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| 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 café (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
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