Sunday, 06 August 2006

I feel a lot better today, looks like the fever has died down….. but the bumpy roads out of Dhaka made me feel sick though, the contents of my tummy seems to be swirling, so it didn’t help that we had to take a 30 minute ferry trip across the Ganges River on the way to the villages I’m visiting…..

I’ve been on this ferry in January, I elected to go right up to the top, and sat quietly on my own, dozing on and off….. I think the rest were a little concerned about my quietness, but they left me alone….. but the strong breeze, no, the strong wind seemed to make me feel a lot better…. You had to squint your eyes to see what’s ahead due to the wind….. even the crows were struggling against the wind…. I noticed two of them landing on the ferry roof, slid off the roof, and then had to fight the wind to reclaim their place on the roof…..

There was also a lot of activity going on in the ferry…. Lots of traders were selling fruits and drinks at the bottom floor of the ferry…. The top floor of the ferry on the other hand had people selling snacks, similar to the Indian cookies like murukku, hard-boiled eggs in salt and pepper, and peanuts….. There were even two cobblers, who were polishing people’s shoes for a nominal fee….. You’d also find the odd beggar or two, whom you’d have to ignore, or you’d be swamped by his fellow beggars if you’d give any money to any of them…..

We encountered an interesting event once we reached the village branch…. There was a middle aged man, sitting in a room as we walked past….. My Malaysian colleague was curious, and requested one of our Bangladeshi counterparts on why the man was there…. It turns out that this man had defaulted on his Microfinance loan and moved to Dhaka without paying his instalments…. Today, he had decided to pay part of his loan, and found himself locked up in that room for 30 minutes as punishment for moving away without paying off his loan…. I find it quite bizarre actually, can you imagine if that’s what we do to people back home who default on their bank loans…. It was quite amusing at the time, but it makes you wonder….. I came all the way back to pay off part of my loans, and I end up getting locked up in a room, with no where to go…. He was eventually released after we had queried the Branch Manager on the rationale behind the idea of holding him….. but we do wonder, if we didn’t come across him on our way to the documents storage room, how long would he have remained in that room?



The man locked in the room, flanked by the Bangadeshi auditor (left) and Village Branch Manager (right)

Funny isn’t it, how things are done in different countries….

Saturday, 05 August 2006

I’ve fallen sick…. Which is just great, considering I go out to the villages again early tomorrow morning…. The fever which I thought would surface after my last trip finally materialised…. I hate taking panadols, but I had to take two tonight….. and getting an early night would be a good idea….. as I needed to be up by 6.30am, going to sleep at 10pm sounded just about right…..

The only thing is, despite not feeling too well, I ended up watching the telly…. And sleeping an hour later….. I couldn’t help it…. Fast & Furious III, Tokyo Drift was showing….. yeah, they were showing a lousy DVD copy on the telly, so it slowed me down while I packed….. there’s this thing about cars which just fascinates the male population, or most of it anyway….. of course having girls in the show also doesn’t hurt :)

I wish I could make my car drift…. Apparently, my 22 year old Accord should be able to drift, as in theory, all rear wheel cars will be able to drift…. But the thought of punishing my dear Accord, I don’t think I’ll be attempting it anytime soon….. but it looks sooo cool, and if I could drift, I’d be drifting my way out of the MM carpark everyday, just to show how desperate I am to get out of the office….

When that movie ended, I thought I’d go to sleep….. but I needed to check what’s on BBC for the latest news before I went to bed….. and lo and behold, Top Gear was on…. This show is about the review of all sorts of cars…. They will put the car through its paces, just to prove the facts and characteristics of the car…. The only difference between Top Gear and Tokyo Drift are the absence of women…..

The cars under review were the CCX and Porsche Caryenne? What I enjoy about the show is the presentation of the review, the English humour that is part of the show, and their innovative ways of showcasing the capabilities of the cars under review…. The CCX sports car was test driven by Jeremy Clarkson, famous for his dry English humour, you can read his reviews in your Sunday Times….. he was pushing the car on a straight track till it reached 192 miles per hour….. that’s more than 300 km per hour!!! Then he lost control of the car….. not surprisingly, he looked quite sick as he got out of the car…

To show how fast the Porsche is, a race was designed over 2.6 miles….. the Porsche was to drive through the winding rough terrain, and pitted against an army parachutist, who would dive diagonally across 2.6 miles…. Who would ever have thought of pitting a car, against a man dressed like a flying squirrel diving down from an airplane….. the amazing thing was, the Porsche was actually the underdog, as it had to average 100km/hr in order to beat the parachutist….. so who won the race you ask? Why, despite the spirited drive of the Porsche, the flying squirrel prevailed by a good 5 metres or so……

So was it all worth it staying up, delaying my bedtime by a good hour knowing I had to be up early the next day? Hehe, you bet it was!!!