The thing as far as I can understand it is this: I’m a bit bored. I suppose I expected that but just not so soon in to my placement. It seems rather odd that we came out here during Ramadan when everything is shut and people go out even less than they usually do in Bangladesh, which isn’t very much. So right now we’ve been left to our own devises in a country we know nothing about, with next to no grasp of the language. This strikes me as a flawed policy. Rather like dumping someone from Papua New Guinea in to the middle of Kent during Christmas and telling them you’ll be back in a week to see how they’re doing. We walk around looking vague, eating rice and practicing Bangla. Which is going alright actually, since you asked.
And now it’s Eid which has been designated as ‘Party Time’ in the Muslim calendar. That is fine, of course, if you are a Muslim and surrounded by family and friends. I have been told repeatedly by Bangladeshi colleagues that Bangladeshis are renowned for their hospitality and that during Eid we are to be inundated with offers of food and invites to family gatherings. I was misinformed. I’ve tried looking appealing and smiling and even talking Bangla but there have been no invites. This brings me to the conclusion that Bangladeshis BELIEVE themselves to be welcoming because they are to each other. There simply aren’t enough foreign tourists here to prove to them that this hospitality doesn’t necessarily extend to foreigners.
The fact of it is that there is no leisure culture here. None. I read a magazine targeted at the young and wealthy and the top things that young people do here according to a feature is go driving around Dhaka and visiting public “lounges”. As this is a dry country, as far as a can deduce this involves going to a lounge, which is a lot like a lounge at home but with more people, most of whom you probably don’t know. Kind of like a pub but without the bar. This does not appeal. Maybe it’s because of the general poverty here or perhaps it’s a religious thing but people simply don’t go out to enjoy themselves so there is thus no leisure industry; no cinemas or bars, no bowling, no anything. I asked our Bangla teacher what the word for “bored” is and she said that there isn’t one.
However, before this turns into an all-out moan, which it may already have done, I would like to put a positive spin on things if I may. I did in fact go to one of the aforementioned “lounges” last night and it was bloody good. Perhaps my concept of a good night has changed in three weeks but we went to the “Hot Lounge” run by a young bloke called Kamrul Islam who prefers to be called Joy (no idea why) and it was, well, cool. Brazilian music, dim blue-ish lighting, comfy booths for sitting, young people hanging out and chatting and a whole array of coffees and cakes and smoothies. I always thought that I’d miss the alcohol but it turns out that it when I went out in England it wasn’t the alcohol I was after, it was the social interaction. I’ve found something more important to me than beer! Talking! I’ve finally cracked what people have been telling me for years: I don’t need alcohol to talk and talk for hours. This is a revelation to me.
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