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 2^nd of October. Then fly to India to attend a planed wedding feast for another niece on 23^rd 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