Random

Salaam,

So i walked into my bedroom the other day, and what do i see...? a BAT flying around...i dont think i like animals any more..

Have not done much in the past few days so am actually having a holiday...went to visit two brick factories on Thursday though...yes, you read correctly, brick factories. We have some land near a river where my dad for some reason wants me to build a brick factory. Underneath the top soil is the clay like material which can be used direct to make the bricks and every yr when the river floods this material is replenished so you can carry on making more bricks.

There's two brick factories on the other side of the river so i went with a relative to check the competition out. Both of them were huuuge, but pretty primative in terms of technology used. The process was basically:

1) Lots of guys cutting up the clay with shovels
2) Putting the material into a machine which makes the clay softer like putty
3) Manually putting the clay into a rectangular brick sized shaper
4) Leaving in the sun to dry
5) Putting the bricks in a big oven

Now you all know how bengali bricks are made...but apprently 1000takas worth of bricks can be sold for 2300takas so there's money to be made. We'll see what happenes iA.

Also visited one relative who got missed out, but i think this was on purpose cos they live so far away. The trip consisted of a two hour car ride along something which deff can not be called a road and THEN a ten minute boat trip...but Alh they were really nice and appreciated the effort we went to.


Questions i have been asked about the Uk aka London (By adults...)

1) Do people die in London?
2) What colour are leaves in London?
3) Do you hvae thieves in London?

Must dash

Salaam

Home Alone

Salaam,

Hope everone is well inshaAllah,

I' ve just come back from Sylhet airport after seeing off my sr - she'd come with me for the first two weeks to show me around and introduce me to people but now that this time is up, she's off back back to the UK leaving poor Farouk All Alone in Bangladesh...now the real fun can begin, lol.

I think i said a few posts ago that the plan for the nect couple of days was to go to Dhaka and then Coxs bazaar, but unfortunately that has been put on hold for now, but yesterday a relative took me to the northern parts of Bangladesh which was pretty good. During the drive there, we could see in the distance the indian border which is basically a large moutain terrain which continues to encompass the himalayas, so that was a pretty amazing view.

Our destination was what i can only describe as Bangladesh's attempt at a national park. Before i could get in though "it" started again. At the entrance the 4 other people with me were let in after paying there 5p fee, however with me it was not as easy. To cut it short it took a good few minutes for me and my relatives to convince the guards that i Was actually bengali and so i did not have to pay 100 takas instead of 5 and i did not have to fill out the extra forms and stuff which non bengalis have to do... After having finally got in, Alhamdulilla i found the park to be very picturesque and a world away from the hustle and bustle of the bazaars. The showpiece of the park was a 40ft+ waterfall right at the far end of the park which was a pretty amazing sight for me, but even more so i think for the bangladeshis there as i dont think there are many in Bd.
The area which you have to drive past (beaani bazaar) and the park itself had quite contrasting landscapes compared to what i had so far seen of Bd; the area i live in is flat as a pancake, whereas here it was quite hilly, with lots of little rivers and valleys which was quite nice.

On the way back we went to Srimangle which is famous for its huge tea gardens, so we went through some of them, which again was quite a nice contast to the normal bazaar sights/sounds. One strange thing about the tea gardens was that the area they were on seemed to have lots and lots of artificial little hills/mounds from which my first thought was "this looks like the background in the telletubbies"...but my relatives assured me that these were natural, so fair enough.

Anyway, now that my sr has flown back, im not really sure what the plan for the remainder of my time here is. I think its basically what i make of it, so we'll see what happens inshaAllah.

Salaam

My beloved sursaar

Salaam

Am back in Sylhet centre today as my sr wanted to do more shopping. So as most males in this situation would do, i left her with my relatives and have wondered off to the internet cafe.

This is the first time in two weeks that iv taken some proper time out to see whats been happening in the world-Roy Keane! whats going on there...? Fugly, quickly, start supporting Chelsea before anyone realises. The reign of Man Utd as One of the best teams in the Uk is over. Oh, yeah, the Amman bombing, pretty bad stuff.

No actually the bombing is very bad, and another publicity blow for Islam. But to be honest its a suprise Jordan has been immune to such things for so long given its stance with the Us and Israel. This also properlly messes me up as i had planned to fly to Amman to start my arabic course in Dec. But now with this incident im not sure if this will be possible as a) my parents will get iffy about it b) the jordanian authorities might not let me in c) amman might not be a fun place to be in over the next 3 months. Thankfully due to laziness on my side i have not booked any flights and have not paid my deposit yet, but need to decide what im doing asap. Has anyone checked if Iq is in one piece?

Ah yes, the title of this piece. I thought id make a comment on the..interesting...members of the Animal kingdom that can be found here in Bangladesh. As some of you will know im not exactly an animal lover - gold fish is as much as iv allowed to enter the Miah household. But here iv encountered cockroaches the size of little ppl (AR). And then there's all these random stray dogs all over the place, some of which hold placqards saying "Rabies over here" with them. Then the lizards, then the bats, then, then...its not been fun. Especially when trying to sleep and you've got dogs howling allover the place, the constant sound of crickets and the random sounds of other delightful animals. But, and this a big BUT, i think im slowly getting used to all these animals and just accepting them as part of the furniture of Bangladesh and learning to appreciate the more pleasant animals of bangladesh. Heck, i might let my little sr have that rabbit she always wanted..

Another thing iv noticed, and something in Cairo too, is the ridiculous nature of materialism and inequality present. Bangladesh is a very poor country - one of the poorest in the world. But in Sylhet itself-which is prob the 3/4th biggest city in the country there are over a dozen large shopping malls selling all the latest clothes/electronics etc etc. In some shops you've got clothes which will cost the average Bangladeshi half his years salary. How long this balance of things will be able to survive we shall see.

On that rather gloomy note,
Salaam

The curse of Economics

Salaam,

Hope everyone is well inshaAllah,

Two weeks in i have now finally found myself a proper internet cafe (for anyone else who finds themselves in Sylhet, its in the Manrou shoping complex, 5th floor and is called Sylnet (clever name..)). And at 15p an hour its not a bad find. To be honest i was told about this place in the first few days i got here but never had the chance to come. Incidently as i was coming here i had to go past my local shopping centre from which i wrote the previous post, and was somewhat suprised to see half of it burnt down...there had been a fire earlier today and around 500k worth of damage was done-a LOT of money for Bangladesh. Something tells me the shopkeepers did not have insurance...

Anyway, i think i have finally finished visiting most of my close relatives, even though some of these "visits" consisted literally of dropping in for half an hour, having some tea and shooting off again. As some of you know, i haven't been to Bangladesh for a loooong time, so its pretty much the first time my extended family are seeing me so its been quite awkward for much of the time...often i've like im at thee zoo or something with lots of people just looking at me....All these visits have reaffirmed two things though- the complexity and the huge scale of bengali families and the Fact that some how or the other, i think every bengali in the world is related. For example i have found out that i am related to half a dozen people i have known all my life in Burnley through speaking to various people on my visits. One of my best "finds" though in terms of relations has been my grandad (my dads mums brother...).

This guy is the definition of "McDaddy". He's 86 years old despite having smoked 30 cigarettes per day and drinking tea and eating paan six times a day since he was around 12 (work that one out medics). He has not got one grey hair on his head, has all his teeth and refuses to use any form of transport and so walks the 5 mile round trip from his house to the local bazaar every day. To add to his "dont mess with me" factor, he spent eight years in jail for..lets not go there...but his sentence was quashed when new evidence turned up. The best thing about him though is the ridiculously long and sometimes fairly like stories he tells (which remind me of uncle Albert from Onl;y Fols and Horses). Whatever the topic, as soon as he says "lets me tell you something from the olden days" you'd better run and leave the room or else you could be stuck for hours. He has all these great bengali sayings too, whatever the context. One which i remeber is something like:

"If a cow swings it tale often, it will give good milk; if a piece of land is shallow towards the centre it will give good crops and if the mother is of good character, the daughter will be a good wife"

It sounds a lot better in Bengali, but that was the gist of it...


Anyway, what else? I went fishing the other day which was quite cool. We have this quite big fishery type thing, so we got some guys to bascially drag a net from one end to the other so we could see all the fish in it. As the net drew in closer and closer, all the fish started jumping into the air, some a good 6/7 foot high, which was quite a sight. At the end we kept a bout 5 fish to eat for the day.

Also on the same day some of me relatives were showing me around, and some how or the other they got this 7 year old boy to climb a 30ft tree and bring down some fruits for us...the 30ft is an estimate but it was a huuuuge tree, but the kid climbed it and came back down in under a minute.

Another quite big thing i've realised in my two weeks here (which is actually quite sad i think) is that im definately an economist? Why? Everywhere i go, all i think of is inefficiency, inefficiency, inefficiency. Lol. Seriously, whenever i go to the bazaar, i keep thinking "My god, of they did x,y,z they could be soo much more profitable..." And a lot of the people i've seen so far seem very laid back and not really wanting to do better than the hickeldy pickeldy "shop" they own. Anthother economics related thing i've realised is how little i know about economics...to keep it short, i failed to explain to my cousin the other day why the Bangladesh government could not just print more money and become rich...but im claiming it was my poor bengali rather than lack of economics knowledge which led to this.


I had better finish. I've been taking quite a lot of photos and video clips so inshaAllah will try and put some of them up soon.

The plan for the next couple of days is to go to Dhaka and then maybe Coxs Bazaar but now that i've found this place, their should be more frequent updates inshaAllah.

Salaam

At Last...!

Salaam,

I have Finally found myself an internet ready computer..! Its still quite funny tho as this "internet cafe" consists of 1 computer and the 'o' key doesnt work so im having to paste it from elsewhere all the time...

Anyway Alh iv got here in good health. Its been 6 days now i think and already quite a lot has happened. My daily programme so far has been basically visiting relatives all day [i think i have only got through a quarter tho...] and going to the bazaar in the evening. Alh the weather is Beautiful as its around 25c everyday with a nice breeze and is cool at night.

6 days in, im now drinking 5 cups of tea and eating paan 5 times a day but i am still in my trousers [instead of a lungi...]. Im still getting used to Everyone staring at me though, being a foot taller than everyone and having a little band of kids follow me whereever i go. I went to the main mosque the other day and got stopped by the police which wasnt fun...i had to 'prove' that i was bengali and then he let me go.

Anyway must dash as iv just realised this isnt a proper internet cafe but the guy is doing my relative a favour by letting me use his computer..will give a proper account later iA

Hope everyone is well iA

Salaam