Now that the hot weather is on its way, we are all suffering power cuts through out the day and especially at night when we desperately need overhead fan to keep us cool and to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Things are going to get worse in May and June when the sun really hots up and sleeping will become unbearable. The water supply is also becoming scarce for the poor but lucky for me I have my own tank full of water all the time. My home is open to my friends like Fiona and Peter for free bathroom facilities. I have bought Indian drums (tabla) and plan to have lessons soon and Peter and Fiona are also joining me so that we can at least spend dark nights playing drums and making music to pass the nights away. We still meet up at my place once a week for supper and a gossip and now we have Tim every week, to entertain us with his knowledge of Hollywood movies ( he studied movies in USA). Life in the slow lane is sometimes very slow and sometimes so desperately slow that it is hard to kill time.

 My Boss has been away in the West for almost a month, raising funds for her NGO. It is very quite without her and I am getting on well with Lady Jane. So Lady Jane is forgiven for being a pain and she will have to stay to finish her work or else I will end up with two jobs. I change my mind and will pray to Allah for her to extend her stay, I hope he will listen?

 I have created my own personal work (in order to keep myself busy) by designing various household textile for the Western market. Bangladesh is famous for its unique type of embroidery and most of my work will have embroidery stitch using vegetable dyed yarns. I feel that some of you can help me reach my goal? I plan to have enough household textiles (such as bedspread, cushions, tablecloths etc.) so that I can have an exhibition to promote the work of my girls in the West. I have made contact and getting help from other European countries and I am desperately looking towards England for a venue for displaying the work. If anyone of you has any connection with Fair Trade Org. and any other idea or venue you can think of I will love to hear from you, Either  E-mail or write to me at the following address:

 c/o       NGO....................

             .................... road, Net..... Bangladesh

               
If you can't help but like writing a letter or two, please send me mail through the post. I don't miss cheese, wine, eggs, tomatoes or bacon but I do miss desperately my letters through the post! Once again many thanks for excusing me for my bad English. I am not a linguist; I am only a polyglot, my husband use to say to me...........my darling Mr Jones?  

Love,
Davinder    xx

Newsletter 6......29th Februray 2004

Paddy fields in Bangladesh
 
What is my job was a question raised by one of my reader. Well other then gallivanting around this part of the world and carrying out some character assassination of those who make my life difficult, I do actually have a job to do for one year (9 months left now). My job as a textile adviser is to pass my designing knowledge to the in house designer - namely Roxanna

 My NGO has many programmes for adults, adolescent and children. One of the Adolescent Empowerment Project (AEP) aims to equip young people with the skill they need for income generation and therefore a better future. The students, mainly girls receive one year's training in embroidery, tailoring, tie dye, batik, block printing, basket weaving, and bamboo and food preparation. Roxanna’s job is to create new designs for the students to work on, also check the quality of the work and market it. She joined the NGO as a kitchen helper, had flair for designing and with no training or qualification she was appointed as a designer three years ago. She is 27, very attractive and comes from one of the wealthiest family in Net……...   Not only has she the flair for designing but her 10 years unhappy love marriage has led her to gain flair for flirting with all the men in the NGO. Not a very uncommon behaviour amongst Muslim girls in Bangladesh, never mind in little Net……… where everyone knows, everyone else! For this reason, my workload has been increased to giving Roxanna advice on fidelity. Such advice coming from me, an Eastern girl with Western values, foot loose and fancy free, is hard for Roxanna to swallow. She does not and will not accept her fate and continues to question her unhappy married life? Divorce is out of question as she comes from a well known  family and the only alternative she feels she has is to kill her self and  she is not the only one with such predicament. The NGO has shelter homes for women who have gone through difficult married life. Roxanna is hoping to join the home one day if death does not  come first.

I also work closely with posh Lady Jane, born in Leeds but had lived in Somerset for many years. She is 60 and she is really an ' old bag' and she has been a pain in my neck (or dare I say pain in......) ever since I first set eyes on her.  However, she is doing at snail speed, an excellent job in creating new vegetables dyes for yarns and fabrics. I am praying that she will leave at the end of April when her contract with VSO will run out?  I can then happily continue to create new designs for the western market and hopefully you will all get to see the products and hopefully you will all buy something to help my young girls earn a penny or two?

 My Boss previously described as a control freak, continuous to be one and still lives next door to me and my contact with her is now 24 hours. I have become her blue –eyed girl, since I now dress, look, talk and smell (I use mustard oil on my body and hair, good stuff, try it?) like a Bangladeshi girl. How long I shall stay her little pet, I do hope until end of Nov. when my contract will run out? My Boss can be a real dragon to those who question her authority. She and her right hand man have both broken all the human rights rules and publicly humiliated and sacked people in her NGO. She goes into hysterics when things don’t go as planed and she is a real ‘drama queen’ with tears down her eyes when she wants to make an emotional statement or two. I have seen it all and been there to hold her hand. She will not accept that her married brother is secretly meeting my lovely Roxanna. However, fortunately, for me my Boss and Lady Jane are always in loggerheads with each other, so I can see every reason for Lady Jane to be given dismissal papers at the end of April. I, in the mean time will continue to pray 5 times a day for Lady Jane’s return ticket home to England soon.

The winter only lasted few days really for us foreigners. Now the spring is in the air with lots of baby goats and chicken roaming the countryside. The rice fields are muddy and green again, it is growing season and a lot of hard work. We had to endure our 2nd eid celebration on the first week of Feb. and we had 7 days off from work. This eid known as ' koribani eid' meaning sacrificial eid which we renamed it ' bloody eid' because thousands of bulls are slaughtered in every court yard by those who can afford to; other have to do with goats, ducks or handouts. I decided to escape Net......... for 5 days and managed to get a 40 minutes flight to Jessore ( west of Bangladesh) to meet up with Lillian ( from Norway). It was a good decision and I enjoyed roaming around the clean city of Jessore and Lillian’s hospitality. The city is near the Indian border and I was horrified to discover that thousands and thousands of bulls that were to meet their crunch time in Bangladesh were imported from India! The land of holy cow, vegetarianism. Shame on India.

                                                         Burka outfit for me in Jessore

I often feel that my flat in Net…….. is probably seen as a brothel by the outsiders because I am for ever having foreign men and women  ( some visiting the NGO some living here) for get together to eat, dine , sometimes with wine and lot of gossip goes on, but nothing much else happens to pass the dull evenings. However I do not know if there is a real brothel in little Net…….., but Jessore seems to have several !! Apparently the brothels are common sight around the border of India and the Bangladeshi blame the Indians for creating the industry, but both the Muslims and the Hindus use the service. Several N.G.O. s including Sally's Army visit the brothels to give advice on safe sex, AIDS and also look after the children born to the prostitutes. I just about managed to scout around the outside vicinity of one of brothel in the centre of Jessore. It was not a pretty sight, heavily made up women were waiting for their punters and few pimps (I guess) asked me what business I was in? I escaped the scene fairly quickly and decided to stick to my trained profession where I am paid a lot
 (£ 80 a month).

Finally, I have invited all of you to come and visit me; however I now withdraw my offer for few very good reasons. Having experienced living here for 4 months, I can assure you that travelling here is bad, I mean really, really bad. No wonder this evergreen beautiful land is not on the tourist map. Who wants to come to travel to a place where 3 hours journey might just take 9 hours? In order to fly from Dhaka, I had to leave little Net……. three days in advance because there was going to be road blocks on the way due to Muslim festival; then when I finally took the flight to India, they had lost my luggage and first port of call for me was to shop for M&S look-alike knickers and of course I don't find any.
Who wants to travel to this land where every other day is a general strike day (they call it HATTAL) and everything stops to work, including the transport. Currently there is a great amount of political unrest in Dhaka, which is affecting the rest of the country.  Thus travelling has not been easy at the best of time; important people have been shot dead and kidnapped. We the foreigners are watched all the time by the private police and currently we are not allowed to visit number of areas in Bangladesh including Bandraban, the place I visited last Oct. (the M.D of the travel agency with whom I booked my journey was kidnapped few week ago) .If you really want some of those Eastern promises I shall see you all in my lovely India in November2004  or back home one of these days?
 Love,
Davinder xxx
PS   After 3 months of separation, I shall be meeting up with my 3 men...John, Mick and Sam on 4ht March ....... I wonder what sort of reception I shall be getting from them..... all hugs and xxx ?    

Monday 29 July 2013

Newsletter 5 ..... 14th January 2004

My bedroom


Xmas 2003 came and went for all of us and I bet most of you went around like a headless chicken in the cold winter days filling up all your dreams and wishes for the festive season?

 Well for us the days leading to Xmas were like any other hot days. Most of my VSO friends met up at the Bhaga club for their Xmas meal and I had planned to stay home alone in my little town. However a little angle must have been thinking about me because my visit to Dhaka two days before Xmas had a special invite, which was hard to refuse. I finished up on Xmas eve. at Inga's penthouse in Gulshan ( very posh area where all the ex-pat live). There I was eating the Western imported food, sipping the Western imported wine, listening to her Western imported library of fine music and opera and watching the lasted Western imported DVDs! An offer I certainly did not refuse since there was only Inga, her two cats and me.

 I met Inga, who works for the German Embassy here at Dhaka airport whilst we were both heading for Chittagong. Our lifestyles are world apart, yet we remain good friends indeed. For example my humble living quarters in Net……. is nothing compared to her 4 bedrooms penthouse, which overlooks the Gulshan Lake and it is furnished with the finest artefact from Asia. ( Inga and her cats have been in Asia for 12 years).Where as I brave away in the local transport or walk to get from point A to B, Inga has a chauffeur driven car and does not know what is like to walk on the streets of Dhaka. Inga is a self confessed shopaholic and she makes two or three trips every year to New York just to do her shopping. As for me I am only interested in walking to the local bazaar or Dhaka supper market in order to stock up with 2 dozen loo rolls so that I don't run out when important visitor like Inga comes to visit me. Finally Inga prefers to share her bed with her two cats where as I can only dream of sharing my lonely nights with something which resembles a hunky, male, human form and speaks one of my languages? However it is good for me to have Inga as a friend because from time to time I need to recharge my run down battery and she is always there for me with a bottle of good wine. I guess she finds me of some use too, if only to remind her, now and then that she is living in one of the poorest country in the world where human life is cheap and animal life (whom she loves best) is worth “sod all".

 Wintertime is now here and early mornings and evenings are cooler. I have started to wear jumpers and shawls like the rest. Winter is also the time for weddings and I have been fortunate or unfortunate to have attended one and a half. After two days of watching wedding chaos,( led by my Boss since her nephew was getting married) which included watching the handsome groom being dressed for his big day, seeing the wedding bed being garlanded with marigold for his big night, watching 1000 guests scrambling for food after paying homage to the bride and the groom seated on high platform, and having the dreaded video camera following me and the rest everywhere..... I think I have seen enough to last me for a century or two, that is if I want to live that long?

 My life is Net........... is still a dream. I start my work at 9 am and finish at 4pm. I have found a cheaper Internet cafĂ© (30p for one hour) and I often walk into town to check my mail, do my daily shopping for fresh vegetables and fruit. I cook my food most evenings and also have a company of Peter and Fiona( occasionally Tim  the American ) who wants to learn Indian cooking and do so in my kitchen. Fiona ( also American) and  sweet Peter, both have a room in sheltered homes for the young girls and their cooking facilities are very basic. Peter is a good fisherman and often gets a fish for me to cook. Peter rides a bike and  I often get a lift into town. What more can I ask for in my little dream home?

 The New Year seems to have come and gone too and it’s already the middle of January. Once again I take it that most of you were letting your hair down at some fabulous or crummy New Year party? As for me I decided to have a break from Bangladesh and try my luck on the beaches of Chennai in the south of my beloved India..... the land of dosa, samber and italy .... all this food served to you on banana leaf if you are lucky?

 I must admit after 3 months in Bangladesh, I was pleasantly surprised how liberating it was to be in India. I could wear what I like without having to worry about covering my bum and my tits. There were no open sewages and therefore no “pee stops “by every Ali, Rasid or Halim (or in English Tom, Dick and Harry). There were no more Allah calling at 5 am or the rest of the day and most of all I did not have to go through the everyday question time which has become part of our daily headache in Bangladesh.....we , the foreigners are always asked ( most of the time by complete strangers ) three basic questions.... where is your country, are you married, have you produced your first son?

 I wasn't alone in India; I arranged to meet a friend of mine, Tulla ( 5W friend)  from Finland. I find Tulla  an extraordinary person who has been leaving behind her own family (children and grandchildren) for the past 20 years to spend Xmas with the elderly and the lepers in Chennai. Did you know that lepers are now almost extinct ; the young who suffer receive treatment which is working so there are only old lepers left in India who are waiting to die. There were very few left in the colony I visited and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to spend one night amongst the people who have always been thrown out of the society since the biblical time.

 One night in the colony, so you may ask where did I spend my new year's eve. ? Whereas other then coastal resort of Mamallapuram. The golden sun, sand and miles of empty beach of Mamallapuram certainly made my New Year eve. a very special one, not forgetting the party, the Tamil music , the Tamil dancing men and one and only female dancing feet,( mine) which kept everyone entertained until midnight.

That’s all for now, do keep me posted of your news ....short and sweet..... Love,

Davinder   xxx

Newsletter 4..... 10th December 2003

Path leading to my new home in a little village

If there is such a thing as a dream and then I am living it, I certainly seem to have found mine here in Net……… !
Net………. is 3 and half hours bus ride from Dhaka and only 20km away from the Indian border. A small town centre is to the right of my home and my work place is 7 minutes walk away to the left. I simply cannot get lost, even if I try, mention the name of my NGO, everyone knows where I live. They also know that I live next door to by boss who started Org. from her home and her empire has now mushroomed across the town. With one idea of caring for young girls from broken homes and giving them some means of livelihood, her empire now includes textile cottage industry across the town, hospital where poor can walk in for free  medical help, agricultural and fishing centre, legal advise service, human right and lots more to make sure that the NGO industry is ticking away. My boss is late fifties (chaotic and control freak ) has her own sad story to tell, having lived an unhappy married life , she works all hours to care and raise awareness of women’s right. She is forever travelling to the West to raise funds for her NGO and a strong team of loyal men and women are always available at home for her at a touch of her very own mobile phone which she wears inside her bra for safe keeping! Only the other day she came back from Dhaka to report that she was mugged and she lost all her possessions except for her mobile phone! So all those ladies with mobile phone and size 38 D cup take note!

There is no Internet cafe available and my Boss has allowed me to use her private Internet service any time for massive fee of £5 per hour (compared to 15p in Dhaka). I have very little choice and I have to learn to be very economical with my words and my monthly allowance of £ 80. My Boss lives with a large family; I have lost count of people who live in her house. She finds it difficult to accept that I am happy alone, in my three rooms flat next door to her. She offered a company of a young lad (Peter), I could be a mother figure for him she thought, however I guess I don’t have to spell for you my flat refusal to her kind offer. My flat is on the first floor of a house and over looks a playing field where young boys are forever playing cricket. The playing field is part of the school and I can sit out on my very own massive balcony (which is really an unfinished roof top of a ground floor building) and watch the world go by and provided I do not venture to the edge of the balcony I am safe. I nearly fell off one dark evening, trying to be adventurous. My flat has basic things in it but I have treated myself to few luxuries, which includes a houseboy, who does my cleaning and my washing and my ironing. I pay him £4 a month! My landlord, who lives with his family downstairs, has a pet monkey in a cage. The back garden is surrounded by trees and thank god there are no crows to wake me up in the morning, instead I hear sound of different types of birds all day and poor monkey rattling in his cage. Perhaps I will get young Peter to do the good deed and free the monkey one dark night ?

I started work on 21st Nov. all eager to make my mark, however I found that due to Ramadan coming to the end and start of 7 days Eid holiday soon, no body was in the mood to work, just like you are all back home? There is lot for me to do and I guess I will have to be patience yet again, I have a whole year ahead of me......

I am coming to the end of my 7 days Eid holiday and it has been one long party for me and 6 other Europeans who arrived in Net……… at the same time as I did. There was Lucy from Sweden, a teacher and a feminist; there was Mari from Norway, a midwife who delivered 2 babies whilst here; Lilly from Norway, an anthropologist, who once married a man from Scunthorpe.Then there I was rubbing shoulders with Helen, a lesbian, photographer and a writer for the top Norwegian newspaper and The Guardian in England. Lucy and Helen were not very keen to mix with the only two lovely young lads in our team, Peter (19) and Nicklos (27) both from Germany.

 The Eid festive was totally controlled by the Boss and her mobile phone. Everyday our plans were made and then changed. At times we were frustrated and at times we laughed at the chaotic way the Boss ran our lives, but at the end of the festive season, we appeared to have enjoyed all. We visited lots of families and sat on their beds, sometimes girls only, sometimes boys and girls but all the times we were entertained by food, lots of food to eat whilst the host served and watched us eat! There was no plan or room available for the host to eat with us sound strange but it is true.

 My short-term European ladies have returned home and the two German lads have gone back to Dhaka. However I shall not be alone for long because I have an American young woman and an English Lady (she acts like one!) called Jane, whom I shall be getting to know next week; oh there is also Peter who will be returning back here soon for a year’s work. He wants to live in a mud hut, use solar system for heating and learn Indian cooking with my help?

 During the holiday period I have been able to spend my early morning walking the country lanes, (I am in the heart of rural Bangladesh) and discovering more hospitality amongst the poor and the rich. The morning before Eid, the whole of Net……. was busy slaughtering a complete cow on their front doors! It was horrific scene to have witness first thing in the morning, but I guess since they saw nothing wrong in doing it, who am I to judge or question? On Eid day everyone was dressed beautifully, especially little girls who were heavily made up and looked like prostitutes, I wondered if they knew what there were doing.  There is a large Hindu community living here, and they continued to work in the paddy fields, harvesting the rice and preparing for the winter. Early morning fishermen were out there too, getting down to the river with their bamboo fishing sticks and nets. There are a lots of small communities scattered all over the town living in mud huts, tin ones and simple shacks made of jute mats, suddenly one sees one big house almost like a palace and it looks so surreal.

 Finally, not all dreams have happy ending and I had one very horrid dream only a week after living in my flat. At 3 am last Friday, I was woken up by noise outside my house, I switched my torch on to discover that a thief has managed to cut chicken wire covering my window and push his hand through the iron bars and steel my camera (no use to anyone as I broke my camera the night before,) however he left behind my medicine box, my pen knife and my books.............. Anyway I learnt my lesson very quickly , now I close my metal shutters  in  the flat and close all the doors, metal and wooden once leading to my bedroom and have the night light on all night to keep any would be thief away from my prison.

Once again many thanks for not pointing out all my mistakes and asking about Mick and Sam who are both doing well. I am unable to receive the world service and please don’t stop sending me your news, keep it short and sweet; it will all help me to keep my cost down. ................ I guess you are all freezing and busy with Xmas shopping, well here I am still in my T shirts and flip flops .... enjoying the midday sun..... Love,

 Davinder xx