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.