Newsletter 3...... 16th November 2003

Cricket ground in Dhaka

We had our first road causality. Sam and Mick, whilst travelling to Comilla in a bus (two hours bus ride from Dhaka), finished up with head on collision with another bus travelling in the opposite direction. One of the drivers died on the spot; however our boys both lived to tell the tale! Sam has 4 stitches on his lips and a neck collar and Mick with head injury has ten stitches to keep him going. Both were very badly shaken by the whole experience, and certainly Mick is carrying a sore head and deflated ego!! He is trying to come to the terms with the fact that life here is very cheap. You might live today and you might just die tomorrow!

 Lucky for us, John and I were travelling by train to Sylhet for our replacement visit of 5 days. Our journey turned out to be safe though John continuously worried if we were ever to reach our intended destination. Though he relied heavily on me throughout the journey, he kept undermining my judgement and continuously nagged me about our safety. I was pleased to see the back of him when I moved into a very posh flat with my VSO hostess. He stayed in not very posh place with another VSO hostess who he thinks has a mental problem? I think 5 days with John would send anyone to mental asylum.

 I spent most of my time in Sylhet visiting schools out in the remote parts, seeing at the grass root level the work sponsored by UNICEF, OXFAM, CONCERN, VOS and many more. These charities also known as NGO (Non Governmental Org.) keep the jobs for the middle class and keep the poor away from starvation. There are 3000 or so in this country, and once again the largest number in the world. Without the money from the west to support the NGOs the country will simply collapse and die, so please don't stop giving generously.

 Besides visiting schools and being treated like royalty I was able to enjoy acres and acres of evergreen paddy fields over shadowed by snow capped mountains at the Indian border. It was paradise, if only for few days. The district of Sylhet is also famous for its tea gardens. They are certainly different from the magic of Darjeeling but never the less worth the visit on bicycle early in the morning before the rush hours and before the heat of the sun. Sylhet is rich city, money comes from the Bangladeshis’ who have emigrated to the west and continues to invest their hard earned money back here. Sylhet is also known as ' Little England '.

 The festival of Ramadan has arrived and will last for 30 days when whole of Islamic race will celebrate ' Eid '. During Ramadan the Muslim men and women ( some are exempt e.g. the cricket players ! ) fast from the time the sunrises until the sun sets. Which means that they can stuff themselves with as much food they possibly can during the evening and the early hours of the morning in order to keep them going for the time they are fasting.... that is when at work. Not a lot of work is done while they are fasting and not surprisingly lot of temper is lost too. To break the fast at sunset, they have their ' ifters', that is over fried vegetables and sweet meat, and there are ' ifters' stalls everywhere on the streets. John and Mick went overboard with ' ifter' meals and suffered few days of bad tummy and diarrhoea, in fact John was taken to the hospital with very high fever.  We are now all very careful about what we eat and Mick who normally eats like a pig has been living on cheese (bought in from England by a friend) and biscuits for the past two days.

 We finally made it to the National stadium on 12th Nov to see England beat Bangladesh team in one-day match. The atmosphere was great, the crowd was sometimes over excited, and water bottles were used for drumbeats and then thrown on the pitch for no reason at all. Some parts of the ground were set on fire but there was enough police to keep law and order, which meant that we escaped home with very little damage to our bodies.

 It is getting cooler in the evenings and winter is approaching fast. The sun is still very hot at midday and I normally carry an umbrella to keep the sun away. In the two months or so we have learnt enough Bangla to buy different kinds of vegetables and fruit to cook and eat, most of the vegetables are very new to us. There is so much home grown food available here that it makes one question why the nation always looks so hungry and starved?

 Nolda’s father- in- law- to- be is on the mend and Nolda is happy in Holland. Young Sue, Peter and Jake have all gone to their work place earlier last month. Out of the three Sue seems to have not settled yet, unable to cope with the culture, she might be the next to go home?

 We are now coming to the end of our two months induction course here in Dhaka and from next week we are all going to our own homes and workplaces. My place is in Net………, about 3 hours bus ride north of Dhaka. I have a flat with 3 rooms and I have been collecting some luxury goods to keep me happy in the countryside. If anyone of you wants a holiday in Bangladesh, there is a spare bed in my flat? Mick is moving to the east district and is the furthest from Dhaka. John and Sam are staying in Dhaka for their placement work.

 Despite our differences, I survived living under the same roof as the others and it has been a great learning code for the future. Though I hated being here with the rest I am sure I will miss them for a short time. I know I will miss Sam for his kindness, his ability to care for everyone and his smile all the time. I will miss John's intellectual debates and I know that underneath all that flapping about he is really a lovely, kind family man, who is missing his family. I will certainly miss Mick for being just Mick, a hard-nosed, selfish hunk, and a lazy bum! We are all wandering what the hell is he doing here, how is he going to survive 2 years? No doubt time will tell all? I have made new friends outside my own family, so I don't think I will miss my lot for long, however we will be seeing each other at various VSO gatherings from time to time. No doubt the family saga will continue.............

 Thanks for all those who write to me and excuse me of all my spelling mistakes........looking forward to more of your news...... until next time.....it will be from Net……..... good bye  

Love,

Davinder  x