Sunshine!

The rains have finally given way to beautiful sunshine. This explains why I have internet connection again (somehow they are related). Back in Dhaka now and today my family and I did everything non Bangladeshi as possible. These included a Chinese lunch followed by fancy coffee in an upscale coffee house paying Soho prices. Dinner was followed by icecream in a fancy Italian place. Sickening.

I have started saying my good byes already.

Monsoons!

The monsoons are here full swing and I underestimated them. It has rained incessantly for the last few days. While it was very pleasant to look at (and listen to) from a sheltered bunglow in the country, it has caused low lying part of the country to go temporarily under water, Dhaka's sewage system to collapse in parts and a tragic mud slide in Chittagong (in south-eastern Bangladesh) causing death.

I have seen no sunshine for the past few days. In between the rains, dark clouds stayed above giving ominous signs of more rains to come. The rivers haven't started to fill up yet. That happens in August and September. Too much rain in parts of India and Nepal (upstream) flows downstream through Bangladesh causing flooding. Everyone's hoping that won't happen this year though another big one is due in a few years time (Bangladesh gets one every 8 to 10 years). We had an absolutely wonderful time in the country with my extended family. I hadn't seen some people since my early childhood. Our journey back was almost jeopardised by the rains. But road transport works well even amidst all this.

Dhaka seems to have a soul of a wild beast. It needs to be tamed (with better sewage and traffic management to start with!). With a population of 15 million, this city is bursting at its seams. Its energy rivals that of New York (yes I am biased). My dad met a foreign diplomat who explained to him that Dhaka is a 10 kilo post meaning you get heavier once here. No surprise there with the whole culture surrounding food in all its manifestations, it will be back to the gym and starvation when I get back to London.

Landed in Dhaka

I am on my yearly visit back home, right at the beginning of the rainy season (the monsoons). In fact I had a very exciting landing in Dhaka airport on the morning of Monday, June the 4th. Around 40 minutes before landing, the captain of the British Airways flight announced that there were severe thunderstorms in Dhaka at the moment and that we would be on a holding pattern. I observed on the moving map on the personal entertainment system that the aircraft was circling around a district called Rajshahi in northwestern Bangladesh. After getting clearance 30 minutes later, we landed in Dhaka amid torrential rain (it was obvious the pilot was having to finally use all of his landing skills!). The passengers were aroused. One Bangladeshi fellow next to me was returning from the US after 9 years. He could barely hold his excitement and would have jumped out of the aircraft 5 minutes away from the runway if he could (I could easily relate to it since I too once returned after a ten year gap).

Bangladesh was experiencing unbearable heat over the last few weeks. However, the rain that I brought over from England has cooled things off. In fact it has rained incessantly for a couple of hours every morning since I have been here. The result has been that the remaining hours of the day with sunshine have been pleasant with moderate humidity (it is now only 26 degrees centigrade as I write compared to 35+ previously as I have been told). This is my favourite season in Bangladesh. The rains which cause mild temparatures, coupled with the high humidity of the season create an amazing sensory experience. But then I would say that since I am not a struggling commuter in one of Dhaka's crowded buses trying to go to work and back everyday. This brings me to the fact that Dhaka is as crowded as ever. There are simply too many vehicles (of all kinds) for the existing roads to manage. Things will only get worse until a tube (subway) system is in place sometime in ten years' time. The photos I have attached are a bit deceiving in this regard!.

I am off to a family occasion to a remote village in Comilla for a couple of days starting on the 8th. It will be quite a departure from the hussle and bussle of Dhaka to the tranquil of the country. But that tranquilty won't last long since I will be meeting at least 50 members of my extended family from one side of the tree! Nevertheless, the rivers should be full, the scenery greener than ever and I'll be concentrating on devouring the endless piles of mangos and lychees that stare at you wherever you go.