On the roads of Bangladesh....
I’m glad I don’t have to go out again to the villages…. Its not just the harsh conditions out there that I don’t like…. Its not just the absence of hot water to shower in everyday….. its not just the dust that surrounds wherever I go….
I’m glad that I don’t have to get into the car, and drive out on the highways of Bangladesh….. I cant say I share the same devil-don’t-care attitude that a lot of the people have here while on the roads…. They don’t even seem to value their own lives, if the way they cross the roads are anything to go by…. Why bother look both ways before crossing, when all the drivers will stop for you…. The way drivers zig-zag in between lanes with little (or actually no) regard for other drivers….
Which is why you see people sitting on top of buses, and you see little boys hanging on to the back of the buses…. Loud headlines, revealing tens of people who were killed in accidents on roads nationwide are the norm in the newspapers…. Why, on my way back from the villages a few days ago, I went past 2 accidents, where the buses were left in a carnage….
The scariest of all drivers on the roads here must be the bus drivers…. Crazy mother f#*%@#s is what I call them, but the locals call them “pagel sagol”, or crazy goats in Bengali…. With some of them doing 140 km/hr, its not funny…. In fact, its downright frightening….. whereas accidents back home involving buses does not yield that many casualties, people surviving crashes are the exception rather than the norm…..
And the lack of initiative by the government, the lack of interest in reducing the accident rate by the authorities is what I find very disturbing, especially considering the amount of time I spend on the roads while out in the villages, moving from location to location…. Maybe that's how they control their growing population.... people who have to take public transport, those who cant afford to buy their own cars would be the main target group for this population control measure.... or if you dont have the qualifications for any other job other than that of a truck driver..... cynical i know, but it sure seems that way to me....
On my way back, with 2 buses parked on each side of the road, we were about to drive in between them…. Well, until we saw the bus coming from the opposite side started flashing his lights at us….
My god, is he actually going to squeeze his way past the 2 buses, and us? Coz that just isn’t possible…. My car swerves and brakes at the tail end of the bus, and the bus on the opposite side speeds past the 2 buses, and drives past my car….. it was probably the most frightening experience I’ve ever faced…. More so as my car rocks from side to side as the bus sped past my car….. oh, and it wasn’t over, as a second bus went speeding past us…. WTF I thought…..
I hate being in Bangladesh for this reason…. Everytime I go out, its like a lottery…. Despite having drivers with amazing driving abilities, I fear for my life everytime I go out…. The allowance I get during my time in Bangaldesh just isn’t worth all this fear and emotional trauma….
Do you ever wonder whether you’ll come back home safely after a holiday overseas? Whether you’ll return from your outstation audit engagement in one piece…. I don’t, unless its to Bangladesh…..
Boy am I glad I’m back safely in Dhaka…. But my thoughts and prayers are out to my 2 colleagues who are still out there in the villages, and that they arrive safely in Dhaka come Monday…..
I’m glad that I don’t have to get into the car, and drive out on the highways of Bangladesh….. I cant say I share the same devil-don’t-care attitude that a lot of the people have here while on the roads…. They don’t even seem to value their own lives, if the way they cross the roads are anything to go by…. Why bother look both ways before crossing, when all the drivers will stop for you…. The way drivers zig-zag in between lanes with little (or actually no) regard for other drivers….
Which is why you see people sitting on top of buses, and you see little boys hanging on to the back of the buses…. Loud headlines, revealing tens of people who were killed in accidents on roads nationwide are the norm in the newspapers…. Why, on my way back from the villages a few days ago, I went past 2 accidents, where the buses were left in a carnage….
The scariest of all drivers on the roads here must be the bus drivers…. Crazy mother f#*%@#s is what I call them, but the locals call them “pagel sagol”, or crazy goats in Bengali…. With some of them doing 140 km/hr, its not funny…. In fact, its downright frightening….. whereas accidents back home involving buses does not yield that many casualties, people surviving crashes are the exception rather than the norm…..
And the lack of initiative by the government, the lack of interest in reducing the accident rate by the authorities is what I find very disturbing, especially considering the amount of time I spend on the roads while out in the villages, moving from location to location…. Maybe that's how they control their growing population.... people who have to take public transport, those who cant afford to buy their own cars would be the main target group for this population control measure.... or if you dont have the qualifications for any other job other than that of a truck driver..... cynical i know, but it sure seems that way to me....
On my way back, with 2 buses parked on each side of the road, we were about to drive in between them…. Well, until we saw the bus coming from the opposite side started flashing his lights at us….
My god, is he actually going to squeeze his way past the 2 buses, and us? Coz that just isn’t possible…. My car swerves and brakes at the tail end of the bus, and the bus on the opposite side speeds past the 2 buses, and drives past my car….. it was probably the most frightening experience I’ve ever faced…. More so as my car rocks from side to side as the bus sped past my car….. oh, and it wasn’t over, as a second bus went speeding past us…. WTF I thought…..
I hate being in Bangladesh for this reason…. Everytime I go out, its like a lottery…. Despite having drivers with amazing driving abilities, I fear for my life everytime I go out…. The allowance I get during my time in Bangaldesh just isn’t worth all this fear and emotional trauma….
Do you ever wonder whether you’ll come back home safely after a holiday overseas? Whether you’ll return from your outstation audit engagement in one piece…. I don’t, unless its to Bangladesh…..
Boy am I glad I’m back safely in Dhaka…. But my thoughts and prayers are out to my 2 colleagues who are still out there in the villages, and that they arrive safely in Dhaka come Monday…..
posted by zufar | 9:42 AM
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