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